Building a Home in Davao

[intrepid]

20 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

But I do have a few questions for you Intrepid... Does the basic unit include car remote controls? And if so, how many? Does it come with an in-house remote control?

My basic unit came with two in car remotes.  The in-house remote was an additional option.

 

20 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

What I reckon I need from perusing the website is the opener unit (I will go for the 800kg version - 220 volt), one house wireless remote and then 5 meters of the steel track. Does that sound about right to you?

Yes, sounds good.

 

20 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

I don't thing I need laser or infrared sensors and I certainly don't want any flashing lights!!!!

Tommy, the infrared sensors are not very expensive at all.  I would highly recommend them.  If your not familiar, they are what will save your car or you from getting crushed if the gate closes while something is in the path.  It will automatically reopen before touching anything.

[intrepid]

16 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

This is better service than I am accustomed to in USA!

Thanks again for your great recommendation! 

Well, here we are on Pg 75 now.  You are so very welcome.  I had made the same comments to my wife.  This company is great.  They are #1.  Along with this their prices are very fair.  I have seen no other company with these values and only can wish other companies could learn from them. 

[Tommy T.]

Believe me... I will be delighted to be on the last page of this build description...

Anyway, another visit today for the two of us.

Now that we have a couple of chairs in the library (man cave) I am really enjoying lounging there a while when L goes out to talk to the workers. On goes the aircon and it works quite well. After 10 minutes at high speed, I turn it to automatic and the fan slows to a whisper yet keeps the room at 25 or wherever I set it. It's nice to get a bit spoiled. I hope to buy the bar fridge in a few days.

The painter has gotten his act together and has been applying very nice coats of a satin finish varnish to the doors. It helps the grain stand out and the colour is natural.

A bunch of plants we brought in already. One of the boys waters them daily.

It's a simple home but actually a bit complex in places. Here the boys are working on the main car sliding gate - filling in the corners and any gaps. The sparky has been installing lights on some of the fence posts and another guy has been cleaning and painting the remaining steel bars.

Oooppps... The roof deck has a really funky drain that is just not right. The foreman was not there so we could not talk with him about it. It was already a bit clogged and there was a shallow puddle of water leftover from the previous night's rain.

But there was more good news than bad.

On our way home, we finally saw someone at the nearby bottled water station. He confirmed that they would deliver and we got the phone number. He was a nice guy and said that he could set us up with somebody to pick up our rubbish once a week.

Across the road is a small market/grocery - almost a sari sari store. They had a remarkable selection of fresh veggies, standard canned foods, even a few frozen meats. The woman was very nice and happens to be related to one of L's closest friends. We plan to test to see if we text her the day before she goes to the market (Mondays and Fridays) she might buy special request items for us? And, of course, we shall pay her something for her trouble.

The home is outside of Panda or other delivery services so this would be a real treat for us so we would not have to drive 5 km or more to the nearest mall to shop (and I really hate malls!).

It's a nice feeling to finally be getting services together and to also meet some of the locals.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

Fast approaching page 75.... I can almost smell the urine and beer farts (from old farts) we and our pristine new home may soon have to endure...

They already replaced the bottom step that had the drilled holes - it looks nice and has beautiful grain.

The sparky  has completed all the light installations in the kitchen and he, himself, was beaming when he saw our reaction to his work. The range hood is powered up and is very powerful, yet fairly quiet. It vents outside. It will be a very bright space to cook any time, including after dark.

The propane box outside is nearing completion. I expected it to be made of wood, but...oh nooo, steel struts for all supports. I can barely lift the cover! This box will last 100 years!

The sliding gate is getting there. They have even welded on flat bar strips along the bottom to keep out rats, small cats and anything except the dreaded ants and cockroaches. The sliding gate motor arrived via Lazada yesterday - 5 day service! However we still awaiting the track and infrared sensors. But I know they will be here within two or three days.

Oh, and for you @intrepid the sparky, yesterday, showed me that he had a double breaker already installed on its own circuit for the gate opener. We will have to check with the specs in the manual, but I think his breakers are higher value than we need. But that can be changed. 

