It's safe to say so many of us got caught up in the property boom in Ireland.
It's also safe to say we are a nation who got caught up in credit and wanting more.
A far cry from our pessimistic selves of the 1980's of scraping by while in a major recession, yes there I have said the dreaded R word. Recession.
Houses flew up to meet the demand, as quick as you could say mortgage application you were approved and developers and builders were cracking out houses like they were going to go out of fashion.
So many estates now lie unfinished or baron.
Our own estate for example, we paid our deposit in 2004, picked the house no. we wanted (garden big enough for 2 dogs), by 2005 our estate wasnt flying up as quickly as hoped, friends were moving into their new houses in other estates, like the one across the road.
They were furnishing their homes on credit and getting the best of everything, we were still paying "dead end money" on rent.
The reason the estate was so slow to build was because it was being built on marsh like land and they had to do a do over with the foundations, putting down piles to support the houses.
Most of the labourers onsite had no english or what they did have was not great but they did trojan work once the go ahead came from the powers that be to get going on laying those blocks.
There was an abundance of work available to all walks of life, so much so that people were being able to determine their income before even accepting the job offers etc...
Well we finally moved into our "home" a few weeks after our 3 year completion contract had passed (developers guaranteed you would be in your home in 3 years, most people were in their homes in under a year of purchase, 6 months even in some cases, for new builds).
We loved our new home, newly married the day before we moved in, no heating (yes they had not even finished our home when we moved in as we had to be out of our rented accomodation and had no where else to go). It was the coldest weekend in ages and we sat on our bean bags with a quilt infront of our telly.
Hot water bottles going to bed with us when we retired to bed.
Within a few weeks our toilets wouldnt flush properly, we did nothing about it, our heating was eventually turned on.
We had no street lights outside our home or even in our cul de sac and we had no neighbours in the attached town houses.
We had no curtains or couch yet, a borrowed cooker hob, oven, fridge and freezer.
We got our washing machine and dryer as house warming gifts.
The other houses had lawns laid yet we did not have anything from the builder.
We had paid extra for an extension at the back of the house, we even paid for the piles to be driven down to secure the foundations of that extension.
4 years in.. and here are a few of the "issues" we have had/continue to have with our "home".
1) The toilets still dont properly work (we have had them repaired ourselves several times)
2) When it rains heavily (remembering now we live in Ireland) water seeps in under the back door into the sunroom (thats what we called the extension room), the roof in the sunroom leaks and we have leak stains on our ceiling out there in more than one spot.
3) They did not put a film between foundation and blocks in the sun room so damp rises from the ground on the outside of our walls.
4) The ensuite bathroom leaked through to the sitting room ceiling.
5) Cracks are spreading on the walls and corners. The first instance of this was so bad we were able to get in contact with the builder to fix it as the whole sitting room corner wall had seperated (pre property crash when the builder was contactable)
6) The Smell... How do I describe it, it is obviously sewage but has a pungent stale garlic smell which eminates from bathroom sinks/bath/shower and toilet. I have been told there could be 2 explanations for this, the pipes were fitted the wrong way round which pushes the water back up the pipes OR there are no U bends in these bathroom fittings.
The smell is so horrendous even from flushing down as much waster as possible with a heavy wind outside it doesnt remove the smell or shift what ever is a little further down the pipes. We have to have scented candles lit to "try" to mask the stench.
There are many more "issues" with the house however its 2:45 am and I am only now feeling the need for bed so rant over - for now.
Night folks and sleep tight.
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