₦airaland Forum

sonnie10:
For existing building, there is no other work around it, than that the roof must go and walls extended. Anything short of that would result in dwarfed head room.

I have experienced this problem first hand. In the 70s and early 80s, most parts of Itire/ Ikate including the present Aguda in old surulere in Lagos were all swamp before people started sand filling and building. They built mostly one floor houses. At first, those house were ok but fast forward to the 90s the problem started. My assumption is that because road were now construction which made those houses to sit below road level, water pressure tilted towards the buildings. Secondly, the foundations were not constructed with DPM.

Other than the walls were constantly damp, there was a more serious problem. Once it rains and the outside surroundings get flooded, it affects the inside.

You could visibly see water sipping throughout where the walls meet the floor. Within minutes you could have a river in your living space.
People would take different measures including sealants, tiles. Patching etc, none of these worked. Some broke the existing floor to make new one, with more concrete, it worsened leak.

The only thing that worked was to make another thick floor on the existing one without breaking the old floor. The problem with this is that it reduces the head room.


If you have a two floor building, you are stuck, you can’t raise the headroom for downstairs which is where the is but for bungalows, people went as far as removing the roofs, doors and windows to create more headroom.

This life na teacher, e go dey teach you lessons!

One of the reasons why I went the whole way is the fact that the clothes in my box were getting moldy.

Even money that I kept in a box also started changing color due to mold, so I knew something was wrong.

I did not just redo the floor, I also brought down the walls, because the house has been that way for a decade.

The other issue is that the quality of the blockwork was worrisome.

All I can say it is that isn't easy to get done, in terms of funds and in terms of time.

sonnie10:
Hardly do you see dampened walls in the east. I can tell you, almost all the old buildings are without dpc .

Do you mean DPC or DPM?

KolaShangOne:
I think we were discussing this and how the contractors will be liable if they were mandated to make the building resistant to Earthquake.

Turkey has appointed over 200 prosecutors and several contractors not just this one have been detained.

Contractors this can happen here too.

KolaShangOne:
Not breaking the floor will affect the height of his doors, floor to ceiling height and other things..

Except he hasn't done those yet.

No contest.

I am just sharing what is easier to get done.

raise the floor, raise the walls, raise everything above the floor is easier than digging down to make things right.

Coiner:
Bungalow

Similar question was asked on December 2022.

Here was the question

Inception:
You will always know an expert when they speak. You know your onions Engr. Excellent submission on the matter.

However I would like to ask, in the event , foundation was properly done ( in this case, strip and pad) ,but DPM was omitted and capillary action has commenced in some areas of building after 5 years, is there anything that can be done to remedy the situation? I would like to hear from you.

Here was the answer:

Aforxzy:
Yes the situation can be remedied but you need to state where exactly the dampness occurs. Is it on the wall or the floor?


If on the walls then, the lower portion of the walls will have be worked on and a hydro-seal applied before making good.

However if it is on the floor , you can either break the existing floor, place the dpm and reconstruct.
Or just cast additional floor on the existing floor after placing the dpm. Water proofing cement should be used during the rework.

Here was my response to that answer:

FEGEITOK:
I like what you wrote. When I rebuilt my house. I excavated the improperly built foundation then created a concrete footing, and placed DPM beneath the footing.

After curing the concrete, I demolished the walls and rebuilt the walls on the new concrete footing.

Then poured a new foundation inside the concrete footing. I also applied DPM underneath this new concrete slab.

Any negative implications to this approach?

The idea was to correct the lack of DPM without bringing down the whole house.

My advice? Fix this now. Don't wait.

Second advice, don't disturb the existing floor, make another floor atop it. As long as you place a DPM, I personally placed doubled DPM and the height of the new floor is at least 4 inches long, you will be good.

When water fights, unless you were well prepared, water will win.

Coiner:
My engineer did the german floor without that DPM even though we had it at site. Claimed that his workers didn't see it. I was worried but he ASSURED me that there won't be any capillary action due to the nature of the soil in the area and the thickness of the Dpc and some other things I can't remember.

Pls from your experience how true is this?
The building is at the finishing stage now. Is there anything else that can be done in the event that the engineer is wrong?

