Building our house in the Philippines

[Gray Wolf]

Ain\'t never heard of such a thing as \"too much\" Red Horse.        

[grizzi]

Too much Red Horse, Jack....

Thats like saying you have too much money or Imelda Marcos has too many shoes! 

[coutts00]

Now there is a good topic to get the Pinay talking... \"Shoes, and how many can a Province Filipina buy now that she has a rich kano husband to make up for all the ones she could not afford as a kid growing up\" we would like to here from all of the wives of the members about just how many pairs they now own, compared to say when they were 18?

Wayne 

Hey you guys, you are hijacking my thread with your Red Horse and shoes, go and start your own. 

Colin

[grizzi]

Awww...come on Colin, we are just waiting for your next installment....

But he\'s right..someone start a different thread on the number of pairs of shoes our significant others have aquired since tying the knot...and another one on how many bottles of Red Horse it takes to keep from scaring the crap out of Jack!

Ok Colin, back to your house building....

 

[geno555]

Murf,

The R-factor varies accordingly to the type of insulation.  There were 5 or 6 different types of fiber insulation.  Some of it was encased in reflective barrier material (that shiny aluminum foil looking stuff), which would making the installation very clean.  When we build our next house, I will be using 150mm or thicker. Should be more than enough for the PI temps, and I swear that I saw some that was 220mm thick also, but don\'t hold me to that (look at my March 14, 2009 report in the Insulation thread).

Now, are you talking fiber board, particle board, or the fiber board that looks like compacted cardboard and its about 1/8\" thick? I\'ve used fiber board (actually it was a type of concrete/fiber/styrofoam board) in the US for bathroom applications since its perfect for attaching tile to and fairly impervious to moisture, but I dont remember seeing that in the Philippines, and besides, they use concrete which serves the same purpose (haven\'t seen any green board use..lol).  Particle board (some call it chip board), if you ask me is only good for building lightweight forms for concrete work. Quite a bit is used for interior and exterior walls in the US as long as its installed with a barrier of some type (tyvek usually).  The other fiber board is only good for desk/dresser drawer bottoms or for forming concrete (bends nicely for pillars and such when moistened).  Hope they aren\'t using that for your ceiling...one leak and its a mess!  Glad to hear you\'re going to use an attic exhaust fan. We used sofit vents (custom made by our carpenter...lol) on our house, and the difference of temps in the house was very noticeable.  The new house will have an exhaust vent in it though!

Hope all goes well with your build up also.  Its great to see others on this forum living the tropical dream!

Greg

my mistake Greg i thought you meant there was to be some type of fiber in the attic along with the installation. i misread your report to colin and from colin. I want to thank you personally for both of your treatment of me in the past. Don\'t know how much longer I will be here for even when I simply reply to a young ladies request about the meaning of semper  fi, i get chastised, butthey will have to banish me for i will not go quietly in the night. I know how hard their jobs are, but when a person a young innocent person ask me a question, i try to be  a good neighbor and answer them, if it got posted three times it wasn\'t me, the whole world can\'t be black or white , there are always shades of grey, and I am not the first one who used that phrase that has the whole form in a teasy...god i wish we could all just get along...right rodney> lol   Murf

[grizzi]

Murf, it will blow over in no time.  Just brush it off and remember that tomorrow is always a new day!

Enjoy!

[grizzi]

Colin,

Back to your post...

You talk about solar water heating. I remember driving through Cebu and seeing some smaller solar water heaters on some roofs there, so I think its a pretty good bet they are available for single dwellings, and with the cost of electric in the Philippines, it would be a really good idea.  I also toyed with the idea of rain water collection for use in the garden and flowerbeds.  Trying to be a little green when I do my construction also.  I like the flow through design also...really helps during those hot and humid periods when you are waiting for the rain... .

Colin,

Back to your post...

You talk about solar water heating. I remember driving through Cebu and seeing some smaller solar water heaters on some roofs there, so I think its a pretty good bet they are available for single dwellings, and with the cost of electric in the Philippines, it would be a really good idea.  I also toyed with the idea of rain water collection for use in the garden and flowerbeds.  Trying to be a little green when I do my construction also.  I like the flow through design also...really helps during those hot and humid periods when you are waiting for the rain... .

