New member introducing himself

[btm3055]

Hi,

 

My wife and I always wanted to build our own house, but self-employment meant financing was unlikely.

 

However, we’ve been incredibly fortunate that my mother-in-law has all-but gifted us a beach-front timber frame bungalow with around a third of an acre in Ireland. This means living rent-free (and mortgage-free). So rather than knock it down and rebuild, we’re going to renovate without borrowing.

 

The downside is that it’s a 1930s building that’s been in disrepair since the 1970s, and has only ever been used as a holiday home in the Summer. The toilet is semi-outside, there’s no bathroom, no insulation, the cladding is all rotten, the frame is rotten in places, the window frames are more putty than wood, at least one of the concrete slabs is subsiding, there’s no heating, 1930s electrics, and asbestos.

 

Being positive, the outside toilet is a working toilet, the 1930s electrics do work, and the frame isn’t rotten everywhere, mostly just under windows. That is more than we had 2 months ago.

 

Thanks to being rent-free, I have a budget of at least £1000 per month for as long as it takes. (Potentially more, depending on work contracts.) I’m estimating 4–5 years doing everything (except the asbestos, and the electrics) myself.

 

The mixed weather we’ve had in the last few weeks has shown us that we won’t survive a cold Winter here, so I’ve got six months to try and make it weather-tight and warm.

 

So much to do it’s a little overwhelming, so naturally I have started with a shed.

 

Wish me luck :)

[Iceverge]

Welcome welcome. 

 

Where roughly in Ireland are you? 

 

Any pictures? Even though you need to pay VAT on new builds in Ireland I would consider going down this route. Better and cheaper in the long run every time 

[Thorfun]

good luck! sounds like a project and a half. although I have to agree with @Iceverge and seriously consider knock down and rebuild. even as self-employed you should be able to get a selfbuild mortgage. People on here have had success with Ecology. worth investigating I'd say. then at least if they say no you know for sure!

[SteamyTea]

Welcome.

Down here we had loads of timber chalet style houses.  Most have been demolished and replaces with quite naff block and render places.

So good on you for renovating.

I assume you are basically going to have to strip it out to a shell, repair/replace timbers and then start to put it good.

The wiring will need redoing, as will the plumbing.

So that means temporary accommodation.  So a caravan/mobile home on the site.  They can be modified and improved to make 'winter ready'.

That will give you time to decide how you are going to improve the old place.  Thermal improvements are going to be the hard part as done wrong, they can rot a place faster.

Post up pictures.

[joe90]

Welcome, wow what a project. I replaced a timber and asbestos bungalow with a new build, it had similar issues as yours but I found the sole plate (bottom timber) had completely rotted away so renovating would have been a non starter anyway. Yes a static caravan on site would be a good move, free accommodation whilst working on the bungalow. I have renovated many houses but living in it whilst working is a nightmare. Looking forward to pictures and updates.

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome.

 

First question is what do your planning laws say about changing use from a holiday home to permanent residence?  That would need planning permission here.

 

And what do building regs say about a renovation?  Again here, that would require a building warrant and the finished house complying with current regs.

 

If the paperwork does not cause you grief / expense / delay then it sounds like a fun project.  It should be pretty easy to repair the frame re clad and insulate from the inside to make a decent building.

[CharlieKLP]

I’d be so careful about the asbestos, they used to put it everywhere. 
 

Honestly, have a sit down and work out the economics of this, because it’s usually better to just build something new. The idea it’s just rotten in some parts sounds optimistic, have you had a structural survey done?

[joe90]

22 minutes ago, CharlieKLP said:

I’d be so careful about the asbestos, they used to put it everywhere. 

Yes I had to dispose of mine in a Sealed skip, lots of health and safety garb and expensive.

[SteamyTea]

13 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Yes I had to dispose of mine in a Sealed skip, lots of health and safety garb and expensive.

Be interesting to see if the local authorities, who currently charge for household waste disposal, allow asbestos to be got rid of free of charge.

Cornwall Council, through their operators would like to charge everyone that gets to within 200 metres of a dump I think.

And they wonder why fly tipping happens. Still, at least it eventually gets disposed of correctly that way.

Edited April 23, 2022 by SteamyTea

[btm3055]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I should probably have said Northern Ireland. We’re on the Ards peninsula.

 

We could probably get some kind of mortgage, once it’s legally ours. For now, it’s still my mother-in-law’s. so we can do what we like, but not being legal owners until we inherit, I doubt we’d get any form of finance. And to be honest, I’d rather not owe anyone anything if at all possible.

 

The whole row of bungalows has been replaced with block and render (we’re the last timber) and a couple of huge modernist mansions, so I’m pretty confident precedent has been established should we require planning permission. That said, I was surprised at how lenient the local planning is. Building regs is another matter, but I presume that things like removing asbestos and replacing like-for-like timber is fine.

 

As far as I’m aware, there’s nothing to say we can’t occupy it full time — no covenant or anything like that, it’s just that traditionally my mother-in-law has only used it in the Summer.

 

As far as I’m aware the asbestos is behind the old range, on the lean-to roof that covers the toilet, and the old chimney. I’m not touching that myself, so whatever it costs we’ll just have to pay.

 

Photo attached. You can see the dodgy chimney, asbestos roof leading to the toilet, and my lovely outside shower that needs to be an inside shower before November.

 

 

[ETC]

“Building regs is another matter, but I presume that things like removing asbestos and replacing like-for-like timber is fine.”

 

Speak to your local BCO. There is very little that you can do without BC approval.

[dpmiller]

waves from up the road a bit...

[btm3055]

Thanks for the advice on building control, I’ll speak to them just in case.

 

@dpmiller very up the road a bit, Newtownards is my weekly Tesco shop

[dpmiller]

@btm3055 not quite so far actually, the site is on the Mountstewart side of Carrowdore

[btm3055]

@dpmiller oh very close then. We’re just south of Ballywalter

[dpmiller]

4 hours ago, btm3055 said:

@dpmiller oh very close then. We’re just south of Ballywalter

 Lol, I was guessing the north side of the village for some reason...

Edited April 25, 2022 by dpmiller
can't speel