nannymcphee:
Its 2units of 3bedroom. Suggestions and corrections are welcome

First off, from what I'm seeing, this appears to be a commercial building.
He can start by rearranging the lounge/dining/kitchen setting such that the current kitchen would become the dining, this allows cross-ventilation for the lounge/dining.

Thereafter, he would scale down the size of the lounge and move the the bedroom close to the original kitchen over to the front side of the building.

He can find a way to fit in other features needed there to make this look better and comfortable for occupants.

NB: the attached image is for illustration of what I recommended for the lounge/dining/kitchen.

nannymcphee:


This is a product of an architect. I need inputs to be able to tell him what i want. I am stuck kinda cos I have already made part payment

Making part payment isn't the issue, it's to make part payment to someone who actually knows what they're designing.

I can't give this to someone even if it's free of charge, and you talk say Na architect design am

joycluv:
. OK. Thanks very much. But the little challenge is that I don't have the pix that shows the current state of the house now and the house is in the village

Okay.

joycluv:
Thanks for your time my brother and sorry for bothering you. The real situation is that the other walls have 3courses of blocks on top of their lintels while the front porch has only one course. We didn't actually notice until after the roofing wood work was completed. Now the entire one course and even the beam are almost covered already and the roofing sheet is yet to be installed. In this very situation, can the front porch arc/beam be lowered by one course to remedy the situation. How best can this be achieved? Thanks

Wonderful!!
Anyway, you can send me pictures of the front porch via the link on my signature..best to see before further assessment.
Beat regards.

joycluv:
Please What effect is it going to have on the house?

Well, 1..it affects the internal height/ceiling level of the building.
2. It equally affects the aesthetics.. because most times the front porch beams are almost entirely covered by the roof eaves and you know this is part of what gives the external areas of the building it's beauty.

Though these things don't really matter for some, but I always advice the standard 2-course blockwork for the beams.

joycluv:
I clearly understood you but am actually referring to another build not really this one you are building. So to put it better, is it normal to have one course of block on top of front porch lintel/beam as its final level. NOTE: The house in question does not have any parapet or any other beam after the one course. Thanks for your time

Oh..I get it now, for me it isn't.
Contractors/house owners do that when they want to cut down on costs.

joycluv:
Yes. Your explanation is clear. But the issue here is that house has two courses on top of the lintels while the porch has only one course on top of its own lintel. The question now is whether that one course of block on top of the front porch as its final level is normal noting the fact that there is no beam or parapet. Thanks

That's what I'm trying to make you understand that the parapet beam is yet to come up. What you have on the porch is a beam and not a lintel. The porch beam is resting on the general lintel.

Measuring from the top of the DPC to the bottom of a lintel gives you 2.1m..but from top of the DPC to the bottom of the porch beam, excluding the slight curve is 2.325m.

See this attached project picture.

joycluv:
Trust you'll do wonders to this structure as usual. Plz, how proper is it to level a front porch with only one course of block?

Many thanks for the commendation.
Regarding your question, for a building without a roof parapet, the final leveling outside/inside is 3-courses of blockwork counting directly from the first on the lintel, this reduces to 2-courses on areas having beams. Remember beams come directly on top of the lintel?

Now it means that if the lintel should have 3-blocks placed on them, the beams would have 2.
This structure was redesigned to have a parapet, the parapet beam serves as the last remaining course of blockwork...thus for final leveling:
Inside - 3
Outside - 2
Areas with beams - 1.

Hope I answered you?

Hello guys, sorry for the delay in updating this space..been quite busy with my other site (first picture).

We have already completed the block works to be done, parapet, septic tank and fence in next in line..stay tuned.

No be today dem begin sell us for this country.


By the way, even the Nairaland chief "zone-b" is using style to wail without duly purchasing and completing his "Wailers" form.. somebody should tell him we won't accept this type of half-hearted, stylish attempt to port over to this club of great seers famously called Wailers by confused lots.

First, he must denounce their "darling, confused, rudderless and evil policy implementing daddy"!!
That alone, is the first step to redemption!!!

Edo people, una do well.. nothing gives me joy than seeing people who know what they want and how to fight for it..
You guys are the real MVPs.

Shout out to all lovers of freedom, to all lovers of good governance and to those who believe that a grown ass man who is a governor ought to function without being controlled by an old "analogue" remote.

Edo has set a precedent, may it be maintained and improved upon in subsequent elections.

Meanwhile; Ambode would be like "Ize bobo, come in let me cool your temperature small"

Boss Wike; Na man you be jare!!!

Ize-iyamu right now.

As bad as this news is, I need to point out that not all Building collapse is caused by substandard materials.

