Another Irish building Blog

http://timber-frame-build-in-ireland.blogspot.com

Not started yet - still waiting for permission.

Painting Panic

While I'm writing this and keeping an eye on the kids and doing a few loads of washing - a painter is up at the house. He is just finishing off the ceilings and doing the walls in the kitchen and dining room - just enough to hopefuly give me a chance of getting most of the rest of it done before the tiler comes. He's fast - maybe too fast?? But it looks OK - at least as good as me - and probably better.
I'll know more this evening when I see the walls done.
Must go and pay a few bill snow and order some steel for the front wall foundation.

Percolation pipes for the waste treatment plant -

The percolation area for the waste treatment plant.

One of my helpers!

The house at mid June 2005

Back in October 2004 this is how the site looked.

Cost of the Build

Here is a fairly accurate breakdown of the costs of the build in 2005

 Five bedroomed dormer bungalow  2200 square feet floor area, Detached Garage. 3 Ensuites

Initial house build cost  - (excluding garage, finished floors , tiling, kitchen, landscaping ) = €126k


Garage - about €11k
Site prep plus rough landscaping and water and electricity connection fees , legal fees and engineers fees - brings the cost to about  €148k.
Outdoors:   tarmac drive, kerbing, lawns, trees, front wall and block paved patio cost another 20k €

The fitted kitchen , fitted wardrobes , flooring , tiling, painting,  sanitary ware and the solid fuel range bought the total finished  price to approx   €202 k

We had a rough budget for everything - and most were exceeded a bit - but the biggest areas of "overspend" or under budgeting were the tiling and the site clearance and landscaping.

Some other rough cost breakdowns:
Blocks - €4.5k
Foundation materials - house and garage €9k
Plastering - inside and out incl materials - €14k
Concrete floor screed €1200
Labour for laying floor screed (ground floor only) €1k
Windows and external doors - €6600
Sanitary ware and showers and shower pump - €4200 ( 1 bathroom + 3 ensuites and 1 cloakroom)
Waste treatment plant €3200
Electrics - €5k
Plumbing €9k includes oil boiler and rads and all heating etc -  excludes showers and sanitary ware.
Labour for foundation + walls + roof = €32k (garage included)
Tarmac Drive €8000 (it's big)

Total for other materials not mentioned above - i.e all 1st fix timber , slates, stairs , guttering, insulation drains - approx €26k

Hello Tom Ruane

Tom is one of my regular readers - though he hates to admit it - he's always popping in to see what I've written. He thinks I'm sad - and maybe he's right. Maybe I need to get out more!
Tom was one of my major influences for going down the route of employing direct labour to build the house. He had a house built over a year ago and it was him who I went to to give me some idea of what things would cost us. His figures turned out to be pretty close.
Anyway - Tom - if you see this you must be as sad as me to be reading it.
Hello to Pat Ruane too - his brother - who will be getting a house built in the next few months.

Painting Ceilings

I started paintingthe downstairs ceiings yesterday evening - after getting a couple of prices from painters. The first one was for 2500 to paint downstairs inside and to varnish the doors skirting architrave in the house (15 doors). I thought that was high enough - then another one came in with 5000 !!!. I wasn't too happy with the first one - he has only been doing it 3 months and he didn't seem to sure about what he would use in terms of paint. I looked at a house he had done and I wouldn't be happy paying 2500 for his work. So - I having a go myself and am off to do some now.

Another self build in Ireland Blogger

http://selfbuildireland.blogspot.com/

This blogger is just finishing the foundations - and I wish him all the best.
He's doing all the things I thought about like timber frame and geothermal heating - but wasn't brave enough to go for because of the lack of local experience. Maybe next time !!

Eight months since we began

It is 8 months now since the digger arrived and started clearing the site. SOme people say we have made good progress - it could have been faster - but it could also have been a lot slower.
We applied for planing permission in March 2004 and it was granted it the end of Aug 2004. We had to wait for the electricity cables overhead to be moved - which delayed the start till Oct 2005 - which might have been a blessing in disguise - because if we had been ready to start earlier we may well have not got the builder that we did - and I don't think we would have been as happy with the house as we are now.
The waste treatment plant and the percolation area and the drains are all nearly done now and the paths and preparation for the driveway are underway too.
The inside of the house is ready for painting - which I was thinking of doing myself - but now realise that that could go on for weeks - which would delay everything. We are on the final leg now and hope to be moved in by September.
I must go now and track down another painter who has been recommended to me but isn't in the phone book.

