₦airaland Forum

FastShipping:
Where do they sell high ends floor tiles in Lagos? I need polished porcelain or luxury vitrified tiles.

Too numerous to mention. I suggest you try:

Impacto | Agungi, off Lekki/Epe Expressway
Maldini | 2nd Toll Gate Lekki & Western Avenue, Surulere.
House Affairs | Lagos/Ibadan expressway

Flat Roof 4

Upcoming | Exposed Beam Ceiling




Brabus

Request | 50 trips of Bambam Loading (Filling Sand).

Price and further info to 08023429122 or bosun@nexthomebuilders.com

Swamp Problems | Mature Trees




Brabus

And More

Updates | Here and There

Swamp Problems | Changes in Moisture Content

Prolonged flooding or unattended groundwater can lead to extreme change in moisture content of foundation soils which can in turn cause damaging settlement in a building.

Another challenge often overlooked in swampy terrain is the presence of maturing trees and vegetation which suck out water from the foundation. Interestingly, we build on this lands not minding the cause effects.

Brabus

Swamp Problems | Poor Compaction

It's nearly impossible to properly compact soil in swampy lands. Properly placed and compacted soils normally provide adequate support for foundations but in a terrain where water ponding around the foundation is left unattended, the compacted soils may loose their form and compress under a foundation load resulting in excessive settlement of the structure.


Brabus

That its standing today does not make it structurally sound. How else do we explain Lagos Island topping the list of collapsed building in Lagos?

Most building in Lagos Island are built on reclaimed lands.

Swamp for Buildings? Or Growing Rice?

That many people are doing it does not make it right.

REPORTED CASES OF BUILDING COLLAPSE IN NIGERIA FROM 1974



Brabus

Swamp Problems | Weak Bearing Soils

Some soils are simply not capable of supporting the weight or bearing pressure exerted by a building's foundation. As a result, the foundation sink into the soft soils. This is very similar in theory to how a person standing in the mud sinks into soft, wet clay.

Mr AZUH, we're almost 3 weeks into this. I don't know how long you've been on this before bringing this online but I'm sure it's not something recent.

Water in the foundation is not a joke. Do everything and anything to keep water away from your structure. You need to understand how soil erosion, loss of moisture and soil shrinkage can cause your building to settle downward.

Otherwise, go ahead and demolish the building. You don't need anybody's approval to do that bro.

There are great builders from that zone here on Nairaland and offline, speak to them about getting a right fix for your problem. You're just showing the problem and not implementing any fix.

Favored4gud:
Thanks for your quick response!! My mum got a place there and I was saying its kinda far from almost everything we are used to. But she is saying it's gonna get better as the years goes by. Hopefully it's so. Been reading the news about upcoming Mile 12 and the Omo baba saw mill relocation.

Jus kinda anxious about other ppl thought(that know the area) about the place. I like there cos it's quite and the road to the place is tared sort of.

Very lovely environment and I pray it remain the same serene and quiet environment it is now even in the future.

Your mum is from the future.

Favored4gud:
If I may ask from Ota Ikosi (agbowa) to Ajah howfar is it?

100 minutes by road at 80mph
35 minutes by Ferry Service

Though the ferry service is not so effective.

samuel3818:
Hi sir. I would love to contact you. Please am I permitted to send you a PM to aid discussion? Please.

Sure you can start a discussion with me both here and offline.

Qc1:
YES to the bolded.

Ok. If that's the case, the fix been applied is not the final solution. The walls equally need to be replaced with impermeable solutions 600mm down the DPC and 600mm above the DPC.

I saw blocks and slurry concrete in one of the fixes done. That won't work. Anything that will not allow water to flow is what we need.

Meanwhile, let me check and see what I can come up with after my visit.

Thanks for your understanding bro.

Qc1:
Those pics were of resent, If you want to go there and do your ditch, the time is now. Moreover, it wont hurt you to go there yourself!

I'll be there. I just need to get more info. I'm sure you know nobody can do better explanation than yourself cos we're both in it from the beginning. And you'll understand everything I'm saying faster than anyone else.

If the picture you posted yesterday is from any of those two areas mentioned (private lounge or guest bedroom, or underneath the stairwell, let me congratulate you and ask you to put your mind at rest.

Those areas have already gone beyond flood level when I last visited and that's What made me to quickly suggest underpinning.

So if you're seeing water in those areas, I can understand.

Qc1:
I'm thinking settling in the guest room/ante room since it's the most affected in the house. I'm not trying to put any weight, just the painting and tiles.

I guess as much cos those areas were stepped down by one board. And I am not leaving out the possibility of seepage or water ingress from the wall.

I'll visit but I'm tempted to ask this question bros.

What part of the house is that? Is it the private lounge? Or the guest bedroom? Or the main lounge?

The private lounge at the void section and guest bedroom are highly susceptible based on what I saw during my last visit. Especially the guest bedroom.

