A ground & first floor extension project that added around a little bit over 30 square meters to the house. The extension was completed of a full basis: painting, flooring, skirting boards and so on. Furthermore, all the guttering & soffits had to be replaced all around the house.
The project took 6 weeks to complete. It’s also important to note that we did almost all the work without entering the house, only 8 days before the work was completed we entered the house, meaning that the disruption was kept at a minimum for the customers.
The completion time is impressive especially since there are few milestones in the building warrant that we had to work around and also allow the council at each milestone to inspect the work. When we started the project, there was a porch across the street that was being built. When we finished the work 6 weeks later, that porch wasn’t completed yet.
Week 1
This week was a lot about organising the site. All the large plant & machinery like digger, excavator, toilet hire came on the first day and allowed us to start the work. OSB sheets laid on grass were a requirement of the building warrant and wire fences all around the site. In the first week we managed to excavate almost 50 tonnes of soil, organise with a gas engineer to move the underground gas pipe, pour the foundation concrete and start the under-building brick laying. This week is really important, we used a series of lasers to make sure the extension will align with the current house.
Week 2
This is probably the most impressive part of the project. The under-building was completed and we started the timber structure. Taking into consideration that the structure was slightly under the level of the ground, this meant that we had to use a series of special plastic membranes. It’s also interesting to see how far new standards go, the red foil is actually a Radon gas membrane barrier (there are some naturally occurring radioactive gases inside the ground that can cause health issues down the way, this foil has the scope to deal with that).
The timber structure was slightly more special compared to a standard extension, mainly because of the very large window openings.
Week 3
This week we continued our work with the timber structure, fitted the Velux winows, roof tiles, breather membrane, fire cavity closers. Also, we started with the bricklaying for the external leaf.
Week 4
This week we fitted the insulation, organised with the NICEIC approved electricians to do the first wiring fix, fitted the soffit/guttering (using a 5 tonne boom lift than transformed a 10 days job into a 2 days one), fitted the steel beams (we required some special beams for the extension, downstairs being an over 200kg galvanised L beam that only an electric hoist could lift it). Towards the end of the week, we started fitting the plasterboard as well (after fitting the windows, of course).
Week 5
This week we tape and plastered inside, did the harling outside, fitted all the movement joint sealants and general small bits that must be done.
Week 6
Everything else was done this week. Painting, doors fitted, flooring, cleaning. Also, the electricians returned for their fitting the final bits and pieces. The electricial work also involved fitted smoke alarms in the whole house (heat alarm in the kitchen, optical alarm upstairs and various smoke alarms) We pressure cleaned the patio in front at the end of the project.
Remember that we said at the beginning that we use a series of lasers to make sure that the extension aligns with the existing house? Well, the upstairs ceiling aligned perfectly with the existing house. The same goes for the both floor levels and external walls.
