Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 3,072
I got some plans drawn up last year for an extension and got some quotes from builders to do the entire build, this was coming in at 30 -35k. I chose my builders and they were due to start in April this year, however they kept putting it back and when I rang them they were slack at returning my calls. I was half way through July and still nothing so I sacked them off and decided to do it myself.
I'd do the foundations, hire a couple of brickies to do the build, get my brother in laws father to do the joinery and my work mate who used to be a roofer to do the roof, at long last I could get started, so I've been at it 3 weeks but I've also been away on holiday for a week so all worked stopped.
This is how it looked, house was built in the late 20's, the conservatory is absolutely boiling in summer and so cold it's unusable in winter.
The plans, the build will be 6.2m wide by 4.5m deep with a 3m bifold door in one side, 3 windows in the side facing the garden, 2 velux, this is the maximum amount of glazing we were allowed due to building regs.
This new summer room will be open plan to the existing dining room with an approx 280mm drop down (one step between levels so roughly 140mm), the extension floor will be 35mm above the outside patio level, the idea so that when the doors are open it will flow into the garden.
Time to crack on then, quick phone call to my mate woody to come round with a sledgey and the demolition begins, all the conservatory screws had rusted and seized so it had to be ripped apart.
Conservatory down, now to attack the bay window, which shouldn't take long...
Arranaged for the joiner to come down at dinnertime to board up so 3 or 4 hours to remove the bay. They glass had been painted in over the last 80 years so with beading removed still wouldn't shift so the glass had to be smashed out which was a right mess. The amount and size of wood and nalis holding the bay up was unbelievable it wasn't going to be pretty to remove and the joiner was due soon, in the end we sawed through all the uprights but it still didn't shift then just started pulling it down so it came down in one huge lump and ran when it fell, it was then made secure.
Next we marked out the footings and hired a mini digger, about half way through the day we hit the conservatory footings, the digger wouldn't touch them so we quickly got hold of a hilti gun to break up the concrete, this wasn't at all upto the job but it was all we could get hold of.
I arranged for the building inspector to come aswell as we'd done the footings 600mm deep, he needed to check this was deep enough for the soil type, if he'd have said he wanted them deeper at least we'd have had the digger still there.
Here I am on the digger and my old man breaking up the concrete.
Footings nearly dug, just a bit to dig away by hand as the sides were crumbling in.
We needed 250mm concrete so hammered metal bars in so we knew were to fill the concrete to, I then got half a dozen mates with wheel barrows and 3 ton of concrete delivered, that was a mad 20 minutes as the wagon drivers don't hang about for long.
Two brickies and one laborer turned up at 9am, spent an hour measuring, marking and getting ready and were upto damp proof course by just after dinner.
That's were I'm upto now, I'm just waiting for skip number 6 to be dropped off and then I need to remove the soil and rubble upto a depth of 330mm below dpc level ready for the flooring layers which consist of stone, concrete, insulation etc and the underfloor heating pipes in a screed.
My estimate for the build is now coming in at 17k so with a few unseen costs should come in under 20k.
I'd do the foundations, hire a couple of brickies to do the build, get my brother in laws father to do the joinery and my work mate who used to be a roofer to do the roof, at long last I could get started, so I've been at it 3 weeks but I've also been away on holiday for a week so all worked stopped.
This is how it looked, house was built in the late 20's, the conservatory is absolutely boiling in summer and so cold it's unusable in winter.
The plans, the build will be 6.2m wide by 4.5m deep with a 3m bifold door in one side, 3 windows in the side facing the garden, 2 velux, this is the maximum amount of glazing we were allowed due to building regs.
This new summer room will be open plan to the existing dining room with an approx 280mm drop down (one step between levels so roughly 140mm), the extension floor will be 35mm above the outside patio level, the idea so that when the doors are open it will flow into the garden.
Time to crack on then, quick phone call to my mate woody to come round with a sledgey and the demolition begins, all the conservatory screws had rusted and seized so it had to be ripped apart.
Conservatory down, now to attack the bay window, which shouldn't take long...
Arranaged for the joiner to come down at dinnertime to board up so 3 or 4 hours to remove the bay. They glass had been painted in over the last 80 years so with beading removed still wouldn't shift so the glass had to be smashed out which was a right mess. The amount and size of wood and nalis holding the bay up was unbelievable it wasn't going to be pretty to remove and the joiner was due soon, in the end we sawed through all the uprights but it still didn't shift then just started pulling it down so it came down in one huge lump and ran when it fell, it was then made secure.
Next we marked out the footings and hired a mini digger, about half way through the day we hit the conservatory footings, the digger wouldn't touch them so we quickly got hold of a hilti gun to break up the concrete, this wasn't at all upto the job but it was all we could get hold of.
I arranged for the building inspector to come aswell as we'd done the footings 600mm deep, he needed to check this was deep enough for the soil type, if he'd have said he wanted them deeper at least we'd have had the digger still there.
Here I am on the digger and my old man breaking up the concrete.
Footings nearly dug, just a bit to dig away by hand as the sides were crumbling in.
We needed 250mm concrete so hammered metal bars in so we knew were to fill the concrete to, I then got half a dozen mates with wheel barrows and 3 ton of concrete delivered, that was a mad 20 minutes as the wagon drivers don't hang about for long.
Two brickies and one laborer turned up at 9am, spent an hour measuring, marking and getting ready and were upto damp proof course by just after dinner.
That's were I'm upto now, I'm just waiting for skip number 6 to be dropped off and then I need to remove the soil and rubble upto a depth of 330mm below dpc level ready for the flooring layers which consist of stone, concrete, insulation etc and the underfloor heating pipes in a screed.
My estimate for the build is now coming in at 17k so with a few unseen costs should come in under 20k.
