Builder starting small extension, will I regret it
- Thread starter Oldman
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
xy mosian
Established Member
Brad, In case you've not got it sorted yet. BullZip pdf printer is capable of printing a pdf file to jpg. It is free and avaialable here:- http://www.bullzip.com/
Sadly it only seems to convert the first page of a multi-page pdf document. I don't doubt it could do the others, but one at a time.
xy
Sadly it only seems to convert the first page of a multi-page pdf document. I don't doubt it could do the others, but one at a time.
xy
BradNaylor
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2007
- Messages
- 2,311
- Reaction score
- 2
xy mosian":cvpqpbyv said:
That's brilliant, mate!
Here's my plans.
Brad
Mr Ed
Established Member
Funnily enough Brad I built more or less an identical extension on my last house. Here's a pic to give you an idea of what yours might look like;
The downstands on the hips are to hide a deeper rafter in these locations so were accentuated to contain lighting.
Cheers, Ed
The downstands on the hips are to hide a deeper rafter in these locations so were accentuated to contain lighting.
Cheers, Ed
BradNaylor
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Oct 2007
- Messages
- 2,311
- Reaction score
- 2
Thanks for that, Ed. I'll show your pic to SWMBO cos she hasn't got a clue what we're going to end up with. I've only explained it 486 times!
](*,)
Meanwhile I'm starting a thread on my extension build over on the projects forum. It won't be very woody to start with but it will eventually feature a truly historic walnut kitchen...
Brad
](*,)
Meanwhile I'm starting a thread on my extension build over on the projects forum. It won't be very woody to start with but it will eventually feature a truly historic walnut kitchen...
Brad
head clansman
Established Member
hi doctor
hence the need for stage payments with at least 25% of the full quoted costs as a final payment at the end which is not payable till the work is finished to your satisfaction .hc :wink:
:shock:
hence the need for stage payments with at least 25% of the full quoted costs as a final payment at the end which is not payable till the work is finished to your satisfaction .hc :wink:
head clansman
Established Member
Hi Brad
look forward to following your thread plenty of pics i hope .hc
look forward to following your thread plenty of pics i hope .hc
big soft moose
Established Member
- Joined
- 22 May 2008
- Messages
- 5,079
- Reaction score
- 0
Oldman":3w5d3nwb said:
was that written into the contract ?
if it was, you could legitimately deduct the price of replacement slabs (plus making good any other damage) from their final bill.
My prescription , and i deal with contractors everyday at work, is to put absolutely everything in writing and get it signed off before work starts.
My old dear had her garage converted into a utility room recently and the builder thought he could take the michael - however he wound up with me standing over him making him fix the 18 faults before he got the final payment
head clansman
Established Member
Hi big soft moose
quite rightly so , good on you , i was the assistant property manager in Portland naval base dealing with the daily day to day contractors.
ha ha some of the things they thought they could rip off HM government for was a real eye opener , didn't do them any good though i was on there backs 24/7. the amount of contractor that i had escorted off the base in the last few years before it closure in 1996 was down heartening, mostly trying to pad out there bills by claiming extra work that had not been done , claiming extra hrs that had not been worked , but mostly the very poor standard of work , my grandson Ryan could and can do better .
The standard of trade people, no not trades people , but people masquerading and employed as AS TRADMEN BY contractors who were not tradesmen was extremely poor. hc
quite rightly so , good on you , i was the assistant property manager in Portland naval base dealing with the daily day to day contractors.
ha ha some of the things they thought they could rip off HM government for was a real eye opener , didn't do them any good though i was on there backs 24/7. the amount of contractor that i had escorted off the base in the last few years before it closure in 1996 was down heartening, mostly trying to pad out there bills by claiming extra work that had not been done , claiming extra hrs that had not been worked , but mostly the very poor standard of work , my grandson Ryan could and can do better .
The standard of trade people, no not trades people , but people masquerading and employed as AS TRADMEN BY contractors who were not tradesmen was extremely poor. hc
I stood and watched to make sure most of the flags came up intact after seeing the first few damaged. I did expect some to be unusable as I had pointed them all in by hand myself and they were not going anywhere.
The dissapointment was with the flags around the outside of the trench which mainly have been destroyed by the digger being sat on them with no boards under it.
