Building Standards in Ireland

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

kceire wrote: »

But, do they comply with our Building Regulations and if not, how much extra to bring them up to our level?

Ireland has building regulations? aaahahahaha hahahahaha
ahahahha
hahahah
hhahah
haaa
...
Good one. Ireland is decades behind in how houses should be built.

---

Watched the video of the M.A.Di houses and while they're not bad the one thing that is seriously lacking is privacy. You'll be under everyone's feet the whole time while in the house.

I'm also not seeing how they plan on tackling noise pollution? I imagine that any amount of noise will be heard throughout the house.

Another problem with these rapid build homes is the infrastructure. Electrical wiring is easier to sort out but the plumbing. How are they going to fix that?

Graham

Henley Calm Panacea wrote: »

Good one. Ireland is decades behind in how houses should be built.

Interesting, in what respects?

Henley Calm Panacea wrote: »

Another problem with these rapid build homes is the infrastructure. Electrical wiring is easier to sort out but the plumbing. How are they going to fix that?

I'd expect such buildings to come pre-plumbed.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Graham wrote: »

Interesting, in what respects?

1. Gravity fed water?
   1. I cannot find a rational reason for this one.
2. Noisey water pump next to the immersion?
3. Walls are paper thin so that you can hear everyone in your house?
4. No windows in the bathrooms
   1. Mould, mould everywhere!
   2. Don't mention the extractor fan because that little fan has no hope in hell at getting any moisture out of the house. Adds to the noise though.
5. Every step you take is squeek squeek squeek.
6. Doors that open within 5 meters of the road
   1. Privacy is overrated anyway.
   2. Added bonus is hearing cars driving by as if they're in the room with you!
7. If a house is going to be built within 5 meters of a road, why are the rooms on the side of the road?!
   1. It's like the developers are purposefully messing with us!
   2. I'm convinced that the architects are drunk when they draw up the plans.
8. A lawn that with a bit of rain becomes a pool because the builders filled it with building rubble.
9. Not using waterproof paint in the bathrooms.
10. Why is the fridge hidden behind a damn cupboard door?
    1. Do you want a different fridge? Not happening.
11. The gas fireplace should be banned from all homes. Useless crap that takes up space.
12. On that note, why not build the useless gas contraption into the wall instead of having it square out of the wall?

A house is something that should be a blank slate. Something that the owner decides on how it should look like. Except here you're practically forced into going with the aesthetic that the developers decided you want. :mad:

I don't have a problem with the size or "cookie-cutter design" of the houses. Smaller houses are great because they're easy to clean and maintain. My complaint is the overall build quality and complete lack of thought into what a home should be.

Houses in Ireland are built to maximize profit only. Yes, I know, it's a business and the developers have to make a profit. It is still possible to make a profit building houses that are designed by competent people.

I'll give the houses one thing, insulation is tops! It gets toasty.

Graham

That sounds more like a general rant about your house to be honest.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Graham wrote: »

That sounds more like a general rant about your house to be honest.

May I ask where you live? I want to move.

My requirements are not too much to ask for.

1. No gravity fed water.
2. No paper thin walls.
3. Windows in all bathrooms.
4. The road be a reasonable distance from the front door.

cargen

Henley Calm Panacea wrote: »

1. Gravity fed water?
   1. I cannot find a rational reason for this one.
2. Noisey water pump next to the immersion?
3. Walls are paper thin so that you can hear everyone in your house?
4. No windows in the bathrooms
   1. Mould, mould everywhere!
   2. Don't mention the extractor fan because that little fan has no hope in hell at getting any moisture out of the house. Adds to the noise though.
5. Every step you take is squeek squeek squeek.
6. Doors that open within 5 meters of the road
   1. Privacy is overrated anyway.
   2. Added bonus is hearing cars driving by as if they're in the room with you!
7. If a house is going to be built within 5 meters of a road, why are the rooms on the side of the road?!
   1. It's like the developers are purposefully messing with us!
   2. I'm convinced that the architects are drunk when they draw up the plans.
8. A lawn that with a bit of rain becomes a pool because the builders filled it with building rubble.
9. Not using waterproof paint in the bathrooms.
10. Why is the fridge hidden behind a damn cupboard door?
    1. Do you want a different fridge? Not happening.
11. The gas fireplace should be banned from all homes. Useless crap that takes up space.
12. On that note, why not build the useless gas contraption into the wall instead of having it square out of the wall?

A house is something that should be a blank slate. Something that the owner decides on how it should look like. Except here you're practically forced into going with the aesthetic that the developers decided you want. :mad:

I don't have a problem with the size or "cookie-cutter design" of the houses. Smaller houses are great because they're easy to clean and maintain. My complaint is the overall build quality and complete lack of thought into what a home should be.

Houses in Ireland are built to maximize profit only. Yes, I know, it's a business and the developers have to make a profit. It is still possible to make a profit building houses that are designed by competent people.

I'll give the houses one thing, insulation is tops! It gets toasty.

100% in agreement

Henley Calm Panacea

Henley Calm Panacea wrote: »

May I ask where you live? I want to move.

My requirements are not too much to ask for.

1. No gravity fed water.
2. No paper thin walls.
3. Windows in all bathrooms.
4. The road be a reasonable distance from the front door.

All of these are easily achievable in Ireland, especially if you willing to live outside a city. I'm not sure what your problem is with gravity fed water though. Aside from showers which you can easily get a pump for what else would you want pumped water for expect if you want a bigger esb bill.

Lumen

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

All of these are easily achievable in Ireland, especially if you willing to live outside a city. I'm not sure what your problem is with gravity fed water though. Aside from showers which you can easily get a pump for what else would you want pumped water for expect if you want a bigger esb bill.