Muy importante - I bought the bar refrigerator at S & R a few days ago and yesterday plugged it in and...

started to fill it. There were no canned beers or small Cokes at the local sari sari stores, so we will have to import them from closer in to the city. Anyway, it's plugged in and running and cooling nicely and the Pilsen (only beer available and in the 1 liter size also) and Tanduay are chilling.

We also tested the big refrigerator and it works fine.

We have installed the first two of three beds in the house and have been slowly adding more and more things to be stored in the library - L is buying rugs and other things - it is filling up!

We tested the master bedroom aircon and it seems perfectly sized for that room... I am patting myself on the back for calculating the correct unit capacity. It worked okay and cooled the room fine now that the aircon guy completed the charging .

So L and I spent some time in the library with that whisper quiet aircon in 25 degree bliss!

Things seem to keep coming together. We only argue (not quarrel) about which colour curtains to buy and some other little things we don't always agree about which to choose. The choices of curtains, so far, is very limited. Blackout curtains all have rubber backing and I am not so sure how many times that might last in a washing machine?

The glass "engineer" was out at the home yesterday and met us. He took all the measurements for the "free" shower glass. I showed him places where we could see daylight through some gaps between the opening window frames and the fixed frames. He promised to check and adjust all of them. One opening window on the ground floor will be replaced due to some issue with the frame.

I also pointed out that most of the attachment screws the installers used seem to be simple mild steel with no galvanize - they are already corroded and rusty after just a month... He shook his head and said they were supposed to use all stainless fasteners and assured me he would check every window frame and ensure that they would all be affixed with stainless. Of course, I will verify when it is done.

He told me that all the hardware necessary to install the insect screens are at hand and they would commence that work within the next day or two... Hmmm where have I heard that before?

All in all, it is coming together, but there are still "growing pains" (in the ass) with the project... it is moving along... Generally we are happy, but so very tired of the project.

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Mike J]

Tommy, I was looking at the picture of the glass shower wall you posted.  I used to install a lot of glass and I think that the install as shown is not entirely safe.  The top of the glass is only supported at the top left corner.  If a taller or heavy person were to slip in the shower and hit the glass you could get excessive flex.  This could cause it to shatter due to the twisting torque at the top attachment.   A safer alternative is to run the glass clear to the ceiling although the left wall would also need to be raised in the picture shown to make it look correct.   I also like this type of shower enclosure, very clean elegant lines and not metal to corrode or rust. 

 

[Tommy T.]

30 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Tommy, I was looking at the picture of the glass shower wall you posted.  I used to install a lot of glass and I think that the install as shown is not entirely safe.  The top of the glass is only supported at the top left corner.  If a taller or heavy person were to slip in the shower and hit the glass you could get excessive flex.  This could cause it to shatter due to the twisting torque at the top attachment.   A safer alternative is to run the glass clear to the ceiling although the left wall would also need to be raised in the picture shown to make it look correct.   I also like this type of shower enclosure, very clean elegant lines and not metal to corrode or rust. 

 

Thanks for your comments and concern, Mike. I understand and see your point.

Well, the glass, itself, will be tempered so there should be no flexing. The width of the glass is also quite small so the thought is that there will be only a small moment of potential flex or stress. Not disagreeing with your comments, just my thoughts.

Running the glass to the 10 foot ceiling might be safer, but it would look a bit weird seeing as the tiles only go up to about 200 cm from floor. By the way, the shower is enclosed totally with walls to ceiling on three sides - not like in that photo I found online...

There will be three attachment points - 5 cm from the top, another some distance from the top and one about 5 cm from the bottom. The middle one will be well above half way to try to mitigate the concern you raise.

There will be an aluminum channel along the floor that will be screwed in place and then the glass will fit inside that with silicone sealant all around. Part of my thinking was also the cleaning aspect... One sheet of glass, no sliding door track to collect dirt or mold. And it looks modern and neat.

That is also another reason I had them install the "sissy bar" as a supporting handhold. I am tall, but not - yet - fat. So I just won't let any of these geezers who drink my beer and pee on the fence take a shower! They can just use the hose outside...

Edited October 13, 2020 by Tommy T.

