Moving to Ireland. Renovation questions.

volvo 240

Hi,
Myself James 30 and my grandparents are hoping to sell our house in Normandy France and are in the process of buying a property near Abbeyfeale in County Kerry for full renovation. We have to sell our house in France first to fund the renovations and will move to Ireland as soon as we do!! We love Ireland and the people we met were very warm and welcoming. The Dingle Peninsula and it's stunning scenery was fab but the prices were out of our reach.
What are building material prices like for cost compared to the UK? The house needs rewiring and total renovation. Floors, windows, plumbing, heating, extension, re wire etc. Can I legally rewire it myself, as I have rewired our present house to French regulations? From looking at the electrical section it looks as if twin and earth and ring mains are allowed. (All illegal to install in France) Is the wiring system the same principle as the UK? ring mains, loop in lighting etc. Is there any similar websites like screwfix in the UK for building suppliers or can anyone reccomend a good builders merchant? I am a qualified plumber and have done all of the renovation works on our house in France.
We heat our house in France with a woodburning Villager AHI stove with back boiler. It heats our 11 radiators really really well and is our only form of heating. We are going to fit the same type of heating system in Ireland. How much is coal at the moment, I hear its going up in price!! Is wood available and at what price? We pay around 35 euros a cubic metre for a mixed type.
So many questions and We are so looking forward to moving. Thanks James.

746watts

Rewiring house must be done by registered electrican as best i understand. fuel varies a lot depending where you buy.
Price of materials have dropped a bit in price but not by big %'s. Haggling will get you a good price.
Spend good money on insulation and eco heat generation (solar etc). Consider catching rain water to a tank for toilets as all houses on main water supply will have water meters installed with costly water bill. If your renovation project has a good Well, get water tested & make use of it before thinking of mains water connection.
enjoy the Kingdom of Kerry.

volvo 240

746watts wrote: »

Rewiring house must be done by registered electrican as best i understand. fuel varies a lot depending where you buy.
Price of materials have dropped a bit in price but not by big %'s. Haggling will get you a good price.
Spend good money on insulation and eco heat generation (solar etc). Consider catching rain water to a tank for toilets as all houses on main water supply will have water meters installed with costly water bill. If your renovation project has a good Well, get water tested & make use of it before thinking of mains water connection.
enjoy the Kingdom of Kerry.

Hi thanks for the reply. I may be able to run all of the wires for the electrician and work with him to get a cheaper price and get him to sort out any paperwork etc. This would be the next best for me. It's good to know that you can get a bit of a discount with haggling. In France no way!! I am really going to insulate the exterior walls inside of the block walls of the property with either 150mm of fibreglass insulation behind metal rail uprights and then use 50mm insulated backed plasterboard screwed to the metal rails as well. I will have to see which has the best insulation properties for the best price. The new extension will have cavity insulated walls etc. The property will have new double glazed windows throughout in either wood for preference or upvc. . I way prefer hardwood windows. The floors of the new and old will be insulated
There is no well on the property but there is a river at the bottom of the garden and a small stream to the side. I don't know if you need permission to use the water for the toilets etc? Really looking forward to moving James:D

items

If you feel well up to task of wiring it is possible to do so, after job is done you'll have to have a RECI certified electrician go over entire job to certify works. Being a complete stranger you might find it hard to find a certified electrician to sign off your works. It's understandable as that person is responsible for entire house once signed off.

Heating a plumbing wise regulation here is very poor, if you've already a water main unfortunately most works can be completed unaware to Co Council. If your going oil for heating, no real enforcement of regulation exists. Oil, coal, turf etc all readily available, wood if you mean pellets is not as widely available. Wood logs etc just like Oil, no problem there. Although most plumbing and heating works can be completed without being checked over, should any of the works go against building regulation, your home insurance wont cover any costs resulting in damages from dodgy works.

If your looking at green type house, some of the cost of work can be reimbursed by grants, all those type works have to completed by SEI registered company's. Without SEI certs, you wont receive grant's.

Good luck with house sale along with the move.

volvo 240

items wrote: »

