₦airaland Forum

koning:
3.2 million naira ! Any builder that charges that much is either a thief or he is simply incompetent. Nigerian builders are fond of overloading a building. The building in question is fortified with extra columns. All I need is a surface that will serve as upper floor. The British used to build 3 story houses with wooden upper floors. There is absolutely no need to load an upper floor decking with steel rods.

It could be done with that amount. I just seek a builder with the same vision as me. You guys should learn to think outside the box. Avoid building collapse through unnecessary overloading.

abdulwastecx:
'I laugh when I hear people say "Nigerian builder a fond of overloading a building" I don't think you really under the generic of reinforced concrete structures. They don't over load building but build according to lay down rules/codes.

You just don't suddenly start thinking out of box after the building foundation and ground floor has been down. Prior to construction you carried out all your a analysis and decide on what building materials to use, either wood, steel or reinforced concrete.

Wood deck is not popular outside South west (in the sixties) because of lack of standardization and adequate properties of the wood.
How do you design wood deck when you don't have wood structural properties like stresses, shear, deflection etc.

Steel deck is not popular because of cost

Reinforced concrete deck and suspended slab is the most popular of durability and lower cost

EgunMogaji:
But we should still look for alternatives, which I frankly think would be cheaper, such as the clay thingies you lectured on a few weeks ago.

koning:
Are you guys even aware that most American houses are built with wood, including the upper floor decks. I'm throwing this as a challenge to the Nigerian builders here. Seek out ways to build efficient, strong and light houses. All a house requires to be strong is a solid foundation and enough pillars to hold everything up. The rest of the building can be made as light as possible. That's why we are able to build high rise office blocks.

There is absolutely no need to load all that steel on top of the columns. It's just a platform to stand on. Or are you building the house for Elephants ?

EgunMogaji:
But we should still look for alternatives, which I frankly think would be cheaper, such as the clay thingies you lectured on a few weeks ago.

Though I think the poster came in a bit hot but he has some valid points.

Maybe you, especially you, can spend some research time with him.

Here we have a homeowner who might want to find an alternative decking system and he just needs to liason with a builder who is willing to respond but with a well engineered and safe one.

We don't need a Ferrari to commute to work. A Kia Picanto will get it done, an analogy.

KolaShangOne:
Every building must have a safety factor. Determined by Structural engineers. But if you're convinced that you don't need to load all that steel on top of the columns, Why not come down to Nigeria, design your decking by yourself, Employ iron benders and do the job yourself.. so that if anything happens, you will be held responsible
There are other solutions like using wood

Fhemmmy:
Go and check the specs of those glass and check the average weight they are capable of carrying . . stop just seeing without analyzing what you have seen.

koning:
I'm a little bit disappointed with this your response. You of all people should know that I'm talking about your regular wine glass cup. Glass has the capacity to be made thicker and stronger than cement. No matter what the specs are, it's still glass though. That's my point.

The problem is that Nigerians have been conditioned to build only a certain way. And buildings are collapsing left, right and center.

koning:
Are you guys even aware that most American houses are built with wood, including the upper floor decks. I'm throwing this as a challenge to the Nigerian builders here. Seek out ways to build efficient, strong and light houses. All a house requires to be strong is a solid foundation and enough pillars to hold everything up. The rest of the building can be made as light as possible. That's why we are able to build high rise office blocks.

There is absolutely no need to load all that steel on top of the columns. It's just a platform to stand on. Or are you building the house for Elephants ?

koning:
Thank you my brother. That guy is just looking for Diaspora Nigerians that he will rip off. That's why they back each other up here and drop outrageous quotations with the hope that someone will drop millions for them to construct a house. I am a Diaspora Nigerian too, but I come home regularly. And I know what's going on. Dem never born builder in Nigeria wey no go chop his client. The issue is how greedy are you and how much do you wan't to chop?

skimanski:
I am always with he school of taught that looking for cheaper alternatives that works is the best way to go. But my issue with @koning is not his desire for alternatives, but his inability to come to terms with the fact that no matter what means you wish to use in archiving your your structure, there are codes and processes that must be followed. Because something is done like this somewhere doesn't mean it will work somewhere else. There have to be steps taken from the foundation to ensure that it works. The one that baffled me is the fact that he sees a possibility of using 4inches thick slab for the deck. And ontop of his deck he will then use block works to partition his rooms and put a roof. Who knows he might them just put a parapet ontop.

