My Bungalow Bliss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314542#Comment_118314542

Agreed. They got screwed. Bungalow Bliss portrays itself as informative, but is nothing more than entertainment, which doesnt work without a supply of 'suckers' around which to build the show

Viscount Aggro

They have all overpaid.

Nearby theres a self build house, inside an agricultural building. Windows at back and roof panels. FTW.

Effects

The underfloor heating alone didn't cost an extra €70,000 surely? And it's not like you don't get an idea of the cost beforehand, and can then decide to not go with it.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118314395#Comment_118314395

No comparison there really, apart from some questionable interior design choices. Starting to feel sorry for them now.

purpleshoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315137#Comment_118315137

I am not a builder and I have limited knowledge so I am very much open to correction on below.

Based on what I saw, and the comments here, they dug up a raft foundation. Concrete shown in shots as the mini digger dug up the floor looked very thick. They then proceeded on TV to ignore that detail and present it as the house never having foundations. That the internal walls were built on air, and that a decision made 40 years ago when the house was first been built had come back to bite everyone.

The only reason the floor was taken up in the first place was to facilitate underfloor heating. As the house was built on a raft, digging up the floor should never have happened without a full understanding of the consequences. Chasing the floor and putting in contemporary rads would probably have been the better call. Part of that 70k was rectifying the mistake of pulling up the raft foundation.

If I am correct in what I am saying, the professionals involved possibly would have known that a mistake had been made during the refurb.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315137#Comment_118315137

In a way it did because when they went digging down they found out the internal walls were not down to foundation level. Sorting out that problem was where the 70k went. They werent told of this potential cost at the start of the build, it was very much a surprise to them. As to why an engineer didnt do tests on the foundations to see what they were dealing with in advance of planning to install underfloor heating I dont know. To me it seemed like a huge cock up and the couple were the ones who ended up footing the bill for it.

It seems amazing to me that a couple could hire architects and ask for underfloor heating but the architect doesnt first ask himself is this actually possible without blowing the budget. Like the couple are hiring these professionals to prevent the very mistake that was made. But instead they get into the build and suddenly the architect is showing up to site telling them the plans that he made are going to cost them an extra 70k.

Effects

On my own build, we decided against underfloor heating as it was a bit outside of our budget, following other complications. Never really regretted it to be honest. Our mech engineers also specced some crazy expensive radiators though, and we found very similar ones for about a third of the cost. You have to do a lot of your own work, and not rely on professionals a lot of the time.

ShamNNspace

What was the point of that ridiculous vertical laminated wooden beam? Far too skimpy looking.. I can see them cutting it out in years to come, God knows what that shitearsery cost

Car99

Most of the money in this build went on getting up to A2 . If you want an A rated house build one. The cost of getting to A2 will take an age to recover and since they have a loan out it will take even longer. Should have modernised and extended

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315944#Comment_118315944

Strutural support since they took all the walls and joists to creat the valuted ceiling, in a few years they will get rid of it and put an attic conversion in when they realise they haven't enough floor space. They got suckered in and i would guess if the cameras werent involved they would have gone for a more conventional build with alot more floor space and a better family home with less debt.

Sam Russell

Someone I know wanted to do an extension to the rear of a terraced house with no access to the back. Three builders put in for the job. The big issue was how to get the digger into the back to dig the foundations.

Two wanted to remove part of the front wall below the window which they would remove and then drive the digger over the floor of the front room to get to the back. They did not think of hiring a crane to lift the digger over the house.

The third builder did not understand the problem. He said the the digger will go through the front door like all the other workers, and he would carry his shovel in his hand. They did all the digger work by manual work - and at a lower cost than the others. These mini-diggers can do a lot of damage very quickly.

From what I saw, that mini-digger was hacking away at the concrete floor before any proper assessment was carried out - and then it was too late. Of course it was the owners who had to pay the €70 grand for the mistake - not the builder - not the architects - and not whatever mechanical experts were involved.

I only hope the next episode is less traumatic for the owners.

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317385#Comment_118317385

Less traumatic if it's where I think it is I don't think so

thomas 123

"My Bungalow Bliss" more like "My Bungalow Burden".

Both episodes seem to have had willing participants fleeced and left with very little bang for an awful lot of buck.

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118310337#Comment_118310337

The only saving grace was that Diarmuid Gavin didnt show up to do the garden.

Another 50k for a few flower beds.

TXPTGR1

At this stage the people showing up on these shows to get fleeced have been well conditioned by the likes of room to improve etc. these shows are just utterly unrealistic- lots of 6 figure sums getting picked out of peoples arses to keep trendy spectacled architects happy - plenty of oundiclosed inheritances and badgered parents going undisclosed id say and the odd innocents getting led to the debt till they’re dead slaughter

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317385#Comment_118317385

From what I saw, that mini-digger was hacking away at the concrete floor before any proper assessment was carried out - and then it was too late. Of course it was the owners who had to pay the €70 grand for the mistake - not the builder - not the architects - and not whatever mechanical experts were involved.

I only hope the next episode is less traumatic for the owners.

Obviously the program is edited so we dont get to see everything but it all sounds grounds for a valid court case to me. Its not the couples fault they didnt know about the problem of the foundations before the digger went in, they are not construction professionals like the architects and engineer.

