My Bungalow Bliss

Trondheim · 07-12-2021 01:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283635#Comment_118283635

I don't think it is in the middle of nowhere. It is on the Galway City side of Oughterard. So 17 miles to Galway City and walking distance to the village of Oughterard. The location has plusses and minuses. On the minus side, it is just down the road from a derelict hotel that was the focus of protests about a direct provision centre two years ago. The hotel remains derelict, so depending on what happens that it could increase or decrease the value of their house. The road outside the house is the main Galway - Clifden road, so there is no way you could let young children outside the gate. On the plus side, there is a hard shoulder outside the house and either hard shoulder or footpath all the way into Oughterard, so in the future, their teenage kids could walk/cycle to the village and to school. They are fairly close to Galway, and when the Galway bypass eventually gets built, they will have easy access to much of the city.

Athy is particularly cheap in terms of Kildare and there are probably good reasons for that.

While Athy is closer to Dublin, for every other factor i think that Oughterard, close to Galway is a much nicer place to live. But that is just my opinion.

Dempo1 · 07-12-2021 01:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283561#Comment_118283561

Notwithstanding the length of time it would take for a mini digger to gut the inside carefully , it just also struck me as an odd way to completely remodel an existing house. I suppose new roofing joints & block work would be an additional cost but with the money spent on this project, I would have thought not a stumbling block (no pun intended)

I'm still astonished at what was spent given the actual work done on this project.

Trondheim · 07-12-2021 02:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283740#Comment_118283740

Ya, my instinct is that you could probably still use the base, so you wouldn't be fully starting from scratch, and it would seem to be easier to build to proper insulation and seal specification from scratch rather than retrofitting to existing walls. Nevertheless, there must be some advantages to the retrofit, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people doing it.

Dempo1 · 07-12-2021 02:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283940#Comment_118283940

There obviously is alright , I suppose if the spend was less I'd say fair enough but I know some neighbours who built far bigger and dare I say nicer new homes from scratch and for far less in the past 6 years .

Pussyhands · 07-12-2021 02:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283561#Comment_118283561

I'd be sure it would make sense to refurb if you were going like for like but knocking and starting fresh would build a better planned house.

The house is small for half a million. 3 bedrooms were small.

Trondheim · 07-12-2021 03:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118284250#Comment_118284250

In the main, i agree that they don't have a lot of house for €500K. But i don't see many houses for sale with BER A2, and when there are, they tend to attract a premium. So when you take the spec into account (as opposed to just the size), it starts to look a bit better (albeit it still feels like a lot for 3 bedrooms).

thebourke · 07-12-2021 04:22PM

how much does it cost to get an energy retrofit survey done on your house?

Pete_Cavan · 07-12-2021 04:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283940#Comment_118283940

Bear in mind that the €500k cost here includes the cost of buying the house. For most people refurbing, they have the house a long time and wouldn't factor it in as a cost (mortgage still outstanding has to be paid whether they refurb or not). Most refurbs wouldn't involve polished concrete floors either.

Pussyhands · 07-12-2021 05:06PM

Are those concrete floors hard to keep clean? If you had muck on your shoes would it stain it and be a right job to get clean again?

Sam Russell · 07-12-2021 06:35PM

Given the title of the programme, I would have expected Hugh Wallace to have a copy of the offending book in his hands at the start of the introduction.

Now I found a copy of the July 1981 7th edition, and it is a lot more than a catalogue of standard designs. The first plan is numbered 81 and it contains 100 plans - 70 of which are bungalows, so 80 designs from earlier editions have been superseded. It runs to 463 pages - so 363 pages given over to other stuff.

It is more a textbook on house design, taking account of the site, surroundings, layout, construction, and costing - covering a lot of information a would be builder/designer should consider - particularly if this is their first attempt at such a project.

It would have been quite a good start if the original actual design from the book was shown, and what was added as extensions over the years. If the architects had referenced their proposals vs the advice from the Bungalow Bliss book. [Incidentally, build costs as given in the book (from 1981) range from IR£20,000 to IR£30,000]

After all, the programme was piggy backing on the book - which did not figure in the programme one bit. He should take a look at how Portillo has his Bradshaw in his hand as he gets on or off his train as he travels.

purpleshoe · 07-12-2021 06:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283635#Comment_118283635

Again like the other example, this house is not like theirs.

The original point I made was that 360k will not buy a house like theirs.

Brian Scan · 07-12-2021 09:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283635#Comment_118283635

Not a particularly attractive house.

monseiur · 08-12-2021 03:36PM

After forking out the bones of half a million quid, one would expect at least a bathroom with a full size bath and seperate shower. This house has no bathroom just sharing an ensuite with the master bedroom. It used to be known as a Jack & Jill bathroom, thought they were a thing of the past. What a joke, it's obvious that more time was spent on deciding on material / colour of the roof that on one of the most basis necessities in any residence, especially one with a young family - a decent bathroom ! As I said previously the deisign is OK for a summer holiday home in warmer climes but not suitable as a permanent family home.

techman1 · 08-12-2021 03:41PM

After all, the programme was piggy backing on the book - which did not figure in the programme one bit. He should take a look at how Portillo has his Bradshaw in his hand as he gets on or off his train as he travels.

@Sam Russell

Exactly that's where the whole program is misleading. It's like the modern architects are trying to dis the whole Idea of the book , the bungalows that were built and go for a house that the owners want to completely gut rather than just tweek and modernize.

Thereby saying that "bungalow bliss" houses were rubbish and can only be saved by the intervention of modern architects and big money. Sure even the mica redress scheme does not allow for 500k expenditure

Pussyhands · 08-12-2021 03:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118290660#Comment_118290660

I suspect if they could do it all again they'd do it differently.

Forget renovating that mess of a bungalow. Sell it for 190k (increase of 25% in market since they bought it).

Put the what, 300k they spent on renovating?, into a new house and you'd get a fine house for 490k.

Here's a nice 3 bed bungalow for 345k. Use the 100k+ you have left over to stick a galvanised roof or insulate it to the max and stick a Tesla outside the door too. Much better decision.

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-eighterard-oughterard-co-galway/3643420

Trondheim · 08-12-2021 07:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118290739#Comment_118290739

I don't think there is any way you could compare the house they have now to that house. And i'd say it is very unlikely that 100K would turn that house from a BER D1 to a BER A2.

Trondheim · 08-12-2021 07:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118290660#Comment_118290660

I think that you have misinterpreted the plans. It looks to me like the main bathroom is separate to the en-suite. They are back-to-back, but separate.

Pete_Cavan · 08-12-2021 07:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118290660#Comment_118290660

Not sure what you are saying here exactly but the en-suite is entirely separate from the family toilet/shower room. The lack of a tub certainly is odd. There is also another toilet at the utility.