Granny flat/of house

Shau_98

Just looking for any advice I'm relation to this.
We are thinking of building on a granny flat or log cabin that will only be 40sqm with 2 bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan kitchen and sitting room area. It would be at the back of my parents house and thinking of attaching it to the side door.

Would this be too small for two adults and a child? Should we seek planning for a 60sqm place. Also is it possible to get a log cabin attached to the house as they seem much cheaper than block buildings. Any advice on cost? Could we have our own electricity supply and heating supply? Any help would be appreciated as I can't find much info on all of this.

Calahonda52

1: very difficult to meet building regs with a log cabin
see over in construction and planning
2: if it has a separate entrance then planning will be difficult if not impossible
3: a submeter on the existing elec supply might be easier and cheaper but the existing house wiring might not take the extra load.
4: How is the house heated?

The Mighty Quinn

Shau_98 wrote: »

Just looking for any advice I'm relation to this.
We are thinking of building on a granny flat or log cabin that will only be 40sqm with 2 bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan kitchen and sitting room area. It would be at the back of my parents house and thinking of attaching it to the side door.

Would this be too small for two adults and a child? Should we seek planning for a 60sqm place. Also is it possible to get a log cabin attached to the house as they seem much cheaper than block buildings. Any advice on cost? Could we have our own electricity supply and heating supply? Any help would be appreciated as I can't find much info on all of this.

We're 2 adults and a child in a 90m² house, spacious it ain't.

40m² will be too small in my opinion. And even the additional 20m² will be 'cosy'.

Gumbo

Shau_98 wrote: »

Just looking for any advice I'm relation to this.
We are thinking of building on a granny flat or log cabin that will only be 40sqm with 2 bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan kitchen and sitting room area. It would be at the back of my parents house and thinking of attaching it to the side door.

Would this be too small for two adults and a child? Should we seek planning for a 60sqm place. Also is it possible to get a log cabin attached to the house as they seem much cheaper than block buildings. Any advice on cost? Could we have our own electricity supply and heating supply? Any help would be appreciated as I can't find much info on all of this.

Granny Flat is fine, subject to Planning Permission.
Log Cobain not so much, there's no physical way to connect it to the existing house and comply with Building Regulations without costing the same or more than it would have cost to block build in the first place.

40 sq. M is tight, very tight for a family, but if you have the parents house for some storage of bulky items, it may work.

Heating and Power supply will be spurred off the Main Dwelling Consumer Unit. It wont be separate.

Shau_98

Parents would have room for storage in theirs but we basically only want a a bedroom for us, a bedroom for the child, one bathroom as a wet room and then an open plan area for the kitchen, sitting room and tiny dining area.

The house is oil fired.

We are currently renting and it's just next to impossible to save for a mortgage.

ShatterAlan

I'd say if you are spending time in the parents house, dinner, watching telly, etc and sort of using the granny flat as a place to sleep and wash etc, then it could be doable. If you are going to spend 24/7 in the granny flat it could get a bit claustrophic.

Thoie

A friend and their partner (no child) found a 60 sqm apartment very small, particularly if people were working from home, let alone having children's toys and equipment around the place as well.

I'd ask myself a lot of questions before doing that (which you don't need to answer here, just talk about with your parents/partner).

Are more children (planned or unplanned) a possibility?
How long do you intend living there? How comfortable would it be when the child is 15/16 or older?
To be an exempt granny flat, afaik it needs to have a door joining the house - you need to be able to walk between the two without going outside. Are you happy with that?
What will happen to the place when you leave? Who will own it/be paying for it?
If you're paying for it, would you ever be able to sell it to strangers, or just end up making a present of it to your parents?
If your parents are paying for it, do they actually want it long term, or would they just be doing you a favour? What happens if you have a disagreement?
How will it impact your parents' life? Have they considered the implications of things like extra cars/"stuff" around?
How will it impact your life? Are you happy for your parents to drop in and out unannounced?
You haven't mentioned "daily" storage in your plans - where would you keep things like a buggy/scooter/bike? In a corner of the open plan room?
Would something like an attic conversion in your parents house be possible/suitable?

Shau_98

It would be used 24/7 to be honest

Gumbo

Shau_98 wrote: »

It would be used 24/7 to be honest

2 bedrooms, open plan living, bathroom > 40 Sq. M in my opinion.

