Interresting Building Information

[Art2ro]

Dang EJ, Your bullet proof fortress is 35+ yrs old!

[Art2ro]

EJ,When will you finally get to Gapo? You plan to stay for good? Whenever I get to Subic I,ll give you a visit, but I'll let you know in advance, not like your typical local Pinoy who drops by whenever they feel like it! Just have the Mojos and pulutan ready before I get there! Art

Edited March 1, 2011 by Art2ro

[gapotwo]

EJ,When will you finally get to Gapo? You plan to stay for good? Whenever I get to Subic I,ll give you a visit, but I'll let you know in advance, not like your typical local Pinoy who drops by whenever they feel like it! Just have the Mojos and pulutan ready before I get there! Art

will do pare..:emostrongbow: :cool_beans: :whistling: Edited March 2, 2011 by Mr. Lee
replace reply below quote

[Brucewayne]

I'm not saying salt won't stain your paint, but doubt very seriously that is the problem.Did you rinse the sand before you used it in the making of your cement and mortar?Dirt, dead bug bits and decaying bits of vegetation causes that problem and also weakens the integrity of the structure if there is too much of it in your mix.I have found that 1 sack of cement mix, 3 sacks of clean fine sand and 10 pounds of hydrated lime are the best way to go when mixing stucco to prevent staining and/or cracking of the surfaces (inside and outside).

I made a lot of mistakes when I first came to the PH one of which was building a mansion in the jungle The structure 2 storey and is quack proof ( all this means looking at the plans is the foundations are joined all round )hollow block was used to infill between concret columns ,, these were made on site and as the maker was payed by the bag of cement used I am sure he used as much as possible hahaas stated before after rebar installed hollow block is filled with cement so are solidonly trouble after 5 years now is stain coming through the paint inside was told this is salt in the gravel sand used ( funny I thought gravel sand was from the river what salt ?? )leave the guys building it to do what they know best if you try new things they will get confused dont give them a laser level like i did A bubble tube they are comfortable with all went well and some are still friends good luck John n

[Okieboy]

one thing i have seen done in the USA and might work in the Phil is pouring the floor and than form up solid cement walls, from lumber laying flat,than tilt up and weld, a guy i know built a store here doing that, quick but you would need something to lift the panels

[westhmess]

In regards to the "swamp coolers", if cooling a place is your object, and cooling alone, they will bring the temps down several degrees while the blower in them moves air which is always nice to have a breeze. Now, that said, you will raise the humidity using a swamp cooler as they use water dribbling down three sides of a box with a fan. There is a sheet of filter in them to keep the bugs out. The water wets the filter and the blower moves air through the water soaked filters, thus the name swamp coolers. We used them in our house when I was a kid and it felt really good to stand in front of them. Hope this helps,

Wes

[TedDBayer]

Ants love living in foam

[Clermont]

Thanks to all for your inputs, my wife and I are going to live in her ancestral island, Panay. Instead of columns, would I be able to get away with the Aussie way of building the corners of each corner wall, including, bedroom and any wall coming off the main walls with 12 m bars horizontal and 10 m bars vertical along the walls using 6x12 hollow blocks, filled with concrete. I will be overseeing the concrete side of things and making our own block machine,( vibrating type). What is the ground type for adequate footing depth and width would be appropriate for that type of country. I be leave it is old rice field, a clay soil base, we live in black soil country, is the soil like that? I would appreciate any input. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

10 hours ago, Clermont said:

would I be able to get away with the Aussie way of building 

I know a few Aussies but only one REALLY well who also built a house here.  He told me the Aussie way was to do things as cheap as possible so yep, you can do it the Aussie way 

But I'll tell you what he did, that I'm not sure I like.  He had a container shipped from Aus with all the plumbing and electrical fixtures and all appliances.  Including pipes, wiring, plug-ins etc.  It made him happy but you needed an adapter any time you wanted to use a locally made electrical apparatus as the Aussie plug holes are different from the local plugs.

But I did like it that his plumbing never leaked.  Everything  I buy here leaks and its often because filipinas turn the tap off too hard and break the darn things.

Well thats all the advice I can give.  He still used local post and beam construction with hollow blocks to fill the spaces and jalousie windows all the way to the ceiling . .  9 foot ceilings allowed the heat to rise and go out the windows.  But he told me he made sure the posts and beams construction were strong enough to withstand a level 7 earthquake.  We never had anything over a 5.5 to test his theory but so far so good and the house did well during a super typhoon.  Oh yes, he also had a "safe room" (solid walls with solid doors and no windows) in the middle of the house to stay in during typhoons and it got used.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[Clermont]

Thanks for that, I'm not allowed to be stingy, all produce and appliances will be bought there. I forgot to mention, it will be a condominium construction not a two story building. My wife and I are in our 60 's, climbing stairs leaves no energy for other activities.