old house rennovation

viztopia

I am considering rennovating a house that used to belong to my Grand mother and i would like to see if anyone thinks i am mad. The house is old - over 100, hard to know exactly how old but could be more than 150 years old. i suppose it is about 3,500 square foot. the walls are about a foot and a half thick. it hasnt been lived in for about 5 years. if i were going to go ahead with it basically all that i would be keeping are the four walls and the main stairs in the house and the roof slates as well as some fire places. My motive on rennovation would be as follows;
1) Costs (i know it will cost a lot to rennovate) My brother is building at the moment and for him to buy a site, get planning permission, prepare the site, put in foundations, do blockwork and put in a stone front to the house has easily cost €200,000 - allowing €100,000 for the site. I know i will not be saving this money but i can spend it elsewhere on the house
2) the house setting. the house is in a beautiful rural setting (may not suit everyone) with a long avenue approaching it surrounded by matyre trees.
3) when the house is complete it will look magnificent

Has anyone any thoughts on this or can they point me in the right direction?

Builderfromhell

I would get advice from a building professional with experience of renovating old houses. Badly built renovation jobs could cause all kinds of problems to your health and the building's health.

sinnerboy

you could start with looking here

http://constructireland.ie/Vol-4-Issue-5/Articles/Passive-Housing/19th-century-ruin-renovated-with-passive-house-aims.html

and here

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1046670

take note of €€€€'s budget

screamer

Hey viz, been there, and done that, and what I'd advise is that unless you have enough money to completely renovate the house, stay well clear. We bought an old ancestral home, again huge thick walls, everything was stripped out, and we started again, and you know what, you'll never be finished with an old house. We couldn't get any builders to even quote for the work, (this was 5 years ago when they all wanted new build 3 bed squash boxes to build), and my husband is handy enough so we ended up renovating the majority of it ourselves. So, what I'd advise is:
1. Before you do anything, check to ensure that there is no protection order on the house.
2. If you are planning to add or knock anything down, go for a pre-planning meeting, even though our house had no protection order, they would not allow us to change the exterior asthetics of the house as it was so old and part of the village character!
3. You will need to get a structural report for any mortgage you apply for, and BTW, you'd be surprised how many insurance companies will not even quote for a 100+ year old house, even though, lets face it, any that are around are pretty well built.
4. Make sure to get a couple of quotes, and make sure that they are fixed price quotes.
GOOD LUCK, at the end of the day, you will have something unique, historical and special to you. My little baby is now the 5th generation of my family to live in this old house!

viztopia

thanks for all those replies. everyone has mentioned some very relevant points. to screamer, do you think if you had picked a greenfield site, could youhave built from scratch a similar house for the same amount? i amnot going into this by trying to save money but i dont want to end up spending a lot more than it would cost to build a new house.

Carlow52

You don't mention the outer finish on the house: if it is nothing special then I would seek planning to demolish and rebuild. Keeping the 4 walls in a 100 plus house is not worth it in my opinion. When rebuilding, orient the house in accordance with best practice for a passive haus design.

Put in an insulated foundation and then you can do the rest as fund allow.

The last house I worked on that was stripped and then 'dozed' the extra was 5k

On the fireplaces, if of value, move off site and keep out of sight till the very end

Good luck

[for those who don't agree with this approach dont bother criticizing my view as has happened here before, just help the OP, I wont be back to this thread]

Borzoi

viztopia wrote: »

The house is old - over 100, hard to know exactly how old but could be more than 150 years old. i suppose it is about 3,500 square foot. the walls are about a foot and a half thick. it hasnt been lived in for about 5 years. if i were going to go ahead with it basically all that i would be keeping are the four walls and the main stairs in the house and the roof slates as well as some fire places.

Has anyone any thoughts on this or can they point me in the right direction?

There is nothing more satisfying then restoring an old property - especially if you have some sentimental attachment to it anyway.

Try find an architect or builder who has done similar jobs as a starting point. Also, as others have said, restoring an old build will probably cost more money than demolishing. But consider this, IMO, Georgian houses are fantastic, mock Georgian are rubbish

clonaugh

Borzoi wrote: »

There is nothing more satisfying then restoring an old property - especially if you have some sentimental attachment to it anyway.

Try find an architect or builder who has done similar jobs as a starting point. Also, as others have said, restoring an old build will probably cost more money than demolishing. But consider this, IMO, Georgian houses are fantastic, mock Georgian are rubbish

I agree, I have inherited my homeplace an old georgian house in a very quiet location, the house was occupied up until two months ago, already built a new house 3 years ago, would love to move back but my wife would prefer the new house.

No6

Every old house is different, I live in one and I have worked on a lot and refurbished them and a few times have had to unfortunately demolish them. As mentioned above get professionals to help, Find professionals that have done similar work and have experience of it, get a really good condition & structural survey done and establish what works have to be done, and the costs for them and then decide if you can go ahead or not.