If he feels 1.5m will do his slab. I wish him well. Lets see which slab collapses at the end. Wether u wan use labourers for free take work for ur house, we shall see. Let me not also jump into ideas sha. It's possible he has bought wood and other materials already sha.

adanny01:
Building materials and design differ for a lot of reasons. Weather and cost are the most common reason.

Believe me it is easy for us to build a house with sandcrete hollow blocks in Nigeria where temperature ranges from 15-40 degree celsius but may not be suitable when that range expands from -50-45 degree celsius.

Wood is a better insulator against extreme cold and hot weather than sandcrete block or concrete so would be preferable in very cold and very hot areas. Wood is a very poor conductor so will easily lose the heat it has been exposed to than concrete. So if you have extreme hot temperatures, wood will be better as it will give you better comfort when the sun goes down while concrete or blocks or bricks are still slowly losing heat but keeping your home hotter and uncomfortable during lower night temperatures.

Believe me, the wood you see them use doesnt come easy or cheap. Those are highly seasoned, treated wood and genetically engineered for construction that can stand very wet and harsh conditions which sandcrete hollow blocks wont survive. Most of our wood is not properly treated or seasoned and most times comes with defects due to plant diseases.

Trust me, we dont have what it takes to build flawless wooden houses.

adanny01:
Building materials and design differ for a lot of reasons. Weather and cost are the most common reason.

Believe me it is easy for us to build a house with sandcrete hollow blocks in Nigeria where temperature ranges from 15-40 degree celsius but may not be suitable when that range expands from -50-45 degree celsius.

Wood is a better insulator against extreme cold and hot weather than sandcrete block or concrete so would be preferable in very cold and very hot areas. Wood is a very poor conductor so will easily lose the heat it has been exposed to than concrete. So if you have extreme hot temperatures, wood will be better as it will give you better comfort when the sun goes down while concrete or blocks or bricks are still slowly losing heat but keeping your home hotter and uncomfortable during lower night temperatures.

Believe me, the wood you see them use doesnt come easy or cheap. Those are highly seasoned, treated wood and genetically engineered for construction that can stand very wet and harsh conditions which sandcrete hollow blocks wont survive. Most of our wood is not properly treated or seasoned and most times comes with defects due to plant diseases.

Trust me, we dont have what it takes to build flawless wooden houses.

EgunMogaji:
My Brother if you can maintain that ideology your budget will go far.

I have up to 5 years to complete my house but God willing it will not take that long but theres absolutely no hurry.

For example the only thing going on now in my absence is delivery of laterite and filling the foundation. I get pictures of the laterite delivery inside my site and then I send the payment. I get the laterite transferred into the foundation and then I pay. We already arranged the rate. Laterite is N700 per ton, filling is N175 per ton.

koning:
That is exactly what I intend to do. It's a house I intend to live in. Let me worry about the safety. Loading 2 tons of steel on a decking is a very scary thought to me.

mufutau55:
Please count me out o.... I be Naija boy original o. (Whispering....too much arthritis for me.)
I have only few more years on this earth, I just want to enjoy the house, no DIY for me o.
I am gonna watch you guys do it while I sip my Non-Alcoholic Hennessy.

Hajji M.

koning:
I'm a little bit disappointed with this your response. You of all people should know that I'm talking about your regular wine glass cup. Glass has the capacity to be made thicker and stronger than cement. No matter what the specs are, it's still glass though. That's my point.

The problem is that Nigerians have been conditioned to build only a certain way. And buildings are collapsing left, right and center.

KolaShangOne:
Every building must have a safety factor. Determined by Structural engineers. But if you're convinced that you don't need to load all that steel on top of the columns, Why not come down to Nigeria, design your decking by yourself, Employ iron benders and do the job yourself.. so that if anything happens, you will be held responsible
There are other solutions like using wood

brabus:
Agbalumo tree do shed leaves which require regular clearing. I have 3 in my compound that I had to cut off. Not a good one for a bungalow. I don't want any tree as overhang near my roof.

brabus:
Oga koning, here's alternative solution using I-section from ground up. And there's about 4in layer of concrete

KolaShangOne:
But this is more expensive na .. Hes looking for a cheaper alternative with less imposed load.

adanny01:
Who checks for quality?

adanny01:
Even if he wants to do that, the law doesnt approve. And if the building collapses and kills some one, he has commited manslaughter.

adanny01:
Even if he wants to do that, the law doesnt approve. And if the building collapses and kills some one, he has commited manslaughter.

brabus:
Less load? Yes! Expensive? Not sure if well implemented. He just need to have a very cool headed engineer to work with.