Fernside, Killiney Hill Road, Co. Dublin
A client of ours bought a 150 year old house, which was a protected structure (i.e., listed), but it needed a lot of work in terms of damp eradication, thermal efficiency and general modernisation.
We negotiated planning consent as well as exemptions for many aspects of the project including replacement of roof slating, external plastering, stone and brick cleaning, windows refurbishment and upgrading, and adding thermal insulation to the basement rooms and the attic spaces. We also designed a new stand-alone “orangery” and obtained planning permission for it. We also carried out research into the make-up of the old plasters to see what they were in our desire to correct past mistakes, including chemical analysis.
Most of the issues with the building stemmed from works that had been done in previous years. Some were done to “protect” and maintain the building, but they were the wrong things to do. Old buildings like this need specialist attention and knowledge to refurbish them and most modern-day building materials and methods don’t suit these kinds of buildings.
So, if you have a building over 100 years old and intend to carry out extension or refurbishment works, please do yourself a favour and ask an architect with older buildings experience for a consultation before you even think of asking a builder to do anything!
