Exchange and Further Restoration Plans

At last! We have actually exchanged contracts this afternoon, with completion in two weeks.  I think I'll sleep well tonight; I realise that although I was sure it would happen, both our sale and our purchase have been taking their toll on me as things dragged on.  Solicitors... don't get me started.

Further Restoration Plans

We had intended to build a new extension containing the kitchen as the current kitchen is in the falling down extension.  However, following due consideration whilst lying awake at nights, Jane suggested putting the kitchen in the room across the back of the house itself, which we had been terming the dining room.

This change has a major affect on our plans: we had intended to do the extension and some of the house, move in and then finish the house soon after.  The moving date is fairly critical as we are in rented accommodation until April 2011, but we can extend by some time to be agreed.  The issue is that the owner will not want to extend the let to between October 2011 and Spring 2012 as the rental market tails off.  Hence we must move out by the end of August if we are not to stay in it until 2012.

To move in we obviously need a kitchen, so the critical path for moving in was doing the extension.  However (if allowed by the CO), we will now aim to do the entire house first, including the kitchen, and then we can move in, with the extension not being a critical path item.  This is very good news as our builder is not available until April anyway, and also there might be delays in the permission for the extension.

Another change is that I had intended to do a limecrete floor to what will now be the kitchen and raise its level by six inches.  Further investigation reveals that the floor is actually quite level and so, provided that the tiles clean up OK and I can reduce the height of the ground outside, we can live with the existing floor. That's one argument less to have with the CO, and a lot of money saved!