Brick and Breezeblock deliveries

Building work is due to re-commence on Wednesday.

A few brick deliveries and an empty skip await the building team for a Wednesday start.

Foundation exploration confirms type of foundations needed

It's the end of the first week of the house extension build (demolition).

We hit a minor problem with how the house foundations need to be put down for the extension.

As the extension will bear the weight of the side of the house, the building regulations for the type of foundations required are crucial.

Long story short, the structural engineer has to specify the type of foundations needed which then require approval by the local (Poole borough council) building control department.

This has caused a delay of several days of work but is a common scenario. Until the foundations have been excavated and explored - the type of foundations cannot be determined.

These photos show the hole used to examine the existing foundations of the house.

This photo shows that water is now below the depth at which it is able to soak through permeable earth. At the depth the water is now, the ground does not allow it to soak away.

The house extension building work begins!

To provide suitable works access for the builders to enter the garden and access the rear of the house we agreed to remove a fence panel.

This allows the builders direct access to deliver building materials for the house extension and to remove significant amounts of rubble.

Builders usually factor in 'how easy it is to access the property' in their quotations. Building an extension would usually cost more if the building area cannot be easily accessed with machinery, tools and materials.

First of all, the builders move the obstructing apple tree.

Re planting the apple tree, let's see if it survives!

This will make it very easy for builders to access the property with building materials.

Before the house extension building starts...

As requested by our builders, the areas involved in the building work should be clear so the house extension building work can truly commence on the agreed start date.

The 'Before' Photos

Who is that running across the photo!

We spent many hours clearing the dining room, moving the furniture to other rooms and ensuring the outside patio area was clear for the work to start on 10th June 2013.

We ensured that the windows and blinds were photographed ready to go on to Gumtree to sell.

The clearing carried on after the sun went down.

Removing the blinds

I recommend trying to sell these types of items rather than throw them in the skip as you can save some money and it all helps.

I even managed to salvage some of our 'Cotswold' decorative gravel and put it to one side.

Our House Extension Building Project Description

Our aim is to have an extension built knock through the wall between our kitchen and dining room to create a large open plan kitchen / family room.

We wanted a very functional kitchen and also a great family space for every day living and entertaining. We felt that knocking through would not create enough space so we decided to have an extension built to create a much larger space.

We are going to keep this site updated with the latest on the project so check back for updates!

See below the rear view of the property and also the ground floor layout so you can try to visualise the project.