Building a house in the province

Yea you read about it on a daily basis, a load of houses burned to the ground in one foul swoop usually

In contrast to Jims build is this one, knocked up in weeks opposed to years but of course everyone has a different agenda and approach

http://www.rickcafe.com/buildinghouse.htm

Incidentally he has a story about a land purchase, you have to be super vigilant in such cases

http://www.rickcafe.com/buyingland.htm

I know ten years, It's a three story house, three ensuite bedrooms. Lounge and Kitchen open plan, utility room and bathroom. Wish I had made it like yours. Keep running out of cash, plus had some trouble with the Title, so stopped work on it for five years. Now some trespasses have built a nipper hut on it. Have to file a case to rid of them. Nothing but trouble, only in the Philippines.

New Zealand has a lot of wooden buildings for this very reason - it is an earthquake zone. Wood weighs less than brick as well as being more supple. The problem with wood is from fires and rot.

Very impressive Stu. Just wish I could have been as adventurous when younger.

Can you get Plasterboard in the Phillippines? We used Hardy-flex. Don't look good as you can see the rivets sticking out!

Me too Howerd. I was 50 when I/wife started to build, now I'm ready to retire, only 60 years young

OK, that was the way I want to go aswell. Current house they used plywood, v expensive and looks ****e

Well I'm going to be limited to whats in the small hardware stores in Catbalogan but I'll see what they have

Its not good when it happens, the family are completely used to it of course. Certain areas of the wifes province electricity is still quite new and obviously expensive so its still seen by some as a luxury unfortunately

Nice link, thanks. It does the differences that can be experienced with building out here that's for sure

Blimey. I feel your pain Jim. It sounds an impressive house and I'm sure you'll be very comfortable in it. I've designed ours purely for holidays but I suppose I could stay in it for extended periods if required. Saying that I get quite bored there after about 7-8 days.

I suppose we're lucky in that respect because its in the province we're just banging the house up no worries. The only slight fly in the ointment is even though we have the sale of property receipt to us after 7 years of asking various sisters still haven't transferred the deeds to the wifes name!! We're promised this WILL happen this week.

I worked with a guy from NZ a few years ago and he told me there where really big problems in the housing industry there. A few years ago they relaxed the laws on wood treatment for building housing out there. Subsequently because they used basically untreated wood a lot of new homes are rotten from the ground up!!

Well to be honest Howerd I was against at first but after about 4 wood houses in various guises out here concrete makes sense. I'm lucky my job lets us afford (ish) this but its is getting expensive mainly due to the remote location. But hey ho it's going to be interesting.

Well construction

Some good advice here
http://myphilippinelife.com/digging-water-well-tigbauan-philippines/

Not so lucky here
http://liveinthephilippines.com/content/i-know-theres-water-down-there-somewhere/

Basic house construction
http://www.preventionweb.net/files/10329_GoodBuildingHandbookPhilippines.pdf

You should be able to order it, probably from Tacloban or Cebu. Are you going to plasterboard the walls? If not, then I'd be inclined to add rice hulls to the concrete block mix. You'll need much more water and a little extra cement but the resultant blocks will be stronger and their insulating properties enhanced considerably.

Hadn't thought of that to be honest, very good idea. Where halfway through building the hollow blocks now. I was just going to get the walls skimmed as normal once the electrics and plumbing was in. I'll see about the possibility of this. How much rice hulls do you add per block out of interest?

You'd need to experiment but I would think that you could add an equivalent to half the sand (by volume), perhaps a bit more - but you may need to increase slightly on the amount of cement you're using -- and you are using Holcim, right?!

Have to confess I haven't actually tried! But the idea came from talking to the guys at Valencia Brickworks in Bukidnon: they make ordinary house bricks from alluvial silt and rice hulls. No two bricks are identically coloured being mostly rustic red; they are very tough and as heavy and dense as British "engineering" bricks.

I'm not sure which brand of cement we're using to be honest. Rice hulls in the blocks is intriguing, I may try to explain it to them but it may confuse them a touch! I had to show them how to ensure the plot was square, they where using string and a small engineers set square and doing it by eye rather than working out as per a right angle triangle!! I started to have my doubts but they seem ok now we've passed that "hurdle"

For the interior ceilings use Hardiflex and make sure they use a nail with large head. I would advise you to use Spandrel on the exterior ceilings as it wont fall apart after 10 years and its maintenance free.


http://www.uniongalvasteel.com.ph/index.php/products/roofing-products/duraspandrel

Lovely view from your house