Room to Improve.

Utopia Parkway

redbuck wrote: »

I thought they were a lovely couple a lot nicer than most, don't understand the negativity here.

Yeah I sky plussed it so just watched it. Thought they were a lovely couple. Don't know where all the bitchy comments on here are coming from to be honest. As for their interactions with Dermot I thought it was fairly obvious that they were having a bit of craic with him and gently winding him up a little. Especially Dessie Dolan. All in good humour. They weren't closed minded to his ideas at all.

Yeah the wife went on about the utility room a lot but in fairness by the end even she was having a laugh about it.

freshpopcorn

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Yeah I sky plussed it so just watched it. Thought they were a lovely couple. Don't know where all the bitchy comments on here are coming from to be honest. As for their interactions with Dermot I thought it was fairly obvious that they were having a bit of craic with him and gently winding him up a little. Especially Dessie Dolan. All in good humour.

Yeah the wife went on about the utility room a lot but in fairness by the end even she admitted she was having a laugh about it.

I think they were just trying to wind him up and I wouldn't have minded to have them as teachers. All teachers can go into teacher mode sometimes.
Even with the windows, part of me suspects it was the builders idea to shrink them. Other weeks people were way more fussy about things and people said they were just standing up for themselves.

topmanamillion

There was something about that episode it just had the look of maybe they were short an episode or Desie Dolan was building a house and was knocking around the RTE canteen so they threw him on to Room to improve. Definitely not one of the better episodes.

mrsdewinter

topmanamillion wrote: »

There was something about that episode it just had the look of maybe they were short an episode or Desie Dolan was building a house and was knocking around the RTE canteen so they threw him on to Room to improve. Definitely not one of the better episodes.

I wasn't a fan of theirs at all, so I feel your unease. But I doubt they were short a house. People are clamouring to get on that show...

lawred2

freshpopcorn wrote: »

when you compare it to a standard living room. These style living rooms can be hard to heat!

Not with good insulation they're not

freshpopcorn

lawred2 wrote: »

Not with good insulation they're not

I've know a people who had similar builds and they got good insulation and they did take a bit more to heat than their old living rooms!

lawred2

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I've know a people who had similar builds and they got good insulation and they did take a bit more to heat than their old living rooms!

With an A rated BER once heated these buildings slowly lose their heat so it becomes simply an exercise of maintaining it at a level which isn't going to take a lot.

That stove will more than heat that space.

freshpopcorn

lawred2 wrote: »

With an A rated BER once heated these buildings slowly lose their heat so it becomes simply an exercise of maintaining it at a level which isn't going to take a lot.

That stove will more than heat that space.

How do you know the space is A rated?

lawred2

freshpopcorn wrote: »

How do you know the space is A rated?

I suppose I'm presuming. I'd expect it of most architect designed new builds using modern materials.

amtc

Where was the new highly publicised qs

Sunny Dayz

amtc wrote: »

Where was the new highly publicised qs

That's what I was wondering as well. When the builder suggested knocking the old house for cost saving, that should have been the role of the qs. That's when she should have appeared with her costings for and against knocking the house. But then again it might not have made for good tv. Much more exciting if it looks like the builder suggests it!

topmanamillion

I suspect the QS was ommitted because Dessie Dolan stipulated he wanted the cost of the build left out of the show.
He`d be a very high profile man around Westmeath so he probably didn't want everyone knowing how much he spent on his house.

lawred2

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

That's what I was wondering as well. When the builder suggested knocking the old house for cost saving, that should have been the role of the qs. That's when she should have appeared with her costings for and against knocking the house. But then again it might not have made for good tv. Much more exciting if it looks like the builder suggests it!

turned out that there wasn't massive savings in it anyway

but it still made sense

digzy

topmanamillion wrote: »

I suspect the QS was ommitted because Dessie Dolan stipulated he wanted the cost of the build left out of the show.
He`d be a very high profile man around Westmeath so he probably didn't want everyone knowing how much he spent on his house.

tbf, if thats the case why would he go on tv in the first place.
Surely he could go to dermot bannon privately....

topmanamillion

digzy wrote: »

tbf, if thats the case why would he go on tv in the first place.
Surely he could go to dermot bannon privately....

