Why are houses so crap in Ireland?

SLUSK

Seriously Ireland has really crap houses, the house I live in even has mold. I have never ever in my life seen a house with mold in my home country yet here it seems to be everywhere and they still manage to sell a piece of crap house like that for 300k in the northern suburbs of Dublin. In Waterville in Blanchardstown alot of relatively new apartments have problems with mold already. I know irish tradesmen make alot of money but they can't seem to build anything good. Our house is so cold in winter it's not even funny, they seem to have forgot something called insulation.

the_syco

Because you got a crap house. Only two houses I lived in ever had mold. One, I was renting it for €40 a week, the other, €265. Every other house I lived in was long term, and I looked at the house, before renting in it.

SLUSK

Okey but most houses I have been to in Ireland do get very cold in winter time unless you spend 700-800 euros worth of gas per bill.

Xiney

They build houses out of block and mortar here.

They are not well insulated (some aren't insulated at all)



I'm from Canada, where timber frame houses are the standard. Also, if you don't have insulation in your house in Canada, you will literally freeze to death in the winter.

It doesn't get very cold here in the winter but we had to keep the heat on in both places we've lived in Ireland - because the heat escapes. This is just down to energy inefficiency which is inherent in the building types. Timber frame homes are 3 or 4 times more efficient than block and mortar, even without extra insulation.


Personally, if we were going to buy a house in Ireland we'd have to build it. I won't buy a block & mortar house - I think they're ****.

leeroybrown

The standards to which houses were required to be built have always been too low. If I were to characterise a typical Irish house it would be built from blocks with a very low standard of insulation, substandard fitting of windows and a relatively low/cheap standard of woodwork finishing inside.

hoser expat

I agree that many of them are crap, especially the new builds. Older homes are great though....insulation comes from sheer wall thickness. A spot of double glazing wouldn't hurt either!

I too am from Canada, and as the previous poster said you just wouldn't get away with that in such a cold climate.

To me, Irish houses just don't represent value for money....even if prices were to drop another 50%.

SLUSK

Irish builders are just overpaid and incompetent.

SoupyNorman

I think the quality of buildings here is pretty good. I thought the build quality of houses in California were terrible.

TaxiManMartin

Out of all the countries ive been to we definitely are in the top few for houses. I know we like to bash ourselves in Ireland but house build quality isnt as bad as people seem to think.

Open your windows. Dont dry clothes in the house. etc etc

Its usually the person that is causing the mold rather than the house or apartment, though there are some exceptions.


From the damp store website.

Liam Harris who heads up the Damp Store Ltd, one of Ireland's largest building treatment firms, has had many years experience treating damp in buildings countrywide.

He deals regularly with apartment dwellers and owners and estimates that around 30% of new apartments suffer from damp in some form or other. He sells hundreds of dehumidifier units each year and estimates that half are bought by apartment owners. However, Harris believes that 90% of damp problems are not caused by construction faults but rather by the tenants themselves.

"Most of these apartments are constructed to a reasonably high standard with proper damp proof courses installed. In most cases it is the tenant and his or her lifestyle which creates the problem. I can guarantee that in most cases if you take two apartments, one with damp and one without, and swop the tenants, you will see the damp problem transferring itself as well.

Damp is caused by poor circulation of air. Apartment dwellers typically leave their windows closed all day and all night and come home in the evening to turn on the heating, the washing machine, cook and take a shower. Combine this with the greatly improved standards of insulation currently in use and a damp problem inevitably prevails.

"North facing apartments and ground floor units are most affected by damp related problems. Installation of a dehumidifier can help deal with the problem, but there's no substitute for simply leaving the windows open for set periods of time, each day.
"Irish people are not as used to apartment living as others and can automatically blame the builders rather than examine other causes of the problem."

So while the builders can be let off the hook in most cases, the problem of damp is likely to prevail in many cases given the lifestyle may occupiers lead being absent all day and not having the option to leave windows open for security reasons.

Based at St James Hospital, Dr Luke Clancy is one of Irelands leading medical experts on lung and chest related problems. While he does not claim to have knowledge of the problems relating specifically to apartments, he beliefs living in damp conditions does cause some health problems, particularly for those already suffering from allergies or breathing difficulties.

"There is evidence to suggest that living in damp conditions can cause the spread of chills and colds, spores from damp induced fungus can cause allergic reactions and generally old people and children are more sensitive.

"Bad ventilation can also cause the spread of droplet infections (spread by sneezing and coughing) Although there are varying opinions on how much illness fungus spores can cause."

Although for the most part, builders don't appear to be to blame for damp problems in apartments whether they like it or not most sufferers unwittingly hold them responsible.

For this reason, they should ensure tenants and occupiers are well informed about potential problems and should ensure maximum ventilation in their units.

providing Dehumidifier units as standard in all apartments may also be worthwhile if only for the image of their proffesiona and apartment living overall. Mould growth on wall and ceilings can be removed with the aid of MGC Mould Treatment and these products can also prevent re-occurance of the mould growth.
Excessive condensation problems can be reduced and controlled with the aid of Dehumidifiers which reduce the relative humidity levels and prevent condensation build-up.

