₦airaland Forum

4nobody4every1:
Is up to you whatever you take out of my post, l dont want to derail the thread further, comprehension of my post seems to be a big issue for you, l am done with this, have a nice day....

4nobody4every1:
You took the import of my post out of context, l didnt say God should come and build road, provide security, punish rapist, provide pipe borne water etc, my referring to prayers / religious homes was used in a literary manner and it was pun intended, l know God will not come and fix the country, l was indirectly saying that we hide under prayers but yet the country is still on auto reverse, do l believe in God , Capital YES, but do l wait for him to come and fix my building, No, again, if my roof is leaking, l do not need to start going to a shrine, voodoo priest or anywhere for prayers, l will contact the relevant professional to fix the problem and that is what l was saying in my earlier post

EgunMogaji:
I agree with every word written except instead of daddies I use fairies

darchiplanhomes:
Have not had time to go tru the thread page by page. I will express my observations and appraisal when i go tru page by page.Secondly its personal but i hope there is no friction between you guys and the project financier because the tune of some of your updates suggests that? Also i know about the lecture you have just given. I used the term "highly" to emphasize the importance of that component and the need to employ best practice irrespective of cost. Good to know the machine is available in Enugu and thats what matters. Logistics and cost does not justify the use of hand mixing where machine is available. Try your best bro. God bless.

P291:
A cellular raft would have been perfect as the basement can give you a leeway to control underground water and seepage; and the beam serves also as a retaining wall.

But in this case; the grade beam foundation could have worked in order to save cost had it been soil investigation was done to determine the depth at which the soil have a good bearing capacity, having its minimum shear strength, or the beam penetrating into a properly compacted structurall fill.

It is not how high the depth of ground beam above the natural ground level that saves the building as most people thought but the depth at which it penetrates to a compacted structural fill or a competent natural soils. The saving grace for some buildings in part of Lekki was because of the presence of less expansive soils in some of this terrain, so structural loads can 'at least' be supported by this grade beam foundation with a spread footing not the 'so-called' raft.

4nobody4every1:
Sorry about that, desperation, poverty, hunger, frustration, depression, hopelessness, unemployment & other anti-social vices has driven so many young lads into crime in Nigeria, so sad that all the past governments from 1979- Shagari presidency till the current leadership have not been able to ameliorate the stagnation in Nigeria. Churches, Mosques, Voodoo and shrine houses everywhere offering prayers for Nigeria and yet the rot continues

l guess the case of Nigeria requires Angels or Aliens from space to come assist to redress the rot in our dear country, in 2016 other countries are planning to explore different planets/ galaxies, UAE government in the middle east is planning to have driver-less cars by 2030 , other Asia giants are taking concrete steps to develop their country but Nigeria is still battling with 4000Mw of electricity, poor infrastructures and billions in Naira been looted and shared by the elites, the masses are suffering like a sheep without a shepherd and the country is on auto reverse like a ship without a captain, when will all this drama end

podosci:
Manual mixing is the wrong word, the proper donation is hand mixing as specified by BS 1881 :125 on mixing and sampling of concrete.
There two ways of mixing concrete, preferably by machine or alternatively using a hand tool, in such a manner as to avoid loss of water or other materials ( BS 1881)
In Nigeria like all developing countries, hand mixing which involves turning over the mixture of the concrete materials from one end of the mixing tray or platform to the other is a popular method (James Isiwu AGUWA)
James Isiwu Aguwa of the Federal univeristy of technology gave the compressive strength of handmixed concrete after 28days at 20.28N/mm2 which is quite impressive for a volume based concrete mix. I believe a machine mix based on volumetric mixing would gave a slightly higher concrete comprehensive strength.
The best mixing form certified to give a higher 28days comprehensive strength is mixing by weight which is done by expensive batching plants.
In summary, Machine mix is preferable but in absense of machine mix due to the remote nature of some sites in Nigeria and the logistics involved, handmix is a good alternative under good supervision.

darchiplanhomes:
The site plan was not detailed as in indication of building set backs from fence because there was no survey plan at the time of design.

darchiplanhomes:
Good to know the machine is on site. Hope the machine was used for the columns and lintel? These are structural components and since you are adhering to the structural design in bar bending it will be wise to adhere to the standard mixing method for such structural members. Please how was the concrete for columns mixed? #just caring for my baby(the design)

darchiplanhomes:
Good job engineer Abdulwastecx. I have reserved my comment till this critical time. I designed this project and as such have its interest at heart. Oversite concrete was mixed manually now its time for the first floor slab which is a highly structural component, are you mixing manually?

agarawu23:
oga, i hear u. What else should I say when I am not an engineer/a builder? But a guy who has experienced big structural building from foundation to finishing should have something to say too

EgunMogaji:
I'll just tell you the design that I have for my garage apartment.

The ceiling is 12 coaches high which is about 12 feet, that's pretty high. I'm not using POP so I'll loose very minimal height for the actual finished ceiling. Heat trap will not be an issue because there will be a solar powered whole house fan that vents directly into the attic. There will be two gable vents on either side of the attic wall where the hot air should naturally escape.

I'm also using casement windows that have projections at the top. These type of window will allow me to at least crack open the projected windows during inclement weather or at night. That in conjunction with the whole house fan will make sure that air is moved throughout the house.

