Fixer Up

[FastWalk]

We just bought an older fixer up (but livable as is) house in an older section but near the middle of the closest large city.  Walking distance to a new Robinson Mall and hospital.  Wanted to be closer to services for the family than our beach house that is about 30-45 minutes away and then sometimes spend the weekends at the beach.

It was an ok price (that is the reason to get a fixer up,  (less expensive than land and build).  Now for the fixing...   It is about 400m on a 1000m lot with a nice fence already.  Did I say,  a lot of fixing...

I have done a fixer up,  before and it worked out well for us.

Anyone else doing a fixer up ?

[JoeLP]

Kudos to you man.  In the Phils I don't think I'd want to get into that.  I grew up with parents that worked together very well on doing that. 

My dad had his own construction company, and on top of all the houses/barns/commercial buildings that he built during the day, he'd come home and be working on out house.  Parents always had at least 2 houses and each had their personal address at different houses.  Tax reasons behind that.  But, I moved at least once a year growing up.  Often I wouldn't leave the school district/town we were in, but always moving and moving into half remoded homes that I was the free labor at around age 10 to help remod houses we lived in...sometimes the one owned but not lived in. 

I can remod just about any house in the US now. Hated doing it as a kid, but now I never need to hire anyone to do anything on any of my houses, including additions.  So NOW i'm happy I was raised the way I was....but what I live in here and see here are nothing like what I worked on growing up. From the electrical, to plumbing to building material and setup.  Hell, my first official job was building log homes...I worked a summer before that under the table on the "styrofoam" with column based homes(pretty interesting really, but rarely done, at least in Michigan).  So I have a wide experience...but stuff here is crazy off. 

So best of luck to you.  Be it in form of getting the supplies you need or the people to help you do it.  I just shake my head at the crazy electrical systems I see here. I think it would take a month alone just to take an existing house and rewire it to the code that would make me comfortable when it comes to the circuits and being grounded and proper breakers and all. 

Took me a week to do our home after I showed up and I was lucky I caught the electrician still working on it an stopped him.  Breakers off of breakers off of breakers?  What kind of madness is this?  Then after you rip it all out and redo it you still need to get out the concrete mix and recover the wires.....

I just don't think I have the patience to go through a full remod of a house here in the Phils that was a complete build by local construction norms.  At least not a remod to the level I am comfortable living in.

[FastWalk]

Kudos to you man.  In the Phils I don't think I'd want to get into that.  I grew up with parents that worked together very well on doing that. 

My dad had his own construction company, and on top of all the houses/barns/commercial buildings that he built during the day, he'd come home and be working on out house.  Parents always had at least 2 houses and each had their personal address at different houses.  Tax reasons behind that.  But, I moved at least once a year growing up.  Often I wouldn't leave the school district/town we were in, but always moving and moving into half remoded homes that I was the free labor at around age 10 to help remod houses we lived in...sometimes the one owned but not lived in. 

I can remod just about any house in the US now. Hated doing it as a kid, but now I never need to hire anyone to do anything on any of my houses, including additions.  So NOW i'm happy I was raised the way I was....but what I live in here and see here are nothing like what I worked on growing up. From the electrical, to plumbing to building material and setup.  Hell, my first official job was building log homes...I worked a summer before that under the table on the "styrofoam" with column based homes(pretty interesting really, but rarely done, at least in Michigan).  So I have a wide experience...but stuff here is crazy off. 

So best of luck to you.  Be it in form of getting the supplies you need or the people to help you do it.  I just shake my head at the crazy electrical systems I see here. I think it would take a month alone just to take an existing house and rewire it to the code that would make me comfortable when it comes to the circuits and being grounded and proper breakers and all. 

Took me a week to do our home after I showed up and I was lucky I caught the electrician still working on it an stopped him.  Breakers off of breakers off of breakers?  What kind of madness is this?  Then after you rip it all out and redo it you still need to get out the concrete mix and recover the wires.....

I just don't think I have the patience to go through a full remod of a house here in the Phils that was a complete build by local construction norms.  At least not a remod to the level I am comfortable living in.

thanks.   we are excited about it.

In the past I finished the construction on the  beach house that my MIL lived in until she passed,   so I have some (but not a lot) of experience with construction in the area.  Then after Yolanda we put a flat roof on instead of the broken attic (my avatar picture is from it). 