Fighting Irish

SLUSK wrote: »

Irish builders are just overpaid and incompetent.

Its not their fault they're overpaid(were overpaid) all the fish in the country wanted to "get on the property ladder" at whatever cost

ps
Glad i'm not a builder
Glad i have no mortgage

Pete4779

There are plenty of fantastic houses and apartments in Ireland, and plenty of poorly builty ones as well. We do not live in the Soviet Union. You decide if your money is worth whatever property you are paying for.

SLUSK

A normal house like I would grow up in back home would without a doubt go for a milion euro in dublin. Seems you never heard of the concept of detached houses. You could try to install better windows, ever heard of double gazing with noble gases filling the gap between the two glasses? In this country they use it as a sales argument, back home it is the norm with these kind of windows. A normal house in a dublin suburb would probably not even fetch 150 000 euro back home in the capital.

Paulw

SLUSK wrote: »

A normal house like I would grow up in back home would without a doubt go for a milion euro in dublin.

Out of curiosity, where is "back home" ???

Personally, I've never lived in a house with mold or with the problems you seem to have come across.

SLUSK

Look at this house:
http://bovision.se/description/description.aspx?id=91246400&kfd=1&guid=91246400

It is 133 sqm, detached and market value estimated at roughly 90 000 euro. Could you get this ANYWHERE in Ireland?

Paulw

SLUSK wrote: »

Look at this house:
http://bovision.se/description/description.aspx?id=91246400&kfd=1&guid=91246400

It is 133 sqm, detached and market value estimated at roughly 90 000 euro. Could you get this ANYWHERE in Ireland?

My Swedish is a little rusty, so I didn't read it all.

Yes, of course you could get a property like that, if you owned land and ordered it to be built to your spec.

In most cases in Ireland, people buy ready built units.

Also, Sweden has a lot more land than Ireland, so you have a lot more space to build on.

SLUSK

just buying the land to build the house on would cost more here than the enitre house would cost in Sweden. Your land is smaller, but you also have a smaller population.

There is plenty of space out in the country side so how can it be so much more expensive to build stuff?

mickoneill30

SLUSK wrote: »

It is 133 sqm, detached and market value estimated at roughly 90 000 euro. Could you get this ANYWHERE in Ireland?

Would you want to?

Yes all houses are crap because the ones you've seen have mold. Have you seen every house in Ireland?

I've a pretty normal house. No mold. Costs about €180 per 2 months for gas during the winter. Must just be lucky (like pretty much everyone I know).

SLUSK

Ok half people I know have had trouble with mold and that the houses are cold. It is not uncommon for people to end up paying 600 euro for two months in winter time.

We had about 250 euro per two months in winter time but that was because we decided to cut down alot on heating and freeze our asses of instead. At one point I slept with a jacket on.

jimmycrackcorm

SLUSK wrote: »

Ok half people I know have had trouble with mold and that the houses are cold..

So you know two people then. Don't forget that ten years ain pre-boom we were poor and couldn't afford double glazing and insulation. people who bought newer houses have much better built abodes.

the_syco

Why would people upgrade the houses they rent out to people, if the people will rent the house regardless? People in this country rent out houses to make money. Putting in insulation costs money, so they tend not to do it.

gagomes

My opinion is that this is not true, based on my only experience in Ireland. I come from Portugal and live in a decent development whose construction dates to 2005 and never made use of central heating ever (living in it since last august). I had lots of people coming to visit me (or better yet, visit Ireland and crash here) and they all commented when they returned back home that their houses in Portugal (Where the temperature in winter isn't as bad as in Ireland) were less insulated and that they were constantly clothed. I would say the house is able to keep warm even in winter and I never felt that I had to dress anything to feel warm inside my house. But yes, it comes with a price and I paid 1300euros per month for a 2 bedroom flat up until last month. Now I got 100euros off after negotiation, but still I don't feel it as being enough and will probably move in the coming months.

bladebrew

SLUSK wrote: »

Ok half people I know have had trouble with mold and that the houses are cold. It is not uncommon for people to end up paying 600 euro for two months in winter time.

We had about 250 euro per two months in winter time but that was because we decided to cut down alot on heating and freeze our asses of instead. At one point I slept with a jacket on.

you are from sweden? and you slept with a jacket on! its not that cold in ireland!!,i know it might drop just below 0 here but surely it would be much colder in sweden?

i dont think the houses in ireland are crap as such there are just way too many developments around with a few hundred units in them that the builders/developers could build and sell quickly so i dont think they cared that much about the overall finish,they still sold for way over what they were worth,
how old is the house you are living in?

and with the cost for land and materials etc..its like people going on holidays and buying cigarettes for €3 a packet and complaining because they are over €8 here,there is a huge difference in wages and the cost of living,

SLUSK

If the temperature in your house is about 10 degrees celcius you would sleep with a jacket to.

