2 Storey Side Extension with Lift!

That's some hardcore barrowing!!

 

The new drains went in on Thursday.



Not quite up to Building Regs ! But my thanks to the builders for keeping the sink and washing machine usable with the temporary drains.

And then finished on Friday.



They are raised out of the ground to DPC level so that the patio can be raised to door sill level for step free access.



But we will change the covers to be concealed covers.

There is another manhole in there somewhere. Probably underneath that pile of bricks. We will need to expose it at some point. It was covered up when the garden was landscaped and levelled.

 

Week 3

WTF !? (Where's The Footing !?)



We knew there was a problem with the foundations from a trial pit we had excavated some years ago. But not expected to be quite as bad as this.

So we dug down 1.4 m to firm ground so that the garage pillar can be underpinned with a concrete pour.



J said it was nice and cool down there!

 

Work has also started inside the garage, on the foundations and pit for the lift shaft.



There used to be steps there.

This is the footprint of the lift...

 

It's good to see the build finally move upwards instead of down. We have reached DPC level.

 

Has the man in that photo been trained about working safely in excavations?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39883644

 

Week 4

More concrete - to underpin the garage pillar. And proof that J made it out of the trench. But where's Kev....?

 

Bricks and blocks delivered today. The wonders of HIAB...





There is a small lane that runs up the back of our house which were able to get the delivery lorry up, and reach over the fence with the HIAB.

 

Keep us posted I like the pitched roof that will look as though its an extension of the original roof

 

Thanks. I found out from the planning department that it is known as a "catslide" roof: "A catslide roof is a roof that continues down below the main eaves height and allows you to have a greater depth of building without increasing your ridge height."

 

DPC Membrane and oversite in.



The wall is going up!



The bricks are a bit bright, but hopefully they will mellow in over time. The sample bricks were a good match to the existing so we shall wait and see. Worse case scenario, I can render and paint the extension to create a contrast.

 

Week 5

Progress has been hampered this week by heavy rain and a flu bug. But more of the wall has gone up, and some internal blockwork..



Note the openings for the French doors and the utility window (who would have thought of having a window there? Eh Kev!?). We are going to reuse the existing utility window.

The warm air central heating unit was removed on Monday. It's a bit of a beast.





The hole in the ground was where the fan sat, connected to an underfloor duct for drawing air into the heater, from the main house.

We are replacing the warm air unit with a combined warm air, hot water, and radiator system. this will be located in the garage. I shall cover the new central heating system in more detail at a later stage, but here is the basic system schematic.



This system should be a lot more efficient and controllable than the old warm air only system.

 

Unfortunately, the garage door needs to be replaced. The motor was wearing out and it sits where the new internal wall will be so needs to be resized and reinstalled with an upgraded safety cut-off. The cost of which is very similar to a new door. A temporary door is now in place to allow space for the internal blockwork.



The guys have also removed the mezzanine floor in the garage.



It was useful storage space but will be much better as a home cinema! just got to find somewhere to store the roofbox.

 

Week 6

The walls are up and the lintels on. It doesn't look as wonky as this in real-life!




View from inside.



Work has also started on the internal cavity wall for the garage.



Now, if you have been following this blog closely, you may be thinking should there should be steels and not blockwork inside the garage. In short, because the foundations we uncovered for the existing wall were sufficient to take a new internal leaf, we have dispensed with the steel frame, and the troublesome beam 3. And we are putting up a blockwork cavity wall instead. The blackjack painted on the wall is because that part of the wall is below ground level on the outside. There is an existing membrane in place, the blackjack is just for extra damp protection.

Closer view of the blockwork, and you can zoom in to check the level...

 

If you got a cat flap on the back door you could leave the drain there and save some £££