Renovating a house in Ireland

dmq400

Been looking for more info on renovating a house in IR and thought a new thread here might be best. I'm a US citizen with an Irish wife who is planning on re-locating to IR. I have much hands on building experience and want to restore one of those tumbledown country houses that seem to be around and can be had for around 100K

I'm interested in hearing how others have done it and the trials and tribulations of dealing with the local council, building regulations and the local masons, carpenters etc.

I have seen the FormerGlory site but it seems not to have a lot of hands on information.

For starters: -I see property which HAS and HAS NO mention of approval for renovations by the local county council. I assume this is the local gov't agency which regulates ALL the building and renovation in the area?

-As an owner of a property can one due ALL the building work including plumbing, electrical, etc. (like we can in Vermont) or does one have to use licensed tradesmen?

-I've been warned about property not having electric or water lines in place. Are there problems with drilling wells in IR? Is there a possibility that one may NOT get permission to extend electricity to ones country poperty?

-Is the sewage issue for single family residence the big deal that it has become over here? Assuming one is talking about a house that never had indoor toilets is building a proper waste water system limited and highly regulated? (i.e. NOT possible if your property is say only 1/2 acre?)

Just a few on many questions...would love to hear from other home owner Do-It-Yourselfers -dq-

JuliusCaesar

dmq400 wrote: »

Been looking for more info on renovating a house in IR and thought a new thread here might be best. I'm a US citizen with an Irish wife who is planning on re-locating to IR. I have much hands on building experience and want to restore one of those tumbledown country houses that seem to be around and can be had for around 100K

I'm presuming that by IR, you mean Ireland? (Usually spelled in full, or RoI -Republic of Ireland)

dmq400 wrote: »

I'm interested in hearing how others have done it and the trials and tribulations of dealing with the local council, building regulations and the local masons, carpenters etc.

I have seen the FormerGlory site but it seems not to have a lot of hands on information.

For starters: -I see property which HAS and HAS NO mention of approval for renovations by the local county council. I assume this is the local gov't agency which regulates ALL the building and renovation in the area?

-As an owner of a property can one due ALL the building work including plumbing, electrical, etc. (like we can in Vermont) or does one have to use licensed tradesmen?

-I've been warned about property not having electric or water lines in place. Are there problems with drilling wells in IR? Is there a possibility that one may NOT get permission to extend electricity to ones country poperty?

-Is the sewage issue for single family residence the big deal that it has become over here? Assuming one is talking about a house that never had indoor toilets is building a proper waste water system limited and highly regulated? (i.e. NOT possible if your property is say only 1/2 acre?)

Just a few on many questions...would love to hear from other home owner Do-It-Yourselfers -dq-

You can do all the work yourself. Some (like electrical) will need to be signed off by a registered electrician.
There's usually a water scheme in operation (I think).
Sewerage - septic tank. Not a big deal, afaik. There'll be some regs around it.
archiseek may be more useful to you - but there are some knowledgeable people here too.

dmq400

Thanks for that bit of info. Sorry for the IR not being RoI.

Do you know whether an architect or engineer needs to be employed for prints submitted to the local council when doing a complete renovation?
Again, there seems to be some council regulations about how you do the renovation on certain properties. Are there specific guidelines one can research about how things are/must be done to certain properties? Obviously historic castles need to be restored in a certain manner, but when and how does an old tumbledown farmhouse fall into the regulations? Thanks for the tip on archiseek! -dq-

Victor

Moved from Accommodation & Property to Construction & Planning.

paddy147

I can speak 1st hand here,so trust me when I say the following.

Put your renovation project out to TENDER.Gte at least 15-20 quotes in from other builders and sub contractors for work that you cannot do yourself.

It will save you lots in the end,trust me.;):D

Also having a fully qualified architect and or a structural engineer will help alot too,with regards design,house plans,plan submissions,and managing the building work and structural and engineering side of things.

muffler

dmq400 wrote: »

Been looking for more info on renovating a house in IR and thought a new thread here might be best. I'm a US citizen with an Irish wife who is planning on re-locating to IR. I have much hands on building experience and want to restore one of those tumbledown country houses that seem to be around and can be had for around 100K

I'm interested in hearing how others have done it and the trials and tribulations of dealing with the local council, building regulations and the local masons, carpenters etc.

I have seen the FormerGlory site but it seems not to have a lot of hands on information.

For starters: -I see property which HAS and HAS NO mention of approval for renovations by the local county council. I assume this is the local gov't agency which regulates ALL the building and renovation in the area?

