My 1st House Extension

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Mu garage doors arrived a few months ago but i forgot to update the thread. At over 100KG a door they were hard to move around but we managed to get them inside into the kitchen and out of the bad weather to allow us to oil them. 2-3 coats of osmo later and they were ready for fitting. The old up and over door was left in pace for the time being in the original garage location until everything was secure.

They matched the front door perfectly and I am sure after a year or 2 of weathering they will look very much in keeping with some of the original timber doors still seen down the road. Very happy with the outcome.

 

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Things have moved on a lot over the last few months with help from various trades, friends of the build and lot of labouring and stress on my part.

Once the weather started to dry out we cracked on with getting the back garden cleared to give us a blank canvass, this included knocking down the old coal bunker and pulling up the patio.

The rear soak away was installed and back filled and the garden fully levelled. We kept a handful of small tress and the 2 giant trees at the back.

New below ground drainage was then installed from the road to serve the house and while we had the mini digger available ran ducts for power, drainage and water to the back of the garden for a planned future build.

 

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After the below ground drainage the footings were dug. The old garage slab was a little ropey so that was broken out and replaced with a new insulated, reinforced slab to the correct level.

The foundations to the extension were standard 1000 mass fill concrete together with a 2mx2mx.6m reinforced pad foundation for the steel column at either side of the existing house which involved excavating under the rear wall of the existing house and breaking out the original footing before pouring the new.

 

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The blockwork went up in a matter of days including the patio perimeter. This was all the enjoyable bits before all hell broke lose.

 

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The next part of the work was 1 of the worst weeks of my life. I completely underestimated it, panicked and hated every bit of it until it was all finished and I could enjoy what had been done. No pain no gain I guess.

The steels turned up. They were big. The heaviest section was the beam that sits above the new back wall. This weighed in at nearly 1T. It took several hours to manhandle round the back and only just made it into place using 2 genie hoists. The rest were far easier to manage and went in the following day.

1 team on the steel and another propping and demolishing the existing rear wall. Once all the steel was bolted up I bricked up above it and removed the props.

Panic over and it is starting to take shape.

 

[WoOt]

That looks so similar to what I'm planning on doing here. Once the steel arrived and I realized I'd need 2 genie lifts to lift them, I decided it was time to get some help. Work starting on it tomorrow and looking at your pictures now, I'm very glad I did (get help)! Those pictures with everything on acrows look scary as ****.

Out of curiosity, what size and length is the long UC? Mine is 305x305x97 UC, 6.1m long at 575KG

 

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Trust me its worth it when its finished. I have always got involved in everything but these were the 1st tasks I kept well clear of. Never been so nervous even though in theory you know it should all be fine.

The house being held up by props for the weekend really was an impressive view. Fair play to them.

The steels holding up the back of the house were a pair of 430x100x64 bolted together. 9.6m long

 

[WoOt]

The steels holding up the back of the house were a pair of 430x100x64 bolted together. 9.6m long

Once again confirms my thoughts that my structural engineer went way over the top... . I wish I had mine done in a weekend, in summer too.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Good work, it’s going to look great.

those RSJs are beasts!!

 

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Nearly watertight. The roof structure and design was a topic of great debate. We went for something a little different and are now in split minds as to weather we have done it correctly or not. I think it will look good when completed. Mrs Padster is slightly less convinced.

We didnt want a plain flat roof but the big boy steel above the door dictated the pitch height which was slightly more than we wanted which blocks the view from the bedrooms of the garden. The plan is to finish it with a living/green roof which will help with the view and take away the harshness of the flat roof.

 

[WoOt]

Are you doing the roof? Do you have any more images of how the little pitched areas on the edges were done? I keep thinking I'd like those, as they'd look better than a plain flat roof - I think.

 

[kingandy2nd]

I see you’re competing with the neighbours to out - extension each other

 

[domdee]

Fantastic work. Love it! Like my late colleague used to say, a faint heart never funked a pig. What sort of money are these size steels?

 

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Woot sorry for the late response. I have just checked my photos and don't have a huge amount but these should give you a good idea of how it went.

 

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With all of the demo work finished i went out to celebrate. I celebrated a little too hard and forgot i had stockpiled all of the demolished material out the back and had grab lorries booked for 2 days time. So with a stinking hangover i (with a lot of help from my brother) shifted 2 lorry loads of rubble to the front. I just about managed not to be sick.

I then spent the next few weeks on brickwork, something I really enjoyed. I opened up the doorway into the utility room then built the downstairs toilet wall which the steels returning into the house sat on. I then bricked in the last areas of exposed ground and concreted over them to give me a fully concreted "slab" to the extension. Then I built dwarf walls to support the mid spans of the joists leaving plenty of ventilation. When the joists were delivered and sat on the wall plates, everything lined up perfectly. This was a very rewarding job and has allowed the plumber to start running some pipework while I wat for the back door to be delivered.