44chux:


Yes it does as saltwater is a better electrolyte(compared to freshwater) to aggravate corrosion. However the stonedust does not eliminate the galvanic corrosion, only reduces it. But waterproofing with suitable additives is 100% corrosion protection as without moisture there will be no electrolyte and no corrosion.

If not for the abrasion and possible erosion of the rods circumference during casting, it would theoretically have been easier and better to just coat the rods with grease or paint before casting.

This would make a good project topic shaa.

44chux:


There was only a marginal increase in strength achieved by using stonedust. And compared to the cost, it was waste as such strength could also be achieved by vibrating the blocks.

It would only make sense in areas where sharp sand sourcing is challenging.

For casting, adding a waterproofing additive (just to N700/bag then) was more effective

44chux:
I used to laugh at EgunMogaji when he didn't import all the stuff he said he would, but given what I know now, his new approach is the best. After this my first and only build, I have decided to go back to buying completed houses provided they were built by reputable companies or their Cooperative societies.

I made a lot of regrettable mistakes like:

Trying to renovate rather than build afresh cause Qs said it was way cheaper.

Demolishing part of the structure cause a reputable NL Builder said structure would fail simply cause 6" blocks were used which limited the size of the columns and that the footings were 2.75x2.75 instead of the minimum standard of 3x3 without factoring that the reason was because the avg span of columns was 2meters and max span about 3m in one or two places.

Using 4mm cable for sockets and 2.5mm for lighting and 35mm amoured for supply resulting in cost of 3.3mil for a 4bed duplex plus now I have to crack walls to add new piping for any amendment as no extra wire can pass through the conduits.

Going by Brabus advice to cast 4feet below ground around entire fence to keep water from a nearby man made pit from getting to the house foundation. It didn't stop the water but filling the pit did.

Using stone dust for block and interlock moulding.

Using Spanish tiles which turned out to be very slippery while the Nigerian look alike was not slippery at all.

Not bonding my lightening arrestor with my house earthing system which costed me millions in damages.

Oversizing of overhead water tanks which meant it took 5days of max water usage to empty tanks and did encourage coliform bacteria growth

Not supervising the work myself and having engineers and supervisors build what suited them. Plus they carelessly broke a large screen tv

Installing my main gate during construction which meant much repairs and modifications during landscaping and interlocking

And the list goes on.

erico2k2:
These are not kid friendly

Daboomb:


Haaa! Debowel ke? You are really badt, and to think you want to do it without anaesthesia!



That is the irony of Life!
The evil people create horror for others, terrify them day and night, bring tears and sorrow into the life of their innocent Victims, yet Nigeria’s billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike, alias Evans wants to protect himself from invaders!
Has he forgotten there is KARMA?

But if you look closely, you will notice that the Top of the Gate itself is not protected by the Electric fence! This is the case with almost all Electric Fence protection l have seen and to me, that constitutes a 'point of weakness' because it is said that your Security is only as good as the weakest point".
As a matter of fact, when the Police IRT were finding it difficult to gain access into his house at Magodo, one of them climbed the Fence and opened the Gate from the inside!

On interview, every member of his team, including a COUPLE, the wife is named Ogechi Amadi (she is in-charge of cooking for the Victims, during their period of Capture at their hideout), while the husband is named Uchechukwu Amadi, Native of Anambra State, longtime Evans Boy and head of the detention Camp in Igando.
*Felix Chinemerem 36yrs Native of ArichukwuOhafia LGA of Abia State second in command of Evans.

* Nwosu Chikodi Chukwuma aka Sudo 42yrs, 3rd in Command to Evans. He has over 20yrs experience in Armed robbery and about 8yrs experience in Kidnapping.

* Suoyo Paul aka Nwana 42yrs Native of Bayelsa States Gang member and Supplier of Rifles and Ammunitions to Evans.

* Ikenna Emeka 28yrs Native of Anambra State, denounced him! Such is life.

The pain and sorrow these people went through, which Six young children of a Govt School in Epe are still going through as of TODAY, is better imagined.



BTW: Can the Moderator of this thread explain to us, why he deleted my thread?
Does it have to do with who the Kidnappers are or is it now a crime to state FACTS in one's post or does the Mod have any interest in protecting the identity of these Kidnappers?
I am just asking aloud o.

snakebeat:

Without wishing to sound judgemental, what is the meaning of this?

The guy asked u a simple question, what is the purpose of plaster sand & other aggregates in blockmaking? how does it add to the compressive strength of block? intstead of giving him a simple & direct answer....u studiously evaded his question & brought up this long epistle u copied from d internet...are u the original author of this writeup?

Excuzeme:


The #30K l paid ( and his own #20K) is for Labour only.

Maybe yours includes: Cost of the Bamboo, Transportation to site, cost of 4" Nails, cost of Binding wire?
Even at that!

Just asking because l dont understand how scaffolding Labour, can be 200K?
Abi na ten storey building you dey scaffold?

Excuzeme:


At the bolded:
This is exactly what we have been saying.
Even if the price charged is going to vary (to cater for 'my workmanship is from outer-space'), the variation should not be too much.