You should go for whatever design, style that floats your boat. It's your house and you won't be asking anybody to finance it. If you get a good Architect and a builder that doesn't think he knows what you need more than you then you'll be okay.

Costwise, windows design is the same price, whole house fan is maybe $150 and gable vents can be constructed by local artisan. I talked to my local welder and he thinks he can make the whole house fan. My stuff might look expensive but they really aren't. I just have a knack to thinking outside of the box, and I take my sweet time.

agarawu23:
oga, do u see any extra holes that pillars will sit on in the picture? We still need to follow the thread and see if that's the first batch digging cos digging such for a 5 bedroom duplex is void to 'me' .

agarawu23:
lekki homes that collapsed recently were built by the so called civil engineers who spent years in university learning about building construction.

Company's that are giving my boss contract know the road to get civil engineers but they dont look at their side. (He has his records). The building I showed is just "one" of his job i fully work with. He has a lot of on going jobs even bigger than those I upload here and in neighbooring countries. NO CIVIL ENGINEER can rubbish him when it comes to construction even if they have PhD.

Experience is the best teacher sir

EgunMogaji:
The highlighted confuses me. Are you missing a specific word?

I can now understand why quality of finished houses is rather low in Nigeria.

agarawu23:
thats why i will go with baba mufu who grammar and certificate epp? EXPERIENCE AND DAILY PRACTICE is the key to hand work not only what u read or learn. physical practical is the main deal in construction.

there is one man called "jamajama" in an area i live then, you dont need a plan before he will give u what u want. just describe how u want it on the day of construction and this man will give u the best with his tape rule and IQ. he is a bloody illiterate.

mavverick:
Oga

Take it easy on me, I was only reading out what i found in a textbook.
Lets assume the terrain is Lekki, loose soil, swampy land
Also, the piles dont have to be that deep though, I would have thought. You are right to also say that they would need to be brazed or chained together to maintain strength.

I would still be interested in seeing the figures if you can cost it out roughly please.

Thanks.

mavverick:
Oga

Take it easy on me, I was only reading out what i found in a textbook.
Lets assume the terrain is Lekki, loose soil, swampy land
Also, the piles dont have to be that deep though, I would have thought. You are right to also say that they would need to be brazed or chained together to maintain strength.

I would still be interested in seeing the figures if you can cost it out roughly please.

Thanks.

Oga I no fit na lol... I will get back to you on Whatsapp sir

Qc1:
Every time I think I've solved the water problem, it keeps getting back. And brabus really messed me up with this one, he saw the other houses in the neighborhood and yet came up his? Anyway, all I need is a solution. The house seems to have stop sinking just before the roofing reinforcement. However, I now have water on my floors coming out just under the DPC to the surface. I've been told that it's because brabus failed to add just one more coach in height of the raft that's causing the problem. So far, we've raised the level of the DPC a little higher but I still need a permanent fix.

semitunde:
Nice. Been a while I discussed construction/structural technicalities. Also, its been a while I made the post you responded to and can't remember the whole story but let's discuss based on your reply.

I don't understand the bolded.

I also don't get what you mean by "beam on grade foundation". I may be wrong but I'm not sure there's anything like beam on grade foundation. There's "grade beam" which is a component of mostly deep foundations like pile foundation.

A grade beam doesn't transmit loads directly to the ground. It transmits to the pile caps or piers as the case my be. It should withstand bending moment and hence the beam has some height. Sometimes as high as a raft beam. So unless the client has some piles there, those may not be grade beams.

I understand that in construction nothing is cast in stone and you can modify solutions to fit problems. But the solutions have to be cost effective. A grade beam in this case may not be cost effective (if it is at all effective).

Cancel "grade foundation", what kind of foundation do you again think is there?

The closest to what you might be talking about in terms of withstanding load pressures and load bearing walls is the use of is "spread footing". A shallow foundation system like the op should use a spread footing while a deep foundation should use a grade beam.

The height of the beam (as I can remember, I've not checked) looked more like for a raft like foundation. A spread footing would have sufficed. More cost effective if anything else.

As for the presence of water, this can affect the bearing capacity of the soil depending on the type that is there. If the channel can be diverted fine, since the building had already been constructed.

What do you say?

n3xt:
The building in question was 1m higher than the natural ground level at completion of the DPC that we had to use planks to climb into the building. I can remember the first day the wife of the client visited she cannot enter into the building and the client had to back her on the platform provided.

What ate up the foundation? Uncontrolled water dammed up on the land.

Empiree:
which of the Stone Coated tiles, looks like there are two types ?. can post a picture

Empiree:
ok. now i wanted to use it for mine and my brother made inquiries but he was told it's not "advisable" bcus of putting them together. Doesn't that suggest they don't know how?

semitunde:
Hmmm. I hope you're wrong about not doing the slab initially. When was the slab finally done? After superstructure block wall? To what stage?

Many don't realise, for a raft foundation to be effective, the slab has to be there. In a raft, technically the slab carries the weight of the building. The raft beams only keep the soil under the building within the raft area. It may be a little confusing, but if the slab isn't there the foundation is as good as a strip foundation.

Ive looked at the pix well now. I also modified my comment above. Pls read everything again as I just added comments here abs there.

Good luck bro, and well done so far.