We have Heat

I forgot to mention that the electrician and plumber finally got everything working on Thursday evening - so we have had the central heating working since then. It is on a timer - coming on 3 times a day to help dry out the floors and walls.
It's not fully finished - there is still some wiring to do for the controls - so we can have heat and/or hot water together or one at a time. Also the soild fuel range isn't here yet - that will be "plumbed" in to help with the hot water. It is due - hopefully next week along with all the toilets and sinks. They won't be fitted yet - but the bath will.

Painting - fresh plaster

Surface Preparation

This site has some useful tips that I might need to follow when I start painting the house.
I am contacting some painters and decorators for quotes today. One I rang yesterday is booked till September !! I could try and do it myself - but it will probably take me too long and that will hold up the tiling and kitchen etc. - so it is probably best to let someone else do it. It's probably the only job that i think i could do myself - but it could end up costing more in extra rent if it delays us moving in.

Sheep Wool Underlay for Laminate flooring

Sheep Wool Insulation .:Product Details:.

We arehaving laminate flooring upstairs - and are looking for more than the basic thin foam underlay you get with most laminates. This sheeps wool acoustic underlay looks intersting and cheaper than rubber equivalents. (Local supplier quoting 50 euro for about 12m2 of rubber based stuff). Just need to compare the noise reduction figures if there are any...

Digging Drains

The digger and driver are on site today along with the builder - and the sewage pipes and stormwater drains are going in.
The heating still isn't on . An oil delivery should be there as I write this but the electrician and the plumber still ahve work to do to get the heating working. They both seem to want to delay coming till the other one has been - so it ends up that neither of them have been. The elctrician is due this evening - but I won't hold my breath - going by previous experience with him!

Some Furniture Ordered

We ordered some furniture yesterday - beds , 3 piece suite, wardrobe, bedside cabinets , coffee table. All pine - fairly basic stuff but well made and strong. We got them from Carowkeel Furniture - and they will be delivered and put together for free.

Digger Delayed

A digger was supposed to be on site today - but when he hadn't turned up by 9am I rang him. He was held up on another job and wouldn't be here til tomorrow! Nice of him to let me know! I had a couple of other men lined up waiting on him - so they have been put off for another day.
At the time of writing this (evening) - the digger has turned up and is ready for action in the morning. It is forecast to rain tomorrow - so that might put a stop to things anyway!
I hope to get started on the drains and sewage connections tomorrow (not me - the workers!) - and then get the waste treatment plant installed the day after.

Painting

I did a bit of painting yesterday - the upstairs ceilings. As it's a dormer bungalow - there is quite a lot of sloping ceiling - so the walls are probably only about one third of the surface area upstairs. I only did one coat of watered down emulsion - and it took about 5 hours. At this rate I reckon the whole house will take 10 full days of work - which I won't be able to fit in with a 2 year old and 3 other kids on school holidays. I will get a couple of quotes ffom painters this week - at least for the downstairs. It needs to be done idealy before the finished floors go down - so that is in about 4 weeks. Not much hope of ne finding 10 full days in the next 4 weeks with my wife out working 5 or 6 days a week.

Waste Treatment Plant

The Envirocare waste treatment plant was delivered last Tuesday (at 8.00 am!) . A digger and driver are booked for Tuesday and Wednesday this week to install it and the associated pipework. The builder is coming back too to help and to organise things - also he'll lay footpaths around the house and do a foundation for the front boundary wall .
The plumber is coming back on Monday / Tuesday to sort out the heating so I can get it going to dry out the floors and walls fully before we lay tiles etc. I noticed a small leak in one of the radiators upstairs yesterday - so I'll have to let him know about that too.
Better order some oil too - or the boiler won't have any fuel!

