Building a Home in Davao

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Ok, I had looked around a few places and had not seen what is in your link:

"H-joints are often found on floors laid in a regular pattern, these should be avoided for both aesthetical reasons and structural reasons. Laying a laminate floor in a regular pattern decreases its ability to contract and expand as a whole unit, and instead does so as single laminate boards often causing gaps or even lifting like a hinge."

We have cheap laminate in our bedrooms that was apparently staggered properly, but we have 3 or 4 rows that separate at the ends and create large gaps.  I can slide them back into place using a hard kick/step but they return quickly.  Someday I would like to replace these floors with something nice like Tommy's and certainly want to avoid problems like this.  If you leave a gap at the end(s) for expansion, how do you keep the boards from sliding and gapping?  If I slide them into their proper places, there is 1/2 to 3/4 inch gap at the end.  Is that too much?  I was going to fill that end gap with a spacer to keep them in place.

We have moderately priced laminate throughout our place.  Both were installed by professionals but the upstairs was/is perfect with no separation at the joints after 5 years.  Downstairs there are maybe 2 or 3 with gaps - no big deal. In all honesty, the only way to permanently fix is to use a special bar that can be placed at the end plank and hit with a hammer until the gap is closed - an adhesive block is also available but I'm dubious it's better than your method.

A 1/2 inch gap is fine but I wouldn't go any bigger - It would be good to fit the boards first and then the edge moulding/skirting later to cover the gap. Don't use a spacer as this defeats the purpose (also don't fix the moulding to the boards either) of the gap and stops the floor floating which will encourage separation.  If the boards are properly joined then they will not separate as a result of the perimeter gap.  If you look online you can see some horrendous "tenting" caused by not leaving this gap. Another good tip is to cut door frames and slip the planking under rather than cutting the boards - this gives a very neat finish.  Our upstairs guy did this - the downstairs not.  

[hk blues]

11 minutes ago, Viking said:

hk gave a good explanation.

Woodfloors expand and shrink depending on temperature and humidity, thats why it important to leave a gap at the walls. If the floor a tight to the wall the floor will bulge when it expand. 1/2 inch at the wall will be fine, if the room is not too big, big rooms often have a gap in the middle of the room as well. Be aware that there is a difference between woodfloor, laminated woodfloor and laminated floors, considering how much they move.

H-joints was not what I recommended, I said that it is not a good idea to have all joints in line. Best is to try to get the joints in a irregular pattern as far away as possible from other joints. This is often quite easy if you give it some thoughts before you start and you will then get minimal spill.

H joints are not recommended maybe because of the aesthetics of getting it right.  A random pattern is probably best and you can minimise waste that way.  

[carbpow]

7 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Yeah... that's precisely the reason I chose the Panasonic brand for the air/cons... I read reviews about them and the gheko and other incursions were shorting out the circuit boards resulting in expensive and un-warranteed repairs...

The ONLY reason I bought Daikin and not Panasonic is I wanted multi-split and at the time Panasonic dd not offer what I needed nor did my other choice Mitsubishi Electric. Sounds like you have a good installer. As long as he pressure checks with nitrogen then  purges the lines with nitrogen and pulls a vacuum that holds for 10 minutes at less than 1000 microns your system should last for many years with no problems. Hope he has the right equipment.  You cannot read a proper vacuum with the red and blue service gauges most rely on here. Proper electronic micron gauges are used by some and if your guy has one you are in great shape !

[Viking]

20 hours ago, carbpow said:

The ONLY reason I bought Daikin and not Panasonic is I wanted multi-split and at the time Panasonic dd not offer what I needed nor did my other choice Mitsubishi Electric. Sounds like you have a good installer. As long as he pressure checks with nitrogen then  purges the lines with nitrogen and pulls a vacuum that holds for 10 minutes at less than 1000 microns your system should last for many years with no problems. Hope he has the right equipment.  You cannot read a proper vacuum with the red and blue service gauges most rely on here. Proper electronic micron gauges are used by some and if your guy has one you are in great shape !

Last time I checked, they had multi-splits, was it a long time ago you were shopping?

https://www.panasonic.com/ph/consumer/air-conditioners/split-type-airconditioner/inverter-triple-split-model.html

 

[carbpow]

15 hours ago, Viking said:

Last time I checked, they had multi-splits, was it a long time ago you were shopping?

Clarification. The local suppliers didn't have them. When I mentioned they could be ordered they said they didn't install them because people didn't use them much. [3 single splits would have been more expensive though easier to size.]   Never being one to insist someone take my money I got a Daikin.

Mitsubishi Electric multi split was not available in Luzon here and still isn't to my knowledge

 

[Tommy T.]

Well.... back to the main topic...

The home is progressing. Not without some glitches here and there:

Shame on the painter - he was painting a floor trim board grey instead of brown. L set him right yesterday (but nicely).