If you feel well up to task of wiring it is possible to do so, after job is done you'll have to have a RECI certified electrician go over entire job to certify works. Being a complete stranger you might find it hard to find a certified electrician to sign off your works. It's understandable as that person is responsible for entire house once signed off.
I can understand this as when I was corgi registered in the UK a while ago now I used to get people asking me to connect and commision gas boilers etc which they hadn't installed correctly. So I just refused!! Can you re wire the house yourself and have the testing organisation out to inspect the work for a set fee like you have to here in France if its a new build that's never had electricity? The body that inspects in France is the consuel. If it's not correct you pay again for a re-inspection. My electrics passed! Very strict. Tv points, telephone points in bedrooms kitchen living room., no ring mains, dcl light fittings. All wires in a flexible conduit. (Gaine) etc etc. For a 70sqm house 17 wiring circuits for a straight forward build.
Heating a plumbing wise regulation here is very poor, if you've already a water main unfortunately most works can be completed unaware to Co Council. If your going oil for heating, no real enforcement of regulation exists. Oil, coal, turf etc all readily available, wood if you mean pellets is not as widely available. Wood logs etc just like Oil, no problem there. Although most plumbing and heating works can be completed without being checked over, should any of the works go against building regulation, your home insurance wont cover any costs resulting in damages from dodgy works.
I passed my City and guilds NVQ2 and 3 qualification and acops and was a corgi registered gas installer and ran my own plumbing and heating buisiness in the UK for a number of years. Is there the equivalent of Oftec registration and Hetas registration like there is for oil and solid fuel in the UK? Sounds not. I would be very surprised if there wasn't.
I would be interested in the price of wood as I will be installing a villager stove with back boiler to run the central heating. We use wood and this stove to heat our current house in France of 100sqm. The oil boiler was a modern oil boiler at 85 percent efficient!! The oil used to cost 1400euros and used 2000-2500litres a winter over 7 months. The wood 650euros so quite a saving!! The property will need water conecting. Quoted 2,500 euros to boundary of property from the private water company. I will then do the conection to the house.

If your looking at green type house, some of the cost of work can be reimbursed by grants, all those type works have to completed by SEI registered company's. Without SEI certs, you wont receive grant's.


A bit like here but the charges for labour were so high it was not worthwhile having a company in as their labour cost more than the grant, so didn't bother and did the work myself. New windows insulation heating etc.


Good luck with house sale along with the move.

Many thanks for the advice. Looking forward to moving and making a start. It will be my 4th full renovation!:D

items

volvo 240 wrote: »

Many thanks for the advice. Looking forward to moving and making a start. It will be my 4th full renovation!:D

Not sure about RECI electricians doing as you mention as part of fee. Their is an electrical section in this site, under home and garden, might be worth while posting elec question there.

Plumbing / heating certs etc are pretty much same here as in UK, if you've got some certs which cover you there, you'll more or less be covered here too. Nat Gas is different, suppler here is called Bord Gas, all Nat Gas works have to signed off by RGII person. LPG bottled Gas is like Oil, not much enforcement of regulation.

Sounds like you have community or group water scheme, new connection might not have a visit from Co Council water division.

Not sure if you have to apply for planning permission?, if so some recent applications I have seen were only passed on the basis of house being fitted with some eco type system. Most go for solar panels, standard house solar and cylinder + all controls for around 5,000 euro. Not sure where grant stands @ moment, can be from 700 to around 1400, even more all depends on system.

volvo 240

items wrote: »

Not sure about RECI electricians doing as you mention as part of fee. Their is an electrical section in this site, under home and garden, might be worth while posting elec question there.

Plumbing / heating certs etc are pretty much same here as in UK, if you've got some certs which cover you there, you'll more or less be covered here too. Nat Gas is different, suppler here is called Bord Gas, all Nat Gas works have to signed off by RGII person. LPG bottled Gas is like Oil, not much enforement of regulation.

Hi thanks for your reply. I will post the electrical question in the electrical section. It is good news that my City and Guilds GNVQ 2 and 3 qualification in plumbing and gas fitting is recognised in Ireland. At the time in the UK I was corgi registered. Now I believe it's called gas safe.
Many thanks James:)

items

volvo 240 wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply. I will post the electrical question in the electrical section. It is good news that my City and Guilds GNVQ 2 and 3 qualification in plumbing and gas fitting is recognised in Ireland. At the time in the UK I was corgi registered. Now I believe it's called gas safe.
Many thanks James:)

No bother, chap here posting called Gary, he's working with Gas all the time, best have chat with him should you go down gas route. You might have to still attend some Bord Gas courses to work off their mains, since you have some certs you might be bumped up a few courses. Gas regulation has changed recently, I've not come in with new regulation, still working off certs I have previous to reg change so cant give full advice.

volvo 240

items wrote: »

No bother, chap here posting called Gary, he's working with Gas all the time, best have chat with him should you go down gas route. You might have to still attend some Bord Gas courses to work off their mains, since you have some certs you might be bumped up a few courses. Gas regulation has changed recently, I've not come in with new regulation, still working off certs I have previous to reg change so cant give full advice.

Thanks for the advice. I will re post with how you go about it if I decide to go back into the gas industry. Might just do solid fuel and oil. I have plenty to do before I think of getting a job! At least six months work on the renovation project!! I am quite rusty with gas work now, as it has been about 8 years since I did any gas work. James.:)