Ella's Bedroom Blog

This blog is about the building of my daughter's new bedroom. I am a Software Engineer who knows nothing about building, luckily my dad is (among other professions) a retired builder.

Dad

Tradesmen / Travis Perkins / Suppliers / Skip Hire

Me and dad used his massive Titan drill to dig out the existing lintel and replace it with (yet another) RSJ. We used concrete blocks and blue slate as a bed for the sides.
We welded and bolted them together and JUST managed to move the beam up slightly (via washers on the bolts) to sit on top of the existing window, otherwise we would have had to replace the window with a shorter one. The RSJ was therefore not quite level but dad assured me we could 'catch it on the bed', meaning laying an initial uneven layer of cement above it. Also those buggers were heavy, it was pretty scary making sure we didn't damage the kitchen! You can also see my dad's friend Jonathan who is a master welder :)

Week 2: 12/Apr/2021 Playroom beams and roof off

Here you can see us fitting the RJS at the front of the house. The red bricks were really hard and took a lot of drilling to move. We had a comedy moment when we nearly put the RSJ a foot too far inside the room because dad measured from the outside of the existing extension rather than the outside of the main house. He blames the architect's drawings!
We took the top off the roof and made a temporary one out of visqueen. My little tool (more later) was really useful here.

Week 3: 19/Apr/2021 Walls going up

Terry, a friend of the family started on the brick work. I made my first ever egg sandwich which apparently was passable. The pain we went through to find the bricks.. London Brick Company Rustics, nobody had them. In the end my dad went miles away to get some (which were also a slightly different thickness to the existing bricks). Also Terry really didn't like the building sand and the bricks were rubbish, but my mixing got better over time which kept him a bit happier.

Week 4: 26/Apr/2021 Walls up, rain coming down

Here you can see things coming together. The walls getting to the top (inner skin only) and the temporary roof being improved. There was plenty of rain and we discovered our roof wasn't up to the task (more later).

Week 5: 3/May/2021 Rain and another RSJ

Now begins the 3rd wettest May on record, oh yeah and plenty of high winds. Lots of stress, dad shot over with some shed roofing felt to improve our temporary roof. Terry and dad tried to talk me down about the damage to the playroom ceiling.
Meanwhile Paul and Lucinda from next door came and helped us install the flat RSJ under the existing one. The stepladder broke under me just as we were fitting it but luckily I managed to break neither the kitchen nor my back.

Week 6: 10/May/2021 More rain and more bricks

Terry has a day job as do I so we were fitting building in inbetween. The problem here was that the rain wouldn't stop so we ended up trying to lay bricks in between showers.. This didn't go too well for us so we gave up and had several days with no progress.
Here you can see my inside guttering which did a good job of reducing the water damage. I also had lots of buckets and paddling pools and plastic trays which I emptied several times a day. I made an inside roof over the kitchen area as water damage there would have been a big problem.
The kids made a cake stall so we had plenty of treats to keep us going.

Week 7: 17/May/2021 Bricks to the top

Slow progress with the brick work due to yet more rain. Also we needed to find some more bricks because we miscalculated how many we'd need.

Week 8: 24/May/2021 Dad falling

The scaffolders were adding the 'second lift' and there was a big bang and cry for help. I ran up and my dad was lying on the floor having slipped on a trestle table, his head having narrowly missed a brick. A big rip down his trousers and he was bruised and sick. We called it off for the weekend, dad drove himself home but I'm sure he shouldn't have!
Not the only time he said "I'm getting too old for this Matth"!

Week 9: 31/May/2021 Roof taking shape

Dad brought his old friend Mick over and we started on the roof. Mick is a massive perfectionist which was a funny contrast to my dad's attitude.. "Just hit it Mick!" / "We're not to 1/4 of an inch Mick!".
Mick can seriously use a hammer and saw, men and boys!

Week 10: 7/Jun/2021 Roof and felt

Mick and dad finished off the roof timber then the roofers came to felt it. Rob the roofer was good, bish bash bosh, done! WATER TIGHT, now that was a good day! Also the building inspector was impressed by the roof work which was nice.
The weird shape at the corner of the roof is called a dragon's tooth. You live and learn.
Also we made a start on the soffit and fascias, again struggling to get hold of all the materials. This was true for almost everything.

Week 12: 21/Jun/2021 Main roof finished

We had a week off to celebrate the roof being water tight, then finished the soffit and facias. The scaffolders were due to arrive to take the second lift away so we HAD to finish this week. It took way longer than we thought, dad went home late but I worked even later to get it done.

Week 13: 26/Jun/2021 Ground floor roofs and floor

Rob and his team came and finished the ground floor roofs. Dad decided that the concrete lintel above the existing window wasn't wide enough so we fitted another, wider one. We made a start on the flooring and insulated the ceiling.
My dad's friend John came to first fix the electrics and my cousin's husband Liam came to first fix the plumbing.
Craig came and fit the windows (the company had supplied the wrong sized window so we had a make do with some PVC for several months!)

Week 14: 5/Jul/2021

Week 15: 12/Jul/21 Stairs and boxing

We boxed in the kitchen RSJs, fitted the new stairs and created the small porch. We were really lucky with the new stairs, we managed to fit them in without touching the shower downstairs. We had to pinch a few centimeters here and there and it took plenty of titivating, but we got there. My saying "I'll have a faff". Dad: "just have a faff matth".

Week 17: 19/Jul/2021 Plastering and boxing

A couple of plasterers came and did 2 walls and the ceiling. I insulated the porch and boxed in the underside of the stairs in the playroom.

Week 18: 26/Jul/2021 Boxing and plasterboarding

We dug out a hole so we could hide one of the existing bathroom pipes and boxed in the larger pipe. We dot and dabbed the remaining 2 walls and attached the plasterboard (again, hard to come by).

Week 19: 2/Aug/2021 Plastering and skirting boards

A local plasterer came and replastered the playroom (having said that the walls would be ok if we first painted them with satinwood paint).
I painted all the skirting boards then dad came and we fitted them with pink glue.

Week 20: 9/Aug/2021 Leaking radiator and angle bead

A massive wet patch appeared in the playroom. Much stress! Eventually I stabbed it a couple of times with a screwdriver and lots of water poured out. Liam the plumber came back to push the plumbing together and I borrowed a dehumidifier.. Luckily the plaster dried out ok, though the plasterer assured me it wouldn't!
The plasterer also didn't like the angle bead we'd used so it needed replacing with corner bead. He did it all and it looks very smart now.
Dad took back all the large equipment and I covered all the kitchen ceiling in plasterboard.

Week 21: 16/8/2021 Bathroom boxing

Final Photos

At the time of writing this there are still a few niggly little jobs but nothing that anyone except me will notice. Ella is loving her new room and the decision to put a small window in the middle was a good one - the light really comes through it first thing on a morning.

Costs over time

Obligatory statistics! As you can see dad and me doing so much of the work really kept the costs down. Especially at a time (after lockdown) when labour was hard to come by and materials prices were increasing every day.