So much dust! Came home from work and we no longer have a wall.
The oven was sold today, and the dining room door is now on the other door frame to reduce the dust as much as possible.
Monday, 23 June 2014
The Rest of Week One
So for the rest of week the builder, plus some labourers have been very busy.
On Tuesday, the foundations were dug by Chris and Yan...
On Thursday the concrete arrived, and after 30 minutes of Chris + 2 running up and down the alley we had foundations...
But unfortunately by day 5 we only had one downstairs room which is now our kitchen, dining room and lounge in one.
Day 5, and a weekend with Ed and Michelle on the horizon. This is what the kitchen looked like. Sorry guys!
Monday, 16 June 2014
The House on Day 1: Builder Arrives and Things Start Happening
Before the builder started, we thought we should take a couple of pictures.
Kitchen Under Stairs Cupboard
Back of House.
Kitchen Under Stairs Cupboard
When we came home from work, this had happened:
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Planning Nightmares and Disinterested Achitects
Following our "successful" attempt at blogging in Hong Kong, we have decided to write a new blog to capture the pain that we have no doubt the house renovation will cause us. This also lets everyone be nosey, and means that we can record the progress as it happens!
So it is probably best to start from the beginning...
Katie and I moved into our 1930s house in April 2013, and began saving money to do some work to the ground floor space.
The plan...
1. Knock down the outhouses (coal house and outside toilet)
2. Build a utility room
3. Knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room
4. Install a new kitchen in the new kitchen-diner
5. Turn the understairs cupboard into a downstairs toilet
Simple! Well as it turns out, not so simple. Once we had saved the majority of the money, we decided that to make sure we get what we want, we should ask an architect to put together a simple plan of the extension. This would also mean that the builders were all quoting on the same thing, and that the applications for "permitted development" and building regulations were taken care of.
Well to start with, it turns out that despite the large fees, the architect was on the whole pretty useless, making small mistakes on plans and generally only interested in getting some money from us. Nonetheless, the permitted development certificate of lawfulness was given, and the building regs application made thanks to some initial planning advice from a friend (no prizes for guessing who).
One and a half months later, after much chasing it became apparent that the building regs team had instructed the architect that they were waiting for an approval from the water company because there was a drain "nearby". Clearly the architect did not care, but after a lot of time on the phone, I found out that the water company record a drain in the alleyway at the side of the house. Evidently, they did not trust the information they had, because I was instructed to make an application once I knew where the drain was. The only problem was that there were no manholes and no way to verify this drains existence.
So the water company agreed to send out a team to uncover this drain. One failed visit later I found out that they had turned up and assumed that because the gate was shut, it was locked. Apparently trying the gate may have meant getting out of the truck. More and more conversations later and the water company finally agreed to let me use the details they have, then took £325 to say what was already in the building regs spec - that the foundations close to a sewer need to be deeper. Great!
In the meantime, we had sorted out letters from our neighbours to ensure no boundary dispute after we had rebuilt the same wall that already exists along the boundary wall. We had the green light.
So it is probably best to start from the beginning...
Katie and I moved into our 1930s house in April 2013, and began saving money to do some work to the ground floor space.
The plan...
1. Knock down the outhouses (coal house and outside toilet)
2. Build a utility room
3. Knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room
4. Install a new kitchen in the new kitchen-diner
5. Turn the understairs cupboard into a downstairs toilet
Simple! Well as it turns out, not so simple. Once we had saved the majority of the money, we decided that to make sure we get what we want, we should ask an architect to put together a simple plan of the extension. This would also mean that the builders were all quoting on the same thing, and that the applications for "permitted development" and building regulations were taken care of.
Well to start with, it turns out that despite the large fees, the architect was on the whole pretty useless, making small mistakes on plans and generally only interested in getting some money from us. Nonetheless, the permitted development certificate of lawfulness was given, and the building regs application made thanks to some initial planning advice from a friend (no prizes for guessing who).
One and a half months later, after much chasing it became apparent that the building regs team had instructed the architect that they were waiting for an approval from the water company because there was a drain "nearby". Clearly the architect did not care, but after a lot of time on the phone, I found out that the water company record a drain in the alleyway at the side of the house. Evidently, they did not trust the information they had, because I was instructed to make an application once I knew where the drain was. The only problem was that there were no manholes and no way to verify this drains existence.
So the water company agreed to send out a team to uncover this drain. One failed visit later I found out that they had turned up and assumed that because the gate was shut, it was locked. Apparently trying the gate may have meant getting out of the truck. More and more conversations later and the water company finally agreed to let me use the details they have, then took £325 to say what was already in the building regs spec - that the foundations close to a sewer need to be deeper. Great!
In the meantime, we had sorted out letters from our neighbours to ensure no boundary dispute after we had rebuilt the same wall that already exists along the boundary wall. We had the green light.
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