This blog is to show the progress of our extension. Luckily we had brilliant builders who did a wonderful job in putting right the alarming features introduced by the previous owner.
Also lucky that we decided to have the extension as most of the back of the house would now be rubble !! (probably)
Be warned.. A Surveyor can only report on the obvious faults, not things hidden behind walls, ceilings and tile cladding.
In the course of the renovation the cottage revealed many worrying features, dodgy wiring, unsupported beams to name a few, but what was revealed under the tile cladding at the back of the cottage was amazing and not for the faint hearted.
The existing kitchen extension was to stay, but the patio area was to be squared off to make a new lounge.
The back of the cottage before the work started.
A beautiful Hollyhock had seeded by the back door and was more spectacular than any we had planted in the garden.
This is the area that will be the finished lounge.
When the tiling was removed it revealed...
Large holes in the wall that hadn't been blocked up. Concrete slabs under sills and poorly finished.
Layers and layers of roofing. Overlarge nails.
Most alarming of all was the inadequate lintel and brickwork above the lintel that had collapsed.
This small chimney was just resting on a flimsy wooden frame.All this was rectified by the builder before the extension was started.
The foundations were dug. The cottage foundations were only a foot deep but building regulations originally required the extension to have three metre foundations but finally agreed at two metres.
Concrete poured in and now we can at last see the finished size.
Soon the window frames were in place. and an enormous steel beam was lifted into place.
Then the supporting beams and plasterboard was installed.
The internal existing doors and windows were taken out, and the plastering began..
There was a three foot drop out of the back doors, so steps were built. Finally we had our new lounge and the cottage was complete.
Just a small matter of carting loads of top soil to build up the garden, but a good job done. Now in 2008 moles are having a great time burrowing through the lovely earth and landscaping hillocks by the patio doors, very picturesque.
