New Development Royal Canal Park D15

Thanks PhoenixParker - all positive. I take your point re social housing but I had a bad experience in a previous home and I certainly don't want to revisit it! I have spoken with Sherry Fitz re same and they have eased my concerns re same as they said it's 10% of the development and is confined to the area around the show house.

I expected Ballymore to be high quality and it really seems that they have done a great job at RCP.

Certainly can't complain about the commuting options!

1. Overall - Are you very happy with your new home?
Very happy. Best value for the price, wonderful area, wonderful people. Some amenities, especially schools, are not yet well developed, but I hope that'll change in the next few years.

2. Is the build quality high?
Yes, within reason. Still probably among the best you can find in Ireland. As others have said, it's warm and well insulated; the cost of heating is a fraction of what I paid anywhere else in Dublin, and it's much warmer here. Constant hot water and a few modern features, such as single water taps are making a huge difference.

3. Is there much social housing in the development?
I was told (but cannot independently confirm) that many ground floor apartments are social housing units. Even if there were fewer, many apartments (and at least one house in our phase) are rented, and I didn't see any difference between renters and social tenants; no issues with either.

4. Is there any anti social behaviour concerns?
We're currently in a quiet period, but the canal path has been plagued by teens on scramblers in spring. Crime is comparable to other areas I've lived in: most thefts happen in parking garages, even though there has been one theft of a motorbike parked in front of one of the newest houses. Nearly a year ago, I was assaulted by a group of feral teens along the canal, close to Broombridge. I've filed a Garda report and was told by one of our community guards that I should have recognized that the canal path was unsafe and not walked there. Since then, I've been working with local politicians to put pressure on the government for more security, and I'm not the only one doing so.

5. How is commuting working out for you?
Very good. The 120 bus is faster than the route looks like, and now the Luas has made my commute extremely easy. It's exactly 8 minutes from Broombridge to Dominic. There should be a new train station and a pedestrian bridge to Ashington, which should give us additional access to buses along Navan Road.

Hi all,

Anyone know whats being fitout in the shop/resturant across from the aldi site entrance? Looks interesting but cant see details of planning for fitout online.

Thanks!

Paul

paulflano wrote: »

Hi all,

Anyone know whats being fitout in the shop/resturant across from the aldi site entrance? Looks interesting but cant see details of planning for fitout online.

Thanks!

Paul

If its the empty office block you are talking about its going to be Ballymores headquarters, they are relocating from Lucan.

Keithchap wrote: »

If its the empty office block you are talking about its going to be Ballymores headquarters, they are relocating from Lucan.

I wonder if we will get back the parking spaces that Ballymore have

I have two plumbing questions:

1. We're thinking about replacing the tap in the bath in the bathroom (adding a shower hose). Did anyone do that? Is it just a matter of unscrewing the old tap and attaching a new one, or do we have to take out the bathtub?

2. I also want to attach a hose extension and areator to the kitchen tap (something like this). Did anyone get one, and if so, where? From what I could tell, the tap requires a 22mm female connection, and Amazon and other sources I tried have nearly all attachments with a male end.

slayerking wrote: »

We installed one of these: https://www.tapwarehouse.com/product/cucina-cook-dual-flexi-spray-co711dc

Its a flexi tap with a spray button. It doesnt extend however. We got the plumbers to install just prior to moving in - took them about 5 minutes to do it.

Many thanks. Replacing the entire tap is our second option, and I'm glad to hear it's so easy to do. If possible, though, I'll be looking to save a little by getting an attachment. Every Euro saved is another Euro to our bathroom retiling budget

Forumsie wrote: »

What kind of tiles are you planning for the bathroom? Adding more of the same or pulling down the existing ones too? The bathroom are definitely quite sparse of tiles we've no plans to touch them for now, too many other rooms!

