Evening everyone,
One thing we've had a love-hate relationship with since moving into our current home is the conservatory hanging off the back. In the summer it's unbearably bright and hot and conversely in the winter it's a cold space to be in. Most people that come to the house seem to love it but having lived with it for 3 years we made a decision late last year to replace it.
So we got the ball rolling, spoke to an architect, drafted some plans, went through the planning process and found the right builder. Many months later the project kicked off in August of this year and we're currently half way through a 12 - 14 week build. I've been trying to capture progress as we've go along and thought I'd share the build process and progress with you.
Hopefully this gives anybody else thinking of doing something similar some insight into what to expect…
So here's the conservatory in question, cleared and ready for demolition.
An area was cleared in the back garden for access, skips and deliveries.
First day and the builders crack on taking apart the conservatory. They also built a temp wood partition wall to the kitchen including a lovely window as shown...
Wasn't long before the foundations were being dug and being inspected by building controls…
That space we cleared at the back of the garden didn't take long to fill up…
Digger makes fast progress with the foundations, the yellow sprayed lines shows the new footprint of the extension…
Once building controls were happy the muck was poured, yey!…
Foundations left for a few days before we started to come out of the ground.
Aerial plot view…
Ground works continued in preparation for the floor slab…
Floor slab poured and left to go off…
Whilst we waited for the first part of the structural steels to be delivered the builders turned their attention to removing a set of French doors and preparing the opening for some bi-folds. Cue the acrow props and lots of banging as each layer is carefully pealed away…
Note: Cracks in render were existing.
Builders put up a temporary partition splitting our dinning room, this has really helped keep the dust in the house down. We also taped up all doors as well.
Slab was now well dry, new lintel delivered ready for installation.
Opening prepared and ready for lintel…
Yikes…
Lintel installed and brick quoins were rebuilt.
All done and ready for door installers…
After a weeks delay, the structural steel work finally begins…
Quickly followed by the block work and things move along quickly again…
Scaffolding goes up with the walls…
Boom! A-frame is in and it's quite a bit bigger than we thought…
Roofers are now able to start and make quick progress…
Meanwhile, preparations continue for the steels that will be installed to open up the existing house to the new extension. As we're got to have a goal-post arrangement, the foundations need to be beefed up to support the frame. This entails digging under the existing foundations and filling up with additional concrete. I'll come back to this later…
Starting to look like a room now…
In preparation for the big steels going in, the builders start to prop up the rear of the house. This entailed holes being made across the section being removed, which meant we lost a bedroom and bathroom.
Beefed up foundations for steels were filled with concrete and left to go off over a few days.
Velux windows have arrived; we're having 4 motorised panels in the new roof.
Meanwhile, our existing kitchen was placed on eBay and sold for an unexpected decent price, which was a nice bonus. Buyer came and stripped it bare.
The acrow props are starting to go in place and the holes created plugged...
Steels are here and they're massive! One will span the opening the other is used internally, more on that later.
With the acrows in place the walls were again carefully pealed back. ..
…
Which brings us bang up to date.
More to follow…
One thing we've had a love-hate relationship with since moving into our current home is the conservatory hanging off the back. In the summer it's unbearably bright and hot and conversely in the winter it's a cold space to be in. Most people that come to the house seem to love it but having lived with it for 3 years we made a decision late last year to replace it.
So we got the ball rolling, spoke to an architect, drafted some plans, went through the planning process and found the right builder. Many months later the project kicked off in August of this year and we're currently half way through a 12 - 14 week build. I've been trying to capture progress as we've go along and thought I'd share the build process and progress with you.
Hopefully this gives anybody else thinking of doing something similar some insight into what to expect…
So here's the conservatory in question, cleared and ready for demolition.
An area was cleared in the back garden for access, skips and deliveries.
First day and the builders crack on taking apart the conservatory. They also built a temp wood partition wall to the kitchen including a lovely window as shown...
Wasn't long before the foundations were being dug and being inspected by building controls…
That space we cleared at the back of the garden didn't take long to fill up…
Digger makes fast progress with the foundations, the yellow sprayed lines shows the new footprint of the extension…
Once building controls were happy the muck was poured, yey!…
Foundations left for a few days before we started to come out of the ground.
Aerial plot view…
Ground works continued in preparation for the floor slab…
Floor slab poured and left to go off…
Whilst we waited for the first part of the structural steels to be delivered the builders turned their attention to removing a set of French doors and preparing the opening for some bi-folds. Cue the acrow props and lots of banging as each layer is carefully pealed away…
Note: Cracks in render were existing.
Builders put up a temporary partition splitting our dinning room, this has really helped keep the dust in the house down. We also taped up all doors as well.
Slab was now well dry, new lintel delivered ready for installation.
Opening prepared and ready for lintel…
Yikes…
Lintel installed and brick quoins were rebuilt.
All done and ready for door installers…
After a weeks delay, the structural steel work finally begins…
Quickly followed by the block work and things move along quickly again…
Scaffolding goes up with the walls…
Boom! A-frame is in and it's quite a bit bigger than we thought…
Roofers are now able to start and make quick progress…
Meanwhile, preparations continue for the steels that will be installed to open up the existing house to the new extension. As we're got to have a goal-post arrangement, the foundations need to be beefed up to support the frame. This entails digging under the existing foundations and filling up with additional concrete. I'll come back to this later…
Starting to look like a room now…
In preparation for the big steels going in, the builders start to prop up the rear of the house. This entailed holes being made across the section being removed, which meant we lost a bedroom and bathroom.
Beefed up foundations for steels were filled with concrete and left to go off over a few days.
Velux windows have arrived; we're having 4 motorised panels in the new roof.
Meanwhile, our existing kitchen was placed on eBay and sold for an unexpected decent price, which was a nice bonus. Buyer came and stripped it bare.
The acrow props are starting to go in place and the holes created plugged...
Steels are here and they're massive! One will span the opening the other is used internally, more on that later.
With the acrows in place the walls were again carefully pealed back. ..
…
Which brings us bang up to date.
More to follow…