Project from the rear

Sent from my iPadHere she is on a lovely summer's day, a week before I start tearing into the decking and maybe 3 or 4 weeks before work begins on the flat roof. You can see how much vegetation there is to remove from the pergola and top of the roof. Ah well, this time next year I'll be able to post some updates and we can see what it's all like then, hopefully it will look as nice as it does now - but will be a lot warmer and prettier inside!

What we're doing.

This is it then, planning permission is through, building regs are in progress and the builder is booked. Anne and I have spent the last couple of days dealing with tradesmen and getting an idea of cost for the jobs we want doing.

The list of jobs to do os too extensive for this first post, but the project, in essence, is an extension to the kitchen area, a pitched roof on the lounge, with a vaulted ceiling and a new utility room running alongside the house, replacement and re-site of boiler, re-site of electricity meter and fuse boxes

Alongside this, we will be completing an extensive renovation/update of all the interior rooms which will involve a re-wire of the whole property and major re-plumbing. Of course, there will be a large amount of decorating to do after this! So, not much then, with a two and a half year old in tow.

We're taking any possible opportunity to save money where we can, by completing as much of the manual labour as possible, ourselves. The first job is to take up the decking and cut back as much of the foliage as possible, to prepare space for work to begin on the pitched roof.

Timescales.
We're thinking about 10-12 weeks for the major works to be completed, from start to finish, but you never know. Work should begin mid-August 2011, which will see us through to the end of October. I suppose we should be aiming for November 8th for completion, since that's Ben's birthday and we can all celebrate.

I'm hoping to use this blog to document the process with a commentary, photos and videos.