One done, one to do!

Constructed and weather-protected whilst awaiting its cladding, the first dormer was temporarily left while the guys moved on to create an identical one in the next bedroom. What we'll end up with is a row of three similar (including next door, shown to the right of one of the photographs).

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Having to buy a new window for the new dormer, we also decided to splash out on a new window for the existing dormer so that they matched. In any case, we had had to tape the window on the inside to reduce the whistling noise when the wind blew through the gaps! We obtained quotes for aluminium (which we preferred) and PVC (which was approximately half the price). In this case, we felt that choosing PVC would be good enough ... and we hope we don't live to regret that decision in the next few years. Still, having had stained wooden frames on our previous abode, we felt that PVC couldn't be worse; being south-facing, the wooden frames were in constant need of maintenance plus a bit hard to open when they swelled in the rain or heat, so at least we should be avoiding those annoyances.

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We used Hertford Glass to supply the dormer windows, as our builder has used them before and Stevenage Glass didn't bother getting back to us, despite two emails. If a company encourages emails from its web site visitors, why don't they bother responding???

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Improving the old dormer window

The Dynamic Duo on the Main Roof!

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You may have noticed that our dormer window, whilst functional, was a flat roofed flop, aesthetically, sitting next to the neighbours' pitched-roof dormer.

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We debated whether it was money wasted (no extra benefit) or money well spent (eventually, when we decide to sell and potential new buyers might find the utilitarian flat-roof style unattractive. Who knows?) and the consensus was to create a pretty pitched-roof dormer.
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While the work was being done, an old broken tile was replaced as this had resulted in a leak and, it was discovered, a plastic bag had been inserted, possibly years ago, as a stop-gap repair. The guys also took the opportunity to do some necessary pointing whilst they were up there.

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Another neighbour just 5 doors up the street had some spare roof tiles and very kindly offered them but they were not the same.

October: The Roof is ON!

One photograph taken looking in, another looking out. Now you can see the size of the holes that the bifolding doors and tilt&turn windows will be fitted into. The Schumach tree in the neighbour's garden is glorious!

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We have had regular visits from the council during the construction of the extension and occasional visits from the neighbours. The "attached" neighbour takes a professional interest, as he is in the building trade; the neighbour of the adjoining garage is considering an extension in the near future and the neighbour immediately opposite is ready to begin a similar extension so is asking our builder for a quote (unfortunately, he'll be tied up with our job for a few months so is unable to take on a second project just at this time).

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The diggers/brickie have left and the carpenter (boss) has come on site full-time. The new enclosed space makes a lovely workshop for our carpentry/construction duo. They plan to do as much work on the outside as they can while the weather holds and, in any case, need to secure the outside before opening up the inside to all the elements. We hope that our late decision on windows and doors will not cause unnecessary delays.

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The flat roof is on the ground floor extension and was protected from the weather by the fetching blue groundsheet until the man who puts the black weather-proof stuff can come to finish the job.

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Final Stages of Preparation for the Main Extension

The builders left the roof of the old lean-to for as long as possible, to provide shelter while they worked, removing the existing groundworks so that modern methods of insulation can be laid: it seemed to me like a mix of a different type of rubble plus cement plus layers of polysomething and silver foil (biodegradeable? I think not. How will that affect future generations?) plus rusty old metal and more concrete on top.

The lean-to roof had to go and therefore a door opening was made into the garage so the builders could sit in there for their teas. A sheet of plastic roofing was used as a makeshift door. We are near the end of September now so the weather could be a bit unpleasant.

The walls were now being built so a decision was made regarding the bi-folding door system. Having solicited various quotes from prominent companies on the Internet, we discounted those who could not install within six weeks and those who could not also supply the particular windows we wanted. We had also decided that the integral venetian blinds were a must-have so out went the contenders who did not accommodate them. From 8 companies, we were down to two - prices were similar, both were based in London's home counties. We chose SunSeeker Doors, based in Luton, who showed us an installation in our home town and who had the shortest lead time. Additionally, it turns out that SunSeeker Doors not only manufacture their own bifolding doors (which we were invited to see by appointment) but the aluminium they used for said doors was also manufactured in England, yay us! If you are interested, visit www.sunseekerdoors.co.uk (I mentioned that their web site was a bit naff and another one is under construction for Spring 2008). We opted for the 8ft opening (3-door bifold system) and two very large tilt-and-turn windows either side of the door opening, all with integral blinds (requiring no dusting and guaranteed for a few years); we played safe and stuck to standard white for the blinds and the aluminium window/door frames.

