Room to Improve.

Penn

Really enjoyed this episode. Still hate having to see things like Dermot making scones when they could have spent more time explaining what works had to be undertaken to the existing to help it achieve the A3 rating, but the project turned out very well in the end (bar the steps up to the seating area and the tiny bedroom for the mother).

seamus

I wonder if they deliberately select people for their odds situations. Two fifty-something sisters, one of whom has a seven year old son, arriving home to "look after" Mammy despite a son living next door, and money that just appears out of nowhere.

The scope for speculation here was endless.

I envy these guys for the somewhat blank canvas they had; a plot of land to do whatever you like with. And their mother is a gas character.

As others say, I wasn't particularly blown away by this; seemed like something of a standard upgrade to an old cottage, though I guess it's the invisible stuff that's important - as the mother was saying, having a warm house without having to light a fire, a kitchen that works no matter which way the wind is blowing, etc. I get the impression that a large bedroom isn't something she's too pushed about.

Sleepy

I live quite near this one and have envied the site since we bought out here. I'm pretty certain my daughter built some sandcastles on the beach there with the little lad last summer.

I'm assuming the old shed (which looks like the original house they showed in a photo at the start) would simply have cost too much to incorporate into plans involving knocking the cottage and extending the shed. The potential for problems in a building that old alone could have swallowed the entire budget. It's a shame but without half a million available for the project, I think it would have been insane to even try.

That said, I'd wonder if the granny put the foot down about bulldozing the cottage she and her husband had built and insisted on extending, rather than replacing it? I'd have thought their €250k would have been sufficient to knock the cottage and simply build something much nicer than the end result. Surely with the existing services and foundations that could have gotten them something around the 150sqm level?

Sunny Dayz

I thought last night's episode was more of a return to form. The two sisters seemed like lovely people and I liked how they wanted to get so involved and help out where they could, in a "we want to be helpful" way rather than a "we know best" kinda way. They seemed really appreciative of everyone who helped out with the house. However I got a vibe of the house being more about them, with their library, their walk in wardrobe, their sea views.


I know the Ma's room looked quite small but I'd say they had to keep the room and the bed positions as it was originally, imagine changing your bed orientation after 60 years! But the star of the show had to be Ma. She was so quick and witty, very active and independent, a great character!


One thing that bugged me last night and it was down to editing of the show, they took a big jump from the windows in, plastering done, bit filmed outside where they went tile shopping then bang suddenly the house is finished. They don't seem to show lately any of the fittings, installation etc - even one of two minutes of short clips of 10 seconds each, eg fitting the kitchen, bathrooms, painting, floor laying etc.

LirW

Sometimes I honestly don't understand how all of the cost piles up, but then I'm not the QS. Still though, the budget was huge and don't get me wrong what they got was not too bad.

I agree it's an odd living arrangement, definitely nothing for me but they seem incredibly happy like that.
That tiny granny bedroom stood out to me too but then again doesn't she mainly use it for sleeping anyway? I recall they didn't change the old internal layout of the bungalow and maybe she was happy that way or it has always been her bedroom.

What an amazing site though, that's probably worth some insane money now!

ncmc

Keeping the old house was the whole crux of the brief though. They wanted to keep the house that their grand father had built. You can imagine the outrage on twitter and here if they had bulldozed it!

Penn

ncmc wrote: »

Keeping the old house was the whole crux of the brief though. They wanted to keep the house that their grand father had built. You can imagine the outrage on twitter and here if they had bulldozed it!

Ultimately too, the show is called Room to Improve. It's about extensions and upgrading, and trying to keep the character of the existing buildings. Just knocking everything and giving yourself a blank slate to work from would largely go against the ethos of the show (even though in some cases it has likely been the best and most practical solution).

Addle

I have no resolve. I watched it.

I thought it was obvious who was paying for it, with the ensuite and library.

Entertaining episode.

harr

Would love if they a program like “ room to improve revisited “ where they go back to previous builds and see if people stuck to original lay out or what they have changed since the show and what worked and didn’t work..

