koman:
The class looks empty,
Are we on strike?

No we are not on strike at all. The work is moving very smoothly as my iron workers are combining well with my electrical fitters on the deck of this building. Our mission is to give this house a solid first deck as we always do in all our other buildings.
I also left PH for Enugu and will be back Monday morning to see what has been done. All our 3 sites in PH witnessed good pace of work today.

FastShipping:
Oga Spyder,

I was just wondering about how we do tiles in Nigeria as compared to other countries. I could be wrong but I find the way we lay tiles in Nigeria to be old fashioned and waste of materials. You are the expert in this business and your view on this issue will be highly appreciated.

Please, watch some of these short videos about how to lay tiles as compared to the way we lay tiles in Nigeria. I want you to have an open mind when viewing the short videos. They are just about 15 minutes total. I want your views about this topic.

Thank you Sir for noticing a different approach to doing things in other countries. I believe this is a very good way for us to copy some improvements in the standard of work we do here in Nigeria. I will make time and watch the videos before commenting. My computer here is acting up, too slow to play any videos. You know our Nigerian networks and how it is.

I've watched all the videos and I dont see much difference between how its done here and what is obtainable out there.

To have a perfect/neat installation, you need an even/levelled and smooth floor.
Their floor looks levelled and smooth so all they need is to apply a light mortar that acts as an adhesive between the floor and tiles.

Here in Nigeria, we don't usually have an even and smooth floor so we have to level it with a mixture of sand & cement before we can have a perfect/neat installation.

It might seem that we waste more materials but I reality, we don't.

The only area our tilling technology can be accused of being crude is that we dont usually use the spacers and levellers.

^^^^
Agreed with you Koman... I have not seen any tiler in Nigeria using spacers, even when I spoke to my Tiler at one time he said "What is that used for", so I bought some and ship it to him to see, he never used it though, claimed it will waste a lot of time.. so I gave-up. But some Tilers in Nigeria are really trying their best.. I have worst and better.

Hajji M.

koman:
I've watched all the videos and I dont see much difference between how its done here and what is obtainable out there.

To have a perfect/neat installation, you need an even/levelled and smooth floor.
Their floor looks levelled and smooth so all they need is to apply a light mortar that acts as an adhesive between the floor and tiles.

Here in Nigeria, we don't usually have an even and smooth floor so we have to level it with a mixture of sand & cement before we can have a perfect/neat installation.

It might seem that we waste more materials but I reality, we don't.

The only area our tilling technology can be accused of being crude is that we dont usually use the spacers and levellers.

Of course the way we do tiles in Nigeria is a lot different from the way they do it in U.S or in some other countries. You acknowledged the concrete floors in other countries are well done and flat. What stops our own people from achieving flat concrete floors? The point is we tend to do things one way and intend to stick to only way we know how to do things instead of updating our knowledge and evolving. I have seen so many concrete finished floors done in the U.S that I have never seen done anywhere by Nigeria bricklayers. The smoothness, neatness and finishing are a lot better than our Nigerian counterparts. A regular Nigerian bricklayer is more interested in about how many blocks he sets up a day or how many bags of cement he used in a day work than the quality of work he puts out.


Go on youtube and see how they pour floor concrete in other countries as compared to the way they pour floor concrete in Nigeria. We are more into quantity of work we do in Nigeria than the quality of work we do.

FastShipping:


Of course the way we do tiles in Nigeria is a lot different from the way they do it in U.S or in some other countries. You acknowledged the concrete floors in other countries are well done and flat. What stops our own people from achieving flat concrete floors? The point is we tend to do things one way and intend to stick to only way we know how to do things instead of updating our knowledge and evolving. I have seen so many concrete finished floors done in the U.S that I have never seen done anywhere by Nigeria bricklayers. The smoothness, neatness and finishing are a lot better than our Nigerian counterparts. A regular Nigerian bricklayer is more interested in about how many blocks he sets up a day or how many bags of cement he used in a day work than the quality of work he puts out.


Go on youtube and see how they pour floor concrete in other countries as compared to the way they pour floor concrete in Nigeria. We are more into quantity of work we do in Nigeria than the quality of work we do.

Agreed, there's no law stopping us from achieving a well levelled and smooth concrete floor.
Over to oga spyder
Wetin make we still dey do am like this, abi we no fit change am?

But then we still have to consider the cost of getting our concrete floor levelled and smooth during casting and that of levelling it during tilling which is more economical.

spyder880:


No we are not on strike at all. The work is moving very smoothly as my iron workers are combining well with my electrical fitters on the deck of this building. Our mission is to give this house a solid first deck as we always do in all our other buildings.
I also left PH for Enugu and will be back Monday morning to see what has been done. All our 3 sites in PH witnessed good pace of work today.

I'm only awere of two sites, pls I need the link to the third one.
Thanks

Ok, I have taken time to watch a lot of the videos from youtube and noted a lot of their work uses spacers, I will still get back and find ways they tile floor surfaces if the job demands there be no spacers, some clients just love the continuous flow of tiles without any spaces as formed by spacers.

Secondly, as Koman had said earlier, tiles is the final material you put in the floors and walls and what if the floors are not fully level? People try to use tiles to level the floors by building a cement/sand mixture and applying till it is level enough for the floors. In Nigeria, many builders need to search and use the most recent technology in obtaining a good level before they build, deck or do walls. This might include bringing a dumpy level to site, using the water hose level and other methods. Any bad work done in the construction stage shows well in the tiling stage.

