Moving to Greystones

rieo

Hi! We are hoping to move to Greystones this summer with two small children. Love the idea of living a short stroll from town so we have zoned in on Heathervue & Hillside. However we are not sure if the houses are well insulated. We are leaving a cold house where in winter less than half an hour after the heat is switched off, the house is cold. We are hoping to move to a warmer house - preferably a cavity wall instead of cavity brick.

Our question is does anyone if the houses in either estate have problems with insulation / hard to heat / draughty etc?

Viewed some houses and noticed dark patches on walls - from top to bottom in an irregular pattern. Estate agent said it was the way the houses are plastered?! Have also got different answers on if cavity wall or cavity brick.

If anyone knows either estate, we'd be delighted to get more information / ideas / impressions before we jump into buying a house!

recedite

If you viewed houses, then by law you should have been given copies of the BER Certs. If you put the BER number in here, you get a lot of info on the properties.

Charlie-Bravo

Really difficult one to answer regarding insulation as each house is different. You can be sure that there was very little in terms of thermal insulation installed to houses constructed in late 70's and early 80's. So unless the owner has completed some insulation upgrade work since originally built, the BER rating would be very low. Any thermal insulation upgrade is a positive, so ask the agent during the viewing if any has been completed.

Damp patches can be caused by a number of factors - you might find the wall is dry-lined with plasterboard on dabs, and the patches are where these dab locations are. Couple that with condensation occurring making the location of dabs apparent - Without seeing it, I couldn't confirm it!!

Before you jump to buying a house, it is a very good idea to at least have a building survey completed by a Chartered Building Surveyor. He/she will go into detail as to what problems or headaches to expect in the particular property. And if you're not sure which house to put an offer on, a walk-through survey may be more appropriate before a full survey is completed.