how much can be to build a house?

markad wrote:

What do you mean with equally sized floor space per story? Is it a house perched on the highest position of your lot area and with stakes to lift i

Nope, nothing quite that exotic. A better question would have been, does the lowest floor or base need to be wider than the floors above from a safety stand point. Structurally you had mentioned earlier there can be some overhang over and above the maximum foot print but my question was more around safety concerns when building on a slope in the odd chance of an earthquake etc. I could be way off base, given how little I know about this stuff.

markad wrote:

There are a lot of old houses that used polished concrete as a floor finish. A little bit harder to maintain but Filipinos are used to it. We use half coconut husk (bunot) and Johnson's floor wax to make it shine. Good when you are on a budget.

Many thanks,
I do see in Australia many restaurants, and some houses use it.  I'm not sure what sort of finishing they use on it.  I need to some research.

markad :
There are a lot of old houses that used polished concrete as a floor finish. A little bit harder to maintain but Filipinos are used to it. We use half coconut husk (bunot) and Johnson's floor wax to make it shine. Good when you are on a budget.

Many thanks,
I do see in Australia many restaurants, and some houses use it.  I'm not sure what sort of finishing they use on it.  I need to some research.

A lot of processes but it is similar to polishing granite. I find it really fun to watch tutorials on youtube.

Vivnay wrote:

Are wall to ceiling windows common in residential construction? In bedrooms for example. Are tempered single panes a safe option in typhoon country?

Do you mean windows that reach up to the ceiling?
Windows that reached the ceiling in height are not common. We usually do it on mid-end to high-end modern-inspired houses. Once you go for larger windows, you have to do it for the whole house. There are also design considerations to consider like where to place the curtain rods.

Regular glass is good enough in most cases. Of course, due to global warming, it seems that typhoon is worse every year. Tempered is advisable especially if you want a larger window size. Tempered single panes is a safe, mid-end option.

markad wrote:

Hi Pej. Our standard here is single-pane or single glazed windows. Basically, it just a panel of glass. Single-pane glass has two-types, ordinary and tempered. Ordinary is just regular glass while tempered is tougher and less brittle. Tempered is the glass used in high-end phones, I think it is more known as gorilla glass.

The options for framing are steel, aluminum, and plastic. Filipinos preferred the first two since it is hard to find PVC windows that is value for your money. Most use aluminum these days since you have more option and it is faster to fabricate.

So the most common windows here in the Philippines are single-pane steel window or single-pane aluminum window.
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Insulated windows or double glazed windows are not common and therefore very expensive. So far, all double glazed windows are imported so you have to pay a premium if you want one. I wish there is a manufacturing plant here that will not ask for a premium for something that is supposed to be common.

Many thanks Markad.

markad wrote:

Vivnay wrote:

Are wall to ceiling windows common in residential construction? In bedrooms for example. Are tempered single panes a safe option in typhoon country?

Do you mean windows that reach up to the ceiling?
Windows that reached the ceiling in height are not common. We usually do it on mid-end to high-end modern-inspired houses. Once you go for larger windows, you have to do it for the whole house. There are also design considerations to consider like where to place the curtain rods.

Regular glass is good enough in most cases. Of course, due to global warming, it seems that typhoon is worse every year. Tempered is advisable especially if you want a larger window size. Tempered single panes is a safe, mid-end option.

Cool, thanks info. What I had in mind was a tri sectional window with about 1-2 feet border on all  4 sides. So in effect they would not span the entire length of the wall.

Vivnay wrote:

Came across an article on philstar dated Feb 2017 on Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). There was some mention of savings on foundation cost by around 25 percent with this method of construction. Has anyone heard of it? At the time the article was written, it appears to be a relatively new concept in the phils, though has been used in Malaysia for a while..

Not recommended. Prohibitive price and it is not load-bearing. The price reduction is not that significant compared to the price increase. There are many that are trying to introduce it but you will end up paying a premium. Probably need an actual manufacturing plant to decrease the cost and be able to compete with concrete hollow blocks. So far, all the sales that try to sell us this technology are importing it from Malaysia or Vietnam and probably the reason for the price.