Quazzie

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

However I got a vibe of the house being more about them, with their library, their walk in wardrobe, their sea views.

In ten years time it will be fully about them. The young lad will be moving on, and there's a good chance Ma won't be around either. Houses should be built with the future in mind, not just the present.

Thargor

harr wrote: »

Would love if they a program like “ room to improve revisited “ where they go back to previous builds and see if people stuck to original lay out or what they have changed since the show and what worked and didn’t work..

They have done a couple of those I thought, they've definitely done one anyway.

Sleepy

Asked Dermot about the shed on Twitter. Apparently that's project number 2!

Thargor

So did anyone manage to watch that whole episode thinking they were a lesbian couple instead of sisters?

Addle

A couple wouldn't get on as well.

prunudo

Must have been finished recently enough as there was snow on Lambay in some of the finishing shots.
Was enjoyable episode. I think he over estimated the size of 900 on purpose, to scare them into not putting a door in. He knows well how big 900 is. Also I like the fact the orginal cottage stands out from the front. Its of an era, the modern extension has been added on so why make it look like something its not.

Mr_Man2121

Thargor wrote: »

So did anyone manage to watch that whole episode thinking they were a lesbian couple instead of sisters?

If they didn't look alike I would of thought it

ted1

Penn wrote: »

youcancallmeal wrote: »

How on earth was the colonnade going to cost €8,000+!? It looked from the drawings to just be a few brick columns connected by concrete beams.

Independent pad foundation for each column
Labour/Machinery to get the columns/beams in place
Structural design & certification for the columns/beams
Fabrication/Construction of the columns/beams themselves
Works to walls already constructed which the beams would be tying into (since it was an add-on)
Finishing/rendering works

It can add up fairly quickly.

They could have made it out of wood for less than 1,000 and it would have giving the same effect

Thargor

Thargor wrote: »

So did anyone manage to watch that whole episode thinking they were a lesbian couple instead of sisters?

No

they look alike, they said they were sisters.............................. and I'm sure their Ma knows they're sisters too!

Penn

ted1 wrote: »

They could have made it out of wood for less than 1,000 and it would have giving the same effect

Probably not 1,000. You'd still need sufficient bearing for the posts which may still require pad foundations or some type of concrete base to bolt into, proper connections to the wall, high quality finished timber and obviously the skilled labourers to do it which would also involve possibly erecting scaffolding for it.

Plus doing it in timber would have clashed with the burnt larch finish to the extension unless you clad the timber in burnt larch too.

Just saying, there can be a lot of hidden costs to things such as this. Even Dermot seems unaware of the work involved in some of his ideas. Hence the need for a QS.

Sleepy

jvan wrote: »

Must have been finished recently enough as there was snow on Lambay in some of the finishing shots.

The hoardings only came down about a fortnight ago. We'd been watching progress on this for a while as we've always loved the location of the house and pass it regularly.

PARlance

Thargor wrote: »

So did anyone manage to watch that whole episode thinking they were a lesbian couple instead of sisters?

They got on far too well to be mistaken for a couple.

Utopia Parkway

Enjoyable episode. A bit more light hearted than some recent ones thanks to the fantastic granny and her one liners. And a more realistic build that some of the more recent ostentatious ones. Felt for her a bit in that tiny box room though with the end of the bed almost hitting the far wall.

That said all I could think afterwards was who exactly had the 6 year old and how? And where's the father? Nobody's business obviously but it's difficult not to be curious. It was an unusual set-up with the granny, two older daughters and a 6 year old in tow. It was pretty much the main topic of discussion in our house.

Sleepy

They said at the start of the show, the younger of the sisters is his mum. Given that she's living with her Ma and sister, it's fair to assume she's no longer with the father. It's not exactly the type of thing you'd want to be discussing on telly if it were your family, is it? Particularly when the show you're featuring on is about architecture and renovations rather than modern family setups.

