Bob,
Thanks for the message and the kind comments.
The house is my own creation, literally.
I worked for an architects practice for several years before moving into building surveying.
My father is a Building Contractor and I have grown up as a builder. I bought the plot, designed the house and my father and myself built it.
Unlike yourselves in the states, houses here in Ireland are seldom in timber frame, (although gaining in popularity).
The walls are in two skins of concrete masonry blockwork to form a cavity wall. The cavity filled with polystyrene insulant for thermal insulation. The outer finish is a traditional local appearance. It is firstly two coat sand cement render. Then while the outer coat is just setting or "green" a cement slurry with fine basalt aggregate grit added is "harled" on the wall ("thrown" for all those non techincally minded). And yes there is a technique to it. The technique is not to get it on the windows, doors etc /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The roof is of timber rafters with concrete interlocking tiles fixed to timber roofing battens. Again the void between rafters is filled with insulant for thermal efficiency.
For low maintenance, the window frames, soffits and fascias are formed in white uPVC. [ The less painting I have, the more time I can spend on the Iseki /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ]