Advice - living through building work (side return extension)

[alaska721]

We're about to embark on building work on our Victorian terrace (extending into our side return). Does anyone have any tips and advice on how to survive the next 12-16 weeks? We are going to be living in the property the entire time as we can't afford to rent elsewhere whilst paying our mortgage. There is no side access so the builders and material will be coming through the front door and through the house.

[LondonMix]

Gosh, do you have kids?

I rented for most of my building work but my friends didn't. One thing that was a life saver was they had the builders temporarily plumb their dishwasher in the dining room. Made washing up much easier.

My advice would be to try to keep just one room (could be a bedroom) really clean. The dust will be everywhere but as long as you have one sanctuary that feels normal you hopefully won't go mad. Keep your clothes in that clean room.

Also, protect your floors from the builders unless you are planning on replacing them as part of the work being done. Friends doing their loft actually removed their carpet and had it relayed later. We needed to ensure the builders put down floor coverings all ver our wood ground floor.

Good luck!

[alaska721]

I've got a four year daughter (who is looking forward to the new kitchen because she believes it's a new play area for her!). I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like with more kids or infants.

The builder has said he will build a temporary kitchen for us and that will include plumbing in my washer dryer.

I know it's going to worth the pain.

[hdbs]

I would also welcome any advice, we are planning on doing the same thing. Equally, if you can recommend your builders/architects I would be very grateful. We are finding it difficult to get a reasonable quote for what is a pretty small project!

[greenwater]

I started our side return extension at 33 weeks pregnant and it was finished when our daughter was 10 weeks old. Did I mention my 3 year old? :).

You will be fine. It's a mindset thing.

It is true though - the dust gets everywhere so doing these things in summer is good so you can be out the house. Also remove as many possessions as possible to storage. Much easier to unpack than attempt to remove dust from every single nook and cranny of every single possession. Taking up your carpets is an excellent idea as is one room of "peace". Our builders protected our floors and boarded up our staircase to minimise chaos and unwelcome access upstairs. Ask your builders what they can do to make things more livable for you.

Good luck.

[greenwater]

Ps - unlikely it will be 12 weeks :). Plan for 16 - that should be right.

[Mrs2013]

Planning to do the same. Let's create a support group to exchange ideas/tips and survive through it!

[Mgdoble]

We had to live somewhere for a year with a temporary kitchen lashed up and bought a two ring baby Belling Stove. This could be plugged into a wall socket without expensive electric cabling to the fuse box. Its surprising what you get used to, and two rings and a small oven is perfectly adequate for most purposes.

[canela]

we did the same thing. just grin and bear it and enjoy camping in a bedroom for a while. agree - to anything you can to minimise dust getting everywhere. my husband used to hoover the whole house every single evening as soon as he got in. and good that it is summer. we did ours in winter and were a little chilly!

[treehugger]

Just wanted to add, don't underestimate the effect on your children. We had building work very similar to what you describe when our kids were 4 and 3. The four year old confided in my mother that he was having dreams that our house was falling down. He really did find it quite disturbing.

[Hoggle]

We lived through ours as well, I was desperate to find somewhere else to stay but just couldn't afford it (our kids were 3 & 1.5) I would re-iterate the importance of having one room free of crap to relax in and try to keep some normality.

HDbs-we used a company called Art of Glass, based in Herfordshire, they were half the cost of the London quotes we got and we liked their designs, we chose glass panels instead of velux windows and we are really pleased with the finish.the first thing they did was plumb in a temporary sink (even the dishwasher!) on the other side of the kitchen which was a real help. Again, do not underestimate the amount of dust! It was even in my son's cot upstairs. You can choose to wrap your sofas/armchairs in the same plastic as the stuff that goes around baggage, we just had a professional clean when the job was finished but it was the dust that got to me more than anything.

[ladyruskin]

We are now 13 weeks into an 8 week project to redesign our kitchen which has included some structural work. With the exception of a 1 week holiday and a weekend away we have been at home all the time. We haven't had a washing machine but have used those of friends and neighbours plus made the most of service washes from the local laundrette for big items like towels and bedding.

As we aren't doing the side return we've set up a kitchenette (microwave, fridge, toaster and toastie maker) in the dining room end of the lounge (victorian back parlour) and have eaten out A LOT. We're lucky in that we've got good canteens at work and our son get fed well at nursery so generally have beans on toast or similar on week nights. We've survived by being out of the house as much as possible and keeping our cleaner on who has made the rest of the house bearable. The spare room is just about useable even though it's got loads of boxes in it.

We're hoping the end is in sight but we've still got at least a week to go. It depends on your temperaments and whet you enjoy about your house now. We've really missed the garden this summer as its full of 'stuff'.

[Galileo]

On the plus-side, at least you're on site every day to deal with builder's questions, we lived off-site as the whole house was being done and luckily my friend's flat was between tenants (oh so very very lucky!) but that meant we had to be here every day to check on builders - we weren't doing this and then came one day and just managed to stop them building the wall in the wrong place (for good reasons but their solution was not the best solution!) and then we came every day.

[alaska721]

Thanks for all the useful advice. The builders started last week while we were on holiday and we returned on Saturday to find our kitchen, WC and garden decking all ripped out, excavations in the garden, a full skip and a temporary kitchen built in our front room (see photo attached).

