gabbytabby:
I know this is going to be a little if not lot controversial but part of the dividends of a good education is an ability to read up and learn almost anything you need to know about.

I am in the middle of a build and happen to have time to investigate and plan often times 2 or more stages in advance and also carry out extensive research on quantities required.

When it came to decking there is this standard that is banded about 3 tonnes of 12mm and 2 tonnes of 16mm and then some more of 10 or 8mm also. I made my calculations based on engineering requirements and bought 2.25 of 12mm and 1 tonne of 16mm and 40 pieces of 8mm. I actually bought a little more than my decking calculations cos I was doing a concrete water stand at the same time. Spacing was stated as essentially 6.67inches apart some end up using 6 inches and others 7inches. My build is essentially 50ft by 40 ft. I only ended up buying 4 more pieces of 16mm and had 15pieces of 12mm and 7 pieces of 8mm left over.

When I finish the roofing I will present costings and I can say it's been a eye opener.

Mind you I have been in a position to like a hulk monitor major stages of the progress(as I virtually lived on site) save for some stages which I have had to allow.

We are waiting patiently!!

InvertedHammer:


/
Even if not for termites, construction projects should be done with local contents in mind. The Eskimos build igloos. The local Chinese use bamboo. Nigerians use blocks. Californians use wood. Am I going to build a house with wood in Nigeria because I want to be more Californian than the Californians? Hell no!

If we apply the wrong solution to a project because we want to copy from somewhere, it may not serve the intended purpose afterall.
I don't see anything technological about bamboo.

/

I just can't add more. You've said it all.

Yes we are in the diaspora and have been exposed to new and most times better ways to do things. Most times architecture and applied building technology as done abroad is a reflection of their way of life, climate and cheapness as in cutting corners to meet the legal minimum. We in the diaspora must recognise this and build in Nigeria not only to the building code but to the environment and culture. What I see sometimes here is bragging by some diaspora of being abroad and putting down the Nigerian time tested solutions and taunting useless and not practical abroad solutions. Building entirely with wood is one example and there are many more examples.

I give you one very vexatious abroad solution: building of balcony.

From the USA to the UK to Australia; balcony solution is screwing prefabricated balcony to a wall plate on the external wall. The photos attached are from a currently on-going luxury apartments project in South East London. If you look at the photos carefully, you will notice that the building is near completion and some even sold. So what those workmen are doing as seen in the photos is screwing a prefabricated balcony on a metal plate on the external wall and pronto you have a balcony at a fraction of the cost of a properly built balcony. The problem with this is that balcony is very flimsy; it can only take a minimum amount of dead load. There have been many cases of balcony failure (collapse) from the UK to American and far Australia. See attached photos. What happened in that photo is the owner held a party and guest piled on the balcony to take some fresh air and the balcony collapse killing some guests.

But in Nigeria, we don't screw on balcony. We deck it properly with possibly 16mm rods fused into the decking with proper burglary protection. Now imagine a diaspora seeing such flimsy balcony solution and start propagating such rubbish solution because na abroad. Because it is abroad doesn't mean it is always the best solution. Yes there are questions of skills and right tools of the trade with Nigerian artisans but when it comes to the right and proper solution to practical Nigeria building challenges, the Nigerian engineer is doing real fine.

InvertedHammer:


/
Even if not for termites, construction projects should be done with local contents in mind. The Eskimos build igloos. The local Chinese use bamboo. Nigerians use blocks. Californians use wood. Am I going to build a house with wood in Nigeria because I want to be more Californian than the Californians? Hell no!

If we apply the wrong solution to a project because we want to copy from somewhere, it may not serve the intended purpose afterall.
I don't see anything technological about bamboo.

/

Is bamboo not a local product?

Building construction is not all about just technology but aesthetics too. If it were only to be technological then most buildings will have to be like T-800.

favoured247:
Hello house. For a land with size 13.37m by 34.9m, what is the breakdown of fencing it with just 4 coaches in terms of financial cost and materials involved in doing it. The aim is just to secure the land. Nothing more than that. Location is Port Harcourt. Please i need answers. Thanks

Each block is 450mm which is 0.450m so divide it by the length and breath to get the number of blocks needed.

For every 20 -30 blocks get a bag of cement and say 3-5head pan of sand.

You can always do the calculation your self based on the current price of those materials.

Then for labour I don't know how much but in Lagos it #4000-#5000 per hundred blocks.

bixton:



Is bamboo not a local product?

Building construction is not all about just technology but aesthetics too. If it were only to be technological then most buildings will have to be like T-800.

/
If that's what you get from my statements, so be it.

Grasses are local products too. Why don't you use them for pillars instead of iron rods?

/

diordaves:

.

/*
Our major problem here is earthquake. The houses are built with that in mind.

Will I apply the same level of reinforcement in Nigeria to prove that I have "arrived"?