Why do people go on any of these reality shows, there`s an element of showing off.
I also suspect he was approached by RTE rather than the other way around.

wowy

topmanamillion wrote: »

I suspect the QS was ommitted because Dessie Dolan stipulated he wanted the cost of the build left out of the show.
He`d be a very high profile man around Westmeath so he probably didn't want everyone knowing how much he spent on his house.

Dunno where you're getting that stipulation? He said at the start that they bought the house and site for €50k, and the builder at the end said the build cost was approx €275k.

meeeeh

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I've know a people who had similar builds and they got good insulation and they did take a bit more to heat than their old living rooms!

Our kitchen area is like that and the warmest space in house. It helps that it's south facing but decent insulation will solve most issues.

Red Kev

wowy wrote: »

Dunno where you're getting that stipulation? He said at the start that they bought the house and site for €50k, and the builder at the end said the build cost was approx €275k.

The original renovation was supposed to cost €250K on top of the €50K purchase price.

They decided to knock the whole lot and build new as it would be ca. €20K cheaper (so technically €230K). It seems that when designing the new build they put in some new bits and the new projected cost was €275K.

The metal flashing was agreed at the start, as the trip to London was done durin gthe design phase for the full build last summer. It's a bit contrived that they went there on a spur of the moment thing and decided half way through the build to do something different.

It's also not always clear that a new build is cheaper than a renovation. i'm getting a 140 year old cottage renovated and it's cheaper to renovate it than rip it down and build brand new, if you do it right. Sometimes, like the case last night it's the other way round. I've also no idea how a builder can say it's cheaper as it's a "How long is a piece of string" question, so that bit is probably done for the cameras.

I got the impression in the end that it was around €300K, probably slightly over.

To answer a point above, I don't think the house has triple glazed windows, but maybe I'm wrong. They should be triple glazed these days. That living room space is a bugger to heat as the hot air will rise and then curl in over the glass wall to heat the "man cave", after that it will start to heat downstairs, so you need it heated constantly.

The house has to meet certain minimum standards for efficiency in 2016, but there are ways to tip the balance in your favour. It's very odd that Dermot almost never makes a mention of energy costs or energy efficiency in the programmes. The cost of running a house over 40 years is considerable and huge long term savings can be made at the beginning during construction. He spends so long every week faffing around with colours for kitchens (or different shades of white), he could easily do a 90 second slot on energy and insulation.

I think the house looks fine, I just don't get the "privacy" thing, as by going on TV in such an obvious location every passerby will have a gawk into the bloody thing. I also agree with the poster who said it's a bit of an RTE canteen effort. It's been mentioned by Dermot before that the production company give the architects services free of charge to the people building, so that's the financial side of it.

messy tessy

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

I don't know. I have yet to see a cattle shed with a standing seam zinc roof. The cattle must live in luxury in your part of the country.

Well I feel sorry for the cattle in your area if that is called luxury. Pretty standard shed.

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ventilation-advice-for-a-new-cattle-shed-163058

youcancallmeal

Out of interest what would an architects fee be for a build like that?

Mary63

Does our TV licence fee pay for the trip to London.

Why would any teacher want to see his house from the schoolyard, this means everyone in the school can see his house too and with all those windows they could see what you are having for breakfast.If I was a teacher in a country town I would want to live in the next town so I wouldn't be meeting parents every time I set foot outside the door.

I hate all that glass, there isn't even anywhere to put a few sofas, you ant put up sofas against glass, you would be constantly cleaning the glass to with small children in the house.They should show those houses on a dark winters evening, anyone can be looking into your house and you wouldn't even see them if you were looking at, I always pull curtains for this reason, that house would be like living in a fishbowl.

Dermot kept going on about the view of the station house, if it was that attractive why not build a house using the same materials instead of these rambling glass boxes with no centre.

ETA, the architects fee could be maybe 5% of the total cost of the build or it could be a set fee agreed when architect draws up plans.

recipio

amtc wrote: »

Where was the new highly publicised qs

Didn't get a look in this week. The whole programme has become a bit formulaic with a standard running joke like the utility room.:rolleyes: A little emphasis on insulation and heating would also be welcome.?

Red Kev

Mary63 wrote: »

Does our TV licence fee pay for the trip to London.

Room to Improve is made independently by CoCo productions, who also make First Dates and Don't Tell the Bride. So they pay for the trip to London and all the other bits.

RTE pay CoCo a pre-agreed price for the series, it doesn't matter how much or how little CoCo spend on doing it.

