Room to Improve (v2)

It's the strangest episode ever. The excuse as to why it wasn't finished was just that, an excuse.

I wouldn't be surprised if the two lads ran out of funds and were also out of options to raise the balance. It's TV land remember, it had to be wrapped up regardless.

I would fear those poor lads are left with it as is and it will still be like that for the foreseeable, they have a fair debt to deal with and I'm sure Dermot Bannon and Coco Television have washed their hands of it.

In ours a decade. Not a hint of a draft. House is A rated and feels every bit of it.

Maybe more a fitter issue then a product issue.

I like the idea of the mezzanine, but I don't like the idea of it being directly over the worktop.

If you are hoovering any dust etc will potentially be pushed over onto the worktop.

Plus if anything falls over and hits the hob, I'd imagine that's the hob smashed.

With two dogs a dog toy could easily fall down etc.

The whole episode tonight was all over the shop.

So much time spent talking rubbish, in the school, wandering around some strangers house. Then a final break to go from a building site to a finished house. Only this time it was far from it.

380k plus 240k spend I think it was. So we are at 620k and a good way to go.

I wouldn't touch that age property knowing what could possibly crop up..

I used to think that RTE paid Bannons fee on behalf of the clients...

But this is actually not the case....

Why the fùck would you go on this show??

Just to be on TV....Madness.

I agree , too much banter and time filler and little or no discussion on how they sorted the water issue or the process of the construction. It should be possible to keep the show light and not too technical but at the same time concentrate on the issues that people who might be thinking of doing a bit of building would want to hear. Visiting the school was ridiculous.

That show was daunting, I wouldn't be able for that stress and the "not knowing" aspects of what would turn up. What on earth happened the underground water and did they divert it…. there was mention of a tank by the QS that was an absolute necessity and was factored into the cost at an extra €5K?

I really wish they would explain these things to viewers. Its so frustrating when they make a big issue out of something but never tell you how they fixed it.

Did the mirrors go on the splashback? Dermot made a point about having them as you did your washing up and you get a lovey reflection of the garden (aka building site!)…. but I didn't see them at the end. "A sink should always face a window" used to be a thing. I know its not always possible but at least make the area bright and attractive, not dark.

A lovely couple, really hope it all works out for them!

Yeah, when was the last time anyone saw a kitchen in a hotel? If someone goes away to a nice hotel on holidays, do they come back and say ," some hotel that, it had a lovely looking kitchen." Who would want a hotel kitchen in their house?

Another puzzling thing was the water seepage on the site, I think someone said it was like building on water. Would subsidence not be a worry there. We were told there was a need for tanking but wonder how it turned out. I would be reluctant to pay 380.000 ( perhaps the guts of 400k inc stamp duty and legal fees) for an old building like that with water under the floors?

Anyway, best of luck to all involved.

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I didn't understand how they resolved the water table issue.

They talked about tanking the outside of the walls, but this wouldn't stop water seeping up through the floor and the bottom of the walls.

I thought you'd have to dig a sump and put a pump with a level switch in it to keep removing the water.

Water ingress into basements would be common enough in city houses I would have thought and dealt with routinely.
Once again you could see Bannon's bad acting as he feigned surprise that it was happening.
Overly dramatised for what is after all 'entertainment' TV.

Yes to this. You can have the highest performing windows ever and they can be rendered useless by dodgy fitting.

We use to own a house around the corner. The area used to be called Mud Island. The water table around there naturally sits very high, or the land is low. Whichever way you want to look at it. Drains in the area prone to backing up too. Not great at times of heavy rain.

The other house they viewed was Sonia Lennons. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFmz_OzsmQa/?igsh=azl4YTZld25oZG4= The finishes are very different. Hopefully the lads get the house they deserve 🥰

Poor guys, that was a tough watch. While the tall guy (Sean?) maintained a brave face on it throughout, I thought Cal's (the engineer) demeanour in the second half was telling. Pretty short in any interactions with DB and just looked a bit downbeat and beaten up by it all.

Hope it works out for them and they can make it a fabulous house in the long term. In the short term, it's a hyper stressful (and expensive) experience and they're left to pick up the pieces after the Room To Improve crew pack up their set and roll on to the next season.

he loves impractical open to the house offices… the woman the previous week tackled him on it.

Will the front basement bedroom turn into his office.