The hardware store here had a very good solar water heater for sale for about P65,000. It had evacuated tubes, a stainless steel tank that was also fitted with an immersion heater for cooler days. It was mounted on a stand at around 45 degrees, which suggested to me that it was designed for a more northerly latitude. The immersion heater would also not be necessary in the Philippines. Someone on another forum has shown pictures of a very similar one installed on his house, and he said it was very effective and they always had hot water. It is possible to build them very cheaply, ther are design ideas on the internet. Just a length of garden hose full of water and laid out in the sun generates a surprising amount of heat. When we were living in a relatives house in Pangasinan there was a long exposed pipe run from the road to the bathroom, it used to give a very comfortable warm shower.

I will also be collecting rainwater, which should not be a problem if we keep getting the amount of rain we have been getting recently. When we were out today, the main road turned into a river and my wife had to use a tricycle just to cross it 

The next installment on the house, hopefully, will be tomorrow, have been a too busy today.

Colin

[c_a_p_t_a_i_n_r_o_n]

Passive solar heating

I used flat aluminium tanks(paint black on topside) on my last two boats, based on the Chesapeake Lat 38N

Plenty hot enough from April to end of October at that high latitude.....should be no problem in Philippines

Enough hot water for 2 people showering about 2 hours after sunsrise......also plenty of hot water throughout the day

[tom.inbigdtexas]

Hi Colin,

In your earlier post you mentioned wanting \"ridge vents or some other form of top vent plus eve vents to allow a cooling airflow beneath the hot roof\" and also designing the house \"only one room deep with windows on opposite sides to allow unrestricted flow.\"

Have you considered an attic fan?  They were very common here in Texas before air conditioning (sort of 1950s and before). 

For those not familiar, it is a very large fan, usually 3 to 5 foot blade diameter, usually mounted horizontally in the attic above the central area of the house, with the opening in the ceiling covered by some type of grate, often decorative metal or lattice work. When turned on, the fan pulls air from the living area below, through the attic, and out through vents, usually eve vents.  This creates a constant breeze through the house, and the area of the breeze can be controlled by which windows are open. (there are several variations, but this is the most common) 

About 20 years ago I remodeled and lived for several years in a home that had been built in 1928.  It had steam furnace heating and no air conditioning.  It was a large 2 story with a 5 foot fan mounted in the attic above the central staircase.  When I first moved in, it had Zero insulation in either the attic or the walls.  The exterior of the house was entirely 10 inch white Austin Stone and the roof was 1 inch thick dark-red half-barrel Mexican tile... so this provided some \"insulation\" from the exterior heat. 

It was about 8 months before retrofitted central heat and air was working, so I went through one Texas summer with only a window unit I mounted in the master bedroom.  Much to my surprise, most of the time the rest of the house was quite pleasant with the brisk breeze provided by the attic fan. 

I have regretted not having an attic fan in every house I have since lived in.  If I build in the RP, do you know any reason one would not be practical?

Tom

 

[RUFUS]

Tom(& anyone else interested)
The fans you are referring to are still very much available and in use.
They are called whole house fans and can be purchased at any major hardware store in the US( we stock them at Lowe\'s).
I would believe they would be available thru hardware stores in the Philippines as well. If not, I am sure they could order one.
Here in the US, they start at about $200
They are an inexpensive alternative to cool an entire house by forcing hot air out of the attic through the vents from the house below and drawing cooler air in from outside.

[jryals]

Colin,
A question, with the typhoons that come through the RP are ridge vents a good choice or should a differnt type of vent be used. I have been trying to think of ways to keep all that heat out of the attic but I dont want to make a easy way for the wind to take a roof off eather. Just a thought I had reading this verry good thread. 

Hi Tom,

I recall having seen references to ceiling fans but this was on older houses and assumed they had been superseded by other means. They seem like a good idea for the Philippines, if they are available. I am using the Spanish tower idea to create a natural airflow, it is quite common here, in the larger houses, to have the main living area extent up two floors with high level windows to allow the hot air to rise and escape.

Colin

Colin,
A question, with the typhoons that come through the RP are ridge vents a good choice or should a differnt type of vent be used. I have been trying to think of ways to keep all that heat out of the attic but I dont want to make a easy way for the wind to take a roof off eather. Just a thought I had reading this verry good thread. 

Hi Jyrals,

Fortunately we do not get typhoons here on Palawan, they tend to go more across the northern part of Luzon. This could be the reason why builders here do not seem familiar with them. If they were to be used in a typhoon area they would have to be made very strong.

Colin