Vivnay wrote:

With regards to built in furniture, are there cheaper composite alternatives to wood for bunk beds?

For quality bunk beds, I don't think there are alternatives yet. Steel and/or wood with a combination of plywood seems the best. My experience with wood plastic composite (WPC) is for aesthetic or wood planks for the floor. But the one that introduced WPC here is aggressive marketers so we may find structural WPC a few years from now.

Quality custom built-in furniture like bunk bed is expensive. It will rival the price of Pottery Barn furniture and the likes. However, quality is quality. Antipolo wood and steel crafters are expensive but you will get the best that money can buy. We hire the best in that area when a client needs complicated wood or steel works. Also, since they use hard wood, the resale value is really good if you are interested with that.

If you want the best price for the bunk beds, shop around in our malls, furniture shops, or online. Pre-made/manufactured furniture is cheaper than custom-built/built-in furniture.

Vivnay wrote:

Are wall to ceiling windows common in residential construction? In bedrooms for example. Are tempered single panes a safe option in typhoon country?

We do aluminum windows and doors. Single panes are generally safe. For bigger panels / divisions, I would recommend thicker glass. 

Say, you have a 3.00m x 2.40m height (or 10’ x 8’) opening. If you plan to divide these into 20 panels of 2’ x 2’, ¼” (6mm) thick glass on 1-3/4” x 3” rectangular tube framing would be fine. If you want to divide it into 8 panels, I would suggest using thicker 3/8” (10mm) glass. If you want to divide it into 4 panels of 2.5’ x 8’, I would suggest using ½” (12mm) tempered glass on curtain wall (mullion) framing.

When we built our house, I could have opted for large floor-to-ceiling windows and still be confident that we would still be safe in case of typhoons. But I shied away from that because of two things: privacy and heat.

In our subdivision, there’s one house with wall to ceiling windows which many call the “see-through” house. As we pass by that house, we can see the entire living room and more. We can see what the homeowners are watching on their large flat screen HD tv and that they have a Cignal satellite subscription. (Would you want people to see what you’re doing in your house, especially in your bedroom? )

A few years back, we were considering buying a house and lot, instead of just a lot for which we can build a house. There was this large house, very beautiful. With a tall floor to ceiling window, one can see the elegant curved wooden staircase from outside. But inside, it was hot near the window! Handrails were hot to the touch. We didn’t even bother going upstairs to look at the bedrooms.

If installed properly, wall-to-ceiling windows with single pane glass are safe. But do consider how it affects privacy and the temperature in your home.

Vivnay wrote:

Thanks again Mark. Great input and information for anyone considering building/furnishing a holiday home. Which we are at some point in the near future, should all things play out.

Was curious as to what thoughts people have on solar panels. In theory it would seem appropriate to spend the PHP100k or so on decent panels, subscribe for the metering plan with Meralco, and reap benefits considering a holiday home would be seasonal in it's usage.

I think Tagaytay is one of the few areas that I will agree in having a quality solar panel installed. The key word is quality, skimp and you may end up with a useless silicon panel at your roof. Solar panel benefits a lot in cold temperatures since their energy collection is more efficient. And as you have said, you may earn while not using it if Meralco allows you to give electricity back to the grid.

Vivnay wrote:

When construction is done on a slope, using the cut and fill method, looks like there are 2 new retaining walls that are placed into each of the excavated/filled areas. On a slope where the frontage is on the lower portion of the slope, does the need for a retaining wall mean there will be a loss of usable area?

No, there will be no loss of usable area.



Here is a quick rough sketch to show that there will be no loss of usable area wherever you cut and fill or if you use retaining wall.

Jassim 7 wrote:

Ok if I want to make a house with three rooms 3by4 MTR and tow toilet and small sitting hall so how much about it will cost me all in all phase ,
Thank you very much

Jassim

This has being covered extensively in this post.