“I suggested a veranda balcony going
round the house at first floor level, but Tim
said it wouldn’t work in the setting – so we
compromised with a Juliet balcony,” says Tom.
“Tim also suggested the nibs and portico,
using K-Rend to create shadow lines and
visual interest when you view the house from
the garden.”
The final agreed concept included a 5 x 6
metre extension on the ground floor plus 3.5 x
4.5 metres of new space on the first floor,
creating a total two-storey increase in living
space of around 45 m^2.
Tom’s biggest regret was that he had to park
his dream scheme of building an underground
‘man-cave’ due to an estimated £100,000
price tag.
“Since I was a boy I’ve loved the concept
of bunkers,” says Tom. “I always said I would
have one when I grew up – a man cave, cinema
room, music room or a kids playroom. I asked
Tim to include it in his design but it was
cost-prohibitive. It’s not entirely out of the
question, though!”
Plans were finally passed in January 2017
and Tom and Carly then spent a further six
months trying to find a suitable builder. “We
chose the first builder because he said he was
able to project manage it, but in the end it
didn’t work out so we found another builder,
Chris Smith, on Facebook. He turned out to be
a great find – his attention to detail was
amazing,” says Tom.
“We really wanted to find someone who
would be reliable, easy to work with and whowould also go the extra mile to get the best
deals on building materials,” says Carly. “We
liked the fact that Chris was always very ‘can-do’
and would come up with suggestions that
would improve the build, rather than simply
being negative.”
Carly and Tom moved from London into a
house in nearby York while the building work
was done, so they could be close enough to
oversee the build on a daily basis.
The build involved knocking down the old
lean-to and erecting a new kitchen extension in
its place, before knocking out the original
exterior wall to create one large room. The
exterior was also redesigned to turn the dark
traditional cottage into a light, open, modern
family home featuring white rendered walls and
rooflights.
It was February 2018 by the time the trench
foundations were completed and a double leaf
masonry wall built for the extension. Working in
snowy, freezing conditions, the builder also dug
out the entire ground floor to lay underfloor
heating pipes, using a mini digger to remove
the debris. It was unexpectedly challenging: the
previous owners had laid ultra hard concrete
which “ruined” several pneumatic drills before
they finally broke through it all. Part of the first
floor was also taken down and rebuilt to create
a higher ceiling in the extension.
Access to the house created its own set of
challenges. The lane to the back of the property
is very narrow and a cable running across the
lane had to be held up to enable lorries to
squeeze underneath. Many materials were left52www.sbhonline.co.uk september/october 2019