Willie Posted April 17, 2011 Posted April 17, 2011 Hey,I'm really new to this forum (and to trying to get something done in Philippines. Here's the short of it. I'm still in USA. My wife is trying to rebuild a rotten second floor on her mother's house in Jasaan. The house is over 50 years old. Translating from what the "carpenters" tell her to English to me leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, the house is hollow block first floor, and wood frame second floor. worms I have been told, have weakened the entire wood structure. The carpenters insist on rebuilding it with hollow block and a cement second floor. As a retired builder in the USA, I have tried to get everyone to see the sense in replacing wood froame with wood frame. I can't believe adding hollow block walls, bith interior and exterior, to an older house is safe. I also can't believe that carting 20,000 hollow blocks and morter and cement to the second floor and installing it is cheaper and faster that framing each wall the way it was originally constructed, but the carpenters are fighting me all the way.Advice from expats who live there will help me considerably. As someone in a previous post pointed out - these guys may be set in their ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted April 17, 2011 Posted April 17, 2011 Hey,I'm really new to this forum (and to trying to get something done in Philippines. Here's the short of it. I'm still in USA. My wife is trying to rebuild a rotten second floor on her mother's house in Jasaan. The house is over 50 years old. Translating from what the "carpenters" tell her to English to me leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, the house is hollow block first floor, and wood frame second floor. worms I have been told, have weakened the entire wood structure. The carpenters insist on rebuilding it with hollow block and a cement second floor. As a retired builder in the USA, I have tried to get everyone to see the sense in replacing wood froame with wood frame. I can't believe adding hollow block walls, bith interior and exterior, to an older house is safe. I also can't believe that carting 20,000 hollow blocks and morter and cement to the second floor and installing it is cheaper and faster that framing each wall the way it was originally constructed, but the carpenters are fighting me all the way.Advice from expats who live there will help me considerably. As someone in a previous post pointed out - these guys may be set in their ways. Hello Willie, and welcome to the forum. :buttkick: I cannot specifically answer your building question but I have invited a member to the topic who might be able to, so be sure to check back daily, but what I can say after having dealt with contractors in our condo is, trying to get things done here the way we think they should be done is almost an impossibility, unless we are willing to do the work ourselves. Set in their ways is an understatement IMHO and I have had to pound my head against the wall and bite my tongue way too many times, just for things to get done. As for communicating with your wife long distance, it is often not much better while here because I would tell the workmen what I wanted done in English and they said they understood, then my wife would repeat it in Bisaya and they said they understood, then they still start doing it the wrong way. My advice would be to speak directly to the contractor and ask him why he thinks doing it his way, would be the right way to do it. There is a lot of problems here with wood due to worms and termites, which are all over the place and swarm every year, so concrete is usually the answer to that problem, and most of the things in our condo are made of concrete, even the counter the sink sits in and on. So we think one way, and they know the area your home is in, and know that wood will be eaten in no time flat, so I suspect that is why they wish to do it in concrete. As for carrying the blocks up to the second floor, they usually make the block right on the site and hard labor is not something the workmen are afraid of. We live high up in a condo, the men knocked down concrete walls for us and filled empty cement bags with broken block and used cement, and they then carried those heavy bags down many flights of stairs, that is how it is done here, and hard work is something the workmen here are not the least bit worried about doing. They also carried full bags if cement up the same stairs because workmen are not supposed to use the elevators. Also they use half block here, so not as much weight for a second story, and not as much trouble to make, or carry up to the second floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hounddriver Posted April 17, 2011 Posted April 17, 2011 Hey,I'm really new to this forum (and to trying to get something done in Philippines. Here's the short of it. I'm still in USA. My wife is trying to rebuild a rotten second floor on her mother's house in Jasaan. The house is over 50 years old. Translating from what the "carpenters" tell her to English to me leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, the house is hollow block first floor, and wood frame second floor. worms I have been told, have weakened the entire wood structure. The carpenters insist on rebuilding it with hollow block and a cement second floor. As a retired builder in the USA, I have tried to get everyone to see the sense in replacing wood froame with wood frame. I can't believe adding hollow block walls, bith interior and exterior, to an older house is safe. I also can't believe that carting 20,000 hollow blocks and morter and cement to the second floor and installing it is cheaper and faster that framing each wall the way it was originally constructed, but the carpenters are fighting me all the way.Advice from expats who live there will help me considerably. As someone in a previous post pointed out - these guys may be set in their ways.In this area, it seems to me, wood is the choice of the very poor or the very rich. A 50 year old building, with a wood upper floor as you described, would be so rotten as to be due for demolition if it were in your country .Rich people like wood because they have the money for proper care and treatment and pest control. Poor people use it when it is all they can afford. 90% of the middle to low end buildings here are all concrete, even the kitchen counter. In some cases even the roof is concrete although metal roof has become the overwhelming favorite.Just my 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted April 17, 2011 Posted April 17, 2011 From the way I've seen pre-fabricated homes built here, steel I-beam frames with poured cement flooring for the 2nd level and pre-fab walls are the norm with steel frames with tile roofs as long as the ground floor level and wall structures are safe to bare the weight! Sometimes it just easier to demolish the whole house and start from scratch using hollow blocks or steel frames with pre-fab wall panels of your choice available in the local market today! It's just a matter what one can afford since the price of materials are constantly increasing. We presently have a pre-fab home we bought in 2001 which cost us only P2.5 million including the land which is only 187 sq. meters, but at today's prices of materials and land our same home would cost us P5 million to build today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Posted April 17, 2011 Author Posted April 17, 2011 Thanks all,I guess I will just leave my USA methods to myself and let these carpenters do it their way, as much as I disagree. IMHO, hardheads were invented by Filipinos, my wife included! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Posted April 17, 2011 Author Posted April 17, 2011 My wife and have bought land to build there - I'm glad I am getting educated before we start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERENCE Posted May 20, 2011 Posted May 20, 2011 Hey,I'm really new to this forum (and to trying to get something done in Philippines. Here's the short of it. I'm still in USA. My wife is trying to rebuild a rotten second floor on her mother's house in Jasaan. The house is over 50 years old. Translating from what the "carpenters" tell her to English to me leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, the house is hollow block first floor, and wood frame second floor. worms I have been told, have weakened the entire wood structure. The carpenters insist on rebuilding it with hollow block and a cement second floor. As a retired builder in the USA, I have tried to get everyone to see the sense in replacing wood froame with wood frame. I can't believe adding hollow block walls, bith interior and exterior, to an older house is safe. I also can't believe that carting 20,000 hollow blocks and morter and cement to the second floor and installing it is cheaper and faster that framing each wall the way it was originally constructed, but the carpenters are fighting me all the way.Advice from expats who live there will help me considerably. As someone in a previous post pointed out - these guys may be set in their ways.hi willie terence here it makes good senxe to destroy old wood and use metal bars and concreate for ur second floor u need to make sure first floor foundations are solid before u start building 50 years old house maybe it will be cheaper to start again peoole there are not afriad of hard work when i built my home they made human chain on bamboo scaffold to move concrete to first floor no health and safety problems to them they love working Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 Are there any Mobile homes in the PH like we have here in the US? (Just wondering) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 Are there any Mobile homes in the PH like we have here in the US? (Just wondering) None of the type we know of that I know of, but I have read about container homes making a start here. Some might say that some of the huts are mobile since I have observed one being lifted and moved by a group of men. :541: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 In the Philippines, it's the norm to demolish everything and start from scratch! Ever consider using prefab construction materials instead of hollow blocks? Check this link out: http://www.sibonga.c...es_concrete.htm It would be more energy efficient, but would probably cost a little bit more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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