House Extension: Week One

So, my latest interior design project is my own house extension. I moved with my husband & kids 1 year & 1
week ago & I am super excited to the say the extension works finally started this week.

With so many of us now extending rather than moving, I thought it would be useful to those thinking of
undertaking their own extension or refurbishment, to follow the progress we make over the next
few weeks & months. The builders are here for 8-10 weeks & then the hard work begins because
it is then over to us!

The Project: 

We are building a single storey extension across the entire back of the house. This will become a
kitchen/diner/living area & playroom. We are also going above the existing garage to make it 2 storey &
making this a new master bed, dressing room & en-suite bathroom. We have gone for the
builder to build us a shell and the rest we shall manage ourselves.

Last Sunday the back of our house looked like this:

One week on & it looks like this:

We are out the ground & up to DPC – 4 bricks high. We have
had building control out to visit twice; first time to discuss
with our builder the foundations (new & existing) & the
drains & second time to check the builder was doing as
agreed. Luckily building control confirmed that the
existing foundations on the garage that we are building
on top of, has the adequate foundations for us to make
it 2 storey & our soil is suitable for 1m depth foundations
for the new extension. All good news, because this is what has been allowed for in the costings 🙂

Day One:

The sun is shining, which I am sure has made the 1st week easier & much less muddy! Arriving promptly
at 7.30am, the builders waited for the digger & hammer drill to arrive….its amazing what difference having the
right tools for the job makes. The hammer drill has made easy work of breaking up the existing concrete patio.
And by the end of the day, the patio is all broken up & in the front garden! The soak away has been dug & the
entrance to the drive widened to allow adequate space for all the deliveries.

Day Two:

Another productive day, trenches are all dug, ready for the concrete for the foundations & the
grabber lorry has cleared some of the debris.

By the end of day three, the foundations are all in place & another grabber lorry has cleared the remaining
debris. So nice to see the space that will probably become the place where we spend the
majority of our time as a family.

And one week on, the outline of the new extension is in place.

Roll on week 2. Can’t wait to see how far along we will be in another week. Watch this space for further developments, designs & plans.