Restoring a farm house

Swimming pool

Pool and house maintenance

Specialist work

Restoring a farm house

Here is a brief introduction from a structural engineer specialized in the restoration of houses, farm houses and historic houses in Le Marche.

Today, when restoring a farmhouse, there are various standards and requirements that have to be satisfied such as energy saving, acoustic and seismic. This means that the roof, the first floor ceiling and the walls must be insulated, that an acoustic mattress must be placed within the floors and weight distribution must be properly managed (rigid floors, ties and beams etc.)

Another important structural requirement regards the foundations, because they are often superficial and damaged by external humidity. Furthermore, good insulation on the ground floor requires an excavation of circa 40 cm so that small plastic igloo-like structures can be inserted so creating an area where the circulation of air is allowed.

Moreover, the ground floor is originally often used as a deposit or stable and if made habitable must have an internal height of at least 2.7 meters.

Finally it is not always a good idea to knock down the whole building because walls are often in good condition and have interesting architectural appeal.

Eng. Vitale Grisostomi

In order to help understand what the costs of restoring a farmhouse are, we have included an example of an actual restoration of a farmhouse carried in 2005 but updated with the current building costs (as published in the official Marche Regional Price List for Work and Building Materials - BUR 2006).

The farmhouse in question, which cost circa €1.150/sqm to restore, like so many to be found in the Marche countryside, had the following characteristics:

• An outside staircase (the stables on the ground floor made total separation of the floors a necessity)
• Brick walls (internal and external)
• A terra cotta tiled roof
• Ceilings in wood and terra cotta
• No foundations

The external brick walls were sandblasted and a modern annex was rendered.
The costs below refer to a restoration of a high standard using natural materials where possible and conforming to all building regulations.
Building permission usually takes 8 weeks and the work about 9 months.
The architect, whose cost is circa 10% of the build cost, dealt with all planning and administration issues, provided plans, was responsible for site safety, project managed the work, organised surveys and provided progress reports.

Swimming pool

Swimming pool
	€32.000 Swimming pool €5.000 Digging and 55sqm of paving €1.500 Geologist (sampling and report) €7.000 Architect €45.500 Total

Pool and house maintenance

Specialist work

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