I am sorry that he did that to you.

This is why I educate myself on anything and everything that I contract someone to do for me. And engage the vendor to find out how solid he is in what he claims to be an expert in. No insult to you, Sir.

Even though it is said that there are areas that are so dry that one does not need DPM, I don't buy that.

I feel that to be on the safe side, please and please install all possible countermeasures.

Is this house a multi-floor building or a bungalow?

MrOkenwa:
I politely took permission from one of the riders before taking these pictures. Make I no colet.

Biztech05:
The pictures here’s my work.

https://www.nairaland.com/7067923/ikorodu-construction-update

Nice to see the issue being made of proper attribution.

If someone posts a picture, a picture lifted off the internet and does not make reference to the fact that it was lifted, and does not make reference to the fact that the work is not his own.

In academic circles, that is in very bad taste.

What of in business circles, what if it gives the impression to those who don't do their research that the work isn't the posters?

Should such people be called out on this forum?

sonnie10:
The problem with this is the joint where the DPC would meet with walls. Those capillary joints are the real culprit in water logged areas.
They are microscopic and as such, the gradient pressure potential difference is highly exponential.
The best flooring is supposed to be one continuous piece all through.

I guess that method of building provides false comfort.

Although I understand the motivation.

What is worth doing is worth doing well.

But how does one implement that and yet build a house with limited funds, I guess that is the compromise.

However, there should be full disclosure to the potential client of the implication of not doing a continous concrete wall with DPM.

Rany4all:
But even when the concrete is continuous, if a DPM (nylon) isn't placed underneath, the continuous concrete alone may not be enough to prevent capillary action na.

Concrete looks solid but is actually full of microscopic holes

GloriousGbola:
The wireless router

I believe it will do a much better job. Also you can connect it to a second router.

That's the basic set up I have at home.

If I remember correctly, you imported these since you don't trust the MNO's devices.

Thanks.

GloriousGbola:
If you are doing it for a high speed connection you are likely to be disappointed. Swift had same and in the end the speed was simply not it. They all throw their mbps marketing at you, but once you are running a proper download manager you may find the actual speed is not up to 1mb/s.

Thats when your customer care person will tell you it is a tiered plan.

I found out that all those 4G and 5G are shared plans.

If you want proper speeds and a dedicated connection, you need to go to the MNO office in person and sign certain forms and they will mount a point-to-point radio on your premises.

Then and only then will you get the advertised speeds consistentl

That works for the office, but what if you need such speeds in the field?

GloriousGbola:
If you are in Abuja swift/spectranet is cheaper per gb

Glo has no place in a business environment

Also I think you want to buy a proper desktop modem like a tplink or dlink.

Instead of the laptop's built in wifi?

Do you mean the endpoint or do you mean the wireless router?

EgunMogaji2:
How does this compare to Starlink?

No idea. As I will not be a subscriber until June 2023.

I believe Starlink will be better.

I have Glo 4G, MTN 4G, MTN 5G, Airtel 4G.

This week I attempted to conduct training and when all 10 participants connected to my Glo MiFi, the network literally crashed.

I then switched to MTN 4G and the network still crawled.

Tried Airtel 4G same thing.

My reputation was on the line, as well as repeat business so I immediately got an MTN 5G, and I was rescued.

But this afternoon, after days and hours of flawless service, the MTN 5G network stopped responding.

It is working this evening.

I guess if you need 247 internet, you need redundant connectivity in Nigeria.

https://www.nairaland.com/7497485/one-week-review-starlink-nigeria

ceelog:
Jiust me thinking.
What if one gets these very old wooden doors, spray anti termite on them, dry and sandpaper them, use gloss primer on them, cut them to small sizes, do some joinery and put them as cabinet doors as @person2person said?
I am sure we will have some old good woods that may substitute the foreign ones.

I got tokunbo pine wood for the wood market in Jabi, Abuja.

I am building a picket fence American-style in front of my house with pine wood. The woods were cut, sanded, and then painted with gloss primer. I still need to apply anti-termite treatment though. I initially wanted to paint them black so they would look distinctive, but based on research black pickets have a bad connotation, so I may stick to the traditional white.

