Thread: Extending our Existing Terrace and Balcony

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Not that I know anything about these things but those footing seems to be way over the top to support a deck.

Exactly what I thought! ... although as you see the build and the completed extension then it seems to make sense!

Hope you keep dropping by and will see the finished product.

Bare feet and a Pile Driver in their hands and just a few hours later everything is ready for the concrete to be poured.

That pile driver would make a terrible mess of their feet if they missed.

Originally Posted by hopskimoet

That pile driver would make a terrible mess of their feet if they missed.

Not a graze during the complete build ... then I managed to fall over some of the foundations and ended up with quite a wound.

Still the original front porch remains but possibly not for much longer?


Starting on the base foundations

Being the Last House in the Village has it's advantage with a huge unused area outside of our house, no traffic, and ultimate peace! (and a great work space for our builders).

The ground floor extension is laid and nearly dry ...




It's starting to look better now ...

Still the old porch and the old balcony can be seen through the new building.


I can always use it to grow some climbing plants on ...


View from the old top balcony.

The finished extension was built within centimetre tolerances and all with old pieces of wood .... Amazing !

Just a short interlude before I upload some more photo's.
I am very new to "Blogs" and only joined TeakDoor a few days ago. It is all very new, how to, and if I am doing it correctly? I also hope that if someone calls along this page (thread?) and takes a look at what we have been doing that they would also just say hello?
From what I have seen on TeakDoor I can learn a lot and I am sure this forum will be very helpful.

Breaking down the original balcony railing


All the electrics were placed in conduit ready for the ceiling fan, sound system and lighting.


The original front porch railing bites the dust ...


Insulated double garden sockets were installed in both front pillars.

Rendering the outside ready for painting


Building up the new step to the shaded terrace area.


Tiles are laid on the new Sun terrace


Now looking a lot larger our new shaded terrace is nearly ready

Looking good - always interested in these projects . Thanks for taking the time to post .

Originally Posted by Tickiteboo

Looking good - always interested in these projects . Thanks for taking the time to post .

Thanks a lot for your message, I am very new to this and I wondered if anyone was looking at what I was posting. Thanks again and have a great day .....

Originally Posted by neilandmeechai

I am very new to this and I wondered if anyone was looking at what I was posting.

when you look at the listing for the construction forum, it does list how many people have been reading each thread

Neil
I can only agree with what DrAndy has said. When I first started posting about my wife's build I thought nobody was "out there" but then I learned to have a look at the number of times the thread has been viewed and I realised that while a lot of people are looking not many actually reply. And then not all replies are positive.

For me I reckon you have done a great job as the addition looks like it was part of the original building. I hadn't previously seen the pile driving technique they used, although on our place they did use a similiar arrangement for compacting before laying concrete. I also couldn't work out why they needed such large columns until I realised that to match the old front columns the new ones needed to be the same size so the size of the footings are related to the size of the column above not determined by the load they carry. Whenever I add something I always try and make it so that it could be free standing, your house could disappear and the addition still stand up, I like it.

I see you must have finally worked out how to post a large size picture, well done. It takes a bit to work out how to do it but then its easy.

Finally, since this was built some time ago have you been back and enjoyed the use of the new space/s?

fairplay to you, done a cracking number with that extension,thanks for sharing

whats up next?

Great thread and pictures.
I will be doing something similar to our house this year with a 5 x 5 metre balcony.
What size is yours and can you remember the final bill ?

Originally Posted by Mathos

Neil & Meechai,

I was wondering what the hell you were doing
on the first few posts of this thread,
(so I appreciate that the neighbours must have been concerned)
then it all came together.


Excellent job, you have a very nice home and have
improved on the same tremendously.


Everything is within keeping. Sometimes,
I get very annoyed with some of the
building practices in the UK.

However, the project you have undertaken and
expressed in this post is a credit to you,
I'm quite impressed.

Well done.

You deserve a green.

Good morning Mathos,
WoW! I just switched on this morning, only to find some very nice replies to our postings. I think you especially expressed it well when you said that possibly the neighbours "must have been concerned".
We are very fortunate in having an excellent Thai Builder/Contractor, who speaks sufficient good English for me to be able to explain everything and he has helped us with various small building jobs recently. He also understood very well when we explained what we wanted but that we didn't want it to look as if it had been added on later.
Thanks again for your comments but (once again confused! .. ha ha!) What is a "Green"?