Building a Home in Davao

[Jake]

How are your neighbors and neighborhood?  Is it walking distance to the nearest sari-sari store where you can cry in your cold San Magoo because you got kicked out?  How many roosters singing My Way at zero dark thirty?   

Thought about a security camera-audio system?  

[GeoffH]

It must be nice to finally be on the home stretch with your house Tommy!  And I agree that back yard is Huge (with a capital H), it'll look great once you get some lawns and gardens in.

 

Congratulations :)

[hk blues]

12 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

Are the bull nose trims on the steps metal?  I rented a house in Oriental Mindoro and coming down the stairs I caught my achilies area on the sharp edge of the one's fitted in the property and it took a shaving off my leg a good five inches long.  A few weeks later my friend who was staying over did the same.  I took a file to them to round the edges off as they were lethal.

I'd go along with that - add in the tendency to come loose if the screws are too small, which they often are, and they can be dangerous. I'm sure Tom was on top of it. We used the rubber nosing - two contractors so 2 different types. The first is much more heavy duty than the second ( we gave the 2nd a sample to copy but in the stubborn Filipino way he bought a cheaper one). Still, both are effective and only need generous spread of rugby (on both surfaces -.another near faux pas by the contractor who didn't want to waste 20 minutes letting both surfaces settle)  - 4.5 years on and no issues.

[Tommy T.]

On 11/15/2020 at 12:10 AM, Jake said:

How are your neighbors and neighborhood?  Is it walking distance to the nearest sari-sari store where you can cry in your cold San Magoo because you got kicked out?  How many roosters singing My Way at zero dark thirty?   

Thought about a security camera-audio system?  

The two closest neighbours do enjoy their loud news and music at times - often starting about 6:15 am and going along until maybe 7:30 or 9? A few times I could go out and hear true stereo with one on one side and one on the other playing the same radio station at the same loud volume. But they usually cut it off to minimal later in the morning. Since we wake up early, it is an irritation, but still generally much quieter than in the apartment.

We were impressed that once, when we were out after dark checking our home and surroundings a bit, a neighbour's dogs started barking. Someone was out within 20 seconds with a big flashlight scanning the area. Good to see someone was vigilant. There are no strangers coming here at night - that we have noticed. So far - in the short time - it seems safe. Everyone notices the slightest activity...

There is one neighbour next door and another about 70 meters away. Another, that is always quiet is about 80 meters away and a new one about 30 meters away, but they have small children and tend to be quiet too.

No really close sari sari stores, but I do have the murdercycle. And the great store maybe 1 km away at the highway has great produce and almost anything we need - except meats.

There are roosters, but they are on the opposite side from the bedrooms so we don't hear those at all at night. And, actually, they aren't that noisy anyway the few times I have been awake super early or late. Also, the closest are 30 meters away and even that distance helps.

We know it won't always be mostly quiet and tranquil, but we have a nice stereo, about to buy a TV and I can some day buy noise cancelling headphones!

I forgot to add that cctv will be installed soon including nighttime ir lighting, motion activated with inside alarm and internet accessibility. In other words, we can be away and receive alarm and live feed on our cell phones. We had the home pre-wired for cctv. We already have a video doorbell/intercom but have not had it installed yet.

I will also look into remote activation for TV and some lights using internet and cell phones. But we will not be out much after dark - at least for a while with curfew in effect.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

On 11/14/2020 at 9:38 PM, Snowy79 said:

Are the bull nose trims on the steps metal?  I rented a house in Oriental Mindoro and coming down the stairs I caught my achilies area on the sharp edge of the one's fitted in the property and it took a shaving off my leg a good five inches long.  A few weeks later my friend who was staying over did the same.  I took a file to them to round the edges off as they were lethal.

Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your experience, Snowy.