My point is if you want those perfectly cut pieces of wood, you can find them in Nigeria.

But they might be like the majority of cars in Nigeria, being repurposed (that is you might be the second user, those woods are not new I mean)

This might be easier to source than looking for old wood.

sonnie10:
Believe me, no current carpenter in Nigeria would want to go that route. Gone are the days of real carpentry woodwork.
What we have now are those in the fast lane. Buy Hdf board cut and join them, bravo! It is nicknamed contemporary , aka “minimalist .”

Even with HDF, there are grades of workmanship.

See the video attached:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6mo6EQB6Y

Not everyone goes this far locally.

It can happen in Nigeria.

So if building a multi-level structure you should be concerned about this.

Of course, that does not mean a single-level structure cannot be affected.

GloriousGbola:
Early adopters are unpaid beta testers

The best thing is to watch and Wait for 3 to 6 months

Then we will actually know how reliable the entire system is and how well it will fare in our peculiar environment

Also the service caveats and traps in the fine print.

One such review

asskush:
Hello Folks,

Now that starlink is in Nigeria, is it the right time to offload MTN shares ?

MTN 5G requires a 50,000.00 capital outlay to use.

Starlink requires ( I am told, but I haven't independently verified, a N240,000.00 capital outlay to activate.

Not many Nigerians can afford the later.

Hope this analysis is useful.

There is a market for both companies.

emmasoft:
ISPs and other competitors have been in Nigeria all this while and they could not stop MTN to soar and attain greater heights.
The coming of starlink will not pose any issue for MTN the market is large enough.

.

A while ago, I was involved in extensive renovations that involved setting up concrete footers to hold walls that were being rebuilt from the ground.

One of the sources that I consulted included that which I am sharing below.

Very interesting reading and conclusion.

The article answers the question, does concrete need curing time before blocks can be laid on it or not?

Should builders be penalized for setting up a footer and a wall within 3 days or should the builder wait for 7 days before building a wall atop the footer?

EgunMogaji2:
I’ve been asking Se.un for an ignoreuserfilter for over a decade.

Nairaland needs your eyeball time, it does not have as many users as the social media heavyweights.

More eyeball time, more page loads, more revenue.

I hazard that not implementing one may be in the best interests of the business and not the user, hence the delay in getting one up and running.

Certainly not because it is not technically feasible

saydfact:
The advantage of a new design is a new challenge - If we use the old design, we only need to calculate rates, as the quantities are same...

New designs gives the opportunity to re-learn. thanks

Makes sense.

Please go ahead with a new design.

GloriousGbola:
I was there yesterday to pick the last of the bicycle locks. They are gone

I went there to get wall anchor sets. I had run low on the 10mm set and there was none to be found.

Thankfully, I had cleared the shelves of the 6mm, 10mm, and 14mm when you first shared your warning.

So I still have some stock left

I then used that chance to buy several sets of sanding papers for my mouse sander.

GloriousGbola:
i advise you buy as much as you can, because i dont think the new owners of shoprite plan on continuing with hardware supplies.
once the stock is gone, i think it will be gone forever

This move is now in full swing, the shelves have been cleared of hardware supplies.

All hardware supplies are now on clearance sales.

Offering free services is a tried and tested tactic marketing strategy.

You are free to disagree.

You are also free to make fun of it.

GloriousGbola:
i salute person2persons generosity. i am not in any way saying it is easy. every thing has a learning curve. determination and personal investment is required. it is when you are very good at something that it looks easy to the layman [a nigerian problem ]

i started using sketchup in 05/06.

the post was for FEGEITOK as a future guide. in the event he decides he will design his cabinets going forward. i am sure he is checking out sketchup right now


you may also have noticed that egunmogaji2 also used the web version of sketchup to so some quick sketch designs for his place

I actually checked it out as soon as I saw egun mention it, but I have never gotten around to playing with it.

I will try to do when time permits.

Yes, the guy is very generous.

But I appreciate your pointing me to it again.

I have tried my hand at Wood Designer PolyBoard though, so I appreciate that designing takes time

EgunMogaji2:
It’s a very valuable tool to me. It bridges the gap between me and my architect because I can better show him the exact flow that I’m looking for. Flow is very important to me even more that unrealistic 3Ds.
Sometimes these are lot in description.