I don't think anyone has any concerns with the way we build houses in Nigeria. The major concerns
are lack of oversight and inspections, lacklustre finishing and non-uniform applicable building codes. The worst so
far has been lack of serious input from the government in terms of supporting infrastructure.

*/

diordaves:


I just can't add more. You've said it all.

Yes we are in the diaspora and have been exposed to new and most times better ways to do things. Most times architecture and applied building technology as done abroad is a reflection of their way of life, climate and cheapness as in cutting corners to meet the legal minimum. We in the diaspora must recognise this and build in Nigeria not only to the building code but to the environment and culture. What I see sometimes here is bragging by some diaspora of being abroad and putting down the Nigerian time tested solutions and taunting useless and not practical abroad solutions. Building entirely with wood is one example and there are many more examples.

I give you one very vexatious abroad solution: building of balcony.

From the USA to the UK to Australia; balcony solution is screwing prefabricated balcony to a wall plate on the external wall. The photos attached are from a currently on-going luxury apartments project in South East London. If you look at the photos carefully, you will notice that the building is near completion and some even sold. So what those workmen are doing as seen in the photos is screwing a prefabricated balcony on a metal plate on the external wall and pronto you have a balcony at a fraction of the cost of a properly built balcony. The problem with this is that balcony is very flimsy; it can only take a minimum amount of dead load. There have been many cases of balcony failure (collapse) from the UK to American and far Australia. See attached photos. What happened in that photo is the owner held a party and guest piled on the balcony to take some fresh air and the balcony collapse killing some guests.

But in Nigeria, we don't screw on balcony. We deck it properly with possibly 16mm rods fused into the decking with proper burglary protection. Now imagine a diaspora seeing such flimsy balcony solution and start propagating such rubbish solution because na abroad. Because it is abroad doesn't mean it is always the best solution. Yes there are questions of skills and right tools of the trade with Nigerian artisans but when it comes to the right and proper solution to practical Nigeria building challenges, the Nigerian engineer is doing real fine.

You have a point but I do not think the analogy used here is best suited.That building is a public one and that balcony is just a make shift with a designated load to carry. It will be insane for anyone to copy such without proper understanding. What is likened to that in Nigeria is people fabricating a staircase with steel pipe/iron rods to their rented shop from ground floor to 3rd floor on the external part of the building.

Yes, you can fabricate and even prefabricate. What I'm saying is that not all abroad solutions are the best. Some time, the Nigeria solution is better than some abroad approach for certain circumstances. So we should look more to local content and application first. Another example is partitioning with dry wall. Why? When proper block is readily available. What I'm I trying to solve when it's not even so very cheaper.

bixton:


You have a point but I do not think the analogy used here is best suited.That building is a public one and that balcony is just a make shift with a designated load to carry. It will be insane for anyone to copy such without proper understanding. What is likened to that in Nigeria is people fabricating a staircase with steel pipe/iron rods to their rented shop from ground floor to 3rd floor on the external part of the building.

diordaves:
Yes, you can fabricate and even prefabricate. What I'm saying is that not all abroad solutions are the best. Some time, the Nigeria solution is better than some abroad approach for certain circumstances. So we should look more to local content and application first. Another example is partitioning with dry wall. Why? When proper block is readily available. What I'm I trying to solve when it's not even so very cheaper.

Environment,temperature plays an impact in the structure in this part of the divide,replicating buildings abroad in Nigeria you need to weigh the pros and cons of replicating same structure over here, durability and quality job is key and there is need to improve and adhere strictly to building codes

The topic at hand is not complicated at all for people in the Engineering profession. Every building SHOULD be designed. What does this mean? A good designer; be it formally trained or informally trained; will make sure his or her design take into consideration the three key Engineering Design Ideology: Safety, Functionality and Economics.

Safety: Build to code of the locality you are going to execute the project

Functionality: Build what is going to serve the intended purpose. Don't waste your clients money building a single family home like a Government Monument and say you are building a STANDARD house. And yet, two out of the 6 bathroom/toilet really works.

Economical: Whatever you are designing must be affordable to the local habitat. You can not design marble floor and high ceiling in a country with #18K minimum wage and keep calling it AFFORDABLE HOUSING. It beats the crap out of me when Luxury housing in choice area of Lagos says they are selling affordable houses. OUR MUMU TOO MUCH!!!

Flaghouse1:


Environment,temperature plays an impact in the structure in this part of the divide,replicating buildings abroad in Nigeria you need to weigh the pros and cons of replicating same structure over here, durability and quality job is key and there is need to improve and adhere strictly to building codes

Question for the house:

I heard Iron Rod Steel's price is on the raise. Is this the case in Lagos as of today?

diordaves:
Yes, you can fabricate and even prefabricate. What I'm saying is that not all abroad solutions are the best. Some time, the Nigeria solution is better than some abroad approach for certain circumstances. So we should look more to local content and application first. Another example is partitioning with dry wall. Why? When proper block is readily available. What I'm I trying to solve when it's not even so very cheaper.