BabysCoffee

Sleepy wrote: »

They said at the start of the show, the younger of the sisters is his mum. Given that she's living with her Ma and sister, it's fair to assume she's no longer with the father. It's not exactly the type of thing you'd want to be discussing on telly if it were your family, is it? Particularly when the show you're featuring on is about architecture and renovations rather than modern family setups.

Couldn't figure out which was the younger sister

I think at this point RTI is more of a reality show - it's a bit light on architecture.....eg Dermot making scones in a kitchen is not exactly architecture - I couldn't see Kevin McCloud doing this rather than talking about design

GavRedKing

I'm going to turn on one day and an extra 25-75k wont be added to the budget.

Whatever the client says is the budget, is exactly what will be spent.

One can dream.

flandabieduzie

Happy4all wrote: »

Ma's love child?

Exactly what I was thinking! Herself and Dermots. Hence the awkward sexual tension between them! He pulled a few strings to get that grant to prevent her going to the papers with it!!! Dermots middle name is Michael!!!!!!!!!! (I may have fabricated that part!) ðŸ˜

Could be wrong though!

GT_TDI_150

Just rewatched it..

The brief was get us a seaview...

Not sure how people were expecting him to get the views they wanted without raising a floor somewhere...

The must have been very set on keeping the origional structures ( the cottage due to their dad restoring it, the stone wall / coal hut because it seperates them from the caravan park?) because the end product looked awful from the outside...
The roof height of the entire place should have matched the cottage imo...

'Ma' appeared to get a raw deal with the size of the room alright but for all we know the didnt want a bigger room (even when it was explained how little room there was to manoevre)... plenty auwl ones and auwl fellas are set in their ways and she may just have said that she wanted the same size room as before.

downwesht

After all the speculation about Michael,next weeks episode will be renamed


Womb to Improve






I'll get me coat

cathy427

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Just rewatched it..

The brief was get us a seaview...

Not sure how people were expecting him to get the views they wanted without raising a floor somewhere...

The must have been very set on keeping the origional structures ( the cottage due to their dad restoring it, the stone wall / coal hut because it seperates them from the caravan park?) because the end product looked awful from the outside...
The roof height of the entire place should have matched the cottage imo...

.

Exacto - The sheds were the boundary from the caravan park and integrating them would also have made the clients part of the caravan park. (The park does take up almost the entire headland - valuable piece of land!!)

Grand episode but I think I am done. Yet again
- Dermot puts two ugly square boxes onto a bungalow (ok its often just one ugly box)
- Dermot goes way over budget.

Owning the site I would have thought a €250k budget was a decent budget (I assume with the budget was always really €300k but that would have made a boring show.)
As other posters have said in an hour long show it would have been nice to hear more about the grants that an guy generating smoke and testing with phone! (Ok phone is fine for testing cause if airtight then no oxygen for fire/smoke) But a few minutes on bringing an old house up to modern A3 standards would have been interesting.

AndrewJRenko

ted1 wrote: »

They paid more money thsn 40k in taxes for the build.

Believe me it didn’t cost the tax payers anything.

Except that it did - it cost the taxpayers the €43k paid in the grant - that's real cash out the door, gone into someone's bank account.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Residential emissions north of 25% of total carbon emissions.

You'll be paying the fines for missing the targets as well.

But yeah, that's the spirit, Ted.

That misses the point. Yes, we have problems with residential emissions, but why would the State target its scarce resources to help those who have most resources themselves? They are the ones who will benefit from the reduced bills, so why should the state subsidise this? If the state has resources to spend on residential energy improvements, surely it should target its resources at those who have least resources themselves? Otherwise, it's just another rich-get-richer and poor-get-poorer scheme.

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

The steps up to the sitting area surely are gonna be an issue for ma in the near future. Bit of a stupid design idea

It's particularly disappointing, given that Dermot is involved in this multi-generational design project
http://architectureireland.ie/the-abhaile-project
The steps are a big problem, no consideration that she might need a bathroom with a chair, or maybe even a hoist - no future proofing at all really.