Timber Home

sunnyspells7 · 31-10-2017 2:05pm #1

Hi all,

Myself and my OH are thinking of going down this route of a timber home, the prices are coming in very competitive.. the only thing is there doesn't seem to be a lot of examples around or reviews.

Does anyone know anything about these houses? I have contacted

timberliving
cabinsforu
honka

Does anyone know of a leading company that does them? If you are doing it at all do it right I suppose!

Thanks!

Gumbo · 31-10-2017 2:22pm

Timber frame construction has been popular here for nearly 15 years.
There are many housing estates here in Dublin built using timber Frame.

What info can you not find?

sunnyspells7 · 31-10-2017 3:01pm

kceire wrote: »

Timber frame construction has been popular here for nearly 15 years.
There are many housing estates here in Dublin built using timber Frame.

What info can you not find?

Its more so the timbers homes instead of timber frames, like a log cabin style house. They would be Timber Living Log Cabins

Metric Tensor · 31-10-2017 3:29pm

a. You almost certainly will not get planning permission.
b. It will not comply with the building regulations so you will be breaking the law by building it.
c. You won't get a mortgage because of a & b.

OP - the reason it appears so cheap is that it doesn't comply with the building regulations. If it complied with the building regulations it would cost approximately the same amount as a similarly sized house built by any other method.

Edited to add: This is proven by the recent "Modular Homes" debacle in Dublin where it transpired that the cheapest most rapid way to build compliant houses turned out to be pretty much what is being done in housing developments across the city/country already. (Limited prefabricated sub-sections, timber frame, trusses, some cladding, combined with traditional sub and superstructures.)

sunnyspells7 · 31-10-2017 3:42pm

Metric Tensor wrote: »

a. You almost certainly will not get planning permission.
b. It will not comply with the building regulations so you will be breaking the law by building it.
c. You won't get a mortgage because of a & b.

OP - the reason it appears so cheap is that it doesn't comply with the building regulations. If it complied with the building regulations it would cost approximately the same amount as a similarly sized house built by any other method.

Edited to add: This is proven by the recent "Modular Homes" debacle in Dublin where it transpired that the cheapest most rapid way to build compliant houses turned out to be pretty much what is being done in housing developments across the city/country already. (Limited prefabricated sub-sections, timber frame, trusses, some cladding, combined with traditional sub and superstructures.)

Hi thanks for coming back to me, do you have a lot of experience with it?

Gumbo · 31-10-2017 4:05pm

sunnyspells7 wrote: »

Hi thanks for coming back to me, do you have a lot of experience with it?

Just a little

sunnyspells7 · 31-10-2017 4:22pm

kceire wrote: »

Just a little

and are they always a headache? Even with planning?

Lumen · 31-10-2017 5:30pm

sunnyspells7 wrote: »

and are they always a headache? Even with planning?

I think you're missing the point.

There is no unconventional way of getting a cheap house, because if there was it would be the conventional way.

Shed companies selling supposedly habitable structures aren't the messiah, they're very naughty boys.

Metric Tensor · 31-10-2017 5:53pm

sunnyspells7 wrote: »

Hi thanks for coming back to me, do you have a lot of experience with it?

I have quite a bit of experience with the building regulations but only limited experience with "log cabins" because there are none that meet the building regulations so that rules them out early on. They are basically an expensive garden shed!

kceire wrote: »

Just a little

Thanks kc. Garden shed expert!

sunnyspells7 wrote: »

and are they always a headache? Even with planning?

Most of the people who buy them to live in tend to be less worried about planning permission or building regulations and seem to be blissfully unaware about putting their family and others in danger so I don't know if they get headaches. So, if you are diligent, which you appear to be, then the more you read up about these the more you'll decide to stay clear and you'll avoid the headaches!

Lumen wrote: »

There is no unconventional way of getting a cheap house, because if there was it would be the conventional way.

Very well put Lumen - better than I could ever put it.

Delldweller · 04-01-2018 2:22am

I live in a log house . It has full planning compliance. It has a Mortage with an Irish bank. It complies completely with Irish building regulations. Signed off by an Irish architect. Is a complete joy to live in but it was slightly more expensive than a normal build in 2001.

Metric Tensor · 04-01-2018 8:58am

The building regulations have changed an awful lot since 2001. Particularly the fire safety, insulation and renewable energy requirements.

That's not to say that obviously you did things the correct way and got a good result.

For example many of the people thinking of using one think it's a great way to avoid paying a professional to check it complies with the building regs - whereas you did the opposite by getting a qualified professional to look after your interests.

Happy to hear you have a good house as a result. This is also borne out by the fact that it cost the same as an equivalent "traditional" build. Perceived cost saving is another reason a lot of people consider such houses these days.

damienderwin · 25-03-2022 11:40am

I would love to hear more about this, if possible?

Gumbo · 28-03-2022 11:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118833257#Comment_118833257

More about what?

muffler · 29-03-2022 1:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118849496#Comment_118849496

Dont feed the troll!

damienderwin · 29-03-2022 10:11pm

I'm not a troll. I was hoping to hear more from Delldweller on the timber build he has. I am looking at buying a timber house in Waterford and need a bit of information on insurance and maintenance.

Gumbo · 30-03-2022 12:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118853813#Comment_118853813

Timber frame is a standard method of construction and once the outer skin is brick or block then it’s treated the same for insurance as any other property.

Maintenance is the same also. If building detached, then you have no party walls to worry about so no messing with drilling for wall mounted tv etc!

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