Or at least that's the way it's normally done.

freshpopcorn

Mary63 wrote: »

Does our TV licence fee pay for the trip to London.

It's generally paid for by Coco television but sometimes they don't pay for everything. You'd be surprised.

Mary63 wrote: »

Why would any teacher want to see his house from the schoolyard, this means everyone in the school can see his house too and with all those windows they could see what s.you are having for breakfast.If I was a teacher in a country town I would want to live in the next town so I wouldn't be meeting parents every time I set foot outside the door.s.

I know lots of teachers who live next to a very near the school the teach and nobody bats an eye lid. They even have neighbours who are kids and their children attends the same school.
In my experience those teachers who have panic attacks about running into children even do when their on holidays in different countries.
PS they went in TV with their child and messed around with Dermot they weren't shy little school teachers.

Mary63 wrote: »

I hate all that glass, there isn't even anywhere to put a few sofas, you ant put up sofas against glass, you would be constantly cleaning the glass to with small children in the house.They should show those houses on a dark winters evening, anyone can be looking into your house and you wouldn't even see them if you were looking at, I always pull curtains for this reason, that house would be like living in a fishbowl.

Every week you come on here and go on about Dermot and saying you hate glass. If you hate it so much Dermot's designs are clearly not for you so I don't know why you watch it.
Last week it was how impractical the house was for the couple with the stairs. You made them sound like they were a couple in the nighties. This week it's about keeping glass clean for a few years.
If your going to get a crazy stalker they'll probably watch you with or without curtains. Stalkers can also watch you during the day!

Mary63 wrote: »

Dermot kept going on about the view of the station house, if it was that attractive why not build a house using the same materials instead of these rambling glass boxes with no centre.

Because Dermot likes tying the old in with the new and getting as much light into a space as possible and making spaces open. Dermots designs are generally to make all the living areas a centre so people can be move freely between rooms and be in different rooms and still communicate! He doesn't want everybody crammed into the kitchen and have a good room to cram into for visitors!

FrancieBrady

Anyone notice the massive damp patch on the ceiling of the home they went to see in Limerick?

Maybe my eyes deceived me, just wondering did anyone else notice.

oppenheimer1

messy tessy wrote: »

Well I feel sorry for the cattle in your area if that is called luxury. Pretty standard shed.

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ventilation-advice-for-a-new-cattle-shed-163058

That's corrugated sheeting, not standing seam zinc. They are very different. You could argue that this type of cladding is more often seen on commercial and institutional buildings and I wouldn't disagree. It is never used in agricultural buildings.

You don't often see standing seam zinc on houses, but that's the point. The architect wanted something different.

Cianmcliam

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Because Dermot likes tying the old in with the new and getting as much light into a space as possible and making spaces open. Dermots designs are generally to make all the living areas a centre so people can be move freely between rooms and be in different rooms and still communicate! He doesn't want everybody crammed into the kitchen and have a good room to cram into for visitors!

Might work as an office space where the team need to be and feel connected, but with teens and visitors down the line I think most families need private spaces where you aren't under each other's feet. What about when one person likes loud music, another likes quiet gardening programmes on TV and another is into fitness routines?
You would also have to keep more areas in showhouse condition. Looks and sounds great on paper or for parties but to me open plan living seems like hell!

freshpopcorn

Cianmcliam wrote: »

Might work as an office space where the team need to be and feel connected, but with teens and visitors down the line I think most families need private spaces where you aren't under each other's feet. What about when one person likes loud music, another likes quiet gardening programmes on TV and another is into fitness routines?
You would also have to keep more areas in showhouse condition. Looks and sounds great on paper or for parties but to me open plan living seems like hell!

The brother has one and it's great. Can't really fault it.
Growing up we spent all our time in the living room. One person could read others could watch TV.
Generally teenagers go to their bedrooms to listen to loud music. I never heard of teenagers in the living room blazzzing out heavy metal and their mammy watching nationwide in the kitchen.
The family got a play room which will change when the kids grow up for their friends.
My point was more so meant for Mary63 she comes on complaining about the same thing the whole time. I honestly don't under why she watches the programme because she never likes it.

FAILSAFE 00

My God, that place in London was hideous.

heldel00

Husband went in on Google Street view afterwards (I know he's a nosey fecker) and there was a billboard style thing up on that site advertising that it had planning for an apartment block. I could be wrong but I very much doubt that they bought the site for 50k.