My first post in the Properties section.
This is not about those gleaming gigantic structures of corporations and the government.
Rather it is about those family houses we put up after years of working hard and saving.

Building designs and finishing are ever changing and we are under constant pressure to identify with what is said to be the latest in town.
In most cases, the new trend does not add useful functionality to the house and only notch up the cost of building.

What prompted this thread is that our family building has reached the leveling stage and we are debating which of concrete, aluminum, or polystyrene roofing parapet to use. Obviously, concrete parapet is a no-no because of the weight and cost implications.

I took time to research roofing parapets, and materials that popped up were mostly on Nairaland.
I am a practical person and I don't just go with flow if it is not better and improve functionality.

I am particularly impressed by the contributions of Spyder, Benovals, Brabus, etc, on the topic "Parapet Roofing Questions & Answers - Properties - Nairaland." See link here:https://www.nairaland.com/2637134/parapet-roofing-questions-answers

I am not saying that a beautiful house is not good but much of the money spent on the exterior could be applied elsewhere.
What is the essence of a beautiful house that does not function properly?

Even now, people still design buildings with stepped up dinning room floors and stepped down sitting room.
My building plan had these and I had to level up everything. In other societies, they avoid them because they are a fall risk.
Besides, they make moving furniture and appliances around the house difficult.

Most family houses have generators at the back of the house plus other activities that warrant going there from within the house.
At pegging, I discovered that there was no provision to access the back yard except one goes out the front door and then round to the back.
We had to convert a toilet and a bath space into a passage and create a door that leads to the back.

Fancy may not be functional. There was a post here sometime ago on the mistakes "architects" make...
Sometimes I see too many appendages affixed to a building and I wonder what purpose they serve.
Like Brabus said, they only serve to increase the cost of building without adding much function.

I understand the vogue now is rectangular frontal pillars instead of the twin circular columns.
I tend to favour the the latter because they don't go out of fashion and I like the gothic appearance.
Now my wife is pressuring for the rectangular pillars because they are the latest design and they can be marbled.
My fear is that such designs will soon go out of fashion like the penthouse and the very steep roofing style nicknamed "send-down-the-rain."

What is the purpose of POP on the ceiling? Is it better than sandtex ( I hope that's the name), that gritty surface that looks like sprayed concrete, Lol)?I may sound old-fashioned but my drift is that we should not encumber our finances with structures that do not add values to our building merely because others are doing so. Keep it simple and functional and do not be quick to use designs that will not sustain.

I may draw a lot of flak from some readers. But then, we need further enlightenment. We need to be convinced. Experts, please come in.

I'm with u 100%. Also, we have to respect people that think differently from us too. See my design and build project in my profile! At the pleminary, our people discouraged such design, but now, people are visiting my Tiny homes and calling to borrow it because it's very functional and attract easy maintenance