New house, how to maintain and preserve

Wizard!

Hi,


We bought our first house in Ireland. Since we grew up in Greece, and we have completely different type of buildings (concrete, brick walls, terraces, etc), we have no idea what an Irish house might need over time, and what to do to prevent damages and tear.


Roof, windows, floors, bathrooms, humidity, immersion, etc.


We are open to suggestion and advises. :rolleyes:

L1011

Is the house brand new? Or older? There's lots of other questions if its new or relatively new - what type of construction and heating mainly.

Ventilation is an issue in many Irish houses - in most houses you do need to open windows to ventilate them even when its cold outside which lots of people just won't do.

scamalert

hard to tell as user above said with little info.


roof would be main part, reality is when houses are built it could be pissing for weeks without much of any cover, so proper insulation making sure there aint leaks or spots that get wet.


same in rooms, good lick of new paint scraping filling in any holes properly, as many cracks specially on plaster walls dont show for good 3-5yrs.


anyhow as above to many factors, if you can do some decent renovations every 5yrs youll get to know weak spots eventually, if fixed early most issues can be sorted and house maintained properly.

Wizard!

L1011 wrote: »

Is the house brand new? Or older? There's lots of other questions if its new or relatively new - what type of construction and heating mainly.

Ventilation is an issue in many Irish houses - in most houses you do need to open windows to ventilate them even when its cold outside which lots of people just won't do.

Brand new, not timber frame, gas heating with radiators, attic is storage converted for now (stairs & floor).


Windows are PVCsomething Double glazed uPVC, and have opening on top of them for ventilation. We usually have them open 24/7 on the bathrooms and we open them in the morning in the bedrooms.


Floors are laminate AC6, except bathrooms were we have tiles, but not all the walls are covered.

L1011

You shouldn't have much to be concerned with yet, and anything for the first few months I'd be going straight back to the builders foreman about.

As the house ages I'd recommend keeping the seals on the windows clean and make sure they are still the right shape/size every few months. Your window opening is a lot more than many Irish people do so should help with condensation related problems anyway!

Get the boiler serviced annually even if it seems to be running fine, this will feel like a waste of money but usually maintains any warranties.

Don't clean the laminate floors with very high heat steam cleaners or harsh chemicals, but expect that they might fail - either start to squeak, lift at edges or lose the lamination - much quicker than you expect. It may be the highest end, but it is still a photograph of wood glued to reconstituted wood after all.

JustAThought

congratulations on your big purchase and new home!! Wishing you many happy years in it together!

Was it a new house or a second hand house? If it was second hand you must have had a survey done and so anything needing doing should have come up on the survey? Otherwise it should just be a case of relax and enjoy!! Don’t spill too much champagne on the floor!! Happy new home!

P2C

Just make sure you examine chimneys, slates on the roof, guttering, walls, drains etc etc. As you know it rains a lot in this country. You might not notice water damage until it appears inside the house. But if you examine the exterior and see anything damaged get it sorted ASAP.