Ep52 – What to consider when self-building plus thoughts about the mica grant scheme

Resident construction expert John Corless chats about flash points to consider when building your home, including:

• Managing heat loss, U-values and airtightness
• Ventilation
• Insulation
• Space and water heating including thoughts on PV
• Intermediate floors
• Roofs
• Contracts
• List of other considerations: security, waste, health and safety, equipment hire, etc.

Michael Doherty of the Mica Action Group rounds up the talk with a chat about the ROI government’s remediation scheme to rebuild homes that were built with defective concrete blocks.

Michael talks about the skewed grant amounts, based on 2007 costings of house rebuilding costs by the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland (SCSI), plus eligibility for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland grants.

He also discusses planning exemptions, retention amounts for contractors and what building methods mica affected homeowners are considering.

Avatar

Written by Astrid Madsen

Astrid Madsen is the editor of the SelfBuild magazine. She previously held the same role in an Irish trade publication, before that she worked at the National Standards Authority of Ireland. She graduated with a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University in New York and holds an MBA from the Instituto de Estudios Bursatiles in Madrid. France of origin, she now lives in Portarlington, County Laois, where she's taken on the task of renovating a listed building! Email astrid.madsen@selfbuild.ie

New grant for upgrading old buildings

The way we build and renovate is unsustainable, say climate experts