adeekiti:
Congrat OP, it's not too easy but ones focus and determination will always yield a good result , been following..Perfect Touch Aluminium gives you quality and great service with affordable quote, we balance our proffesional experience to deliver modern and attractive works that beautifies the building and give it a perfect look, call us today @ Perfect Touch Aluminium Tel:08153665659,08067079715,.

kopell:
@Qc1 congratulation, exprence is the best teacher
I hope you stop banging the neighborhood girls. Lol, you're doing very good stay bless.

kopell:
@Qc1 congratulation, exprence is the best teacher
I hope you stop banging the neighborhood girls. Lol, you're doing very good stay bless.

kopell:
@Qc1 congratulation, exprence is the best teacher
I hope you stop banging the neighborhood girls. Lol, you're doing very good stay bless.

Qc1:

Ha! I beg my wife is reading this tread oooo.... I think you've mistaken me for another person!

semitunde:



Lol. Now I remember his thread!

Op well done bro. Win some, lose some is part of life. The fact that you still came out of this smilling is a testament to your character.

suave558:
It's not easy I must say buh as long as you've started, you're definitely gonna finish it. . . congrats sir

Qc1:
I know there are a lot of professionals in regard to building and property here in this forum. I have some questions for you guys...

(1) This wasn't a good land to start with, it's a swampy and sloppy down the hill, maybe 20 feet to the main road. But the slop is gradually and steady. Within a month the house sank about 3 feet. I'm thinking this was because I rushed to roofing level in less than 7 weeks. I waited for about 10 months to proceed to next level because I was scared speed the building sank into land. Although the house sank another half a feet or so again but since then it has stopped. Thank God I had 14 coaches of blocks above the raft(which has since completely disappeared) on the main floor. There was a time the DPC was below the outside perimeters and I had to re-floor it again to be at the same level with the land.



Knowing this fact, do I go ahead and install marbles and tiles to cover the floors? If yes, how much area should I cover and how light do I need the tiles to be, so that it won't post any danger to the building and start sinking again?

(2) What is the best way to secure the fence from thieves and monkeys coming from the bush next from my house? My site is currently the last house on that street and the bush is next to it. My wife is scare of rats talk less of monkeys. My wife and I can't conclude if to go with electric fence or barbed wired fence. During the blocks work on the main floor, there was an incident where some 4 "thug"monkeys slapped a 9 years old girl who was sent on an errand to buy a loaf of bread, the monkeys just overpowered her and stole the bread from her.


Thank you all, I'm desperately in need of advises and ideas.

FastShipping:


From what I know, there is urgent need you find a way to keep your entire land dry at all time. You must find way that whenever it rains, water must no find way to stay in your compound. You must come up with urgent plan to have a drainage system to get water out of your compound as quickly as possible after heavy rainfall.

I know a woman who had to abandon her house at Lekki. He problem was similar to what you described. This lady had a house in Abuja that she sold for 25 million naira in 2006. She proceeded to Lekki and bought a 6 million naira land. The concrete foundation was done 5ft high. By the time the building got to roofing level, 4ft of the foundation disappeared. The house was completed within 6 months and she and her family moved in. Whenever it rained, there is always rain water in the compound and that kept the house sinking more and more whenever it rained. It got to a point that the foundation level disappeared. They always have water in their house for days whenever it rains. They won't even attempt to pump the water out as long as the rain is still falling. When expert came to see the problem, she was told her problem was not having adequate drainage system and inability to keep her land dry caused the house to sink. The more water gets under the foundation, the more the house sank. The house sank really fast.

At the end, she was advised to breakdown the house and cut her loss. She couldn't attempt to destroy the house she spent over 12 million naira to build. She had no choice but to abandon the house.

So you must find way to keep water out of your compound at all cost.

EgunMogaji:


A sad read.

Was there anything that she could have done to prevent this from happening?

Qc1:
I know there are a lot of professionals in regard to building and property here in this forum. I have some questions for you guys...

(1) This wasn't a good land to start with, it's a swampy and sloppy down the hill, maybe 20 feet to the main road. But the slop is gradually and steady. Within a month the house sank about 3 feet. I'm thinking this was because I rushed to roofing level in less than 7 weeks. I waited for about 10 months to proceed to next level because I was scared speed the building sank into land. Although the house sank another half a feet or so again but since then it has stopped. Thank God I had 14 coaches of blocks above the raft(which has since completely disappeared) on the main floor. There was a time the DPC was below the outside perimeters and I had to re-floor it again to be at the same level with the land.

Knowing this fact, do I go ahead and install marbles and tiles to cover the floors? If yes, how much area should I cover and how light do I need the tiles to be, so that it won't post any danger to the building and start sinking again?

Thank you all, I'm desperately in need of advises and ideas.

brabus:


Based on my physical assessment of your site. I knew the challenges you're up against includes slope inclination/length, weak soil and ground water condition. I'll suggest you do the following:

1. Plant moisture-absorbing vegetation in the compound.
2. Outlet your rain gutters and divert surface runoff away from the bad soil. (The portion close to the ditch)
3. Reduce runoff rate toward the house by having a v-ditch or French drain towards your neighbours fence to collect water from the slope further down into govts storm water drainage.
4. Minimize paved areas in the house
5. Do soil stabilization by excavating the weak topsoil and filling with load bearing soils. Laterite is not a good sand to sandfill in such terrain.

The bottomline is to keep water off your property.