Our bathrooms will be the first big house project we'd do. We're quite unhappy with the floor tiles (too difficult to clean), so we'll replace those. In addition, we plan on tiling up the walls around the bathtub when we install a shower hose there, and put a few rows of tiles next to the shower stalls to finally stop water leakage on the walls.

Bruncvik wrote: »

Our bathrooms will be the first big house project we'd do. We're quite unhappy with the floor tiles (too difficult to clean), so we'll replace those. In addition, we plan on tiling up the walls around the bathtub when we install a shower hose there, and put a few rows of tiles next to the shower stalls to finally stop water leakage on the walls.

I just want to get some sort of hand shower so I can clean the bath but won't be having showers in there so I'm thinking just one of those rubber hose attachments onto the taps will do for the time being. I also want to get mirrors- there were big mirrors in the showhouse bathrooms but haven't seen them in the house so I guess they're not included. A cabinet would be useful in the main en suite too so that's the budget all used up for now, flooring the rest of the house will have to come before tiles!

I hear you. We've been in our house for close to two years, so we have everything set up and now are beginning to think of changes and improvements.[/QUOTE]

That's the same approach I am planning to take . Do you think the house has "settled" enough already? I've heard one needs to allow few years before re-tiling to avoid that slight walls "movement", if I can say so, that causes cracks. Though my experience is with high rises only, and this forum says it is different for houses.

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

Settling cracks are with all buildings. Highrise, semi-d, terrace, brick, timber frame, they all get settling cracks.

Most should have appeared within 2 years, but they can happen any time as a house is constantly expanding and contracting in heat and cool.
For plaster, just learn to fix them yourself, its good knowledge to have.

Wall tiles are slightly different as they dont crack like plaster so should be less affected by settling if put up correctly.

Makes sense, thank you fret_wimp2 . I am indeed planning to learn a bit of DIY skills - so excited to have the whole house to ourselves! We will do some interior decor painting besides the flooring so far, and then live and further see to any other changes. You really need to make the space your own before seeing the whole picture for most efficient improvements and zoning/storage whereabouts. It is fascinating how differently people would inhabit and organize the same space.

Bruncvik wrote: »

To be honest, even though we're thinking about retiling now, it will take another year before we'll have a budget for it. It will all depend on the terms of our flex mortgage after three years of fixed, and how much extra we'd be willing to repay. But our house went through two annual cycles, and I hope that especially the extreme weather this year accelerated any settling process. And at least in our case it appears that settling was limited to window and door frames and skirting boards; floors seem to be sound, so new tiles shouldn't be such a problem.

What happened your window and door frames? I assume they weren't covered in the guarantee? Did it cost much to fix them or was it just cosmetic? Thanks

Well folks,

It's Saturday so another day in the house shops for our soon to be ready Heron house! I was in a lighting shop this morning. I would like to put 2 brown smokey coloured glass globe type pendants over the island and probably some type of black metal cage type pendant, low over the table which will be dimmable. I was asking the lady in the shop whether the smokey coloured glass would be too dark and whether I should go for a clear glass. She asked about other lights in the room, saying that she thought the room would be very dark with just those 3 low hanging pendants and was there no other recessed lighting in the room as she thought it would be very dark in the cooking area.

So this is my question - are there any lights in the Heron kitchen that I can't remember? Do you find it quite dark with just low pendants? I've never had them before so I don't know how much they light up the room.

Next I went to a wallpaper shop. I'd like to do some sort of colourful and kitschy wallpaper in the downstairs toilet. Loud and proud! My problem is that I don't exactly remember what the downstairs bathroom looks like and I have no photos. I'd be very very grateful if someone wouldn't mind PMing me a pic or two of their downstairs bathroom just so I can see where the toilet/sink/towel rail is so I can get an idea where I'd put the wallpaper and how much I'd need. I think I have the measurements somewhere but I completely forget the positioning of the sanitary ware.

Any and all feedback or tips welcome! (Unless you see my wallpaper live in person in a few months, at which time you're to tell me you love it as I may well be regretting it!!)

