Hall Green - Kitchen Extension & Building Work

Min depth to the bottom of foundations on domestic dwellings is 0.9 of a metre, here we are at 1.4 metres depth & still going!

An honest days graft & my back is still in one piece!

Looking nice & neat, but still not deep enough ! the ground was too soft to build on, better safe than sorry, so got the foundation piling lads in.

Starting the pile driving

Adding on extra tube

Wow, 10 feet deep here!

Ring beam in place

Ready for the concrete

In she goes!

Barrow service from the concrete lads

Perfectly level

Starting Brickwork

A good old fashioned inspection chamber had to be built

Internal flaunching over the engineering brick, with cement bag finish

Back inlet gully & trap on pea gravel

Drain connection to under floor Hot & Cold feed with insulation & ducting Hardcore compacted at every 6" layer intervals (6 tons)
Restricted access on site, so I had the reinforcement mesh cut in two to fit through the customers gate

And here he is, Mr Sutcliffe using his skills as a retired fitter, to weld the mesh back together with new lenghts of re-bar. Thanks John!

A393 10mm re-bar fabric mesh, on 50mm Styrofix plastic spacers, on 80mm Quinn Therm, on 1200 gauge visqueen, on 1" blinding sand, on compacted limestone hardcore

Ready for action, with the mesh a 1/3 from the bottom of the slab. It really is a perfect job

The free barrow service is a great idea from the concrete lads & saves my back!

I took out some of the brickwork from the house wall & floated the concrete underneath it to achieve four sided suspension

House wall cut into & wall starter kits bolted on

External leaf going up

Polysterene removed & a very clean 3 course below dpm chase (I hooverd it!)

Temp door profile

Smooth reds on the corners to give a bit of character

I made a new flagged path around the extension sooner rather than later to keep the mud down to a minimum

85mm full fill thermo slabs in

A tidy bit of internal blockwork

Spotless floor, even at this stage

Dodging the rain

Full fill wall bats going in

Internal wall tied into house

Small pantry window bricked up on the inside, then the outside toothed out ready for the large window move

I removed more brick than I planned for, as the mortar in the old wall was'nt up to the job of supporting the new load, so I rebuilt it

I did the maths & came to the conclusion that 3 acrow props would take the temporary load,  but better safe than sorry with me, so I put 8 in!

I built a wooden form, then a brick archway to match in with rest of the house with cement bag finish. You can see where the old window used to be in the background.

This is where im different to other builders... I load up the R.S.J with mortar, then force it up into the wall with acrows, instead of trying to slot bricks in above it. (Arrow is just a marker)

I leave the props in for a few days, then hammer steel packing shims in at each end, between the gurder & pad stone, not bits of slate like the cowboys do. 

Pre-fab roof trusses in, & jack rafter work.

Facia's & Soffits in, with eaves support over external skin.

Felt support trims in.

Starting to remove the internal wall, this is where most of the weight is, so doubled up on props, just incase.

Floor supported, but with extra strong-boy supports in the brick courseing too, nothing drops or moves when I work on it.

 I had spacers welded into the internal beam to avoid any lateral bowing, the two beams are then bolted together.

Instead of just building up from the old window cill, I took all the brickwork out from the floor level & replaced with newboth sides, with vertical d.p,c's. An extra two days work, but worth it for peace of mind. Ties on every course.

Before

After

Walls removed, all the hard graft & mess done while my customers took a short break in sunny Wales!

Before

After

Nice & Tidy

Tiles going on, breathable underlay & a 5" head lap

Roof On

Lovely, dead straight.

Building Inspector passed the structure, now ready for first fix electrics, then plastering.

First fix in and dry lining started, all by me of course & a pic of the most useful piece of equipment I have.... two beer crates!

Plastering started, nice & neat, no mess, no fuss.

I always give my jobs at least one coat of emulsion, just so its easier for you to paint onto.

Putting the electrics in

A lovely simple kitchen extension

Flagged around the sides

Front elevation

Finished Job

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BEFORE

AFTER