I have no reason to doubt that the builder will as in the contract make good the damage around the workings, for that he will need to use the flags I had reclaimed today so they match the rest of the patio thats left.
If at the end of the job thats all I have to worry about, then that will suit me fine.
Tomorrow should be interesting with the trenches gaining more water as I type and no its not rained for a few days. Seems the clay is keen to give up its water content to the open trenches.
First job will be pumping or bucketing out, then shuttering where the side fell in. The BCO is due late morning and the concrete is booked for around 1pm.
The dissapointment was with the flags around the outside of the trench which mainly have been destroyed by the digger being sat on them with no boards under it.
I have no reason to doubt that the builder will as in the contract make good the damage around the workings, for that he will need to use the flags I had reclaimed today so they match the rest of the patio thats left.
If at the end of the job thats all I have to worry about, then that will suit me fine.
Tomorrow should be interesting with the trenches gaining more water as I type and no its not rained for a few days. Seems the clay is keen to give up its water content to the open trenches.
First job will be pumping or bucketing out, then shuttering where the side fell in. The BCO is due late morning and the concrete is booked for around 1pm.
johnf
Established Member
big soft moose":1k7go92b said:
It is the customers responsiblity to draw up a full specification of work and a bill of quanties detailing everything right down to the colour and type of paint .
unfortunately most customers do not want to pay someone to do this leaving the poor old builder second guessing the standard and type of finish required you should also employ some form of profesional type of site management such as an architect or qualified site manager.
These things all cost money but greatly assist customer relations and hopefully prevent the builder turning into the builder from hell or the customer being the customer from hell whitch is just as bad.
Well the sun is shining and the guys have bucketed the overnight water table out the footings and finished leveling up the sides and bottom.
The BCO has been and although he said wanted 1.7mtr footings not the 1.2mtr as dug due to 2 very old pear trees around 5mtr away, he agreed to the 1.2mtrs as long as I sign a legal undertaking to keep the trees below 6mtr tall.
He suggested they are 8mtr atm but I really dont think they are anything like that, If they are more than 5mtr now I will eat my hat, but I wasnt about to argue with him as another 1/2 mtr digging would have been a disaster.
Height markers are in for the concrete, just waiting now for it to arrive and get poured.
The BCO has been and although he said wanted 1.7mtr footings not the 1.2mtr as dug due to 2 very old pear trees around 5mtr away, he agreed to the 1.2mtrs as long as I sign a legal undertaking to keep the trees below 6mtr tall.
He suggested they are 8mtr atm but I really dont think they are anything like that, If they are more than 5mtr now I will eat my hat, but I wasnt about to argue with him as another 1/2 mtr digging would have been a disaster.
Height markers are in for the concrete, just waiting now for it to arrive and get poured.
Concrete arrived Wed pm and got poured.
Thursday early sand, cement, type 1 etc arrived arrived and is now all in my front garden.
Builder arrived and did the concrete blockwork, well most of it as he left gaps for the temporary rainwater pipe connections as its maybe going to thunderstorm over the weekend.
The new drains around the outside of the blockwork will be done Monday along with moving the main sewer manhole and removing the old sewer pipework which is in the way for finishing the blockwork.
Thursday early sand, cement, type 1 etc arrived arrived and is now all in my front garden.
Builder arrived and did the concrete blockwork, well most of it as he left gaps for the temporary rainwater pipe connections as its maybe going to thunderstorm over the weekend.
The new drains around the outside of the blockwork will be done Monday along with moving the main sewer manhole and removing the old sewer pipework which is in the way for finishing the blockwork.
Monday has been and gone so has the builder. He arrived to "do the drains" today.
They trenched out around the outside of the footing blocks and laid drainage to couple up to the existing rainwater downpipe from the old extension flat roof, connected my french drain run into the pipework and ran down the side of the building with a connector in place to join the 2 section of Aco drain that I will be having to get rid of surface water I get from next door when it rains hard.
From there they took the drainage straight into the old manhole.
I was supposed to have a new IC but when they went to fit it it was deemed impossible without wrecking the downstairs toilet which enters the existing manhole in the same plane as the outgoing, the new plastic round IC's dont allow for such antics so it was down to modifying the existing.