Your Scaffolding was done for #20,000, mine was done for #30,000 (l can understand the stress the guy went through though).
Total plastering (Labour) was #600K plus a #50K dash to show appreciation to the Bricklayer, so its still within the margin of error.

Now, this guy's own is running to over #1.2 Million..... for a building of about the same size (4 flats)

But l am sure that eventually, a time will come when we will have this "pricing index" (like the Tilers who generally have a fixed pricing index ( + or - say 5%) and not withstanding your claims of being the best Tiler in the worls, your price will stillfall within that range.
Bricklayers also have the same principle - a day's work ranges between #3,000 and #3,500, depending on location.

The only people that want us to believe this is impossible are the "Big Guns" Contractors.
To some of then, fairness to everyone involved is not acceptable .... they can fix any price that they like and the Client should either pay or f-off afteral, they cant get a better builder in Nigeria.

skimanski:



I am very sorry we have all been speaking from a very sentimental point of view. I have been speaking from a Contractor who hopes to be paid well's point of view, and may be (just maybe) you have been speaking from a client who hopes to get the best deal for his money's Point of view. Let me see if I can go neutral,which I'm not sure you might agree on.

We all know we are in the business of competition. Competition for price and quality. Apparently Nigeria has more competition in the price region than in the quality region, but nevertheless there is still competition in Both. I would be stupid to bill you N1.2m for plastering I know you can get for N600k and hope you will give to me. You will be stupid to give me N1.2m when you know you can pay 600k for Plastering. If i decide to be greedy let that be my cup of tea. My own is do your check and pay what you think your request is worth. Clients should also be fair too.

You see that 4 flat building, if Julius Berger were to plaster that for you, they will charge to maybe 2million. Not because they are greedy, but because they know they can get the Job done and they know getting the Job done comes with a cost of Attention to details that will take men power, Machinery, attention to details and Other exercises that its only fair the client pays for and not the contractor.

Now I agree Nigerian's always look for a way to reap you off, but that doesn't takeaway from the fact that you want a good job and should look for a way to strike a balance in Payment for what you want and what is given around. This N1.2m is equal to 3k dollars. i'm sure if Oyinbo man talk say make you give am 4k dollars to plaster that four flat, you will pay because na Oyinbo.

Anyway, we are all entitled to our opinion. and That is mine, based on my experience is this my very few years of existence in this life.

Excuzeme:
\

Can ANYONE on this forum, tell us if they have paid over #1,200,000, to plaster a 3-bed, FOUR FLATS building?

Aventures:
There is standard, but most client wouldn't want to follow standard because it may not favour them, QS professional are the best to tell us applicable standard. But to my little knowledge if you come across good Cotonou guys (cos there are fakes now ooo) they will never accept a wholesome negotiations for you never, they prefer pay as you go. Now, for internal plastering they will count 14 blocks in a row by 12 courses of block with one window dressing as a day job. externally 12 blocks also there ways to charge for special dressings, decking is charged as 10 x 12 ft room as a day job. Also in some cases some charge per square meter and linear meter for dressing but only few do this.

skimanski:



Anyway I stick to my comment. @rabcnesbit should stick to the quality the guy can give than the figure. He should only be concerned about the quality.

Let me use one example. I'm sure you own a Car, and that car cost Money. Base on the way I take dey look you, maybe you car cost up to N10m. Lets even say you drive a Toyota car that was sold by toyota for N2m. do you know the cost of producing that toyota is probably as low 500k. But the reason why the cost of the Production and the cost of sale which is alarmingly different isn't a problem for you is that toyota has already produced the car, and it's serving its purpose to you. you have everything properly done. its working very fine. you would even rather the Toyota car of N2m than the Kia of N1.2m, even though they both have 4 legs and both will get you to your location. That aside,its not your business what it cost these guys to make the car, what is your concern is how it serves your purpose.

Bottom line, @Excuzeme shouldn't advise that guy to put cost first before requirement. requirement first, then he should know what he's requirement will cost because like Oga spyder880 can relate, you can get someone to do it for any figure you want, but is what you want that matters.

spyder880:


Standard in costing? Well, I think every job is different, and comes with their own type of challenges. There are areas where security is an issue, and workers will be afraid to work there, there are places materials cannot get into easily, delaying the work and keeping workers on site longer. These things also affect pricing. Same as skills.

What we were trying to say is that good workers will always charge more, and if we that hire them and don't at least come up in our pricing, they will leave and those that pretend will walk in, charge low and mess up the job.

