Kitchen floor slab, terracotta brick walls, en-suite door, old kitchen window.

It is a busy day today.  A day full of surprises.  Not all surprise is good surprise.

Kitchen Underfloor Heating

Kitchen underfloor heating - the original plan was to remove the screed of the existing kitchen floor.  He guessed the screed would be 50mm.  That would allow just enough depth to for underfloor heating pipe (15mm) and screed to cover it up.  Unfortunately after digging the whole day, he found the screed is just 25mm.  Therefore, it is not enough for the underfloor heating.

He estimate it is going to cost £900 to do it properly.  This is because to do it properly, he needs to remove the existing slab, pack the soil, put the slab back, and allow space for 4 inch insulation, then underfloor heating, then screed.

Remove slab and dig down soil     240

Skip                                                     200
Scalpings                                              80
Steel cage                                            40
Labour for cage and scalpings         60
Celotex                                                 70
Membrane                                           15
Concrete                                             120
Labour for concrete and celotex      80

Total                                                    900

I feel upset.  Maybe I am upset of the situation.  But it is really no one's fault.  Isn't it?


Terracotta Brick Wall

David wants to charge me £430 to replace the terracotta walls with normal brick walls, so they can take the load of the steel beam and anything above it.  His breakdown is

Extra acro and needle hire       60

Wall removal and disposal     120
Wall ties                                       12
Bricks blocks                               40
Sand and cement                        15
Floor removal                              60
Labour                                        120
Total                                           430


Original Kitchen Window

David told me that replacing the window is not part of the quote.  It is going to cost £350 to replace the window.  That surprises me.  I make sure every builder quotes the same - how could he omit that window.  But I feel guilty too because I didn't check his quote carefully enough to find that.  So at the end, I agree to pay for half of the price.  I don't really need to do it, do I?  But later today he sent me a list of extra charges.  In which he said "Window - TBC".  I don't know what he meant by it.


Kitchen Side Door

Over the weekend, we had a chance to stand in the cubicle to have a feel of the new kitchen.  Nina then regret the decision of removing the kitchen side door.  So we told David that we want the side door back, except it won't be a side door.  We'd like the door to face the patio.  Luckily the brickwork has not progressed that far, so he wasn't very unhappy about the change.

The lintel specified for the back window is more than 1500mm.  This is enough to allow a proper door and a window.  That is what we will have.


En-suite Units

Laurance is making very good progress in the garage.  Today we spent so much time talking about the position of the en-suite door, the units and how to make changes for better.  After going a full circle, we came back to the original layout.  This is except the door will become a pocket sliding door.  For this change David wants £230 extra.  He said the Pocket Door kit is £160 and labour is £70.  I don't think he makes extra money for this one.