I assume he means no requirement for dwellings to have a cold water storage tank.

tooManyChoices

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

All of these are easily achievable in Ireland, especially if you willing to live outside a city. I'm not sure what your problem is with gravity fed water though. Aside from showers which you can easily get a pump for what else would you want pumped water for expect if you want a bigger esb bill.

This is OT so I won't rant, but it's one of those things that you get used to having and having everything work just that little bit better, so when you go back you really notice the difference.

Anyway, the reason we don't allow them is because our water infrastructure is in such rag order that it would struggle...and that's not likely to change any time soon.

meeeeh

Graham wrote: »

That sounds more like a general rant about your house to be honest.

I'm not saying there is no cowboy building elsewhere but some stuff that is acceptable in Ireland really isn't great. From no or very little insulation in internal walls to no central heating in apartment buildings. Friends of mine built same type of house in another country and there is huge difference in quality of internal fitting.

Lumen

Lumen wrote: »

I assume he means no requirement for dwellings to have a cold water storage tank.

I've never been in a house in Ireland without a cold water storage tank feeding the house. Only direct cold water connection is the kitchen sink.

tooManyChoices wrote: »

This is OT so I won't rant, but it's one of those things that you get used to having and having everything work just that little bit better, so when you go back you really notice the difference.

Anyway, the reason we don't allow them is because our water infrastructure is in such rag order that it would struggle...and that's not likely to change any time soon.

We have a shower pump feeding 3 of the showers in the house but the 4th shower is fed on a pump which also pumps water to all the taps, toilet etc. We only turn this pump on if we need to use this shower (its one normally used by visitors) as there is simply no need to have the pump pumping to the sinks, toilets etc in fact its annoying as it makes the water pressure in taps too strong so we leave the pump off. It also means noise every time you turn on a tap or flush a toilet. A gravity feed from an attic tank to sinks and toilets is more than sufficient.

Idbatterim

No gravity fed water.
No paper thin walls.
Windows in all bathrooms.
The road be a reasonable distance from the front door.

having lived in several apartments, I am never going back to them! The pumps, the f**cking pumps! Gravity feed it like you say. The internal walls are plasterboard, ok at a push! The bloody external walls should be concrete! Should also be concrete floors.

they are the major gripes I have about apartment living, having window in bathroom wouldnt be a major one for me. For external noise I also agree with you, windows should really be triple glazed or whatever else they also have to do with frame to drown out road noise or any noise. Air can be fed from pipes from non noisy side of building possibly or from roof etc...

tooManyChoices

As I said, it's not going to be allowed any time soon, so it's really a moot point.

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

I've never been in a house in Ireland without a cold water storage tank feeding the house. Only direct cold water connection is the kitchen sink.

It's not allowed by most(all?) authorities. That said, I have seen it in one small estate that was built by a Nordie builder.

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

We have a shower pump feeding 3 of the showers in the house but the 4th shower is fed on a pump which also pumps water to all the taps, toilet etc. We only turn this pump on if we need to use this shower (its one normally used by visitors) as there is simply no need to have the pump pumping to the sinks, toilets etc in fact its annoying as it makes the water pressure in taps too strong so we leave the pump off. It also means noise every time you turn on a tap or flush a toilet. A gravity feed from an attic tank to sinks and toilets is more than sufficient.

Fair enough, it sounds like you've designed the place to have a good compromise.

If things were different, they'd be different of course. Standard building practice, building regs and what people buy and what shops sell are all inter-connected. So if mains-pressurised were stander here you'd have taps that are designed to work best at higher pressure and probably wouldn't even be able to find anything else in the shop.

Obviously you wouldn't have the any noise from pumps, you wouldn't have pumps.

Toilets? It's nice having your toilets fill in 20 seconds when you've got a crowd in the house.
Really the whole thing is a mix of little things like this...things do work fine with what we have, you just have a load of things that are a tiny bit nicer with mains, and that adds up.

tooManyChoices

tooManyChoices wrote: »

It's not allowed by most(all?) authorities. That said, I have seen it in one small estate that was built by a Nordie builder.

What isn't allowed by most authorities?

tooManyChoices

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

What isn't allowed by most authorities?

Mains-pressurised systems.

Graham

Mod Note split into new thread

Graham

Henley Calm Panacea wrote: »

May I ask where you live? I want to move.

My requirements are not too much to ask for.

1. No gravity fed water.
2. No paper thin walls.
3. Windows in all bathrooms.
4. The road be a reasonable distance from the front door.

Our home ticks every single one of your boxes in spades. I’d give you a week before you were begging for your current home back.

tooManyChoices

tooManyChoices wrote: »

Mains-pressurised systems.

Ah ok, I thought you were referring to attic tanks as that's what was quoted.

tooManyChoices

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

Ah ok, I thought you were referring to attic tanks as that's what was quoted.

Fair enough, I phrased that badly. Meant that it's not allowed to have a mains-pressurised system/not have a storage tank by most authorities.

tooManyChoices

tooManyChoices wrote: »

Fair enough, I phrased that badly. Meant that it's not allowed to have a mains-pressurised system/not have a storage tank by most authorities.

I didn't even know pressurised mains was a thing anywhere to be honest.

tooManyChoices

Yadiel Warm Spy wrote: »

I didn't even know pressurised mains was a thing anywhere to be honest.

Standard in most of Europe (+US I think).

Simple stuff:
Cold - mains straight to all taps.

Hot - mains >> combi-boiler >> taps
or
- mains >> hot-water tank(gets heated as normal) >> taps

Pixel Eater

Aren't the issues highlighted mainly form builds during the Celtic Tiger era? Modern regulations are far more stringent. Or so I believe.