A Sketchup is worth a thousand words.

I saw you mention it first here

kopell:
Aunty mi, showing gratitude in form of tips even if he didn't get the job will be more appreciative then just words, will motivate him to do more in my opinion. His drawing will guard you to save money in case someone want to Balablu Bulaba you when you're ready to start the job. No offence oooo it's just a commentary, I have no idea what the arraignment is.

That is why I made it clear that if I engage P2P. I will pay him. I am creative too and I know the work that goes into creating something from scratch. That should be appreciated.

The guy got bills too.

The other lady I engaged, I paid her. And I attempted to create a rapport but the lady only cared about money. She was unwilling to discuss the design with me. I wanted to understand the drawing and make input on the materials and see how we could achieve what I wanted without spending unnecessarily. The only language she wanted to hear was when I was going to send her the money. And she wanted me to seat back and wait for her to do magic.

To make matters worse, after she gave me the total cost of doing the project. She then added a new cost she called the supervision fee. And then explained to me that the breakdown of the materials will only be released to me after I have paid this new supervision fee.

It was then and only then that she told me that that is how she runs her business.

She never told me this when I engaged her at first. As far as I am concerned, it was as good as shifting the goalpost.

So to see someone offer to design for free, and even provide a list of materials for doing the job, I could not help myself. I just had to comment.

It would be very unfair to abuse his kindness.

This lady wanted me to only discuss funds flow and wanted that other discussion with her carpenter.

saydfact:
Hi All, so its 2023 and prices of building materials/labour have changed a lot...

Should we have an online class here with a new design - or same design and recalculate what it could cost to build a bungalow now

#ThinkingOutLoud

With an old design, we can compare and contrast

With a new design, we still learn but we cannot so easily compare and contrast what has changed, or how you have decided now to do things differently

BrickDevo:
I have said my own Person2person with time you will understand. In this Nigeria wey we dey" you will see

Whatever he wants to do, let him remember this, those who make it big, usually position themselves strategically.

If he has decided that his strategic positioning aka unique selling point is free initial design, so be it.

But whatever you do, find one thing that makes you stand out from the crowd, if you want to progress faster than your peers.

End of story

BrickDevo:
My brother this is not the way to go, sincerely speaking, go to telegram and join Architect's town hall search for it, see the debate going on there... If you continue going this way, they will never value your work honestly speaking... If you're truly an Architect then know that you are killing the profession.

Don't let anyone deceive you.

At law school they tell lawyers that clients must visit your office that you should not visit them. Please tell me which President that hired a lawyer in Nigeria ever visited the office or offices of his lawyers? Or did the lawyers not go see the President to discuss his case in the villa?

What of governors?

What of heads of multi-billion dollar firms?

The client I spoke of a while ago is my junior yet I call her Madam, I call her aunty. The other day she was insulting me, and I was smiling inside saying see this small girl ooooo. But I kept buttering her up she has promised more money this weekend.

Yes, I know because I have access to her date of birth.

Apparently, you are not ready to roll in the big league yet.

Person2person I will commission you to do a drawing for me and generate a list of materials for me, and take note of this: I will pay you for it!

GloriousGbola:
as an aside, you can do this with Trimble Sketchup - i am assuming that is the program used

it is very very easy to learn

used to be atlast software, then bought over by google , currently owned by trimble

used to be a free version and a paid version


https://mysoftwarefree.com/sketchup-pro-2017-free-download/

this is a link to the last free version as it is no longer available on their site

alternatively, if you know your way round the net, you can easily get and pirate the latest version

you can also get enscape or thearender for FAST renders
i did these for my old boss some years back.

i am saying this to you as you are a confam hardcore DIY nerd

Thanks for sharing.

I contracted it out due to time constraints.

I had a contract and it was one of those life-changing contracts(which we want to be renewed as opposed to being a flash in the pan) and so there was no time to learn on the job as they were so many competing demands on my time.

But for my own personal projects, will most definitely try my hands on it.

Yes, I like to know how things work, and I like to play with things, and I know you do too