brag3:
@Aventures.
How many marine boards are you using for this foundation?

mufutau55:


I think he is just using woods not marine boards... I don't see any marine board in the formwork.

Hajji M.

brag3:
Thanks Haji M,
I thought as much as I could only see 3 woods from the pics.
Just wanted to confirm the height of the foundation.
Thanks again

Aventures:
The height of the fdn is 1.8m (by layman's term we ll say 6 boards) this include 0.2m raft slab, in some area the height is 1.5m (6 boards) including the raft slab. (this are the areas of car park under the house, it was reduced so that to allow for easy movement of the vehicles.
The 3 board u saw is not an overall height yet, we did 3 for now because 5 to 6 boards will be too heavy to carry into the trench and set properly, also it will be too high for iron fixers to stand and work on it. After dropping the iron the remaining formwork will be added to meet up to various desired heights.

Aventures:
correction pls. The site is a plot and half but the building itself sits within a plot, and the recreation area extends to the other half.

Aventures:
The height of the fdn is 1.8m (by layman's term we ll say 6 boards) this include 0.2m raft slab, in some area the height is 1.5m (6 boards) including the raft slab. (this are the areas of car park under the house, it was reduced so that to allow for easy movement of the vehicles.
The 3 board u saw is not an overall height yet, we did 3 for now because 5 to 6 boards will be too heavy to carry into the trench and set properly, also it will be too high for iron fixers to stand and work on it. After dropping the iron the remaining formwork will be added to meet up to various desired heights.

Aventures:
sorry for the typo . 1.5m by layman's term is 5 boards

brag3:

Thank you very much for the thorough explanation. We learn every day from professionals like you.
What is the minimum number of boards to use for a foundation? I know this will depend on the area itself so I expect somewhere like Lekki to use more boards than mainland lagos.
Just trying to understand the minimum height to use irrespective of the area. This is minus the raft slab.
Thanks again for your prompt answers to our questions.

petikal:

Great design, and interesting use of parking space. By a plot and half, do you mean 50x120? It seems much bigger than that.

oakhill:
Can this building fit in a 50 x 100 plot of land..?

Aventures:
Sir, there are two determinant factors to the foundation height (raft fdn in particular) 1. The load that the beam is going to bear, this will be determined by structural design. 2. The desired height above the natural Ground level (NGL). In the case of our ongoing project the desirable depth was achieved at the point where there is soil bearing capacity high enuf for the this structure (900mm or 0.9 m or 3ft) and also i think the structural engr and Architect were of opinion of minimum of 600 mm above the natural ground level at the car park area and 900 mm at some other area. So it is basically the structural design and the site topography (i:e site natural grd level relative to the road or envisaged road level)
This structure was designed to fit into one plot of 60 x 120 ft but when we got to site we discover that the plot was wider than 60 ft, and that becomes an additonal advantage to the car drive way it become bigger.

brag3:


@Aventures. Thanks for your detailed response. You always hit the nail on the head at all times.
I have another question which may be digressing from the thread so apologies in advance.
Please I need some advice from you.
I am building quite close to near LASU first gate and was thinking of adding a Pent house to my project.
The Ground floor and first floor have been completed (3 * 2 bedroom on each floor)
The pent house will be a 3 bedroom flat but someone has advised me to consider using the Pent for 3 self-contained rooms to generate more rental income.
What do you think? will the 3 bedroom flat be more profitable than 3 self-contained rooms?

Appreciate any advice you can offer and also from other fellow NLs.

kopell:
Man be careful is this idea was incorporated in the drawing at the begging? if not please stay clear of those people advising you of doing it now at this stange, on the house. Safety first before money, remember the church story in Idimu recently? This is just my two cent opinion take care.

brag3:

@kopell , Thanks for your advice. You are totally on point here.
It was not incorporated in the original design but the structural Engineer and Architect have checked the design and existing work and have given the go-ahead for it to be able to hold a complete second floor.
Thanks again for your advice. Safety should always come first. I totally agree.

kopell:
My brother make sure the structural Egineer and the Architect make it legal backing on their assurance of what the give you go ahead to do. You never know 10 to 20 years from now, anything may happen, God forbid. You can be free of any lability.

Aventures:
@Brag3 if I get you right you said in the original drawing there is a pent floor meant to be 3 bedroom flat. You want to know if you can convert the 3 bedroom pent floor to 3 nos of self contain to generate more rental yield. This doesn't seems to be an additional load since you are only converting and not adding extra new floor. Since your architect has given you the go ahead, I am sure they must have checked that the conversion won't pose any challenge beyond the factor of safety they have considered during design. But one truth is that if your architect is an expert space manager he should be able to advice you that pent floor is always for an exclusive use. Now if you convert it to multiple apartment it may loose its functionality, as 3 occupants may have to use a very small lobby at the second floor. So I will advice you let it be as 3 bed flat except you are excepting students to be the tenants.

brag3:


@Aventures , Thanks alot and all the others. It's always nice to have people like you who can always advice properly.
I will take all this onboard.

@Brabus, can you add anything to this since you helped with this from the beginning?

brabus:


I really don't think adding a pent on the foundation is a good idea. The foundation was adequately designed to support one slab. It's possible to have two slabs but you need to consider the live loads.

I've seen someone did something similar on NL and the house is settling faster and differentially even without the structure been completed.

Pls take note, adding a pent means, there's another slab, block wall and roof structure. All these are extra loads.

So, pls shelf the idea. I suggested having another row of shops at the back side for more income generation. It can be a storey building. It's far better than overloading the existing structure.

My Oga Sir Aventures, well done sir!

Fhemmmy:
Awaiting picture update oh . . . .

Aventures:
Work progress update:
1. Formwork taken to 70%, so iron fixers can do their work non stop.
2. reinforcement work up to 50%
3. We took delivery of reinforcement for ground floor slab and grd floor columns today (see above pics) so that as soon as we are done with grd beam casting, the iron prep commences while filling and surface prep is in progress.
4. Block making machine already onsite but we hold on production as every where is tight they could not get material into the side due to heap of sand, so as soon as we are done with grd beam and back fill the production will commence in earnest.

Aventures:
Reinforcement fixing in progress

kopell:
@Aventures how many block can that machine make at a time? It looks like it's does not have any mechanized system attached to it. I hope it can make five blocks at one time.

Aventures:
Reinforcement work to soon be completed and to be lowered. Hoping to pour ground beam concrete next week.