The builders have laid a protective layer on our floors, walls and staircase. They've even built a temporary door at the bottom of the staircase which appears to have reduced the amount of dust travelling upstairs.

[Mrs2013]

All the best. Keep us posted on your experience

[nina_maniana]

We did this last year and lived in it throughout. It was awful (sorry) and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, however we were also in the position of not being able to afford to rent at the same time. So - top tips:

- Keep one clean room to hide out in

- Make one room a temporary kitchen

sounds like you have those top 2 nailed. Next few also good for us:

- If you don't have one already get a tumble dryer. You'll be doing laundry constantly as everything gets dusty and dirty, and if you leave laundry drying in the house it'll get dusty. Even hanging laundry in our garden it got dust on it.

- We used a slow cooker a lot. If you don't have one already they're really cheap to buy and save on washing up and mess being able to cook one pot meals - did a lot of things which would sretch 2 nights like chilli con carne (in burrito wraps with salad and guacamole one night, with rice the next) or braised beef (with mash one night, with tomatoes and basil and pasta the next)... you get the idea. To be fair your temporary kitchen looks a lot more sophisticated than ours was but it's still no fun cooking in the mess and chaos.

- Furniture elsewhere in the house cover with dust sheets where you can. We also had a door separating the kitchen from rest of house but the dust still crept everywhere and we had to bin the sofas which had been in our lounge in the end. If you have carpets elsewhere even upstairs I'd advise covering them... you won't notice the dust at the time but when our kitchen was all done we noticed the rest of the house looking quite mucky in comparison.

[dulwichquine]

That's a really helpful message. Anyone know where to get decent price dust sheets? I was also thinking of installing a plastic sheet style door to try to keep dust away from first floor. Anyone done that ?! I guess the message is that we should put dust sheets over everything in the living room during the day.

[Belle]

We are currently living through this, though we were fortuitously away the first week when all the structural stuff was done. I haven't been nearly as organised as most posters here! But my top tip for kids is to get some of those fluffy bootie slippers. We have a rule our kids must wear them at all times to keep their feet safe from the countless nails/tacks and relatively clean.

We started work the week after we moved in. We unpacked two plates, a few mugs, and 2-3 sets of clothes abd that's about it. Despite this I can tell some stuff will need throwing out/intensive cleaning when we finally do unpack.

Oh, one other tip. We did quite a lot of paper plates at first. As the kids had very few toys unpacked I gave them pens to decorate their dinner plates with. Surprising hit!

Ask your builders to leave one if those lamps the use, it's a pain sorting the kitchen out in the dark if you're having electrics done.

[alaska721]

dulwichquine - you can get dust sheets from B&Q. We've got the plastic ones that come in rolls (like bin liners) and you cut to size. My husband covers everything in the living room before the builders arrive. Our builders have set up a temporary plastic door at the bottom of our stairs to keep dust away from the upper floors. I'll take a photo tonight and send to you.

[dulwichquine]

Many thanks, Alaska721.

[larrylandell]

Hi, we are looking to have our side return done too and will probably be living in the house throughout the work. Who are you using? Do you have any reccomendations? We have looked at build team so far but would like to get local reccomendations. Thanks for your help!

[toomuchchocolate]

We put up plastic sheeting around the stairs to protect upstairs while work was undertaken downstairs. We also put them up outside every bedroom door. They helped keep the dust out, but the dust sticks to the plastic, so a lot still blows in every time you go through the plastic. I found hanging a fabric sheet up on the inside of the doorframe helped catch more of the dust. Ultimately though, the dust will be everywhere and since it sticks to the walls, you either need to hoover the walls (I realise that sounds a bit excessive) or just keep hoovering as it drops off every day for months!

Definitely cover soft furnishings...we also had to buy a new sofa following the building works. And now we're thinking of doing the side return too. Thank you for reminding me about the dust!

[amydown]

I've recommended our architect and builder on here before - 3 of my friends have also had them for various bits of work, including a kitchen extension and all very happy.

Jino and Lee (ArchInno Ltd) did a huge project for us about a year ago, gutting the whole house, and then doing a big kitchen extension and loft conversion. This was our second big project and we had used a local firm before, who I would NOT recommend (feel free to PM me for details of the builder to avoid!).

Jino and Lee are actually based in Wimbledon area but doing a few projects in Dulwich currently. They are back with me at the moment doing building a large decking area with integrated slide and play stuff for our kids. They are fabulous!

Best thing is their accountability - with our previous builder, we couldn't get hold of him when we had issues. With Jino and Lee, 18 months after they finished in site, even for a minor issue, they will be here in a shot to sort stuff out and that is just impressive in my view.

Jino's number is 07786 985564.

[alaska721]

We're now in week four of the building works and we've had walls knocked down and steel beams going in.

The temporary kitchen is a bonus. I honestly thought we'd be living on microwave meals but so far we've been able to eat normal meals. We even had a roast last Sunday!

The amount of dust is shocking (and I know it's going to get worse). Even with our temporary door at the bottom of the stairs and closed doors throughout the house I have to vacuum constantly. The dust gets EVERYWHERE!

Fortunately I've got two vacuum cleaners (one Dyson cordless and one normal one) and I keep one upstairs and one downstairs.

[LondonMix]

Get a Henry vacuum! They are great for that kind of dust and dirt-- a lot of trade people use them which says a lot.