This new one was a western build about 12 years ago by Japanese ppl.  The lower levels are all good,  but in need of lots of sanding, scraping and refinish.  Will need a complete rewire in the attic.   It is likely we will post some silly construction type questions in the forum as we move along,  some you likely will all get some chuckles out of     And of course there is the expected stuff like that the previous owners care taker somehow lost all of the interior door handles.

[Gray Wolf]

the previous owners care taker somehow lost all of the interior door handles.

Check his house and I bet you'll find them all   

[FastWalk]

What do you guys think about wiring for only local 220 vs also 110.   

I am thinking just go with local standard 220 and use the appropriate electronics.  The little bit of savings I might get by using 110 also for equipment cost can evaporate by just one wrong plugin to the wrong power.

I don't think there is any machine/electronics that can not get a 220 version of ?

[BudM]

Personally, I would not waste my time, energy, or pesos to have 110.  Anything I shipped was multi-voltage except for two small items that were only 110.  I got one of those little converters for those and I still fried one of the items.  The other still works but when it gives out, I will be glad to see it go.  I am tempted to throw it in the garbage anyway just so I can feel good about not seeing it.

[lost_in_samoa]

Local power coop providing a neutral with your 2 220 lines?

[Frosty]

My sister in law had her house wired for both.
the 110 now is not used all.
everything they own now is 220.

[FastWalk]

Thanks for the feedback.   We are proceeding with only 220.

[BudM]

It might be ok for someone constantly going back and forth to somewhere with 110 but if you are based here and only go maybe a couple of weeks once in a while, then 110 is a pain.  Almost anything you buy anymore that you would need for travel is multi.  Just like the last Remington electric shaver I got about 6 years ago.  Side by side at Walmart in the US was the same model with the only difference was one was strictly 110 and the other multi.  A few bucks more for the multi but still cheap and I got it since I am a cheap type of guy.  Still works great but the razor and foil cost more through Lazada then you can get them for at Walmart.  Almost any laptop you buy in the US is multi to my knowledge.  I'm not traveling with a laptop, unless I was moving, so it doesn't matter to me.

If someone is moving here and has 110 appliances, then if you are like me, trash the appliances and get new ones here.  I buy cheap and the stuff still lasts in most cases so if I trashed it, I still got my moneys worth.  I got a cheap microwave when I first came here and it is still going fine.  I bought a total of 5 cheap microwaves since the first one I purchased (that one was second hand) in 1981 or 82.   So, for me, worry about 110 is a waste.  Of course, it might not be for someone else but I am not going to deal with it.

[lost_in_samoa]

I guess I am odd in that I have a lot of power tools.

I inherited a complete 70's construction/furniture shop from my family.  After using them, I've developed a taste for older tools. 

Stuff from the era when gears were forged from steel.  Remember back when items were designed to last?  American made meant something?

I've had a few of the motors re-wrapped for 220.  But it never worked out well.  Tools burnt up.  Didn't run right.

I've smoked so many step-down transformers that I finally had to install a unit large enough to support my entire site.

But what I do is not for everyone.  Good Luck.

[FastWalk]

The roof on this house is a high slope,  with enough space in the attic to be another house...    I don't initially want to tear the roof off and put a flat concrete as it seems like it would be a waist of money.  If I had built from scratch I would have done flat concrete.   

Has anyone ever tried to weld the metal roofing together on a house, at the seems.   The reason would be to be more wind resistant in case of really bad typhoon.

thanks.

[lost_in_samoa]

Has anyone ever tried to weld the metal roofing together on a house, at the seems.   The reason would be to be more wind resistant in case of really bad typhoon.

After Heta, I tried this on an instrument shed in Samoa.  Storm destroyed a gas chromatograph.  The roofing metal turned out to be too thin and the welder ended up blowing holes in the metal.

Might have been the skill level of my welder.  They were in short supply on island.  No real choice.  Might have been that the metal was just too thin for commonly used arc welders.

Our final solution was to increase the overlap with side panels,  use two rows of screws in an alternating pattern to hold down each side instead of one.  Kind of "double stitch" the roofing panel down.

Use hurricane screws, which are the normal roofing metal screws with a thick rubber like washer to seal the screw penetrations.

Hope this helps.

[FastWalk]

Hope this helps.

It does help,   thank you.

[FastWalk]

If you added insulation how did you do it and with what ?   

In the US in the area I am from it is typical that we add insulation on top of the top floor ceiling.  Can I instead just attache to the underside of the roof,   Styrofoam maybe ?  The attic in this house is large enough to be useful,  and would be nicer to be included in the insulated area for cooling.

How did others do insolation ?

Thanks for any ideas.