From the last pictures, I know you won't have such issue in the kitchen, dining and the bedrooms at the back.

@ Qc1

Can we take this to private chat? Who will be at the site?
Also have you been able to complete your septic tank? Cos I may need it for a different purpose.

@ Skimanski, I completely understand your point about soil test. And also I'm actually responding to this in case there are people who might be experiencing a similar situation so as to know exactly what causes and how best you can fix the problem.


Before anything, let's do a simple diagnosis or try to recreate the problem. You can't fix what you don't understand.

Let's put a ball in bowl filled with sand up to 1/2 of the bowl and water up to 1/4 of the bowl. The ball will stay despite having water underneath the sand.
Now, let's start to apply pressure (put more loads in case of structure) on the ball. The sand will witness upward lift on all sides.

Again, let's start to put more water without a drain off point up to 3/4 of the bowl, what happens the ball will be lifted. Now, if the ball is under a pressure that suppresses the upward lift, water will find a way into the structure through cracks and holes on the slab.

Now, let's do the same experiments using granite as the base, if water level continues to increase in the bowl, there may be uplift or total disconnection of the footing from the bearing soil.

I hope this simple analogy will make any meaning to us now to be able to diagnose the problem and the fixes.

But just like you rightly recommended, I think an independent water/foundation expert should take a look and recommend a fix.
I believe it can be fixed. It just shouldn't be too long and work must stop at least for the time being.

_______
As it is, the ponding water is causing upward lift of the slab. That's the reason why water is found in the building and not outside because the slab is resisting the water.
Such a challenge can only be fixed by reducing the water level or keeping an eye on the flood level.

Qc1:
It's like you don't get it!


I DO NOT NEED ANY DAMN ADVICE, I NEED A FIX !!!


DON'T STAY HERE AND GIMME A LOAD OF CRAP, GO THERE TO FIX IT!

Ok. Ikorodu, Here I come again.

I don do my fence na

Boundary walls/fence are only effective seals to minimize water penetration for low depth/short duration floods and not for groundwater flooding.

Groundwater flooding may take weeks or months to dissipate and proper planning is required to mitigate its effect. Groundwater flooding could damage foundations, walls and floors. It could cause possible erosion beneath foundations and thereby cause structural instability and excessive settlement. And many more structural failures.

There are no definitive ways to design buildings in flood zones. The approach will depend largely on the characteristics of the soil in your location and the engineering designs to keep water away from your property.

Some lands are better left for growing rice or irrigation purpose.

msogunro:
From your experience, what should someone expect to pay for these various tests? A range of each will be appreciated.

This test definitely ranges between N100k and more. The N100k is just for borehole or trial pit and won't require heavy equipment and specialized laboratory report.
This is one area to be extra careful because most geotechnic results are reprints of earlier results. A novice may not be able to interprete it.

For real test that requires bringing rig to the site, it starts from N400k above. The deeper the more expensive it goes.
Though a client did one at Akoka and she told me she did it for just N120k. I wasn't there to see so I can't ascertain what was done but in the end they recommended 24m deep piles for her foundation. I asked for the name of the laboratory and the company that carried out the test but didn't get any. I'm not making this up.

The most important part of the test is the lab report. How authentic it is? It must carry the stamp of the lab where the samples were processed. Also, if you're physically present during the drilling you can see for yourself the various samples collected at every depth. This will give you an idea of what to expect.

______
Pic of soil investigation/test carried out in 2011

@ QC1 baba, sometimes last year you wrote this

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.

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

https://www.nairaland.com/2486191/ikorodu-mansion-diy-report/2#36484247

Baba, the bolded part is one of the major mistakes you're doing while trying to fix this problem. The more load you impose while trying to raise your DPC, the faster the building continue to sink. There are times the person you really don't want to hear might be the person who has the right solution to your problem.
You agree the foundation sank, right? Would it have been different if the foundation is 10 boards? NO! It'll only take much longer time but the problem will still remain and the worse part is that the building can even tilt.

Qc1:
The house seems to have stop sinking just before the roofing reinforcement.

I thank God you heeded my advice to do underpinning the last time I visited the site (after January 2014) when I saw how fast the building is settling. I told you, no roof until the settlement is stopped and thank God you allowed me to implement the fix and it yielded a positive result. It stopped the settlement.

I went ahead to suggest other things that needed to be done but nothing was said about it. I wonder why you agreed with me that time to implement the underpinning fix as recommended and carried out by my men to stop the sinking.

I saw a bigger challenge then and proposed a fix but you saw a man who is after 50k egunje from a carpenter when I could have just move in to the site to roof the house just like every other tradespeople who have been patronizing the structure yet unable to recommend a good fix. Even though it was just only one visit in 2 years. I was able to spot and correct a major problem.
Since then, I just heard again from you.
Whether you choose to adopt them or not, I won't stop throwing the advices from here. It's all about finding solutions.