Nigerians like over kill.

true2home:
The topic at hand is not complicated at all for people in the Engineering profession. Every building SHOULD be designed. What does this mean? A good designer; be it formally trained or informally trained; will make sure his or her design take into consideration the three key Engineering Design Ideology: Safety, Functionality and Economics.

Safety: Build to code of the locality you are going to execute the project

Functionality: Build what is going to serve the intended purpose. Don't waste your clients money building a single family home like a Government Monument and say you are building a STANDARD house. And yet, two out of the 6 bathroom/toilet really works.

Economical: Whatever you are designing must be affordable to the local habitat. You can not design marble floor and high ceiling in a country with #18K minimum wage and keep calling it AFFORDABLE HOUSING. It beats the crap out of me when Luxury housing in choice area of Lagos says they are selling affordable houses. OUR MUMU TOO MUCH!!!

Interesting.
I do not think there's really a poor man in Nigeria. It's just an expression.
Who no like packaging?

true2home:
The topic at hand is not complicated at all for people in the Engineering profession. Every building SHOULD be designed. What does this mean? A good designer; be it formally trained or informally trained; will make sure his or her design take into consideration the three key Engineering Design Ideology: Safety, Functionality and Economics.

Safety: Build to code of the locality you are going to execute the project

Functionality: Build what is going to serve the intended purpose. Don't waste your clients money building a single family home like a Government Monument and say you are building a STANDARD house. And yet, two out of the 6 bathroom/toilet really works.

Economical: Whatever you are designing must be affordable to the local habitat. You can not design marble floor and high ceiling in a country with #18K minimum wage and keep calling it AFFORDABLE HOUSING. It beats the crap out of me when Luxury housing in choice area of Lagos says they are selling affordable houses. OUR MUMU TOO MUCH!!!

Succinctly put, you have said all that can be said on this particular issue,me need to build according to usage and affordability, a times I get lost when you see houses put in the market for sake within price range of N90 -N110 million, by the time you do the costing of materials used fir the build add cost of the last and possibility mark up profit of say 30% you hardly arrive at a value of up to N70million , our. Building are over priced.

true2home:
The topic at hand is not complicated at all for people in the Engineering profession. Every building SHOULD be designed. What does this mean? A good designer; be it formally trained or informally trained; will make sure his or her design take into consideration the three key Engineering Design Ideology: Safety, Functionality and Economics.

Safety: Build to code of the locality you are going to execute the project

Functionality: Build what is going to serve the intended purpose. Don't waste your clients money building a single family home like a Government Monument and say you are building a STANDARD house. And yet, two out of the 6 bathroom/toilet really works.

Economical: Whatever you are designing must be affordable to the local habitat. You can not design marble floor and high ceiling in a country with #18K minimum wage and keep calling it AFFORDABLE HOUSING. It beats the crap out of me when Luxury housing in choice area of Lagos says they are selling affordable houses. OUR MUMU TOO MUCH!!!

Succinctly put, you have said all that can be said on this particular issue,we need to build according to usage and affordability, a times I get lost when you see houses put in the market for sale within price range of N90 -N110 million, by the time you do the costing of materials used for the build add cost of the land and mark up profit of say 30% you hardly arrive at a value of up to N70million , our Building are over priced.

Flaghouse1:


Succinctly put, you have said all that can be said on this particular issue,we need to build according to usage and affordability, a times I get lost when you see houses put in the market for sale within price range of N90 -N110 million, by the time you do the costing of materials used for the build add cost of the land and mark up profit of say 30% you hardly arrive at a value of up to N70million , our Building are over priced.

Building are really over price same with Land. Materials are over price due to cabals, everything in Nigeria is just jagajaga. Nothing stops cement being sold for N800/bag all required minerals used is here. The almighty SON also add salt to injury with blind eyes to substandard materials from other country coming in.

Chekitaut:
Building are really over price same with Land. Materials are over price due to cabals, everything in Nigeria is just jagajaga. Nothing stops cement being sold for N800/bag all required minerals used is here. The almighty SON also add salt to injury with blind eyes to substandard materials from other country coming in.

True talk chief, the issue now is how do we get resolution to all these man-made obstacles in achieving" affordablhomes for all"

We represent our problems in Nigeria, Ajaokuta for exemple i can not see it raise again due to foreign influence and political ground, our iron ore is smuggled to many country. Cement manufacturers increase price due to foreign exchange but the question is only one resource is being import which is gypsum which is simple added to faster curing. The timber section control by local indigenous are being bought by Chinese that took export them, our political class has sold service for money & selfish greed.