-As an owner of a property can one due ALL the building work including plumbing, electrical, etc. (like we can in Vermont) or does one have to use licensed tradesmen?

-I've been warned about property not having electric or water lines in place. Are there problems with drilling wells in IR? Is there a possibility that one may NOT get permission to extend electricity to ones country poperty?

-Is the sewage issue for single family residence the big deal that it has become over here? Assuming one is talking about a house that never had indoor toilets is building a proper waste water system limited and highly regulated? (i.e. NOT possible if your property is say only 1/2 acre?)

Just a few on many questions...would love to hear from other home owner Do-It-Yourselfers -dq-

First of all welcome to the forum and feel free to ask any and all questions you may have.

I'll try to keep this as short as possible.

Every county in Ireland has its own council to whom you apply for planning permission. Most of them will have their own web sites so you should look at the info and faq's on whatever web site is appropriate to the property.

Generally speaking renovation works are exempt from planning and certain extensions to houses are also exempt (see this leaflet) but do need to comply with building regulations. Engaging a good local architectural technician should be your fist port of call and if you state what county the property is in then you may get a few contacts from here.

You mention that there is no water supply or sewage treatment system so you will definitely have to apply for planning permission for this. Before applying an assessment needs to be carried out (usually privately) to determine the most suitable type of system to use. Again a technician will help you with all this. A half acre site may well be acceptable - there are factors to be taken into account which will be addressed in the site assessment.

You do not necessarily have to use any licensed or "registered" tradesmen. However you will need a cert from either your electrician or pay an additional fee to the ESB before they will connect the power supply. If you intend to avail of insulation and heating system grants then you need the installers to be registered for that particular work. See here for grants.

Drilling wells is not usually a problem but the quality of water needs to be assured.

The ESB will provide you with a power supply. The network is fairly extensive so you you would be looking at a cost of approx. €1600. If however you need more than 3 supply poles then there is an additional fee.

Hope that helps.

Mellor

dmq400 wrote: »

Do you know whether an architect or engineer needs to be employed for prints submitted to the local council when doing a complete renovation?

They don't need to be employed, but seeing as you are unfamilar with the planning system, building regulations, construction for an irish climate etc, considering anything other than hiring a professional would be foolish.

dmq400

thanks for more helpful responses. We are presently in U.S. - Vermont and are very well versed in energy efficient design/build construction. We have been utilizing 4" of sprayed in place urethane that does an almost perfect job of high insulation values (up to R-30) and "0" air infiltration. The downside is that an extra cost of an air-to-air heat exchanger is needed. We also have a frost wall requirement of 48" as the frost line can be that deep here in a normal winter.

Can someone comment on what an energy efficient remodling project might entail in RoI. Obviously your weather is not as severe and as I understand it there is only minimal freezing there. I have seen some note on the issue of "damproofing" an old farmhouse structure but am unclear on what is involved.

Anyone have any strong opinions on how they would design/insulate the walls if you were starting out with just a stone shell of a structure?

Mellor

Do you mean R-3, you won't get R-30 (U-Value of 0.03) for 4" of insulation.

Prehaps, you are just quoting the resistance of the material per m. Which would equate to a u-value of about 0.3 for 4". Whhich wouldn't be enough for a energy efficient design in an irish climate.
As you can guess, we don't use R-values as standard, but they are directly and inversely proportional to u-values

dmq400

Yes I know its the inverse, but here all insulation is rated with an R factor and the higher the R value the better the insulation is.

Typically, in a wood framed structure we would insulate to R-30 in the walls and R-50 in the cielings. In an existing stone structure one would want to balance out the cost verses the amount of interior space the insulation would take up. Foamed in place insulation would no doubt be the way to go there acting as an air and moisture barrier as well as an excellent way to achieve a high R value.

Just wondering what is more or less standard procedure for insulating an old stone walled farmhouse in RoI

Mellor

dmq, I am aware what R-values are.

You must be using imperial units or are just mistaken. There is no way to are reaching R-30 and R-50 values with SI units.

There are minimum standards in Ireland for insulation, energy etc
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,19069,en.pdf
It contains details of minimun values for various elements. For renovation work, the minimum is a lot more relaxed.

muffler

Mellor wrote: »

You must be using imperial units or are just mistaken.

It's still imperial measurement in the U.S.A.

dmq400

I guess even though we supposedly speak the same language....something is not getting thru. If you care to pursue this here are the US guidelines for R Value insulation

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_sealing.hm_improvement_insulation_table

Thanks for the site about RoI guidelines

oldsmokey

Did dmq go ahead i wonder?..in a similar situation meself...