Old House to New House

[jtmwatchbiz 30,938]

 

 

Here are the outside pictures after the 2011 remodel...

 

the 2011 version is already lookin real good! resembles alot of those hollywood hills spanish style houses that are always my favorite.

 

anxiously awaiting the final set of pics.

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It is not completely done (hardscaping and landscaping still ongoing), but here is what the exterior of the house looks like now...

 

 

 

 

 

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Here is how the interior of the house looks now...

 

Entry

 

Living Room

 

Dining Room

 

Kitchen

 

Hall

 

Master Bedroom

 

Maid's Room

 

Main Bath

 

Family Room

 

Pink Bedroom

 

Guest Bedroom

 

Blue Bedroom (my wife's office)

 

Upstairs Bath

[Headshot 27,900]

If I get some time tomorrow, I will start talking about construction methods and materials used in our project.

[Kuting 330]

wow, you've done an amazing job in transforming the old house into this beauty. may i ask if it was easier and cheaper to renovate than to build from scratch? also if i could be rude, could i ask how much it cost you to update the house? x

[Headshot 27,900]

wow, you've done an amazing job in transforming the old house into this beauty. may i ask if it was easier and cheaper to renovate than to build from scratch? also if i could be rude, could i ask how much it cost you to update the house? x

 

Cheaper and easier? Probably not most of the time...or at least it would depend on a lot of factors. However, my wife wanted to live in the Cebu metro area, so finding a good deal on an unoccupied (buildable) lot that's not in a subdivision with an HOA just isn't that easy to do. When I bought the house, I told my contractor how much I had paid, and he said I bought the lot and got the house free. I have 508 square meters of ground, and the house is now 265 square meters. The major renovation this last year cost us a little over three million pesos. The most important thing to remember if you are looking to do something like this is that the house must have "good bones" or in other words, it must be structurally capable of carrying the weight of an additional story. Most CHB constructed houses in the Philippines simply will NOT give you the structural strength that is needed. This house was built by a Japanese guy who had all of the exterior walls in the first story built of steel-reinforced poured concrete. Even then, I had to use a lot of steel, which I will get into later in the thread.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Headshot

[USMC-Retired 10,986]

No elevator... Damn I thought it was such a grand improvement and looked just awesome till I realized there was no elevator.

 

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[Monsoon 28,935]

Wow, what a difference that marble made. 

 

Very interesting and useful thread for those of us considering a construction project here. 

[Headshot 27,900]

No elevator... Damn I thought it was such a grand improvement and looked just awesome till I realized there was no elevator.

 

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That was because I chose a buildable lot in the first place. If your lot is fairly flat, you don't need an elevator. If you build on the side of a cliff, then you might...

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I was asked in a PM who did the work in my house. My contractor is Ben Simbajon of BS Simbajon Construction, Inc. You can find his contact information here...

 

http://www.livingincebuforums.com/topic/59668-building-contractor/#entry748434

 

All of the craftsmen (carpenters, masons, tile layers, painters, electricians, plumbers, etc.) were people who work for him. To the comment that it looks like they know what they're doing...yes, they do, but that doesn't mean you don't still have to watch them if you want anything special or outside of their normal construction methods. Most problems we had along the way were due to breakdowns in communication. It is amazing how many times things need to be redone because they couldn't understand why I wanted things a certain way. They would nod in understanding, and then try to do things the way they were used to. Then that would get torn out, and things would be done the way I wanted. In the end, they understood why we had done things the way we did. The quality is apparent in the final product.

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One of the parameters the contractor had to work under was that we didn't want all of the interior finish work we had already done in the first floor to be destroyed during construction. To achieve that goal, We gutted the ceilings and some of the roof framing, but left enough to keep the roof on while we installed the steel framework and decking for the second floor, erected steel columns to support the new roof, framed the new roof (steel), and sheathed the new roof. As work was completed on a section of the new roof, the old corresponding section of the old roof was disassembled and scrapped. Some damage was done to finish work in the first floor anyway, but the contractor promised to fix any damage, and he was good to his word. So...here was how work progressed...

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Demolition.

 

House before demolition

 

Top of firewall and music room demolished in preparation for steel framing

 

Look at the amount of rebar in the concrete columns and walls. This is what I call "good bones." The original construction was why we were able to build a second story.

 

While the concrete demolition was going on, more workers were tearing into the ceiling and framing inside.

 

Every piece of wood that wasn't essential to keep the roof up was removed.

 

Pile of scrap dimensional lumber. I'm sure this wood was probably used on other jobs or was given to workers for their own use. That was fine with me.

[Skywalker 19,177]

'Good bones' is one thing, but if the foundations are not right, then adding weight will potentially cause settlement issues later.  

 

But I guess you used a good structural engineer.  I've seen so many houses in SEA that were designed and engineered for one storey, and more have been added (post construction), with the inevitable (often lethal) structural failure.

 

In my own house, despite the fact that we were not adding weight to the structure, I deemed one of the main structural uprights to be less than what I consider good enough,  and had my guys dig out a pit and install another rebar reinforced upright as an added precaution.  Bear in mind I've been building and renovating properties for more than 25 years.

 

I also removed all the timber suspended ceilings and replaced with aluminium, to pre-empt termite issues years down the line.  I'll post some pics when I get more time!

Edited March 27, 2014 by Skywalker

[Headshot 27,900]

'Good bones' is one thing, but if the foundations are not right, then adding weight will potentially cause settlement issues later.  

 

But I guess you used a good structural engineer.  I've seen so many houses in SEA that were designed and engineered for one storey, and more have been added (post construction), with the inevitable (often lethal) structural failure.

 

Before he started his own construction company, Ben Simbajon headed up the structural engineering team for the SM City Mall. While the mall suffered quite a bit of cosmetic damage inside the department store during the earthquake, there was absolutely no damage to any structural elements. Ben did a good job. On my house, he checked to ensure the foundation was adequate before we started anything else.

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Steel Framing

 

All of the steel was delivered to the site during the first week of construction. Notice, this is not lightweight steel.

 

All steel received a coat of red steel primer prior to being installed.

 

Here are steel I-beams that have been installed to support the second floor decking. You will notice that the weight of the I-beams is being supported by steel tubular scaffolding until after the concrete walls are raised to support the bottoms of the beams.

 

Scaffolding and more scaffolding. Not only was scaffolding used to support the workers, but it was also used to support winches and elements of the structure temporarily until they could support themselves. Holes were cut through the existing roofing, so the scaffolding could rise right up through the house.

 

Once steel elements were welded together, the were touched up with red primer, and then a grey epoxy coat was applied to ensure that they never rust. This was done with all structural steel elements.

 

 

Once the I-beams were in place, round steel columns were welded into place to support the roof framing.

 

The roof trusses were framed on-site using steel scaffolding to keep the whole operation level and flat.

 

Then the roof framing was attached to the columns using smaller I-beams, the roof trusses were then attached and stabilized using steel purloins. All connections were welded.

 

This shows how the steel I-beams were laid out to support the steel floor decking and concrete for the second floor.

 

This shows the vertical columns supporting the roof framing after the insulation and roofing was applied. Note that part of the roof isn't complete. Ben's purchasing guy miscalculated the amount of roofing needed and they had to order more. The roof sheeting was epoxy coated, and made in Manila, so they had to have more shipped in.

 

This shows the ceiling trusses for the second floor ceiling. They were the last steel framing element to be put in. They are fairly lightweight, since they just support the lightweight steel ceiling framing and sheetrock, but they are still heavy-duty enough the I can walk across them.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Headshot