One small problem with the pipe run as laid in, we are on combined drains so stormwater and sewer in one. I noticed after they left that there is no bottle trap in the line before the manhole so all the smells can vent out of the Aco drain or any other drain on the run, so tomorrow I have to ask him to fit one in the line he already finished.
Cant see that would ever get past the BCO anyway, though he was conspicuous by his absence, perhaps they didnt call him to check the drains yet as they still have another day removing the old upstairs toilet stack and fitting a new one outside the building line.
The oversite prep is the next thing on the list after that.
They trenched out around the outside of the footing blocks and laid drainage to couple up to the existing rainwater downpipe from the old extension flat roof, connected my french drain run into the pipework and ran down the side of the building with a connector in place to join the 2 section of Aco drain that I will be having to get rid of surface water I get from next door when it rains hard.
From there they took the drainage straight into the old manhole.
I was supposed to have a new IC but when they went to fit it it was deemed impossible without wrecking the downstairs toilet which enters the existing manhole in the same plane as the outgoing, the new plastic round IC's dont allow for such antics so it was down to modifying the existing.
One small problem with the pipe run as laid in, we are on combined drains so stormwater and sewer in one. I noticed after they left that there is no bottle trap in the line before the manhole so all the smells can vent out of the Aco drain or any other drain on the run, so tomorrow I have to ask him to fit one in the line he already finished.
Cant see that would ever get past the BCO anyway, though he was conspicuous by his absence, perhaps they didnt call him to check the drains yet as they still have another day removing the old upstairs toilet stack and fitting a new one outside the building line.
The oversite prep is the next thing on the list after that.
Well the problem with no trap on the Aco drains has resolved itself, he had set aside a trap to put in line before the Aco, so sorted.
This morning was spent breaking up reinforced concrete between my downstairs loo and the manhole to gain access for a new soil stack and drains for the old kitchen to keep that in operation till I get the new one fitted out.
BCO came and ok'd the drains with the proviso that a rubber coupling is fitted in the plastic run before the manhole for expansion. Thats now done.
Its back to clearing the oversite this afternoon ready for building up. Tomorrow will be more drains work like smashing out the old china stuff under where my new block wall should be so that can be finished off and of course temp redirecting all the drains and toilets so building work can carry on.
I was aprehensive at first but it seems to be coming together ok so far.
This morning was spent breaking up reinforced concrete between my downstairs loo and the manhole to gain access for a new soil stack and drains for the old kitchen to keep that in operation till I get the new one fitted out.
BCO came and ok'd the drains with the proviso that a rubber coupling is fitted in the plastic run before the manhole for expansion. Thats now done.
Its back to clearing the oversite this afternoon ready for building up. Tomorrow will be more drains work like smashing out the old china stuff under where my new block wall should be so that can be finished off and of course temp redirecting all the drains and toilets so building work can carry on.
I was aprehensive at first but it seems to be coming together ok so far.
Work went quicker this afternoon so the builder broke out the existing drainage china pipes and finished off the concrete blockwork over where the original sewer pipes crossed the footings. I now have an unusable upstairs loo as the pipework goes to an open end in the base of the new extension. He will break that up tomorrow when he prepares for the type one.
He did bring one matter to light that I was not too keen on, he dug up a very sorry looking copper pipe which it would seem is my mains water supply!
He wants to just bury it again, but I am off the opinion now I have seen it that its best to change what I can see of it for mdpe before the sub base goes down, I hope to get some 1/2" copper to mdpe adaptors in the morning first thing and change it before he gets too far.
He did bring one matter to light that I was not too keen on, he dug up a very sorry looking copper pipe which it would seem is my mains water supply!
He wants to just bury it again, but I am off the opinion now I have seen it that its best to change what I can see of it for mdpe before the sub base goes down, I hope to get some 1/2" copper to mdpe adaptors in the morning first thing and change it before he gets too far.
bugbear
Established Member
Oldman":1zh2wu74 said:
A bit of trivial "playing at surveying" would measure them.
Get some known distance away, take an angle on the tree top, do some easy trig.
