My house is an end-of-terrace 3-bed in Kimmage. The facade is pretty ordinary in a pebble-dash finish. Do I need planning permission to apply external insulation (especially to the front of the house)? Dublin City Council don't see to think so, if the work is finished the same as the other houses (i.e. pebble dash) but they weren't actually sure.
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You should check first to see if your building is a listed building.
The exempted development schedule doesn't apply if it is.
If it isn't listed, then the relevant section in the act may be section 4 (1) (h)
(h) development consisting of the carrying out of works for the
maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any
structure, being works which affect only the interior of
the structure or which do not materially affect the external
appearance of the structure so as to render the
appearance inconsistent with the character of the structure
or of neighbouring structures;
However... and there's always a "however"...
The thickness of the insulation on a traditionally weathered building may cause problems.
For example, older terraces buildings sometimes had brick eaves and little overhang, just a corbelled out brick detail.
Putting on even 2" /50mm of insulation and then 1" / 25mm of dash will take up a 3"/75mm window sill overhang.
If the window sill stops working you could have water ingress problems.
If there is no eaves boxing - usually 8" /200mm how will you weather the top of it?
If there is a boxing you may need to leave a gap to allow trapped moisture to migrate to air - check the installers/manufacturers agrément cert/specification
If the new dash and insulation build up has some kind of vapour check on the warm face and you apply it when the structure is wet, it may seal in the moisture, which will try to find its way out, usually migrating towards the driest areas of the envelope - you guessed it, the surface of the rooms.
You should also consider the layer of insulation "in the round".
How does this "external" insulation continue across the roof, where most heat gets lost?
Hint: ask a professional before you do anything and don't trust only to installers.
If you do intend to take that route, at the very least choose a company that's been in business a while, carries insurances and most importantly of all, has a client list who will let you see their work and offer references/favourable comments.
Check their reputation on line in more than one forums and by googling to flesh out your opinion of them.
Ask them for a guarantee for their work and a warranty covering any consequential damage that might occur due to rot, for example, that can be directly traced to their installation, of that can be shown to have occurred after that date.
It might be useful to have someone like Dampco check out your house for rot before the works starts to make sure you're not making an existing bad situation [that you may not know about yet] any worse.
It might be useful in terms of later proving your case to have a schedule of condition done on the property, with photographs and plans location them.
That way, if there is rot, you can locate, quantify and deal with it before the work starts.
If not, you can get a professional to sign off on the survey and give sworn evidence if you need to should rot appear later.
ONQ