48sqm kitchen extension. £30k all in
- Thread starter pilsbury
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You most certainly can. The guy was called Rob. Welsh Rob to me. He runs a very small one man band company in South Wales called Old Mill Joinery. He doesn’t really advertise, just word of mouth but does have a very limited Facebook page named after his company. The kitchen units and island and utility units including the solid oak worktops came to just over £8k. He also delivered and helped fit for 2 days 8am to 11pm. Pretty stonking value. Ikea or better price for a hand made solid wood kitchen painted in farrow and ball colours of our choice. Gone are 300, 400, 600 units. Ours are simply made to fit whatever the size. That’s the beauty of hand made. The appliances I shopped around for bartered to £1900 for the lot (fridge, freezer, induction hob, 2 ovens, extractor hood, dishwasher, microwave, boiling water tap, regular tap, 2 sinks)
Just one or two words of caution. Make sure you know what you want and can draw some plans. Also expect plenty of conversations during the construction to iron out the unforeseen. Also be prepared to do things like find your appliances early on to provide measurements so they can be incorporated into the build. Also be prepared for a very hectic hands on day/s while he’s there getting your plumbing and electrics all sorted for him. He does the cabenitry, you do the rest. Going to wren kitchens, booking a fitter, going on holiday for the week and returning to your new kitchen it is not.
You’ll also have a wait if he’s mid way through a project. We were quite lucky but it still took 8 weeks to build.
But it’s all worth it in my book.
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Cracking job, well described. I'm nicking the idea of the hidden flat roof. And I love the windows in the original house
Feel free to steal ideas. Although pleased with the whole thing, I’m especially pleased how the hidden flat roof turned out. Particularly over the garage which originally was flat. I just don’t like the look of flat roofs. Must be a flat roof phobia. Plus I nicked the led strip round the roof lights idea off someone else on here! And also the idea of building walls.
The original windows in the rear are great. However the cills are rotten as hell. But if and when I get the money to replace I shall be going like for like. I can only assume the front was like that before the windows were replaced with upvc about 10 years ago.
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A good joiner should be able to replace rotten cills. If it were me I'd also be getting him to make replicas to replace the uPVC. But I'm not going to lecture someone who has done the job you have 
I was thinking of getting Welsh Rob the kitchen man to quote for replacement windows. And yes, you are right, it would be nice to replace the Upvc as well.
Now, perhaps we could all have a whip round to get me some money to do that..... I’m proper cleaned out
Now, perhaps we could all have a whip round to get me some money to do that..... I’m proper cleaned out
Thank you very much, definitely something for us to consider in the next year or so.
I have just read through the whole lot, a very interesting and inspirational read. Well done.
I am currently planning a rear extension for my bungalow, also with very little knowledge on the building regs.
I love that you done your own drawings and got them approved. How did you decide on the footings depths, insulation and roofing structure etc?
I'm at the stage of having this drawn as these are all things that a man will just tell me whats needed, but any pointers to avoid this would be great!
I also want to take most of the rear wall out, so would need a structural engineer in to draw/calculate that up, which is where my BR drawings would help (i think)
Cheers
I am currently planning a rear extension for my bungalow, also with very little knowledge on the building regs.
I love that you done your own drawings and got them approved. How did you decide on the footings depths, insulation and roofing structure etc?
I'm at the stage of having this drawn as these are all things that a man will just tell me whats needed, but any pointers to avoid this would be great!
I also want to take most of the rear wall out, so would need a structural engineer in to draw/calculate that up, which is where my BR drawings would help (i think)
Cheers
Firstly I looked at my council website to establish PD. I then used this forum and google to find out the regs.
Basically, foundation depth is a 1m guesstimate. Start digging and see what you find. Solid, undisturbed ground is what they’re after. For me it was about this depth I started hitting yellow/orange sand and pebbles. They liked this. If you’ve got clay you’ve got more of a job on your hands.
Walls. 100mm full fill cavity walls are basic and meet the requirements. I believe there are other options but this is cheap and sturdy
Roof structure I simply looked at images of roofs online and bastardised them to my design. With a healthy dose of asking on here. 120mm of colotex type PIR insulation seems standard to meet u values on flat roofs.
As for a SE calculating steels, what is the steel supporting? You may get away without having to provide SE calcs if it’s under a certain length and not holding floors up. I didn’t have to provide this. Just asked questions and concluded two steels bolted together 3.7m long 178x102 19kgm would suffice. Both steels cut to length, welded flanges, drilled, red oxide, bolts, delivered came to £190. So cheap I bet they’re worth that in scrap!
As for drawing the BR drawings, the best thing I did was look online at others. That shows you what you need to include and the level of detail.
I submitted full plans. Therefore checked at an early stage. Have a look at some measurements on other plans. Eg trenches are normally 600 wide. Also your building height from ground level to top of roof is slightly over 8’. With the floor slab and roof makeup I’d hope you are all oompa-loompas! But a good start- see how easy it can be?
My 500x800 was a guess on the thinking that, as it’s timber frame, it’ll be lighter.
Hmm yeah, that’s the same measurement taken from outside ground level to soffit, so need to show the build up in more detail.
Just found out that this isn’t strictly PD, so might have to fork out on proper plans
Hmm yeah, that’s the same measurement taken from outside ground level to soffit, so need to show the build up in more detail.
Just found out that this isn’t strictly PD, so might have to fork out on proper plans