________
Bros, again the damn fence on the left must carry a very big drain or require you digging a big trench to collect all waters before channeling them down to the govt drainage because that side has always been the receiving end and that's where the larger water comes from. Interestingly, this fix doesn't have to be overly expensive. You can use earthbag to construct the trench and fill with construction wastes and Rubbles or sharp sands.

And a V-ditch on the right side to about 1.2m depth is very necessary. This will take care of any leaky pipes and re-routed pipes directinbf water into your foundation. You're not living there yet so you can't tell what might have happened overnight especially now that your building has been fenced out.

In a waterlogged terrain or flood zones, the fix is never ending. You need to constantly monitor the water level; clear the drainages; observe; check and check everything.

A 5 board fence raft that subside in Graceland estate, Ishashi due uncontrolled water.

abdulwastecx:
The height of the foundation is adequate. The major problem is settlement which result from water entering the foundation. The solution now is how to divert water away from at least 3m away from the foundation perimeter

Thanks. Take a look at the height of foundation during decking and parapet stage where I stopped work so that right fix can be applied before continuation.

Also take a look at the water coming into the foundation. It's not rain o. If it's rain, the foundation will be wet. It was just like a dam was opened and water from nowhere besiege the site.

All works done between mid-Decemeber 2013 and mid-January 2014 and it rained only once.

The solution has always been to divert water away from the property. No other fix I know!

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.

@ brag3, I knew the terrain but there was no single water on the land when we were doing the foundation till completion of the raft. It was after DPC that we discovered that there's water coming from the neighbours building and in fact it was non stop. It seems like an overflowing dam. They seem not to have a sump for all their waste waters and choose to bury pipes underground my clients land. Till date I doubt if the neighbour have dig a sump for their waste water. How did I know? There's no single water coming from the house into the community gutter. Everything goes into the ground. Even when we were looking for the source of water on the site. They never bothered to tell us until we discovered it ourselves. How many more of this do we know that's underground?

If you observe from the pic of the building I posted, the house was been sandfilled even before I completed the ground floor block work.

I've proposed that a ditch dug instantly between the fence of the neighbour and the building in question to intercept all water coming from the neighbours side into the land and redirect it to a larger drainage some distance away but this was not done instead laterite fillings were brought to site and abokis under the supervision of my clients bro we backfilling the foundation. It didn't took a long time before the dammed up water soaked up the laterite.

Now, if you go back to the thread you'll read where the client said if it's not that I'm extremely a calm person that we wouldn't have survived it long because while we were busy doing the ground works, he was just not seeing why it's taking so long. The same happened when I was complaining that the right fix to stop water from hitting the foundation be applied before overloading the structure, he wasn't seeing the need for it. As I was proposing on site, I was updating the thread online about the different challenges and the proposed fix. Not a single one was done. That was the reason why I stopped work at decking.
Too unfortunate again, the client went ahead to call some secondary school boys to take over the first floor block work and they raised the walls on the structure this adding more load without the fix.
https://www.nairaland.com/1338637/chateau-ile-oluji-construction-journal/43#20504485

Pls note:

1. Sandfilling was done without me been around.

2. Backfilling of the compound was done without me.

3. First floor block work done without me.

4. Fence and drainage done without me.

5. Roofing woodwork done without me.

Even a 2m high foundation in a terrain that is constantly wet will sink and tilt faster than imagine if there's no proper drainage and adequate measure to channel off the water off the building is done.
https://www.nairaland.com/1338637/chateau-ile-oluji-construction-journal/44#20528892

Qc1:
^^^

Yet you stole my N300,000.00 for the same fence and ran away. I did it after I couldn't find you! Is that not a mess?
Why trading words with you? You have no shame at all?

Sir, you said I took 300k from you for your fence? I ran away without your roofing woodwork money? I didn't pay up carpenter? Your wife complained about why I didn't use sharp sand for a foundation that has been filled before I came back from xmas holiday by you?

Irrespective of how this may look, I believe all these statements were pure lies against me because I had no single dealings with you on the fence or drainage. Not even a kobo.
Not a kobo was paid to me for your roofing woodwork, not even the carpenters fee.

I'm sure you'll recollect that the roofing woodwork was a pure transaction between your bro, wale and the carpenter and I had no single dealings in it. So if any told you I collect a kobo, bro you need to know what to believe. You even said I charged you 50k extra. I would want to remind you that I stopped dealing cash with you after decking stage when the secondary school students took over the project. Even the boy (Orobo) who did your parapet wood work was paid off directly by you bro. You'll remember I adviced you to even leave parapet when you said there's no more fund to push the work further. I adviced you to concentrate on keeping water out of the property and we went to discuss this together in your bros hotel and no concrete agreement was reached and the Sunday after I met you working on the fence. When did I collect 300k from you?

I won't want to dwell on this anymore. I can only wish you the very best sir in your future endeavors and pray for a permanent stop to the issue.

It's just so painful that the problem was left for too long without an appropriate fix. All the time spent apportioning blames could have been used to tackle the issues.