RTE Room to Improve viewers were all left saying the same thing as a young couple faced major set-backs in their historic home renovation.
Architect Dermot Bannon returned to screens this month for the 16th season of the hit home transformation show.
Tonight Dermot pulled off an impressive renovation for a Dublin based couple[/caption]
Sean and Cal’s home was completely transformed[/caption]
The couple’s home hadn’t previously been renovated in nearly 100 years[/caption]
Joined once again by quantity surveyor Claire Irwin, the series features builds of all different shapes and sizes, with varying budgets, grants and tight deadlines.
This season Claire and Dermot are faced with soaring costs on materials around the country and budgets being pushed.
In tonight’s episode, the pair travelled to North Strand in Dublin to meet couple, Cal Moran and Sean Hegarty.
The pair both feel they struck gold when they purchased their house on the North Strand 5 years ago.
They had already lived close to the area and really loved the locality and the people in the community, so were desperate to find somewhere nearby.
They said the minute they walked in and felt the homely nature of the house that this was what they wanted.
The garden was very important in their decision to buy the property as they needed space to keep their two fur babies, dogs Missy and Trixie!
Cal is a structural engineer and understands a thing or two about building and construction. Sean is a teacher and knows a thing or two about managing personalities!
In one of the most challenging builds that Room To Improve has ever seen, Dermot Bannon enters the equation.
While this house no doubt has charm and ‘good bones’, according to Dermot, the ceilings are tilting, the floors are bobbing and the door frames are something out of a children’s fairy tale – low!
Cal and Sean have ambitions for this house, big ambitions.
However, they don’t have a big budget, and with this in mind Dermot presents what he feels would work best for this two-storey over basement house.
The couple had a budget of €190,000 with grants to achieve their dreams of extending and renovating the near 100-year-old property.
BIG JOB
With that, they want to start by demolishing the back of the house and introduce a double height extension.
Dermot planned on turning the building into a two-bedroom home, instead of their already three-bedroom house.
And he wanted to introduce a living/dining area where the couple can socialise with friends for the first time ever, in what will be their brand new house.
Once the budget was agreed, the build began; immediately there were uncontrollable and unforeseen problems that threw everything up in the air.
SURPRISES
Old buildings often hide surprises, and not good ones.
Early on, it is discovered that water is coming up inside the foundations, in different areas of the house.
With no land-drain with the original build, this is nothing short of disastrous.
And for the Dublin-based couple, the home began to experience multiple setbacks as they had to re-evaluate their budget.
Always one for a challenge, Dermot pulled off their dream build by delivering their renovated home over their initial budget by€ 35,000.
RTE viewers took to social media to express their frustrations at the difficult build the couple were faced with.
Margaret said: “These guys, you’d have to root for them.”
Commenting on the series of set backs the couple faced, one viewer said: “They seem quite chilled. I’d be absolutely raging.”
Another viewer added: “Money pit comes to mind.”
Another viewer remarked: “Brilliant episode. I used to live not far from there. Trust the process.”
The couple wanted to create more space in their two storey home[/caption]
The pair were overjoyed with the final result[/caption]