Could it be done exactly like this in Nigeria? well, only when all the materials available to them could be obtained here, the grout and grout sealant they used in the first video might not be found here, plus we need to start making drums of mixed tiles cement/adhesive so we can buy them from stores and apply directly, saving the money spent on cement, sand and water.

How much more money will be added to labour costs? Because this method takes some good time to set, draw lines and insert and retrieve the spacers?

koman:



I'm only awere of two sites, pls I need the link to the third one.
Thanks

click this link
https://www.nairaland.com/1790503/decking-block-flats-port-harcourt

My attempts tiling with spaces left much to be desired so I now do without spaces.

tiling with spacers is just a matter of style. The use of equipment and technical know how adds to the quality of work and the end product. The local artisans for some reason do not invest in either and that is the bane of our construction industry. You tend to get better skilled artisans from other African countries. In Kenya companies invest in training locals on how to use their products properly this help to deepen the pool of skilled labor.

We have been busy with the reinforcement for the decking slab of this house.

To be returned

The staircase area. ........

We have baked biscuits for this decking

The use of the decking biscuits? To place a space between the decking platform and the reinforcement mat as to insert the electrical pipes. It protects the pipes from pressure trampling boots.

Electrical piping works ongoing. ....

Work still going. .....

spyder880:
The use of the decking biscuits? To place a space between the decking platform and the reinforcement mat as to insert the electrical pipes. It protects the pipes from pressure trampling boots.

Very disappointed. You wet my appetite finish now you come dey talk story. I taught the biscuits were for chopping?

I haven't seen the deckinometer yet. When are you going to show us that one?

Someone was saying something about marine boards. I just wonder how you deal with holes like the one visible in the pix below to avoid leakage of concrete mix during casting. Do you block them up or do you no worry about them? Also I guess this is the first decking I have seen you do without shootout. Why una no shootout this one? Is it because of the eventual height of the building or does that not factor in?

www.nairaland.com/attachments/1833132_20141103144517_jpeg7c5c421500713fea3c5d27858c8dc1e2

X2X:


Very disappointed. You wet my appetite finish now you come dey talk story. I taught the biscuits were for chopping?

I haven't seen the deckinometer yet. When are you going to show us that one?

Someone was saying something about marine boards. I just wonder how you deal with holes like the one visible in the pix below to avoid leakage of concrete mix during casting. Do you block them up or do you no worry about them? Also I guess this is the first decking I have seen you do without shootout. Why una no shootout this one? Is it because of the eventual height of the building or does that not factor in?

www.nairaland.com/attachments/1833132_20141103144517_jpeg7c5c421500713fea3c5d27858c8dc1e2

My man, whenever the biscuit is mentioned even people around the site look and ask if its for eating We ca easily seal the cracks between the wood by placing a strip of light plywood over the crack before casting.
The building plans for this house has just a little shoot out (cantilever) it is shown in the picture below. Welcome.

Of course I heard the information late like many people, up to 12 hours after it made it into the dailies that business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is about to slash cement prices by up to 40%. I got quite a number of calls from friends and readers of many of my articles on the supposed impact of this news in the building industry. My perspective on the whole thing are to be listed down in my points below;

1. How soon are we going to start buying cement for N1000.00?

I quickly called some of my heavy dealers in Dangote cement and questioned them about this, they said the company asked them yesterday to wait till 2 weeks so they could exhaust the old stock of cement before buying the new batch with lowered costs.

2. How much will you be selling the cement to us the unit consumers?

When I asked them this question, they were of the opinion that since they are supposed to be buying from Dangote at N1000.00 advertised, they will add their offloading charges and profit to the price, which means that you and me might be buying cement for between N1,100-N1,200, depending on your location.

3. Is this new cement exactly the same with the ones in the shops now?

They said its not! They said this cement will be of the 32.5 capacity, instead of the 42.5 in circulation now. Meaning that there is a possibility that this new cement coming in might not be as strong as the ones we are using now.

4. Will this mean that construction costs will fall overall?

Well it needs to be seen first, how much the prices will drop to and how the quality might turn out to be. If the fall is drastic and supplies constant, it might well ease off on project costs and benefit builders and home owners alike. It has the capacity to bring a construction boom if well managed.

5. What impact will this have on the other cement manufacturers and importers?

Do you that there is some news in the grapevine about the real reasons for the price drop being as a result of intense competition and a need to command more market share among cement producers? In this case the competition is expected to react, either reduce prices as well or increase quality, or even drop supplies, creating a heavy scarcity since Dangote is expected to flooded with a deluge of orders. What happens next? Another price increase to scare off surplus demands. Competition is unpredictable.

6. Will it affect the cost of rents, will landlords reduce rents?

That is like wishing for too much, since we have not even seen the reduction, but however there are other factors in construction which needs to drop before rents can drop. What about land costs and illegal fees? What about rods, sand, granite and labour costs, will they all soft-pedal like Dangote?

7. Does this have political undertones, especially ahead of 2015 general elections?

Don't put me in trouble, I don't know!

We are ready with the staircase woodwork in this house.

Got the rods bent back and tied up.....

With internal beams crisscrossing on the living room tops.....

The wood work is almost done with. .......

As well as the electrical main supplies. ......

Carpenters closing the boards for the cast.......

One of the trucks delivering sand got stuck I side the compound, we just got it out after it delivered the load.......

We are getting ready generally, hoping to cast this deck in the next few days, sand and cement suppliers are moving materials in, granite is what am working on now.

Its okay, okay

I am confident that the quantity of sand we have here will finish this decking and more.

Are those sharp sand you have there? They look very neat like the one for plastering.