As for the two architects themselves they should be embarrassed that they walked their clients into a 70k mistake on national tv. If other posters here knew of this raft technique of building foundations back in the 70s and 80s then why didnt the architects on this program know about it and get them tested first to see what they were working with?

Pussyhands

Just realised...Huge was in the vault talking about bungalows and how they were easy to build and often neighbours etc would help build it and often there'd be things not done exactly right..

Clearly they learned this after the fact when they started hacking at the floors! If they knew things were often not done 100% correctly, why not do a survey before starting such a big job?

ShamNNspace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317934#Comment_118317934

Some of the trouble might be that there was no older.. seen it all around the block.. heads in that architects office to set them straight and keep a rein on the young whippersnappers

techman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317883#Comment_118317883

Yea they were a bit too trendy, those overly thick rimmed glasses on Hugh Wallace, de rigueur among the celebrity set now, and the female architect with her hair shaved on the sides, if I saw those two walking in through my door I would run a mile, they scream "loads o money"

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118319069#Comment_118319069

You can tell all the architects are desperate to one-up each other too, to come up with the most creative, "outside the box, blue sky thinking" design.

TXPTGR1

One thing this show has convinced me of- I will never get involved with an architect

Scag Mattress

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317963#Comment_118317963

What was incorrect about building internal walls on a raft foundation?

The internal walls were built to only make rooms and hold up the ceilings.

Trondheim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118319069#Comment_118319069

Exactly this. On the first build, the architects came down from Dublin and kept saying that the house needed to "settle" into its surroundings. The house has been there for 50 years, it is on a main road, with similar bungalows on either side and across the road. If it isn't "settled" into its environment, no house will ever be. So they look at rural Ireland through their D4 glasses and assume that the only way for a house to blend into the environment is to look like a hayshed. If the house was on its own in a huge field, that might make sense, but on a road with bungalows all around, the way to blend in is to look like a bungalow. With a green galvanised roof, it stands out a mile. In fairness it is very striking, but don't claim that it is now more "settled".

On the second build, they made some beautiful spaces, but landed the couple with massive debt that they will spend a lifetime paying off. Coupled with that, they ignored the practicalities of living. What is the point in getting an A2 rating if the large living/dining/kitchen will be freezing every time you open the front door? Where is the utility room? They will be trying to watch TV and have the washing machine spinning in the background. No playroom for the kids' toys - that main room will be a pain to keep tidy and it is their only room for hosting visitors. What about when the kids get older and want their own space? It looks great in the pictures, but they have completely ignored the needs of the clients. That is before even talking about the mess with the €70,000 bill to fix the mistake made by the engineers.

Overall, a very poor advertisement for architects. I am sure that there are many architects that are much more focused on the client's needs and could have delivered significant improvements for a much more modest budget.

Trondheim

One other thing, every architect on the show seems to be an award-winning architect. How many architecture awards are there?

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318081#Comment_118318081

The thing is the two architects on the project were around mid 40s meaning they likely studied architecture in college in the late 90s/early 2000s so after 20 odd years of practice you would have thought they had seen it all. Im not sure what they get taught in college but you would hope there is a module that covers the problems that can arise when renovating old buildings and how to avoid them if possible. If they had of called a halt to the underflooring heating idea on this plan they would have saved the clients 70k instead of lumping them with a huge bill.

techman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118319411#Comment_118319411

Boom!!

Using one of their trendy catchphrases there

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118319449#Comment_118319449

The walls were built on the floor, not the foundation if I remember correctly.

Not saying it was right or wrong, they were still standing at that stage so clearly they did the function required, just Hugh was saying often because of neighbors, things often weren't done exactly perfectly. You'd think the experts would know, that if things were not done correctly often, that there was a chance the walls were built on the floor and not the foundation.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118317385#Comment_118317385

You know there are mini diggers that are designed to fit through narrow doorways of houses?

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118319844#Comment_118319844

It's common in nearly every industry which is a joke.

Federation/Association has awards.

Members pay to enter awards.

Everyone gets an award.

Federation is happy with all the money. Members get an award.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118298536#Comment_118298536

In terms of strip foundations, is it not the case that load bearing walls would have a strip foundation and that is/was sufficient. Certainly when I built an extension 20+ years ago, the cavity walls all have good strip foundations and one internal load bearing wall. We put in rebar mesh and poured the sub floor. There are various internal block walls that are merely partitions built off this, quite adequate. Of course if some silly fecker came along and tried to utilise them as load bearing walls, they'd be pretty stupid.

I've also built sheds off a raft - big reinforced slab. But think the strip were the better job.

ShamNNspace

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118320640#Comment_118320640

The purlins could then be propped off that internal load bearing wall, probably where there was a join in the purlin in a long span. the roof would then be independent of all the other internal walls, those other prefabbed A frames for the roof were a different set-up and I believe they would be completely independent of all the internal walls. What a mess and what bad advice to put that expense on the couple.. Also on the first show it annoyed me to see the dozer bucket bustin out the pvc window, could they not have removed the windows first, simple enough procedure, creates an awful mess all that glass and bits of pvc everywhere not great for recycling