Bohol land wanted

I saw this video which came up as one of the adverts before a video I wanted to watch. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned steel piles,



I don't know if this is a popular method for the Philippines, but it certainly looks cheaper than digging massive trenches only to fill them up with concrete. I was then thinking to install a steel ring beam, and then fix the LSF structure to that. Any suggestions regarding that (fledgling) idea would be welcome

When I read this and viewed the Video my immediate thought was, AYFH? right away I saw this as being very expensive and NOT cheap as you suggest, to hire a JCB for a day will be around P20K perhaps even more? then there is the motorised head to action the drilling of the steel piles each one of the 'A' frames would need 10 or 12 of these piles, which are just not going to be available in PH as will be the motor head, at a later date I decided to go onto the Groundworks LTD site after 5 mins of reading time this only confirmed my view, if you had done this yourself likely you would understand how impractical this is there in PH?

So many things are just not available there, even some everyday things we would take for granted are just not available and this is especially true in the building trade, There is a large store in Dumaguete City 'Yan Yan' that supplies everything for the catering trade, there you can buy a Vacuum Packer 4 or 5 different brands they stock, but they do not have the Vacuum bags and the store assistant told me you have to go on line for these, in this same City they have a big hardware store there you can buy a Handrail and Spindles for stairs, but no wall brackets to fit the rail to a wall, just go on line Sir they say, these dumb Feckers do not realise how they are just shooting themselves in the foot.

In my first experience in construction there in PH. I was to construct a service road to the Farmhouse of my then GF, she had bought this cheap land in an area of rolling hills, this house was on land with something close to a 40% gradient to it, all the materials for the house build had to be hand carried up this hill. A JCB was hired for the day, to skim the turf and grade this road the length of which was around 75mtrs including a turning area, the brand new JCB and brand new driver he must have come in the box with the machine, left us with a rough graded road resembling a ploughed field, two men had to spend a week with hand tools to square and level this off. then 20M2 of gravel was spread on this and whacked down with a vibrating plate, a 2WD vehicle would struggle to get up this but to our 4WD pickup this was not a problem, all was good, until we had a heavy rain storm this was to wash 80% of the gravel down to the bottom of the hill in a great pile of mud, deep ruts were left with the sheer rush of water that fell. The main man of the 3 man team we had was around 50yrs of age and worked on roads all his working life, how with this experience he had and not seenthis as destined to happen I did not understand at this time? however now I do and this is to be expected with them all, I've yet to meet a Pinoy construction worker that is good at his job and at the top of his game, as I see them they are all Cupid Stunts.

So I had to bite the bullet and dig deep into my wallet and have a Concrete road constructed this was the only way to have a road at this gradient, added to that, above this and to the rear of the house a drainage channel was constructed across the site with a type of French drain either side, provision had to be made for the run off water from this road and also to cater for the sheer weight of surface water on the road and to the side verges.

Lesson learned? today I would not take a even a gift of Land there in PH if it had any more than around a 15% gradient this is only good for running a herd of Goats on.

Chris with all my experience and knowledge of how things are likely to pan out there in the Philippines I would not take on such a large somewhat misguided project such as yours, in fact I would say it is beyond my capability, in my very honest opinion I believe you are tackling this with your dancing head and not with your thinking head? The cost to drain/divert water away from the main build site will be very prohibitive, also you must have a place in which to deposit this HUGE amount of surface water the likes of which you are unlikely to see back here in UK.

Being a Sassenach, I dinna ken AYFH - Is it aff yur ff'g head?

Aff yer Fecking Heid, Yi wur close and it should be A' dinnae ken.

"you can buy a Handrail and Spindles for stairs, but no wall brackets to fit the rail to a wall, just go on line Sir they say..." tis true

@HONEST DAVE is right...

Sadly if it's not chb, rebar, coco, amakan, lipak, ply, paint and a slab of concrete - you'll almost certainly be better doing it yourself... if you can withstand the heat!

Just laid my first 20 or so CHB by the back door ... flood protection - hopefully!

no rebar

I guess that may be sufficient? for myself I would have set down a high concrete kerb instead this would definitely outlast any CHB and way past an old Coffin Dodgers lifetime.

Back onto the subject of building on land with a steep slope, many years ago in the hot areas of Spain they would dig Caves into the hillside (I guess this must have been soft limestone?) and turn them into houses, these were exceptionally cool with only a couple of degrees of difference summer and winter and no AC required.

Sacramento and a few other places - still living there!



Does this guy remind you of anyone?