Old traditional Cottage - Advice please

ToTheSea

Hi All,

We have an old traditional 3 room cottage that dates back to about the 1870s/80’s in our family, with a little over an acre of land. It has a small extension out the back with a flat roof that comprises of a kitchen and bathroom and small porch, again with a flat roof added to the front. Both the flat roofs would be torch on felt (I think that right term for it )

It was renovated in the 1980s, but I gather this wasn’t the best job. The walls would be about 2 foot thick, and the inside has been dry lined with plasterboard, and the outside is pebble dash. It has electric, running water and central heating. The house was last used full time about 18 years ago, and since then it has been maintained as a holiday home. There is some damp which is noticeable when the house is closed up for a few months but then once the place gets aired out and is lived in the damp smell does go, but I’d imagine the underlying problem is still there.

My family are considering doing some work on the house, possibly including:

• Knocking the small extension and porch and replacing both
• Upgrading the windows (they are currently single glaze)
• Trying to tackle the damp issue.
• Improve the insulation
• Replacing the roof so that it is joined with the extension and porch without any flat roofs. The current roof is corrugated tin, and from what I understand, there is still the old thatch underneath.

Could those of you with the knowledge and perhaps the experience of tackling a similar project give me an overview of what we need to consider with a project of this nature and what the possible complications we could face are?

I know there is not a definite answer, but If anyone could give a ballpark figure of what it may cost, that would be great. It would be good to know if it would be potentially more economical to demolish and rebuild. If my maths are right, the house is about 50sq, so would be looking to rebuild that and extend slightly. The house is located in the West

Any advice people could send our way would be greatly appreciated.

tedimc

My father renovated an old cottage of similar age about 15 years back, and I finished renovating a 60s bungalow about 3 years ago.

In both cases I think we would have been better off knocking the whole lot - however, obviously you will lose the 'old world' feel off the cottage. But perhaps you would use this as an opportunity to but a brand new stamp on the place.

If you do decide to renovate - be careful with your budgets. I have found that you may pay up to 50% more for trades over what they would charge for a new build. You also have the additional cost of demolition, removal etc especially if phased out.

There are also lots of gotchas when renovating. For example - I ended up re-slabbing all internal walls before plastering them, extra wide door frames and restrictions on door sizes, walls off square, extra cost of insulation, unlevel floors, rerouting draining/sewage, etc etc.

You also have to ask yourself if the house layout is maximizing the site.

Granted, I think we would lose a lot of lovely buildings if everyone took the approach above; but it can be an awful headache when you are the one renovating.

Re your total cost - I would put it like this: if you are only really going to leave the walls - get an estimate for how much these would cost to build new. In all likelihood, it will be a lot less than what you will spend fixing damp, insulation, etc. Also - when you do start digging, you may discover there are some foundations missing, or other issues.

ToTheSea

tedimc wrote: »

My father renovated an old cottage of similar age about 15 years back, and I finished renovating a 60s bungalow about 3 years ago.

In both cases I think we would have been better off knocking the whole lot - however, obviously you will lose the 'old world' feel off the cottage. But perhaps you would use this as an opportunity to but a brand new stamp on the place.

If you do decide to renovate - be careful with your budgets. I have found that you may pay up to 50% more for trades over what they would charge for a new build. You also have the additional cost of demolition, removal etc especially if phased out.

There are also lots of gotchas when renovating. For example - I ended up re-slabbing all internal walls before plastering them, extra wide door frames and restrictions on door sizes, walls off square, extra cost of insulation, unlevel floors, rerouting draining/sewage, etc etc.

You also have to ask yourself if the house layout is maximizing the site.

Granted, I think we would lose a lot of lovely buildings if everyone took the approach above; but it can be an awful headache when you are the one renovating.

Re your total cost - I would put it like this: if you are only really going to leave the walls - get an estimate for how much these would cost to build new. In all likelihood, it will be a lot less than what you will spend fixing damp, insulation, etc. Also - when you do start digging, you may discover there are some foundations missing, or other issues.

Yes those all very good points, so of which we have considered. If you know the figure, would you mind sharing a rough amount of what was spent renovating the old cottage?

We would be expecting to run into issues that would be gotcha, you never know with old building.

I would say a new build would definitely make better use of the current site and reduce costs but on the other side I don’t know how I fond go the idea of demolishing it I would be. It’s my understanding is has been in my family since the time it was build or near that time because an ancestor of mine was a tenant farmer of the local estate where the land would have been a part of.

What would be the cost of demolishing a small building like this?

tedimc

ToTheSea wrote: »

Yes those all very good points, so of which we have considered. If you know the figure, would you mind sharing a rough amount of what was spent renovating the old cottage?

So - my timing was a little off. The house was completed right around when the Euro came in so 1999/2000. It worked out at about 100k euro at the time.

To give you some idea of the situation - house was a 3 room cottage, with attached shed and lean to extension at back. Lean to was knocked and replaced (with kitchen and bathroom). Only external walls remained and one internal wall was knocked as the chimney had to be replaced.

Roof replaced with vaulted ceiling, velux windows, PVC Double Glazing (only 6 windows), new kitchen (small), new bathroom, semi solid and tiled flooring, oil Central Heating, etc. etc. Pretty basic spec - but fine for a holiday home.

Builder was a family friend who had experience renovating similar houses in the area.

ToTheSea wrote: »

I would say a new build would definitely make better use of the current site and reduce costs but on the other side I don’t know how I fond go the idea of demolishing it I would be. It’s my understanding is has been in my family since the time it was build or near that time because an ancestor of mine was a tenant farmer of the local estate where the land would have been a part of.

What would be the cost of demolishing a small building like this?

Re cost - I just got quoted 50 euro/per hour for a man and 30T digger. I would have thought that 2 days max would clear a small house. Add in some cost for waste removal and I would have thought you would get well away for about 3k? But others may chime in here.

I fully get the desire to retain the building. Another option is to retain the old structure with minimal renovations (perhaps a large living area) and add a new, modern extension for the bedroom/kitchen wing. But in your case, you will likely need a new roof, flooring, etc.

Good luck with your decision!