SON is a toothless bull dog, from all angle everything is not working, very painful our own sand & granite is expensive, i just ca not stop laughing to the system call Nigeria.

i just think our capitalist system should be wipe off lets embrace Socialism.

Flaghouse1:


True talk chief, the issue now is how do we get resolution to all these man-made obstacles in achieving" affordablhomes for all"

My Oga i no fit be Chief when i get elders for here, i beg oooo, i takecover. Traditional title no dey my house same time & i no come gbadun title sef, am humble & loyal.

Chekitaut:
My Oga i no fit be Chief when i get elders for here, i beg oooo, i takecover. Traditional title no dey my house same time & i no come gbadun title sef, am humble & loyal.

Okay MR.chekitaut wild o as usual

Chekitaut:
Welcome Bros...

Sir which is costlier between sharp sand & plaster sand? Do u have an idea o the cost difference? Thanks.

I am in need of a 20 feet container of 40x40 tiles. Can anybody here help in location of the companies who produce such within the southwest region?

ThatHistoryGuy:
Don't forget to get all the finishing materials you need for your house finishing like #tiles, #water closet and sanitary wares fp@epic_ceramics


Note: Delivery to all part of Lagos is free on terms and conditions.

Can you help me with the company you get your tiles from in Nigeria? I need a 20 feet container.

psychologist:
Hello house, please the building am staying in the village is leaking water from the slab what measures can I take ASAP.

The house has been built for a while and just left decking level, but over time it started dripping water from the slab, I know it's a building deffect from onset, but I need advise on What to do about it

/*
Use Line x coating


*/

[quote author=Giniw post=67351773]

Can you help me with the company you get your tiles from in Nigeria? I need a 20 feet container.[/quote

OK chat me up on O81 57 OOO 9O8

Barryton:

Sir which is costlier between sharp sand & plaster sand? Do u have an idea o the cost difference? Thanks.

All depend on source of location. Lagos only hv plaster from Epe, Badagry, while Abeokuta, Sagamu supplies to close terrain to Lagos, cost differ from location to location.

Chekitaut:
Building are really over price same with Land. Materials are over price due to cabals, everything in Nigeria is just jagajaga. Nothing stops cement being sold for N800/bag all required minerals used is here. The almighty SON also add salt to injury with blind eyes to substandard materials from other country coming in.

In summary, EVERYTHING is OVER-PRICED!

So, who or what should l blame...........if not GREED?

Chekitaut:
All depend on source of location. Lagos only hv plaster from Epe, Badagry, while Abeokuta, Sagamu supplies to close terrain to Lagos, cost differ from location to location.

Thank u very much sir.
But generally, which is costlier between sharp sand & plaster sand?
My manson told me plaster sand is much more expensive, just wanted to confirm.

Barryton:

Thank u very much sir.
But generally, which is costlier between sharp sand & plaster sand?
My manson told me plaster sand is much more expensive, just wanted to confirm.

plaster is more cheaper at mining site.

diordaves:


I just can't add more. You've said it all.

Yes we are in the diaspora and have been exposed to new and most times better ways to do things. Most times architecture and applied building technology as done abroad is a reflection of their way of life, climate and cheapness as in cutting corners to meet the legal minimum. We in the diaspora must recognise this and build in Nigeria not only to the building code but to the environment and culture. What I see sometimes here is bragging by some diaspora of being abroad and putting down the Nigerian time tested solutions and taunting useless and not practical abroad solutions. Building entirely with wood is one example and there are many more examples.

I give you one very vexatious abroad solution: building of balcony.

From the USA to the UK to Australia; balcony solution is screwing prefabricated balcony to a wall plate on the external wall. The photos attached are from a currently on-going luxury apartments project in South East London. If you look at the photos carefully, you will notice that the building is near completion and some even sold. So what those workmen are doing as seen in the photos is screwing a prefabricated balcony on a metal plate on the external wall and pronto you have a balcony at a fraction of the cost of a properly built balcony. The problem with this is that balcony is very flimsy; it can only take a minimum amount of dead load. There have been many cases of balcony failure (collapse) from the UK to American and far Australia. See attached photos. What happened in that photo is the owner held a party and guest piled on the balcony to take some fresh air and the balcony collapse killing some guests.

But in Nigeria, we don't screw on balcony. We deck it properly with possibly 16mm rods fused into the decking with proper burglary protection. Now imagine a diaspora seeing such flimsy balcony solution and start propagating such rubbish solution because na abroad. Because it is abroad doesn't mean it is always the best solution. Yes there are questions of skills and right tools of the trade with Nigerian artisans but when it comes to the right and proper solution to practical Nigeria building challenges, the Nigerian engineer is doing real fine.

To be honest, most of these houses abroad will not last 5 years in 9ja.The roof will leak, it would be flooded when it rains and many more.

Chekitaut:
plaster is more cheaper at mining site.

thanks my brother