External insulation

[Alkers86]

Did you seek planning permission or get a certificate of exemption? I thought planning was required for a significant alteration to the character of a property.

Might become an issue if/ when you come to sell and the prospective purchaser's solicitor seeks confirmation of planning compliance.

You don't require planning permission once you don't deviate from the character of a property as you have alluded to.

Once the external insulation has been applied, there are almost endless finishes that can be applied to the external render. One such option is "brick slips" where very slim real brick segments are fixed to external render and the appearance can be almost exactly as previous. Here is an example, which is just the first result I found on google. https://www.abac.ie/photo-gallery/slip-brick-system-external-wall-insulation/

Similar options are available for pebble dash, various stone finishes etc. So if you're in an existing red brick property, you can end up with an externally insulated property which very closely matches the original and is thus in keeping with the character of the propety.

If you're in a listed building, you will need planning permission in any case.

 

[rustbucket]

Did you seek planning permission or get a certificate of exemption? I thought planning was required for a significant alteration to the character of a property.

Might become an issue if/ when you come to sell and the prospective purchaser's solicitor seeks confirmation of planning compliance.

No we did not I’m afraid. The redbrick was only on the front. Sides and back were rendered. Both sides visible from road

 

[Leo]

You don't require planning permission once you don't deviate from the character of a property as you have alluded to.

Replacing red brick with a render is considered a deviation from the character, it would be hard to argue the house doesn't look quite different. Will be easer in a neighbourhood of mixed properties, but wouldn't fly in a more uniform development.

 

[shweeney]

external insulation virtually always changes the appearance of the house. Half a dozen houses in my estate have had it done and they all look substantially different to the original finish, none of them applied for PP. I'd be interested to know of anyone who's had enforcement taken against them as a result of applying insulation.

I'd also note that whilst a couple of the houses had their windows replaced and shifted outwards at the same time, the others did not and now have that sunken window effect. None of them seem to have had the insulation brought up over the soffits or below the plinth (as is recommended) and none of them got the inaccessible roof-space at the front of the house insulated (which would involve removing the tiles to insulate behind).

So a whole bunch of cold-bridging; maybe this doesn't matter so much (these houses also have massive voids under the suspended ground floors) but does the leave the impression that most EI contractors aren't working to best practise.

 

[Leo]

No we did not I’m afraid. The redbrick was only on the front. Sides and back were rendered. Both sides visible from road

You could seek a Section 5 declaration and see whether your LA will consider this exempted development. More likely to be successful in a mixed development, and that would cover you for any future sale.

 

[Leo]

external insulation virtually always changes the appearance of the house. Half a dozen houses in my estate have had it done and they all look substantially different to the original finish, none of them applied for PP. I'd be interested to know of anyone who's had enforcement taken against them as a result of applying insulation.

How many of them covered red brick and have sold in the meantime?

 

[shweeney]

How many of them covered red brick and have sold in the meantime?

not redbrick, but the houses are half stoneclad at the front, and that has been covered by the insulation. I don't think any have been sold.

What constitutes changing the character though, if you replace your white PVC windows with grey? If you repaint your white house to yellow?

 

[Leo]

not redbrick, but the houses are half stoneclad at the front, and that has been covered by the insulation. I don't think any have been sold.

I haven't heard of LAs going after people applying external insulation, but providing a declaration of compliance with planning could be problematic with a drastic change in appearance from the granted permission and it seems solicitors are getting more demanding in that area. Moving the building line forward ~150mm or so would likely be considered substantially compliant subject to other factors like proximity to street, etc..

What constitutes changing the character though, if you replace your white PVC windows with grey? If you repaint your white house to yellow?

Doesn't often happen but I know of cases where enforcement orders were issued over paint colours, but these were extreme cases like the red bricks on Lombard St. being painted in tricolours for the '02 World cup or buildings on historic streets.

 

[rustbucket]

You could seek a Section 5 declaration and see whether your LA will consider this exempted development. More likely to be successful in a mixed development, and that would cover you for any future sale.

It is a mixed development road. Nearly every property is different. Done houses very old. Done built mid 90s. Some very recent

Just curious if you painted over redbrick do you need pp as this would look different also?

 

[Leo]

Just curious if you painted over redbrick do you need pp as this would look different also?

The ones on Lombard St. were ordered to change theirs back to the original colour. I assume if you stayed close to the colour you'd be fine, but planners are hard to predict at times.

 

[noproblem]

On the compliance with planning cert? Even though the houseowner has got the property insulated, windows moved a bit, bricks covered with render after doing the external insulation, etc. Would a householder not already have a compliance cert from when they originally got the house, and when asked for compliance cert by a solicitor acting for new buyer, couldn't they just give this cert?

 

[Alkers86]

Replacing red brick with a render is considered a deviation from the character

Is it? Can you produce anything to confirm this opinion? In some cases it may well be but I belive you're taking one extreme of the possible interpretation of character. As per the link I've shared earlier, if you pay attention to the appearance of the external insulation, you can easily have an end result where the house will not look "quite different", particularly where the insulating is clad in real brick slips.

Why do you think this is a specific problem for red brick?

If you have an estate full of grey pebble dash houses and one of them externally insulated with a brigh pink render, then sure I'd see that as a change to the character. If they externally insulated with a grey pebble dash finish, then I wouldn't see this as being a change of character. I don't see red brick as being any different to any other finish (except for listed buildings).

I believe the planning terminology is sufficiently vague to accomodate both our interpretations but I would believe that any planning decision which found that an externally insulated house, which was rendered to be sypathetic to the original finish of the shouse, was in breach of planning regulations would have significant ramifications for the SEAI and government retrofit schemes and plans and would be clarified subsequently as is the intention regarding the maximum size of solar panel arrays permitted currently.

 

[Leo]

Is it? Can you produce anything to confirm this opinion? In some cases it may well be but I belive you're taking one extreme of the possible interpretation of character.

Just read the planning acts and review planning applications in your area. There's a reason that you must submit drawings that detail all finishes to external walls as part of the planning process. It's not uncommon for the LAs to insist on changes to external finishes so that the character of this building better blends in its location. Any change away from the granted finishes is a development, and one not listed in Part 2 / exempted development.

 

[pablo123]

So presumably the red brick just isn’t visible anymore? Are you in a housing estate? Does your house look very different to the rest now?

Ours looked different for a while but you will get used to it , If anything a good few of our neighbours followed suit and yes we are in an estate , The house looks fresher given it is nearly 40 years old and the savings regarding heating oil is more than I expected . We had our windows seals checked and had some replaced when we were at it .