Out with the Old

Pictures from inside the remains of the "Crittal" metal-framed lean-to (the house was originally built in 1960 with Crittal window frames and quarry-tiled window-sills, typical of the era, but PVC replacement windows were installed sometime in recent years). Amazingly tidy for a building site, don't you think?

One picture looks across the kitchen window/wall (notice the outside tap which will soon be inside) towards the garage, where a bit of wall has to be removed for a personal door from the house. The other picture shows the thermo-tiled floor that was inside the lean-to and the 'building blocks' like large grey Duplo, waiting to be used above the damp course. We still hadn't chosen the folding doors at this stage and a decision would be needed fairly quickly.

The area which is to be the inside floor has to be taken up so that it can be relaid with multiple layers of inorganic insulation to comply with current regulations (which, in my opinion, clash somewhat with current thinking on "green" issues).

Building new walls (part 2)

The picture shows the existing lean-to, the wall of the existing extension next door and the new rear wall up to the damp course.

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We are now in September, the brickie sometimes has his son labouring for him and they've been here for about 3 weeks. At this point, we are ready for the local council's building regulation inspectors to visit and give us permission to carry on.

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We wanted a fully opening expanse of folding-sliding doors across the back of the extension but the architect had advised that anything over 8ft would require additional strength or longer beams or something so we decided to opt for an 8ft opening with large windows either side. We also prefer the look of wood but decided to match the pvc already used throughout the house, partly because we had wooden doors in our previous two houses and wanted less hassle this time!

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Unfortunately, Wooden doors need staining/painting every year or two and, in our experience, don't generally fit properly - they stick in the summer and, worse still, are draughty in the winter. However, our initial pvc patio door investigations taught us that the stronger and better looking (lower sills, less white and more glass, etc) white "plastic" doors and windows are, in fact, powder-coated aluminium. Time to search the Internet for suppliers and quotes!

Building new walls (part 1)

Starting with the small brick shed beyond the far end of the garage ...
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The shed was demolished to make way for the small extension at the back of the garage, which will become a work area; the rest of the garage will be used for storage plus (if there's any room left) games/pool/teen room.

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Of course, the moment the work area was built, before the screed on the floor had time to dry out properly, the bathroom suites and tiles were stored in there, out of "site" and out of mind for the next few months. We plan to move the existing kitchen window to the back of this area when the kitchen wall is demolished.

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(Hmm, the garden looks a little overgrown, that'll have to wait till later.)

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Having created the temporary storage area, attention was then turned to the outer perimeter of the house itself ...

May - August 2007

This is a picture of the lean-to (with plan on the table) taken from the lounge.
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Meanwhile:
Having chosen to use the same builders who had worked on our previous four projects - honest, reliable, reasonable (but definitely not cheap) cost, we turned our attentions to details.
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We saw the kitchen we liked in B&Q, spent some time designing the layout then ordered an identical one from Wickes with their promise of delivery any time within six months and pay for it sometime after that. We decided to leave the choice of appliances till nearer the time as, for one thing, we couldn't decide on a gas or ceramic hob. We didn't order the worktops, either, as Wickes don't sell granite and it needed to be measured and fitted after the base units were in place.
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As we had the B&Q brochures, we priced up the bathroom suite, shower, taps and the lovely marble sit-on basin - then were subsequently lured inside our local Bathstore by the swish modern suites in the window - and ended up putting in a whopping great order for the downstairs shower room and the upstairs cloakroom. There was some mention of a provisional delivery date for their records but this could be changed when they call to arrange delivery, as we were not sure when the work could be sheduled in.
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Whilst wandering around a local tile showroom, we ordered the tiles for the downstairs shower room, full height walls plus floor. When the price was divulged, we rather hastily removed a number of decorative border tiles from the order to reduce the cost by about 25%!
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July/August ... we went on holiday, came back and the following day Bathstore turned up with our stuff - we are so not ready!!! The builders arrived the following week and I ordered the first of many skips. Work began at the end of August 2007 ...