Claw Hammer

If you can afford to build a granny flat, you have the deposit for a house.

Shau_98

Claw Hammer wrote: »

If you can afford to build a granny flat, you have the deposit for a house.

We do not have a deposit for a house and are looking to spend 70k max on this. We have enough for the deposit for the loan but that's it really. Unfortunately house prices in my county are fairly expensive.

houseyhouse

Whether the space will be big enough really depends on your habits and the amount of stuff that you own. Most people own much more than they need. And we've all heard of families of 12 that were happily reared in 3 bed council houses not that long ago.

In our case, we're a family of 6 in about 90sqm (both parents working from home at the moment too) and, although I wish we had a bigger house, it's absolutely fine for now. Last place we rented was <80sqm but had good storage in shed and attic so wasn't too bad. When the oldest 2 kids were young we were happy in a 40sqm apartment.

Having said that, you will really struggle to get two bedrooms, a bathroom, and an open plan living/kitchen/dining space into 40sqm.

Construction prices are very high at the moment, so you're looking at minimum 80k for your 40sqm extension. Also, and I could be wrong on this, I think that if you do a big extension like that the building regs require that you upgrade the BER of the whole house at the same time, which will cost a lot too. I think you'd be mad to spend money on all that when you could put that same money towards a downpayment.

Shau_98

houseyhouse wrote: »

Whether the space will be big enough really depends on your habits and the amount of stuff that you own. Most people own much more than they need. And we've all heard of families of 12 that were happily reared in 3 bed council houses not that long ago.

In our case, we're a family of 6 in about 90sqm (both parents working from home at the moment too) and, although I wish we had a bigger house, it's absolutely fine for now. Last place we rented was <80sqm but had good storage in shed and attic so wasn't too bad. When the oldest 2 kids were young we were happy in a 40sqm apartment.

Having said that, you will really struggle to get two bedrooms, a bathroom, and an open plan living/kitchen/dining space into 40sqm.

Construction prices are very high at the moment, so you're looking at minimum 80k for your 40sqm extension. Also, and I could be wrong on this, I think that if you do a big extension like that the building regs require that you upgrade the BER of the whole house at the same time, which will cost a lot too. I think you'd be mad to spend money on all that when you could put that same money towards a downpayment.

God I didn't realise that it would require the whole.house upgrade as well. I'm definitely going to look into this more and maybe hold off. If we've managed to save this much while renting what's waiting a good few more years when we can have our own home.

houseyhouse

Shau_98 wrote: »

God I didn't realise that it would require the whole.house upgrade as well. I'm definitely going to look into this more and maybe hold off. If we've managed to save this much while renting what's waiting a good few more years when we can have our own home.

Just had a quick google. Looks like you need to get BER up to B2. Depending on the age/standard of the house could be more or less expensive. There are also SEAI grants but those depend on your income (I think) and only cover a %

http://spacious.ie/architecture-blog-dublin/2019/9/27/iy610tdnpvx0otrcqug2j1xgir5dy3

ShatterAlan

Shau_98 wrote: »

We do not have a deposit for a house and are looking to spend 70k max on this. We have enough for the deposit for the loan but that's it really. Unfortunately house prices in my county are fairly expensive.

I say, put a gun to the parents' heads.


Order them into the granny flat. Take over the main house and insist that they be on hand as babysitters for when you and your lady go out at night to play.

Shau_98

ShatterAlan wrote: »

I say, put a gun to the parents' heads.


Order them into the granny flat. Take over the main house and insist that they be on hand as babysitters for when you and your lady go out at night to play.

Hahahaaha that gave me a good chuckle! Imagine the look on my poor parents faces.

Caranica

It's small, but doable. Have a look at tiny house nation on Netflix for ideas on how to make the most of the space.

KaneToad

Shau_98 wrote: »

We do not have a deposit for a house and are looking to spend 70k max on this. We have enough for the deposit for the loan but that's it really. Unfortunately house prices in my county are fairly expensive.

Did you consider moving counties? Do both adults work? Is commuting an option? Maybe commuting could be an option for 1 adult, while the 2nd adult gives up their job to find a different job local to the new area?

I know it's not what you were asking but dont get fixated on living in just one place. Plenty of great communities all over the country.