FastShipping:

From what I know, there is urgent need you find a way to keep your entire land dry at all time. You must find way that whenever it rains, water must no find way to stay in your compound. You must come up with urgent plan to have a drainage system to get water out of your compound as quickly as possible after heavy rainfall.
I know a woman who had to abandon her house at Lekki. He problem was similar to what you described. This lady had a house in Abuja that she sold for 25 million naira in 2006. She proceeded to Lekki and bought a 6 million naira land. The concrete foundation was done 5ft high. By the time the building got to roofing level, 4ft of the foundation disappeared. The house was completed within 6 months and she and her family moved in. Whenever it rained, there is always rain water in the compound and that kept the house sinking more and more whenever it rained. It got to a point that the foundation level disappeared. They always have water in their house for days whenever it rains. They won't even attempt to pump the water out as long as the rain is still falling. When expert came to see the problem, she was told her problem was not having adequate drainage system and inability to keep her land dry caused the house to sink. The more water gets under the foundation, the more the house sank. The house sank really fast.
At the end, she was advised to breakdown the house and cut her loss. She couldn't attempt to destroy the house she spent over 12 million naira to build. She had no choice but to abandon the house.
So you must find way to keep water out of your compound at all cost.

mufutau55:
@Brabus
You built this house and its foundation.
If you knew all you wrote above, what steps did yiu take to introduce a different kind of foundation?

Hajji M.

mufutau55:
@Brabus
You built this house and its foundation.
If you knew all you wrote above, what steps did yiu take to introduce a different kind of foundation?

Hajji M.

brabus:


You can go through the construction thread to check proposed solutions. It's one thing to propose solutions, it's another thing to implement those solutions.

I'm sure this is not the first time I'm writing about this. I can remember when the neighbours waste water was causing issues, when the fence fell and now.

Qc1:

Had brabus added just two coaches of blocks on the raft before DPC, I will never have no problem. I'm not an engineer so I trusted him to do his job which he failed. If I was him, I would have constructed set of concrete piles before the raft. He observed the neighborhood and the houses there before the construction, yet failed to come up with better ideas. Clients worked very hard for their money. It's not just fair when builders makes this kind of silly mistakes.

I'm just trying to find a solution at this point because finger pointing won't solved nothing.

Qc1:


Had brabus added just two coaches of blocks on the raft before DPC, I will never have no problem. I'm not an engineer so I trusted him to do his job which he failed. If I was him, I would have constructed set of concrete piles before the raft. He observed the neighborhood and the houses there before the construction, yet failed to come up with better ideas. Clients worked very hard for their money. It's not just fair when builders makes this kind of silly mistakes.

I'm just trying to find a solution at this point because finger pointing won't solved nothing.

FastShipping:



Solution is still 100% possible. Get ready for some cash because it won't be cheap. You are going to need to get this particular laterite that comes with a lot sand and rocks. Don't get the clay type laterite. You are going to need a lot of concrete and iron. Get a competent engineer. Let an engineer come up with a very good drainage system. Have your drainage system plan in 3D and execute the plan. Try to get this done as soon as dry season starts in Nigeria later this year.

Do everything necessary to avoid water getting close to your foundation. Your property must be kept dry for life to avoid continuous sinking of your foundation.

mufutau55:


Sinking house is a mind-boggling situation... I don't have money, I am not rich, but I have never taken joy in seeing anyone losing their money.
I am not trying to point any finger for you, but since the Builder was here and never introduced himself as the Builder of this house, I decided to asking him some simple questions and identified him... which I think is normal.
Did I like his response, NO. Because the solution was never introduced knowing your reputation is on the line.

Hajji M.

brabus:
You don't have to do a long search. Here is the link https://www.nairaland.com/1338637/chateau-ile-oluji-construction-journal/48#25106996

DIY in this type of terrain is a form of self-medication. It kills faster than the actual ailment.

brabus:
@Hajji, I wish I have the power to do just about anything I like in a project. Take unilateral decisions when resolving problems. But here I am, I saw the problem, I found the source of the problem, I researched and proposed a fix but it was never implemented even after pointing out the dangers of not doing so.
I knew the neighbour is not financially buoyant to do anything about the problem or maybe unconcerned. So what am I supposed to do in this case? Was any of the proposed implemented? Why?

This is not the time to point accusing fingers. This is time to fix the problem and stop the blame game.

I'm sure the OP will remember what I told him when I left the project because of low budget for the perimeter fence and the drainage before it became DIY and eventually fell down.



We all need to listen to professional advices when we have opportunity to get one. Even get 100th opinion when in least doubt. And stop rushing projects especially in difficult terrains.

Even after doing the underpinning in January 2015, I still suggest the sandfilling of the compound before the rainy season. Has it been done? I'm not sure.

Qc1:
I know there are a lot of professionals in regard to building and property here in this forum. I have some questions for you guys...

(1) This wasn't a good land to start with, it's a swampy and sloppy down the hill, maybe 20 feet to the main road. But the slop is gradually and steady. Within a month the house sank about 3 feet. I'm thinking this was because I rushed to roofing level in less than 7 weeks. I waited for about 10 months to proceed to next level because I was scared speed the building sank into land. Although the house sank another half a feet or so again but since then it has stopped. Thank God I had 14 coaches of blocks above the raft(which has since completely disappeared) on the main floor. There was a time the DPC was below the outside perimeters and I had to re-floor it again to be at the same level with the land.

Knowing this fact, do I go ahead and install marbles and tiles to cover the floors? If yes, how much area should I cover and how light do I need the tiles to be, so that it won't post any danger to the building and start sinking again?

(2) What is the best way to secure the fence from thieves and monkeys coming from the bush next from my house? My site is currently the last house on that street and the bush is next to it. My wife is scare of rats talk less of monkeys. My wife and I can't conclude if to go with electric fence or barbed wired fence. During the blocks work on the main floor, there was an incident where some 4 "thug"monkeys slapped a 9 years old girl who was sent on an errand to buy a loaf of bread, the monkeys just overpowered her and stole the bread from her.


Thank you all, I'm desperately in need of advises and ideas.