Those who are knowledgeable about building structures and the interconnection between structural elements will understand that a building can still collapse if a single beam is unhooked/tied to a column.

If this structure was being built with substandard materials, it will collapse up to the ground floor, but it appears that, being a two-flat structure, only one half of the building was in distress as a possible result of poor connection between horizontal ties.

There are so many things that could go wrong, the engineer may not even be directly responsible but people under him.
I've seen this happen, but it always lands on the head of the contractor/engineer.

May God grant the families who lost their loved ones to this disaster the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.

People playing God.
You removed someone from office because you have a "higher" authority, the person protested and deemed your actions "illegal", in return you insisted it was the right thing to do.

Someone who has a "higher" authority than you now removed you, and you're blabbing about "appropriateness and legality"

Golden rule:
Do unto others as you would like them do unto you.

westernized:
Well done Op

Thank you.

Classic example of "I can't come and do pass myself"

I can bet the last 2k in my account that the taskforce officials, abi officers ran away the moment this catastrophe happened.


The ground in this country is so soaked in blood. Avoidable deaths everywhere... especially coming from those whose number one duty is to protect us.

Anyway, Na only construction I know..check out what we're doing here:
https://www.nairaland.com/6100551/picture-thread-ongoing-remodeling-project

During the heavy downpour, PDP's umbrella would do a fantastic job..were it to be APC, how would people manage the rain

Updates:

Mehn!!!!

The boy try no be small.
But imagine you came out to pee at night and everywhere dark, then the first beam of your torchlight land on the second/third photos.
It will be a touching story.

Which identity
The one most people who enrolled for the past 5-7years are yet to get their cards issued??

Somehow I wish the government can allow the banks to handle this, like if you bank with first bank, you can go there at your spare time, get your details captured or lifted from your account information and you can have your ID card printed within 24hrs.

Shebi we are already paying 1k for ATM cards..we can as well pay another 1k to get genuine national ID cards issued via the banks.

Most govt related services in this country are just a waste of resources.


Anyway, check this out:

https://www.nairaland.com/6100551/picture-thread-ongoing-remodeling-project#93622971

All these guys get mind sha, to hold snake like this.
Just on Saturday a black snake of less than 2feet was killed at one of my sites..

Me I was only touching it with a 5feet PVC pipe.
I can't do pass myself.

We're making progress..

Happy Sunday guys..so for the delayed updates.
Let me drop a few pictures of our current level now.

Hum2020:
@josnac nice job you are doing there if I may ask how much is sharp sand a trip thanks

Much thanks. At the moment, it is 18k/trip.

Today:
New walls taken up to lintel level, woodwork for support columns 90% complete.
Concreting starts fully tomorrow.

More photos from Monday (07/09)..

bewla:
I just come look picho

You're very welcome, there's a seat in front.. I'm sending someone to bring popcorn for you.

Running a project in the middle of the rainy season no easy sha, you got to prepare to have your trenches flooded, site slippery, work targets hampered and the associated cold..the rain beat shege commot for our body yesterday, but, Na the season...Na we find trouble


Anyway, don't forget we can run your new projects from design to finishing.
We can flip that old structure of yours and make your neighbours wish it was theirs..check my profile to get started!

For the first stage, we are expected to complete all the blockwork, fill up levels and cast all concrete columns.

First picture now was taken Saturday evening, had to skip the ones in-between due to size, but so far we have dug all column bases, primed it and placed the mats..75% of the columns have be positioned, cast and held in place.

All new walls have been formed up.. with most now above our new DPC level.
New lintel reinforcements are being placed and anchored.
Carpentry work will start on Monday as well as continuation of blockwork/iron works.

To remodel, some new walls would be introduced, while some specific ones would be removed.

Foundations for new walls were 2feet or 600mm, blinding concrete 5inches or 0.125mm.
Column bases were 0.75m wide and 0.75m deep with base concrete thickness being 0.15m.

Column reinforcements:
Mats are 0.6m x 0.6m (10mm rods)
Columns are 0.225m x 0.225m with 4-y12mm.

NB: I may not be able to upload this chronologically as the work progresses.. thanks to Nairaland file size restrictions. But I will be updating the ones I can.

Work officially started on Monday, Aug. 31.
The old building had been leveled up in readiness for roofing..that is, it had 3-courses of final blockwork after the lintels.
However to raise the DPC by 450mm, we need to add 2-courses of blockwork on the existing DPC/window sills/door openings etc., While removing the last 2-courses used to level up the house.
This means our new lintels would be on the first course of blockwork on the old lintel.. hope you grab?