Makeitstop

Yes Faz, that was my thinking. The point of my initial question was to gauge opinions on the level of pisstaking, which I felt was monumental. The overall quote from this guy was Circa £42K + VAT on an extension of 6.3m X 3.5m. This does not include large (3m) sliding door, window or rooflight and does not include even any foundations, as I need to get it piled and RC beam. It did make me chuckle to be fair. @ Ferdinand..... Yeh, I know timber has risen in price, but I am thinking he's likely to be using softwood on it, not Madagascan rosewood or ebony. To my mind, it said to me... " I don't need the work mate, but here's a price for you."

Is this really true though? While I appreciate the fundamental principle of avoiding shading that area of the house, what can be done if the client wants to avoid moving, is looking to create more ground floor space, but, the only space they have to extend into is at the rear. What if the space that will suffer from some shading is a utility room that is used minimally, and can be closed off by a door into a main kitchen living area.

Thanks for the response. I was a little taken aback to be quoted approx £17k for the "joinery" in a fairly straightforward extension of dimensions above. The contruction is standard brick and block, and does NOT include any fitting of kitchen. From what I can tell, I'm looking at roof structure and second fix bits such as skirting. How that translates into £17k + I dont know.

Blimey, what a mega stress that lot sounds. Have to agree that I'd not be at all pleased with door manufacturer. All the fuss they appear to make about "tolerances" only to provide you with a product that doesn't meet their own surveyed dimensions. Surely they have to accept some responsibility for things not working out. Having said that, if the architect says "most / majority" of the loading is already taken into account and that deflection is really minimal, then maybe all is ok as is. Out of interest, what kind of door is it.? I understand it's a triple track slider, but what maker / system?

How did your installation go Adsibob?

Mixing oak and pine (even if the pine is stained / dyed) is never going to end well imo. You will never, ever, make pine look like oak. They will also colour differently over time and with exposure to their surroundings. If you cant do it all in oak, I'd only paint the softwood if you have any oak doors or other natural timber surfaces exposed. Trying to mix totally different timbers and attempting to fake a look to match almost invariably looks awful.

Hi All, Anyone got an opinion on what the joinery work may cost for a single story rear kitchen extension with details set out below. Based in South Wales. Dimensions are 6.3 metres wide by projection of 3.6 metres. It has a parapet roof (on three sides obviously) warm flat roof, fitted with two medium / large..ish rooflights or bank of modular lights like Velux or suchlike?.. Roof finish to be EPDM. Any approx ideas on that.?

This is what I think too. If you find a great fabricator and are able to give proper consideration to detailing, I reckon something amazing could be diy'd. Wouldn't be easy, but it could be exceptionally unique. Cant say the idea appeals to me though. Dont see the point.

Have you got a rough idea of brick colour? If so, go get a varied handful from a supplier and take them to a timber supplier or joinery that has some cedar for you to place against. Better still, buy a piece of cedar so you are able to try at home with whatever bricks you can get that you may like.

Agree 100% having been told exactly this by a very very good structural engineer. You only have to read up on differential settlement to know that youd rather avoid it.

Piling specialists / contractors are very likely to make suggestions on a method of solving your "problem" but, how much of their proposed solution is based on what's best in terms of achieving a sound and lasting result is open to debate. A given method may be put forward as one that they might believe could work for you, sure. However, what you'll notice in the t&c's is that any failed , deflected or refused piles that are not driven to "set" will need resolving and will be at the clients expense. This can work out properly tricky and can become an expensive experience very quickly. With that in mind, accepting any method that "might" not be optimal in performance and yet attractive in a cost sense, could potentially prove to be a false economy. From experience of discussing my own issues with numerous contractors in the UK, both large and small, it's been an education in how varied the advice on correct method has been. One thing is for sure though, seeing the lowest cost as the way to go isnt a smart way to make decisions when it comes to this kind of work. It's the sort of thing you want to do once, and properly.

Thanks for the reply Craig.

Craig.... Can I ask what the solution is / was to resolving the issue in the above job, and was there a satisfactory outcome?

Have to admit, I am struggling to get coatings on a job currently and it's kind of doing my nut. Its approaching the point where I am considering binning the entire idea, as its aggravating even before I've got close to engaging any builder

Have you googled "houses with brick and cedar"? It will likely offer some inspiration. However..... Cedar will turn to greyish eventually. That may be worth keeping in mind. The lovely warm colour of it is difficult to hold on to and surface treatments, while helpful, are only likely to do so much to limit that

That's an honest reply, thank you. For this job, no groundworks are required, so it would be the structure from ringbeam up.

Hi all, A simple question that I'm sure many will have an opinion on....... How long would you expect to wait to receive quotes on a fairly simple single story extension?.... a week, a month, six months? While I fully appreciate times are weird right now and most trades etc are utterly flat out...... How long is too long?

Sorry, can see on the sticker now... Oops

Can I ask who manufactured the slider and what system is used for the framing?

This is something I considered, but thought, "no, that couldn't happen could it". From the response dragster driver has given above though, it sounds like it may even be plausible. To me, it's just not good enough, because it brings additional stress and can potentially ruin timescales that are critical to the client.

I have really limited experience of architects, but, if I were in dragster drivers position, I'd be massively pi**ed at what has happened. Reading the op's posts, I don't see confusion in how the thoughts are conveyed. Everything is clear enough. With that in mind, and, when it comes to detailed instruction on requirements for their design, it seems to me as though nowhere near adequate attention has been paid to what the customer has asked for. In view of that, I'd say dragster driver has every right to be pretty annoyed. I think if it were me, I'd be seriously considering whether to continue with this architect.

That makes sense I guess, but it's been suggested by the architect that the beam size is 600 wide by 500 deep (on drawings for regs approval), even though in all earlier correspondence the beam size has been suggested at 450 wide by 400 deep. This has confused me a bit, and while in some ways it doesn't matter, it does mean more concrete and more waste removal. I'm baffled as to why it looks that way now. I have asked but have not heard back yet, so thought I'd ask opinions here.

Hi all, As title suggests, what do people feel is a generally adequate section for a rc ringbeam for a medium sized extension? Foundations will be piled and floor is beam and block. There is no plan to go up an additional level, so it's just the single story of brick and block, with wall thickness of 340mm, coming off the rear of the house.

Hi all, If an SE does calculations for installation of a pair of steels for a part removal of external wall in an extension job, would it be normal practice for them to specify pillar / padstone / goal post setup, depending on bearing capacity of existing blockwork?

Also, what I was confused about on the SE's calcs was the fact that he was sent a drawing of the plan, showing a span of 4.5m, and calculated for steel at 4.6m. I questioned this with the architect who told me that the 4.6 was the dimension at the pinch points, and that the steel supplier would supply steels with the minimal bearing added, thus making the steels 4.9m. Is that normal practise? To me, why not show the calcs as done on steels of 4.9m? I was baffled by it, but perhaps again this is down to my lack of knowledge on how these things are done.