[RBM]

Looking fabulous Tommy over a year of endurance, now reap the wonderful results, you have earned it, both of you.

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Thanks for your comments and concern, Mike. I understand and see your point.

Well, the glass, itself, will be tempered so there should be no flexing. The width of the glass is also quite small so the thought is that there will be only a small moment of potential flex or stress. Not disagreeing with your comments, just my thoughts.

Running the glass to the 10 foot ceiling might be safer, but it would look a bit weird seeing as the tiles only go up to about 200 cm from floor. By the way, the shower is enclosed totally with walls to ceiling on three sides - not like in that photo I found online...

There will be three attachment points - 5 cm from the top, another some distance from the top and one about 5 cm from the bottom. The middle one will be well above half way to try to mitigate the concern you raise.

There will be an aluminum channel along the floor that will be screwed in place and then the glass will fit inside that with silicone sealant all around. Part of my thinking was also the cleaning aspect... One sheet of glass, no sliding door track to collect dirt or mold. And it looks modern and neat.

That is also another reason I had them install the "sissy bar" as a supporting handhold. I am tall, but not - yet - fat. So I just won't let any of these geezers who drink my beer and pee on the fence take a shower! They can just use the hose outside...

In Hong Kong we had glass shower enclosure as you're getting - It had 2 panels either side and the door in the middle.  The panels were fixed all around with silicon and 3 brackets to the wall.  They did not go full height.  We were there 5 years and there was no issue BUT we never slipped in the shower to test the stability!

Honestly speaking, I have a fear of such an accident and worry about exactly what Mike J describes (not necessarily your situation but in general with all-glass enclosures) in that a hard dunt will cause some flex and such a flex may be an issue at the point where the glass is held by the bracket, but i suppose as it a common enough enclosure it must be OK.  Just be double-sure about the fittings and sealing.  

[Tommy T.]

1 hour ago, hk blues said:

In Hong Kong we had glass shower enclosure as you're getting - It had 2 panels either side and the door in the middle.  The panels were fixed all around with silicon and 3 brackets to the wall.  They did not go full height.  We were there 5 years and there was no issue BUT we never slipped in the shower to test the stability!

Honestly speaking, I have a fear of such an accident and worry about exactly what Mike J describes (not necessarily your situation but in general with all-glass enclosures) in that a hard dunt will cause some flex and such a flex may be an issue at the point where the glass is held by the bracket, but i suppose as it a common enough enclosure it must be OK.  Just be double-sure about the fittings and sealing.  

Thanks for your comments HK. All good advice!

The glass here will go just to below the top of the wall tiles, maybe 5 cm? I got the idea from hotels we stayed at - as I posted previously. I reckoned that, if they put this sort of thing in a hotel in the Philippines... what could possibly ever go wrong?

Yeah... I have some fear about slipping in the shower too. The floor tiles in the cr's have a rather "aggressive" texture so I am hoping that will help.

You can count on me double checking everything. And I will also give the glass some moderate "bump" tests just to see what happens. I really hate surprises!

[Tommy T.]

4 hours ago, RBM said:

Looking fabulous Tommy over a year of endurance, now reap the wonderful results, you have earned it, both of you.

Thanks for your thoughts, RBM.

Well... the bar refer is there and stocked. With the aircon running quietly in the background, we can both relax a bit sometimes when we are there. Two sofas are due to be delivered in maybe one to two weeks. Yesterday I found some fairly decent office type chairs. I found one that I could probably fall asleep in - that may be my pick! So... you are right, we should soon be enjoying reaping!!!

I checked the water and pressure was a bit low, still ran on the roof deck, but not much. But on ground and second floor and the kitchen sink there was plenty of pressure and there was hot water! I was delighted. I will give the water service, as is, a try for a month or two. If it seems to flag often, then I will spring for a booster pump on the roof deck.

Our sparky has agreed to install the gate opener and will charge half of what the "authorized" installer will charge. He was very busy looking at the parts and the installation manual. We discussed the location of the motor and some other details. This guy is thorough and careful.

We are making a lot of side deals with the foreman and the sparky. We are being careful to not interfere with their contract work - don't want to piss off anyone unnecessarily, even if they are not delivering as promised...