Thanks

slayerking wrote: »

The kitchen also has a light spur behind the extractor fan which is controlled by the wall switch as you enter into the kitchen. This means you can install under counter lights and control them at the wall.
I've found the kitchen to be one of the best lit rooms and a 3 gang light switch means you have very good control of the light. 2 lights above the island, one other in the ceiling as you enter and under counter lights all individually controlled.

Thanks Slayerking. Is installing much of a job? Electrician required? Approx cost? My budget is getting a bit out of hand with all these things I never had that now seem essential!

slayerking wrote: »

It's not too bad, you could do it yourself no bother. The undercounter lights are pretty cheap also. I think ours were around 20 quid ish from home store and more. I'll pm you some details/pics.

Thanks very much Slayerking, I really appreciate all the advice you and others have shared and I'll pay it forward to the next batch of new owners!

Manion wrote: »

We got the undercounter lights installed. If you'll willing to read up on the lights, get the right parts, shop around and then spend the time to fit and install fair play. My head got melted trying to figure out what parts I needed and I'd a thousand other jobs to do.

I'd put lighting the counters as something more important then wall papering personally, as proper lighting has a more immediate practical impact. Within them on the counter space is very dark as you're working in your own shadow in the evening.

My bathroom wallpaper is essential!!! Although maybe on the 2019 list. I'm all very keen now but I'm sure I'll get house fatigue very quickly once we actually start doing these jobs

Yeah I think I will get them installed, I have a list of another few jobs like other lighting and hanging TVs. (Quick straw poll - is a 50 inch TV obnoxious or just right?!). So hopefully we can get the same guy to do all these jobs as it can be hard to get someone out to do one small job.

Man I wish we had DIY skills!

Any other work/jobs people wish they had done when they moved in? Cheers

slayerking wrote: »

Seal the floors. The dust level is very high until you get the floors in. I did seal them after a week or two, but it was a pain up until then with all the dust constantly rising, and looking back I would have done it sooner. Polybond or standard PVA glue mixed with water does the trick (think it was 1 part glue to 5 parts water), brush it into the floor with a floor brush to seal down all the dust. Especially if you have to wait a little while to get the floors all down.

The other frustrating thing you'll have to do is cut the doors. All the doors are hung pretty tight to the floor, so need to be cut to allow for the flooring. The doors are all pretty heavy and sprung hinges and theres alot of them, tricky enough to take off to cut.

Thanks Slayerking, I hope to avoid all that as I have my floors picked out and a guy lined up to do the work. So hopefully he'll be available soon after we get keys so hopefully they'll be done before we move in. The landings and stairs will probably be uncovered for a few months as we're going to get carpet there but not getting that done til everything else is done or in as I don't want lots of dirty boots up and down the stairs. I remember the showhouse carpets on the stairs looked filthy after just a day

My floor guy said he'd shave the doors too but I was also considering taking the springs out on the ground floor so they don't keep slamming shut. I'm think of future children or animals getting caught by them. Has anyone else done that?

FYI new train station signed off for 2021 open date

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/work-to-begin-on-new-65m-dublin-train-station-after-20-years-37232094.html

On the question of if it's worth it, no one can answer that question. Location might be perfect, or terrible. Mortgage repayments might be handy or a struggle, it's unique to your own situation.

However, I can tell you that when we bought in 2016 we heard a lot about the price being too high and the risks of moving into an unfinished estate too much. Between Finglas and Cabra and broombridge the closest train station. But more than two years after buying and just under 2 years since we move in, we've no regrets. I wish I'd been more on the ball with some of the snagging items but that about it.

We recently got the house revalued (for the mortgage rate decrease) and the value has gone up by 19%. So far so good.

cronos wrote: »

Any pictures, how much did it cost to have it installed for you? What lights did you use?

I paid the man the monies and he did it. About 100 Euro if I recall, install and fit.