Back home it is still 20 degress in winter time and it does not cost a fortune to heat up.

The house I live in now in Dublin is about 16 years old.

bladebrew

SLUSK wrote: »

If the temperature in your house is about 10 degrees celcius you would sleep with a jacket to.

Back home it is still 20 degress in winter time and it does not cost a fortune to heat up.

The house I live in now in Dublin is about 16 years old.

ok if it was that cold i would be sleeping with a jacket on!,the lowest i have seen in a house is 13 degrees,it was about 30 years old though,i was bloody freezing,i think the swedish may have learned to use insulation properly way before the irish did:)

Johnny Bitte

You seem to forget that the door is always open for you to leave at anytime.
Yes there are some poorly built houses (in every country) but 'i have lived here for 26 years now and it s a cold country in the winter and wet one all year round. If you dont like the house your in move, it is the renter's/buyers market.

EastWallGirl

I love how mixer taps are still a luxury.

The new rules about disbaled access mean in new houses the toilets are next to the kitchen...third world epidemic waiting to break out.

Built in cupboards (if provided ) are an insult to basic storage.

Architects here i do nto think woudl get a job anywhere else.

My OH was in the building trade as was his father and brothers. One site he worked on, a guy who had moved in for 6 months came home to find his bathroom in his kitchen. The company in question budgeted for this kind of failure as they know the houses were thrown up.

SLUSK I am with you, they are an insult who anyone who wants their home to be their castle.

Greentopia

bladebrew wrote: »

you are from sweden? and you slept with a jacket on! its not that cold in ireland!!,i know it might drop just below 0 here but surely it would be much colder in sweden?

I'm Irish and I lived in Sweden for 8 and half years and I can tell you that while yes of course the average temperature in winter often drops below 0 (and up to -40c in the very far North in a bad winter) I never
once felt cold any place I lived there, and I must have moved 5 or 6 times at least in my time there in Gothenburg.
Slusk is completely right, the general standard of houses and apartments in this country is crap, especially when compared to a country like Sweden which is light years ahead of us in terms of insulation and building standards.

Here's a few things that are standard in a normal, not luxury, apartment complex in Sweden:
1. At least double but usually treble glazing gas filled wooden windows.
As far back as 1960 Swedish building codes made it mandatory for new builds to have at least double glazing.
2. District heating using biomass; or geothermal in houses ensuring ecologically sustainable and efficient heating. Heat recovery systems on ventilated air.
3. Insulation standards that are the highest in Europe with exterior and interior wall insulation values that is 3 times greater than the U.K. standard.
4. Exterior doors that seal shut, not just close, preventing draughts and cold spots.

I'm sure there are more but that's all I can recall right now.
There are other things that are standard there too that I have never seen
here,
such as proper laundry facilities that include one or two rooms with industrial size washing machines and a drying room to hang the laundry for all tenants so that people don't have to dry their clothes indoors thereby encouraging mold to grow!
Storage facilities in the basement for each tenant to store and lock away presently unwanted items.
A bicycle room to securely store bikes.
Proper play areas outside each complex for kids to play safely.

All that for no extra cost with no f*cking 'management fees' AND my rent was almost half what it is here for the same size apartment and I live in ****ty Arklow! :sigh:

Now I wonder why builders and developers here include none of the above facilities. I believe it's because the thought wouldn't even occur to them to add on laundry, storage etc. facilities unless laws were enforced to make them do so. Sure why would they do that when they could stick in another shoddy built box not big enough to swing a cat where those extras would be and double their profit?:rolleyes::mad:

Anyone who disbelieves that we are lagging far behind in building and insulation standards, if ye ever get a chance take a trip up to Sweden and see for yourselves.
Slusk: you have my sympathies. I wish you well.

matrim

I've lived in about 10 - 15 houses in Dublin and out of them only 2 had damp \ mold. One had it only in a badly build and uninsulated extension the other was an old house with no insulation.

If you are looking to rent or buy now and are worried about it, make sure to check the the BER rating, which should give you an indication of the insulation in the house.

Also follow the tips from some of the other posters about mold and you can prevent it \ reduce it.

whizzbang

They didn't have to build good quality houses, we would buy any old thing.

Why bother building an expensive high quality house when you can build a cheap low quality house and sell it for the same price?

DTrotter

I was listening to a radio show a few years ago and an engineer from Dublin Council texted in to say that the new apartments of today will be the slums of tomorrow.

Greentopia

and with the cost for land and materials etc..its like people going on holidays and buying cigarettes for €3 a packet and complaining because they are over €8 here,there is a huge difference in wages and the cost of living,

The cost of living and wages of the OP's country of origin Sweden are high by Northern European standards so that argument doesn't really hold up. My wages were higher when I worked there than for the same job here. Yes the cost of building land and builders fees would be less there but that's because they don't have the same culture of property speculation and investment buying of property like we do here.
There a house or apartment is bought to be a home (generally speaking, of course there are some investors but not like here) not an investment commodity to be sold later at a higher price.