Yes, they are aluminum. The edge underneath the front is rounded, not sharp, and the fronts are rounded too. Only the top grooves are a bit sharp enough to cause scrapes. Also, they are attached with construction adhesive so no protruding screws. I believe they are safe but, as with so many things with the home, time will tell.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your experience, Snowy.

Yes, they are aluminum. The edge underneath the front is rounded, not sharp, and the fronts are rounded too. Only the top grooves are a bit sharp enough to cause scrapes. Also, they are attached with construction adhesive so no protruding screws. I believe they are safe but, as with so many things with the home, time will tell.

And I guess you can paint them with that yellow paint you mentioned in a previous post so they stand out even more, Tom! Maybe add some black chevrons to complete the effect. 

[Tommy T.]

5 hours ago, hk blues said:

And I guess you can paint them with that yellow paint you mentioned in a previous post so they stand out even more, Tom! Maybe add some black chevrons to complete the effect. 

Too late, HK...the yellow paint has already, thankfully!, been returned.

[Tommy T.]

So... I guess I will continue with these posts...unless anyone is just totally worn out by trying to follow them?...

I just wanted to say that, as we settle in, we are loving the Panasonic Split-Type air cons, the Technogas range/oven/exhaust hood, and the new LG TV.

Water pressure is turning out to be a bit thin, so we may be looking to add a booster pump. We get water at all outlets, but it is very light on the second and terrace deck floors. Sometimes there is not enough flow to energize the heaters. It's not a big deal, but rather a minor inconvenience.

The Westinghouse ceiling fans work fine and are very quiet.

We are adding furniture - tables, lamps, storage racks, chests of drawers, wardrobes too.

The contractor has a medium length punch list to deal with, but all the workers are currently ill with "something," so we told them to stay away for two weeks. They rarely wear masks, and there have been some recent fiestas in local barangays... we don't need the risks.

We may end up doing/paying for finish varnishing work on doors and steps ourselves. The contractors' workers are definitely not in tune with varnishing. I may do it myself because I am particular...(yes, and peculiar!!!).

There is still a lot of cleanup required and L already advised me that we would likely end up paying to have it done to our satisfaction - lot of plastic, bits of steel, a few rocks that still need to find new homes.

It is all definitely not done to what my USA expections are... but I am not in USA and I am determined to go with the flow. Even L is a bit disappointed with the finishing up of the work... But we will deal with it, get through it and soon enjoy our outside bbq's and cold beers! (Okay... we've been cheating... we are already doing these!)

[Tommy T.]

Over a month on in the new digs already... Difficult to imagine...

There have been a few issues - several water leaks -  a couple from the roof and at least one from a pressure fitting. The foreman is very quick to address the problems and fix them promptly.

We had a guy come out to complete the installation of the electric gate opener. Wow! It is so cool to just push a button and the gate opens like magic! And L bought us an electric doorbell with video. That is also very cool - someone can push the doorbell and we can then see them and talk through intercom. These are things I never imagined we could afford or buy until recently. Soon we will have a CCTV tech come out and install some cameras with alarms and built-in sensors for movement... I should be able to integrate all of this into the internet to use with cell phones too. Wow! 2020!

We added light switches that have a light on one of them - the top one only. So we can easily find the switches in the dark. We tried to add a lot of little things to make the home easy to navigate and convenient. We are still working at finding improvements - of course, as we already know, we will never be done...but now it is fun to find ways to improve our living situation...

We will soon have the foreman and a few co-workers build some shelving and our lanai.

There have been a few hiccups... Recently there have been some power outages... So I decided to buy a small generator to be able to power the refrigerator, lights and maybe some fans. The 500 liter water tank will suffice for a couple days and provides ample pressure to the ground floor for showers and dishwashing. All this is worth the price of admission to live outside of the city proper...

And, so sorry Jake... but I have blessed the fence in many places already...as have the local mongrels (dogs, I mean)...

Edited December 3, 2020 by Tommy T.

[baronapart]

Great house! I especially like the upper terrace. That is where I would be)