Electricity Connected

The electricity was connected on Friday. We haven't actually got power yet though - because the electrician has to come back and connect the mains cable to the house wiring. I was ringing the ESB all morning on Friday to see when they were coming - I even sent an email to customer services because I couldn't get a reply. Turns out they were at the house all the time!
I realised this morning that I forgot to leave a cable above the floor scred in the kitchen!! It could just mean that we won't have sockets on the Island in the kitchen - but it might mean that the Range cooker won't have power for the thermostat that will control how it feeds into the hot water system. I am trying to contact the electrician all morning - but his mobile isn't working.
We can manage without the supply to the Island - but if the range is affected then it might mean some hacking into the new floor or into the walls!

Geothermal Heating

We did consider geothermal heating in the early stages - but mainly because of the large up front costs and a few worries about the lack of local experttise we decided not to go for it. Here are a few links that mght be useful for anyone looking at geothermal heating.

Heat Pump Centre
What is a Heat Pump
Cost savings with Geothermal

Geothermal suppliers Ireland
UK and Northern ireland Heat Pump Makers

More Information on Geothermal Heating
Another Geothermal Heating Supplier in Ireland

Floor Screed Finally Down

The floor screed was laid today. We had been waiting for the previous man to do it for a couple of weeks - but finally asked another man to do it. He stuck to his times and dates and kept me informed and ordered the cement too. I asked for the Range and the toilets and bath that we ordered a couple of months ago to be delivered in two weeks time.
The next thing now is to get the Waste Treatment plant in the ground (that came on Tuesday) - a digger is expected (with driver) in the middle of next week - but that could mean Thursday!
I have someone lined up to do all the connections of the sewage and the drains and also to do the paths around the house at the same time.
Sorry about the lack of pictures - but form the outside not much has changed in a few weeks now and the inside just looks strange with my small camera.

Our kitchen Units will be very similar to this one - same handles and very similar worktop too. I don't think we'l be having the red walls - but I do like them too!

Oil fired boiler

Gerkros Heating Technology

This is the website (recently updated) of the manufacturer of our oil boiler.

Looking for glass for doors

Winged Heart UK New Hill House Blue

We need some glass for the doors from the hall into the kitchen and living room. We plan to have the same design on the kitchen unit.
This site has some nice ideas.

Things to do List

Finish laying floor Insulation
Start painting Ceilings upstairs
Confirm floor screed to be done next Thursday
Get delivery of Waste treatment plant from Envirocare
Book digger for a few days to dig for waste treatment and drains.
Order percolation pipe (60m) and sewage pipes .
Order cement for floors
Order cement for paths around house.
Think about patio
Finalise tiles and confirm tiler.
Chase Electricity supply board for connection.
Get Solid fuel Range delivered and Bath (these get fitted soon after floor screed is put in)
Organise fencing between us and neighbouring fields before cattle are put in them.
See about getting broadband in the new house.
Check out prices for getting satellite TV (for Freeview channels)

Any more and it will just put my blood pressure up.

We are hoping that we might be in before the end of Sept (this year!) That's if there are no delays with anything else.

Floor Insulation

I spent some of yesterday and a bit of today laying floor insulation in the house. It is rigid foam sheets 5cm thick and about 8 foot by 4 foot. It is foil backed on both sides. The time consumng bit is cutting it to fit around the water and heating pipes that are laid on the floor. I've done what Kingspan recommend - and used 20mm thick stuff around the edge of the outside walls (on the inside of course) This is cut 4 inches high. Most people - including the builders merchant and the floor screed man tell me that no-one hardly bothers doing this - but it's the only chance I'll get to do it right so I might as well.
I've still got about 2 fifts of the house to do - most of the fiddly bits are done apart form the utility room which is full of pipes so there isn't much floor space left to insulate!

Floors Delayed again

The floor screeding was held up last week - but we were promised it would be done this week - but another promise broken.
The "floor man" promised to do it next Wednesday or Thursday - a bit too vague for my liking - so I have gone and asked someone else to do it. The same price - and he can't do it till next Thursday either - but this one seems a bit more organised and he rings me instead of me having to ring him all the time. So - a bit more time to possibly lay the floor insulation or paint the upstairs - or update this blog or .....