The quality of the work done (or expected to be done) should be the determinant of costs paid.

skimanski:



Why is it so surprising that he paid N1.2m to plaster a four unit of 3 bedroom flat? Don't you think he should bother more about his Job been worth the figure than the figure been that high. Una no want make the guys Chop?

phorget:

It is not in my practices, I don't do that and I won't start it now. I only want people to realize the pains that is been felt whenever an estimate is been drafted and clients will start beating down on the workmanship as if they would have preferred the contractor to render a free service. It is not also easy on the part of the contractors, that is there source of livelihood too.

phorget:
It's so unfortunate that this trends has come to stay. However, I've been reading through the replies above but no one seems to put any portion of the blame to the CLIENT. From my own little dealings, I've met some clients that usually find it so difficult to pay for a job well done but if you ask them for 100k worth of materials(even if you won't need up to that) they will be quick to provide such.
Some clients would want to pay less and yet they will be demanding for a perfect job. let's use painting as a case study:
Painting processes includes;
SURFACE PREPARATION: This is an act of preparing a given building walls or ceiling for paint. it usually includes re-screeding of a non or bad screeded areas, sand-papering, taping or covering areas or things that u wouldn't want to be touched by paints and priming of the surfaces to be painted.
PAINTING: This is the job itself, it involves the application of your paint materials to the already prepared surface for painting.
MAINTENANCE: This is carried out after all the painting work might have been over. it includes the removal of the said masking tapes and doing every other general check ups to ensure a perfect result of the job.
All the above processes would take a painting contractor days,weeks or months (depending on how large the project is) to execute and he would definitely have to pays his workers on daily bases.
Clients should stop beating down the labour cost just because they feel that if Mr A won't handle a job for a certain amount then Mr B would be glad to do it for a token. Contractors usually feel they would always compensate with the outrageous quotation on materials. Some clients even see u as non competent when u have a reasonable quotation, they would rather trust those that will give them the reason to spend money on more materials and less in workmanship.
Remember to always blame the clients whenever you tend to blame the contractors please... it usually takes two to tango.

Chekitaut:
Price Slash
12&16mm @N150,000/ton
10mm @N155,000/ton

EfeEj:
Installation of a Biodegradable Toilet Waste Disposal System

This system contains certain micro-organisms that feed on the faeces discharged leaving a gaseous by-product that can be used for domestic cooking or converted to energy if bottled.

The system does not get full like the conventional Soak away tank system. Hence, there is no need for evacuation.

EfeEj:
Painting works

abdulwastecx:



Thanks bros for asking a very good question, I will try to do justice to all the question.

"I see a whole lot of reinforcement which to my mind will cost a lot of money. so I ask:" I will start by correcting this little statement. Quantity of reinforcement depend on the results of both the structural analysis and design. In a layman language it depend the structural complexity of the building, soil condition and the choice of foundation used.

I will assume the above statement relate to the quantity of reinforcement use for the raft foundation.The raft foundation was design based on the soil properties and magnitude of load acting on the foundation, the design which was carried out using a specialized structural engineering software gave a satisfactory quantity, size and spacing of reinforcement which was also confirm using manual analysis through the guild of relevant literature.

Answers to your questions

1. Is there anything like over-reinforcement at all?
Ans: There is over-reinforcement: over reinforcement is when you provide reinforcement way over the quantity and size needed for a particular job. When one over reinforced a concrete structure, design philosophy like economy is defeated and mode of failure will change. Over reinforcement is bad on the part of economy and structural integrity.

2. Can BRC reinforcement (3.5mm) be an effective alternative for DPC reinforcement.
Ans: Yes BRC reinforcement 3.5mm is an effective DPC reinforcement but here we are building a raft slab ( which also serve as the DPC level of the building), The raft slab demand a well reinforced slab capable of carry the pressure exerted by the supporting soil as a result of the magnitude of the apply load.
For other type of foundation like Isolated Pad footings, combine and continuous pad footings, strip footings etc you may use wire mesh for the DPC reinforcement ( because the reinforcement is only needed to control cracking) but for works where the DPC form part of the foundation structure like Raft foundation, the DPC/slab should be design accordingly the the resulting design reinforcement should be apply appropriately.

3. Is there an alternative to the use of iron rods for reinforcement?
Ans: There are alternative materials like bamboo but this area is beyond the scope of what this thread was created for.
As result of my love for affordable housing I am picking up alternative materials for structural members for my master thesis.

mufutau55:


@PortalSSDoors

Got your PM but your email is bouncing when I replied... post your email or Whatsapp here and I will contact you. Thanks.

Hajji M.

PortalSSDoors:
Hello Dear Sirs
We have suitable prices with high Turkish Quality
please conntact me on +905537023802 call & whatsapp
Mr. Metin

Export specialist

InvertedHammer:

/
Which child?

Just say it...a skinny burglar with eyes for 32" flat screen tv and dvd player.

\

set2build:
Current prices of building materials updated today 4th of April 2017,
visit www.set2build.com/market-prices

www.set2build.com

fendorf:
Still here

superbouck:
pls ao much os tipper of gravel now

babadots:
Hello all,

Do you know anyone who is great with Wrought Iron Balustrades and Handrails or any threads that specialise in this sort of work? Your assistance will be appreciated.

Thank you.

earthrealm:
HMMM THIS Parapet thing got me confused, i am planing a 1 storey building, and i didnt specify to the architect that i would be doing parapet, all the drawings civil-mechanical-electrical are ready, do i take the arguement above to imply that i need further pillars/reinforcement and calculations cos of the parapet??

bandwidth:
Hello
Please I need to know what the possibility of having a parapet in a bungalow without pillars from foundation is. Kindly advise.