BugBear
Sorted the mains water supply, cut back the copper to where it enters the extension blockwork and used plastic in a big loop up out of the footings and back down again to join to the old copper as it enters the original kitchen below dpc. Once the building work is finished I can cut and blank off the old original pipework and supply new feeds from the new plasitic pipe. But for now everything still works which is the main thing.
All the original sewer pipework got broken up today and the sub base of type 1 laid over level. The cavities were filled 1 block from the base with type 1 and cement dry mix, tapped down then watered.
Then a bed of sand on which a plastic membrain went in the base, followed by 90mm Celotex and Celotex verticals around the blockwork.
Once that was all trimmed to a tight fit the damp proof membrain went in, shortly followed by a lot of concrete.
After it was tamped to a rough level the builders departed for the day, shortly after it rained for a few mins, just long enough to get a puddle to form. After around an hour it started to fester like an underground volcano getting ready to do something...
I am guessing this is the concrete curing and gassing up though the puddle.
The concrete is btw around 40mm below finish level as they tell me they dont do the finish screed until much later in the build.
All the original sewer pipework got broken up today and the sub base of type 1 laid over level. The cavities were filled 1 block from the base with type 1 and cement dry mix, tapped down then watered.
Then a bed of sand on which a plastic membrain went in the base, followed by 90mm Celotex and Celotex verticals around the blockwork.
Once that was all trimmed to a tight fit the damp proof membrain went in, shortly followed by a lot of concrete.
After it was tamped to a rough level the builders departed for the day, shortly after it rained for a few mins, just long enough to get a puddle to form. After around an hour it started to fester like an underground volcano getting ready to do something...
I am guessing this is the concrete curing and gassing up though the puddle.
The concrete is btw around 40mm below finish level as they tell me they dont do the finish screed until much later in the build.
RogerS
Established Member
I don't want to worry you unnecessarily but.....
looking at your pictures of the damp proof membrane...
1) is it the correct gauge?
2) did they seal the joints or have you got a really generous overlap?
3) where the dpc meets the brickwork it doesn't look as if it goes up high enough. I always like to see the dpc carried up all the way round and above the finished concrete level. I don't see that in your pictures.
looking at your pictures of the damp proof membrane...
1) is it the correct gauge?
2) did they seal the joints or have you got a really generous overlap?
3) where the dpc meets the brickwork it doesn't look as if it goes up high enough. I always like to see the dpc carried up all the way round and above the finished concrete level. I don't see that in your pictures.
Roger, thanks for the comments, Im no builder so feedback is always helpful.
I have no idea of the guage of the membrane, its Visqueen from Builder center looking at the packaging and my vernier says its around .3 of a mm. The guy has a brand new roll so there was more than enough to do the job without any joints.
The next to last pic shows near a metre folded back where he didnt bother to cut it back, there is also loads spare laying over the blockwork.
How is he expected to take it up higher to join with the existing house and old extension ? I dont quite understand. Those 2 parts of the house are doing there own thing re damp proofing.
I guess you think that the membrane should have been left higher than the existing damp course and cut off when the final screed is laid?
Well the BCO will be coming to look and if its wrong or the dpm is wrong, they can take it all out again.
Its all on plain view for him to see.
If it makes any difference both the existing walls from window width are coming out down to existing floor level, red brick one first and later once I have the new kitchen up and running the other wall along with all the pipework will also come down.
"I don't want to worry you unnecessarily but..... "
Well you have! :?
I have no idea of the guage of the membrane, its Visqueen from Builder center looking at the packaging and my vernier says its around .3 of a mm. The guy has a brand new roll so there was more than enough to do the job without any joints.
The next to last pic shows near a metre folded back where he didnt bother to cut it back, there is also loads spare laying over the blockwork.
How is he expected to take it up higher to join with the existing house and old extension ? I dont quite understand. Those 2 parts of the house are doing there own thing re damp proofing.
I guess you think that the membrane should have been left higher than the existing damp course and cut off when the final screed is laid?
Well the BCO will be coming to look and if its wrong or the dpm is wrong, they can take it all out again.
Its all on plain view for him to see.
If it makes any difference both the existing walls from window width are coming out down to existing floor level, red brick one first and later once I have the new kitchen up and running the other wall along with all the pipework will also come down.
"I don't want to worry you unnecessarily but..... "
Well you have! :?
