Week-ending 23rd September 2001

The old sun-lounge is removed in hours. A mini-digger arrives, through the specially knocked-out hole in the garage back wall. Foundations need to be 0.2m deeper because of a laurel 'tree' in our garden. Surprise surprise - we never knew we had a laurel tree in our garden. A bush, yes, but not a tree!. So the foundations get poured eventually, despite the best efforts of HBC Building Control

Week-ending 29th September 2001

The shell of the building is thrown up with great speed. Neighbour across road complains to builders about delivery lorry blocking road between 7.55am-8.30am. We also had an issue about the parking of vans, etc. TIP: Always try to check when deliveries are needed and see if you can influence delivery times (8.30am is right in the middle of the school-run), and tell your builder the sensible places to park vans and lorries Builder asks "do we really want skylights in the kitchen?". These hadn't been costed, because they didn't know which type we wanted. We opt for 3 fixed and one opening one in the kitchen, cost just over £100 each. Ok, thought they might be dearer. The kitchen ceiling will need to be 4" lower in order to achieve same roof gradient as in plans (which don't add up apparently) You can see that the shell of the new kitchen is built around the existing kitchen. This becomes very important later

Week-ending 7th October 2001

All now really taking shape. All structural lumps of stone with mortar stuff is now done, I think. lots of bits of wood appearing in the roof to be. Builders Gary and John take a week off next week, leaving Jonathon on his own. We have fun choosing kitchen units, cooker, splashback, hood, fridge-freezer, tumble-drier, tiles ..... Sorry did I say 'fun', well perhaps that is a bit ironic really. Jonathon fixed more roof timbers and lining paper held down with battens. Then 'soffets', whatever they are. I think they're the bits you attach guttering to - hey what the Hell, I should know about these things? I work in IT not with lumps of rock and wood.

2 weeks-ending 20th October 2001

During this last week the old flat roof in the kitchen was hacked off and the walls taken down a bit to fit the remaining roof timbers. We have retained full use of the kitchen throughout all of this! (see, I told you it was important to have the new kitchen built around the old one). Roof lining paper up, and 2 guys come round to seal the flat roof with the skylights in place using black sticky stuff. The doors and windows also going in, although some problem about the size of the windows which builders will have to work out the cost of rectifying with their suppliers. Kitchen now ordered, units from MFI (Schreiber Valencia range), floor tiles chosen (Venus Collection by Minoli), also all new appliances chosen and ordered (this had to be done before kitchen design so that MFI knew all dimensions) Toying with idea of moving gas meter (currently boxed in a kitchen corner) to outside wall. This might mean hassle with the Gas company (I temporarily forget who they are, they seem to keep changeing) who have to come and do it, unless we only move it a maximum of 2 metres in which case anyone CORGI registered can move it. TIP: If you think you need to move a gas or electric meter, get this organized weeks in advance of any building This is the first and last time you will see our old kitchen. It's going. Many of our friends and relations will breath a sigh of relief because they and their loved ones now stand a much reduced chance of catching ecoli, botulism etc.

Week-ending 27th October 2001

We went away to Weymouth from Sunday-Thursday, when we came back the old kitchen walls were gone. All services still remain in use, having been re-piped, or shifted to the new outside wall where appropriate. All windows and outside doors in place now, including back door - which needs more bolts. Black windows and white doors, this in order to save money - black windows are twice the price of white. We shall see how it all looks after pebble-dashing and painting and, if necessary, paint the doors black too. The kitchen floor is being built up with concrete ready for laying. Flat roof and skylights in place. Positions of drains, power and radiators all indicated, and Transco (that's them!) contacted about moving the gas meter, currently in a corner of the kitchen, to be moved outside the back door (although this is just about 2 metres so we might just get a CORGI bloke to do it). One problem: the lounge is darker than we thought it would be. The new kitchen, being longer and higher than the old one, cuts out much of the light after midday. We are hopeful that light, slightly reflective flooring plus nearly white walls in the new back room will reflect more light, but we may have to use lighting in the lounge much of the time. TIP: always consider how an extension is likely to affect your own light - the council planners aren't concerned about affects on yourself.

3 weeks-ending 17th November 2001

Now the basic structure is up the rest of the build is a bit of an anti-climax. All plastering is now complete. Lights, power, gas, water and central heating are in place. Floors built up to final level ready for kitchen-fitting and tiling. Roof going on well. We chose the lighter of 2 tiles we saw because we think weathering will dull them down, this side of the house gets all the exposure, although they mayn't look quite right when new. We have chosen a door to go between the new rooms and it will take 12 weeks to arrive because it's made in Spain to order. Doors in the mass retail market are desperately unimaginative - the same goes for radiators and other fittings and fixtures. Anything slightly non-standard (ie. not available in Wickes, Great Mills, B&Q etc.) costs 4 times as much and takes months to arrive. TIP: If you want anything 'stylish' or 'modern' - ie. as used by office and shop fitters and most of continental Europe, but not stocked by British DIY stores - order it months in advance To add to the confusion, we are also decorating the dining room at the same time. We had the floor sanded and lacquered at my insistence. We're told this is a good job, it certainly looks it. We both liked the finish in the end, although we had to cannibalize boards from other rooms to repair a few areas. TIP: - always sand and seal 2 or more rooms if you've not had any done before, because it works out cheaper per room, and you give yourself, or future occupants, a source of spare boards (provided where you took the spare bits from is then carpeted or has something put over it like furniture or a rug). It is easier to replace a board that's already been sanded and sealed a certain way with another like it, rather than an untreated board. (Allwood Flooring Ltd, Northolt, Middlesex). Our central heating has broken, although this is nothing to do with the building work, just coincidence. One problem we found during building is knowing who is at fault when little things go wrong like this. Our first instinct is to phone the builders, who don't seem to mind, and respond well to any problems. Another TIP: get this fault response sorted out at the start with builders.

Week-ending 24th November 2001

Roof finished. Pebble-dashing finished. Radiators fitted and working. Kitchen units delivered - some units missing, some damaged, some not sent because of a manufacturing fault. We may not get them until December 18th. Oh dear. MFI will have to think about compensating us for having to get our kitchen fitter back again later. Cooker delivered, but although it is supposed to be fitted by the deliverer, he cannot do it because he doesn't have the right part - this is odd given that he knew what cooker he was supposed to be fitting. The builder agrees to fit it, and John Lewis waive the installation charge. The cooker hood is causing a slight problem, because we wanted the side kitchen window moved back towards the house half a metre, the cooker hood's extractor chimney would come out in the new garden room! If they took it upwards it would come out in the roof valley, so there is no escaping the fact that some clever ducting will be needed, which will cost extra. TIP: consider where a cooker is going to go, and that unless you want just a recirculating hood, it will need to vent to the outside. Same goes for tumble-driers, some condense the moisture but some vent to the outside. The floor tiles are ordered. We changed our minds about the Venus Collection, although they are excellent tiles with a good finish, and went for something cheaper with a bit more variety of colour in it.