January - May 2007

Our Plan:

Downstairs: we like open plan, space and light. First of all, we decided to extend (single storey, as next door) right across the back, losing the lean-to before it collapses of its own accord and incorporating a personal door to the garage. Of course, we didn't intend to put a car in there at any point but acknowledged that someone may wish to do so at some time in the future; there was a brick shed at the end of the garage so we thought it might as well be included as part of the project.

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The L-shaped lounge-diner would be open plan to the kitchen and also feature a wall of folding-sliding glazed doors to the south-facing garden.

Rather than have a large family bathroom, we decided to put the loo in the bathroom. As there would then be no room for a bath, it would become a shower room. The loo and part of the kitchen would then become a laundry/utility room. We decided to keep the downstairs bedroom as a guest room.

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Upstairs, we wanted to enlarge the second bedroom and create more light by putting in a dormer window to face the rear; we then stole the equivalent space at the front to create a small "cloakroom" (loo & sink); the main bedroom already had a dormer but also had a large eaves cupboard which we wanted to turn into an en-suite.

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We gave our plans to the architect then sat back and impatiently waited ... for months ... from January till March, then April and, finally, in May, we got the go-ahead - not in time to keep our slot with the builder, though; originally booked for May but with no confirmed permissions, we then had to wait till the end of August for our chosen builders to start.

December 2006 - January 2007

Dec'06:

Finally ... we moved out of Project 4 and into Project 5 ~ a 1960/61 semi-detached chalet-bungalow with potential.

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Two upstairs bedrooms plus downstairs bedroom, bathroom, separate toilet, lounge, kitchen/diner, archaic lean-to and single garage plus a lovely south-facing garden. The attached semi, we had noted, already had an extension so, over the next few weeks, we asked the neighbours if we might chat about their extension and our proposed extension.

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Our neighbours were very accommodating and showed us round their very tidy home (kids all grown up and gone) and enlightened us of the potential problems we may encounter, even offering the use of their extension wall as part of our extension wall.

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Their downstairs bathroom and loo had been combined to make a huge family bathroom, which we liked but chose not to do (more later) and they extended the lounge and kitchen out towards to garden, making them both longer (again, not what we had in mind). Upstairs, they had created an en-suite shower room/loo between the two bedrooms by combining a bedroom cupboard with the airing cupboard and installing a combi-boiler for the central heating/hot water so that the hot water tank in the airing cupboard could be removed. In the larger eaves cupboard off the main bedroom, they had created a study.

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We created our plan and contacted an architect.

Intro - how it began...

Not again, we decided, firmly, having lived in building sites at three lovely locations. This time, we shall take our time and find a house we like as it already is, then relax. But it wasn't to be. Even looking significantly upwards of our price range (just for the hell of it), we were unable to find our ideal house in the location that we needed. We caved. Once more unto the bricks ... and here we go again!

Background

The house we lived in for eight years was purchased as a single storey, four-room shell. Whilst renting elsewhere, we appointed an architect, acquired planning permission and appointed our trusted builder who worked for us on a similar project a few years earlier (see below).

We don't have any photographs of work-in-progress but, basically, at the front of the bungalow, we kept the two front rooms, built a porch to accommodate a cloakroom and replaced the bathroom with a set of stairs. At the back of the house, we kept the kitchen and extended the lounge into the garden. 

The bungalow became a chalet-bungalow by removing the shallow roof and replacing it with a higher pitch, which enabled us to accommodate four double-bedrooms, an en-suite and a family bathroom.

After we moved in, we added a small side extension that provided a study and W.C. (easily accessed by a side door) and a utility room. Oh yes, and we added a pool. Here are some photographs from when we sold it ... 

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The previous house that we renovated with the builder mentioned in the next few posts was purchased with no heating!!! It was a two-storey, three bedroom house with a litchen/diner and lounge, untouched for many years but with great potential. 

We developed it twice. The first time was just a ground floor extension and the second time added an upstairs so that's another 'story' haha! Below are some before, during and after photographs; the first and last are about ten years apart.

Moving on to the next post...