The contractor could not find the grout colour for the tiles that we specified so we went out and found a different colour that will be okay for second choice. We initially chose a dark grey since we know that any grout will get dirty over time and darken. No dark grey to be found, so medium grey will have to do. We are picking mostly neutral colours for almost all construction so we can then accent things later with whatever colours we like...so things are grey, white, black, medium brown right now...

One of the tiles we chose does not seem to be available, so we settled for a reasonable second choice.

The windows are getting installed very slowly - several weeks now - when we were originally assured they would be done within a week of start of installation. But they are getting there and do look really nice. We love the dark tint.

We found some spot on the stairs where the handrail on the inside actually almost touches one step on each flight. We somehow missed that on the original plan. So the foreman will simply cut a notch out of one step on each flight to make sure hands won't get caught or cut. It may look a tiny bit weird, but sometimes you've gotta make a compromise for function over design. It will hardly be noticeable, but will greatly enhance the safety of the handrails.

The kitchen cabinets are scheduled to be installed Thursday or Friday...we'll see... But once they are in, the home will look so much more like a home than a project!

Driveway is finished and matches the curves of the walkway. We will plant grass as a "greenbelt" between the cement.

They made a "speed bump" or barrier against water from outside the fence.

The stair handrails now have our requested "down" rails. We really love those NZ pine rails. Oh... and a side note - the steps have been "glued and screwed" into place now and feel very solid with virtually no movement, so that "wobble" issue from before has been fixed - yes!!!

This is the creek/small river that often flows nearby - maybe 75 meters away from the home. The sound of it flowing is very soothing and nice. But, if the breeze drops, the mozzies attack! Fortunately, there are not so many around the home. But we will also have screens on all windows - to be installed this week!

I forgot to mention that I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday because there was no music or radio from either of the closest neighbours. There was no karaoke, even distant. It was really blissful. I know this will not always be the case and that it will become increasingly noisy in the future, but it was really nice to be there yesterday sound-wise.

L has been researching internet options. It appears that the best one (there are not hard-wire/fiber cables serving the area yet) will be to pay PLDT to bring in a fiber/optic cable to the property for about P30k...ouch! But it seems to be the best option. They will string it in from about one km away... The service will, supposedly, deliver 25 mbs/second. I don't believe that will be true, but the cell data in the area is very poor... So we will see...

Edited August 17, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Viking]

8 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

We are picking mostly neutral colours for almost all construction so we can then accent things later with whatever colours we like...so things are grey, white, black, medium brown right now...

Are you really sure L is a pinay Tommy???  

Pinays use to love strong and crazy colours on/in their houses , but I think you made the right choice 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tommy T.]

Yeah... she really is true Pinay... Luckily, hot pink, bright green, red, blue, etc. paints were not on sale recently!!!

Just kidding... she would never pick those types of colours.

But, as she told me when we first met, she does not fit the "typical" Pinay mold. For some reason unknown to her and her family and friends, she holds many western values and thoughts... Yet she still prefers mostly Filipino foods. She does not allow nor want family to come to visit without prior permission, and even then not to stay for very long. I am very thankful for that...

I hope I am not repeating some photos here. I found some that went "missing" when I transferred them from cell phone to laptop so there may be duplications here. L and I each take photos then share them and sometimes I get lost when moving them around...

This is the driveway cement pattern. L actually provided the crew with a steel stamp of a different pattern, but it seemed it was too difficult for the boys to figure out, so they did this instead. It's fine for us...

This is the wet bar with some wood patterned tiles. It will be a great convenience to be able to grab a cold beer or coke or Tanduay there and also my place to make our coffee in the morning without having to go down to the kitchen. Then we can step out onto one of the terraces (west side in morning, east side in afternoon), enjoy our beverages of choice and enjoy the fresh air.

The roof deck stairway door and CR door.

The roof deck has a sort-of threshold as a guard in case of super heavy rain and possibly clogged downspout so water won't run into the stair well.

Our front door - same as the back door. We chose neutral varnish over paint so the wood grain will show. The doors are laminated and that will show too, but it all looks okay to us. Our main theme is simplicity with (hopefully) a bit of elegance...

The front door and small porch under construction.

A view from the roof deck over the fruit trees looking towards Davao City. We love all the greenery!

[RBM]

Firstly, congrats on your perseverance and success on the wonderful build Tommy.

Without going through all the posts, what did you decide on the joinery? Lamination, ply or what? curious.  Love the view just what the Doc ordered Tommy

Edited August 20, 2020 by RBM
correction

[carbpow]

On 8/18/2020 at 6:39 AM, Tommy T. said:

The service will, supposedly, deliver 25 mbs/second. I don't believe that will be true, but the cell data in the area is very poor... So we will see...

I have been pleasantly surprised with PLDT fiber. I just ran a speed test and download was 49.3 and 28.7 upload. I have often seen download over 100 at night.

Edited August 20, 2020 by carbpow