Shau_98

KaneToad wrote: »

Did you consider moving counties? Do both adults work? Is commuting an option? Maybe commuting could be an option for 1 adult, while the 2nd adult gives up their job to find a different job local to the new area?

I know it's not what you were asking but dont get fixated on living in just one place. Plenty of great communities all over the country.

I'd move in a heartbeat but my partner is a home bird. Partner could switch to another location with ease but living far away from their home town would make them unhappy. You never know though we could decide to move since the house prices are a joke here. I have already looked at surrounding counties and I'm very jealous, we could buy a house with ease.

bidiots

You wouldn't need planning for a mobile home, you could get creative

Claw Hammer

Shau_98 wrote: »

We do not have a deposit for a house and are looking to spend 70k max on this. We have enough for the deposit for the loan but that's it really. Unfortunately house prices in my county are fairly expensive.

You are going to borrow to fund this? You will not get a mortgage so it will be at very high interest rates.

rain on

I live in a 42 sq m house which was owned by a family of 3 before me - they only sold when they were expecting their second child. It definitely would have been cramped -- the child's bedroom is the smallest box room I've ever seen -- but it must have been manageable. The back garden is probably 40 sq m again which must have helped a lot in the summer and as storage space. There is an attic for storage too. I'd say it is doable but I wouldn't want to do it with a sulky teenager!

JimmyVik

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

We're 2 adults and a child in a 90m² house, spacious it ain't.

40m² will be too small in my opinion. And even the additional 20m² will be 'cosy'.

Children expand to take up the space available as they get older.

riclad

https://www.irishvernacular.com/
this is a design for a self build house that complys with building regulations.
all the plans can be viewed and downloaded with list and cost of materials
re building a flat you can save money by building using a basic simple design.
eg use 9 inch blocks, not small bricks to build the walls
you can buy windows ,doors on website www.macswarehouse.ie
i bought 3 pvc windows and 1 metal door at total cost 350,on adverts ie
half or 1 third of doors bought new .
see adverts.ie building materials diy

look on youtube 40 sq m house .

Gumbo

bidiots wrote: »

You wouldn't need planning for a mobile home, you could get creative

You wouldn’t need planning??
What class of exemption is this covered under?

Gumbo

riclad wrote: »

https://www.irishvernacular.com/
this is a design for a self build house that complys with building regulations.
all the plans can be viewed and downloaded with list and cost of materials
re building a flat you can save money by building using a basic simple design.
eg use 9 inch blocks, not small bricks to build the walls
you can buy windows ,doors on website www.macswarehouse.ie
i bought 3 pvc windows and 1 metal door at total cost 350,on adverts ie
half or 1 third of doors bought new .
see adverts.ie building materials diy

look on youtube 40 sq m house .

“Small bricks” are a finish, external skin.
You still need to use the 9” blocks behind it (440x215x100) as the main structural wall. Assuming cavity wall built.

Another option is cavity blocks with rendered finish.

The problem with building an extension to current regulations and buying second hand is certification for compliance with the building regulations. How will you sort this using your method?

listermint

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

We're 2 adults and a child in a 90m² house, spacious it ain't.

40m² will be too small in my opinion. And even the additional 20m² will be 'cosy'.

Rubs head... Average 3 bed 90s build is 90m²

Caranica

Gumbo wrote: »

You wouldn’t need planning??
What class of exemption is this covered under?

You do need planning for a mobile home beyond a certain time frame.

bidiots

Caranica wrote: »

You do need planning for a mobile home beyond a certain time frame.

What time frame? Didn’t realise that. But if you could manage with something that you can sell once you have your deposit saved then its probably the ‘cheapest’ option....if possible of course

Caranica

bidiots wrote: »

What time frame? Didn’t realise that. But if you could manage with something that you can sell once you have your deposit saved then its probably the ‘cheapest’ option....if possible of course

Actually if you want to live in it you need planning permission full stop. You can store a caravan/mobile home for up to 9 months but cannot use it for storage or habitation.

bidiots

Caranica wrote: »

Actually if you want to live in it you need planning permission full stop. You can store a caravan/mobile home for up to 9 months but cannot use it for storage or habitation.

Aye, if trying to save for a deposit, best get creative.