A couple projects around the house

I must admit, I find it almost impossible to drill into walls here for picture hanging - even with a hammer drill.

I thought the rows of townhouses are made by shuttering and pouring concrete to form solid walls - is that correct?

If ever I were to build, @ShawnM EVG system seems perfect.

 

No. It is just as Shawn said. Structural beams with cheap blocks used as filler.

The cheap blocks are then plastered with a thin coat of good quality concrete. This makes it hard to get the drill started and makes you think the wall is structurally sound.

Yes. The concrete coating on each side of the EVG is thicker than the plaster over the cheap blocks. The thicker concrete coating is reinforced with wire mesh which adds considerable strength. Particularly in earthquakes. The cheap block and plaster has no steel reinforcement.

Furthermore, the foam in the middle works as an insulator thereby reducing your air conditioning cost.

 

There are many examples of thin wall structural concrete. Ships, boats, swimming pools, EVG panels, etc. They all have reinforcing steel in the concrete.

 

I am very much in awe of you: doing so many house projects, reporting on them here in detail as a resource for members (first time I heard of what looks like an excellent building system, the EVG panels); having a keen interest in gardening and again passing on your experiences; being a great fan of the Belgian Malinois and keeping us updated.

Then you write "... if anyone is building and I'm here between projects I would be more than happy to give some insight beyond what is available on YouTube". As if you don't already have so much you do!

And to cap it all, you work in Korea!!!

Just amazing.

 

Thanks for your kind words...I think one great purpose of the forum is to help each other out. Most of my construction experience is US military or US embassy construction so anything I can pass on for the sometimes unique building techniques here in the Philippines is my pleasure.

We had to figure some things out as we went, especially materials. There were also some forum members that were quite helpful in our journey.

Shawn

 

We decided to tear down our old Nipa guest house and build a new one. A few reasons for this; the first was that we built it with a ceiling and interior of the walls closed in and it became a rat magnet. Poisoning was not an option as our dogs would kill a few a week and rats and mice are vermin that freak me out the most.

We built it a few feet off the ground on concrete piers with aided in airflow but blocked a lot of wind into our bedroom. Plus it did take up quite a bit of space that we could use.

The final reason is that it is really necessary to have a place for guests to stay, I really underestimated the number of folks that would stay with us.

The new Nipa guest house is set on 10' beam and column construction which definitely increases airflow for both the Nipa and our house. This is the wife's project and started it when I was back in the US for a few months to finish a up some work there. 100% her design and oversight, my job will just be to basically do the electric work. Still a ways to go but hope the pictures show where we are currently at.

Shawn

 

Started framing the bedroom of the Nipa. The wife's plan is for 3 windows that should really give great airflow.

I'll install a ceiling fan over the bed when there isn't much wind but doubt it will be used much. Since the interior of the walls will be left open I can start installing electric, not much more that a couple receptacles, the ceiling fan with light and a light for the "open" area and a couple switches. Ran electric out there when we built our house so a 20 amp circuit is good for that as well as the light in the outdoor CR (little brown building on the right of the Nipa).

There will be railing around the Nipa later that will let the wife put a bunch of containers of flowers, should be a nice little spot.

Shawn

 

Thanks for the info.

Will you fill in any of the openings in the bottom floor with block to provide shear strength? I understand the desire for air flow. Maybe use diagonal cross bracing on the bottom floor?

In a building, shear strength is the buildings resistance to horizontal forces like wind and earthquakes. Think what will stop the columns on the bottom floor from leaning over.

Below is a video describing diaphragm or shear panels. (shear panel is the same as filling in the wall with block). If you want air flow, you can accomplish the same with diagonal cross bracing. You do not need to provide shear resistance in the space between every column. Just a few to resist each direction and building rotation.

On the other-hand, it is a very lightweight hut that is not that high off the ground and the occupants are in-laws.

 

No, we will not fill in with block on the bottom level. A few reasons; it is a smallish structure, the rebar and concrete mix used was done correctly (above and below grade) and does make it a very solid structure and the ceiling/floor joists are tied into the beams and columns with rebar.

I'm also thinking about enclosing half of the lower level with your normal 2X4 construction with the bottom 4' skinned with plywood to make a quail pen (only like 25 quail). I'm not 100% sure about the other side yet; but am leaning towards a smaller decorative fish pond for a small aquaponics set-up. In that case we will be fencing things with square steel tubing so the pond does not become a place for the dogs to play in.

The city came out when the wife started things asking for a building permit so we had to get an engineer out to look at things and provide blueprints and he did not have any issues with the structure.

Shawn

 

We received more bamboo this past Saturday; 2 guys are cleaning and splitting the bamboo and another is installing for the exterior walls of the bedroom area. A fairly slow process but it is coming along.

Shawn