Why Using Concrete Columns For Build House?

[rgs2001uk]

What you said in your first post and second, I can see where your coming from, correctly fixed and butted to internal walls,maybe it would work.

The question is, what is wrong with just another reinforced cement floor on top if it's the ground floor.?

BUT !!

What about door heights.?

Would it be high enough.?

What are ceiling heights.?

Other solutions would be an external decorative wall barrier.

Where are you in relation to the road.?

Where are neighbours houses in relation to yours.?

A plan would help.

Myself in your situation I would look to getting some good height above flooding levels of the recent ones.

Old mooban (35 years) with home almost to walls and sealed ship has not worked in the past so have had one increase in level and this would be in a portion that can take about 20cm more and still have room for doorways and living. Was thinking less weight better and installation would be much cleaner and likely faster as not have to wait for thick cement to dry.

OK but I don't think it would make much difference IMO to putting blocks and tiles it will still take time, if your going to spend on an improvement then you need to do it right, and what ever way you go there will be a drying time which will be worth the expense.

You can get reinforced concrete ready formed floor panels, layed on supports at wall abutments and intermediate dimensions and then retiled but that will take time too.

Maybe you could look at ways of installing outside drainage gulley's that would accommodate the the amount of water ingress you talk of.

Although very expensive in Thailand a wooded floor construction would be the quick way out.

I love wooded floors all our upstairs is wood, I would have done downstairs if I had been here at the time.

Hope this can give you some idea's.

All the talk and information of what's in Europe and Oz doesn't really help much when it comes to good old Thailand.

Lopburi,

all the above advice is good, however there may well be an easier and cheaper way of solving your problem.

What about raising the enterance height of your door.

By this I mean, remove the current door and frame, lay a couple of rows of bricks, then cut to size exisitng door and frame and refit.

Basically you can raise the height by the 20 cm you seek, and will now have in place a step over enterance, leaving the exisitng floor in place.

Hope the above makes sense.

Another thing that sticks out, "Old mooban (35 years) with home".

Are you suffering from rising damp?

[bigdod]

1. Its up a couple of metres from the blacktop and then another metre or so down the other side to the rice paddy.

2. I also had a water well drilled and the guy had to drill through mostly rock to get to it.

3. Foundation importants,(I did kinda figure that part out for myself too....)

4. To engage the services of someone that does this for a living and see what he says.

5. Interesting point about the earthing though.....I never considered that.

6. And of course......small lady is chewing my ear to just slap some bricks together....

1. Sounds good, your good to go.

2. Sounds good too, nice consolidated ground.

3. Foundations can be really simple, it really depends on what your house design is going to be like e.g. 1 floor 2 floors ??

4. One of the local builders could easilly sort you with a foundation you just need area plans of the house.

5. Have you got electricity poles nearby or that could cost you as well. ??

Also a copper rod driven into the ground will give you enough earth protection.

Also if your getting air-cons, water heaters and electrical showers you want 15/45amp supply.

6. Duct tape is available at you local Homepro or Homemart.

I'll post a drawing for you, which regulated sizes but can be taken down a bit, again depending support required.

1. Its not all sweetness & light.... water pools down beside the blacktop and recently its been a quagmire there...so I'm thinkin about digging it down and back filling with a couple of feet of hardcore to toughen it up

2. Pretty much....I'm quietly confident about that....

3. I fancy a single storey house but raised up a metre or so, so that there's air gap below which should also assist with plumbing etc....

4. Plans.....aha, I need someone that can first decipher beer mat sketches.....

5. There is a point I can tie into about 350/400m up the road. Got a reasonable quote to take care of that too (40k all in) How far in does the copper rod need to go....any idea...?? I'm guessing here too that I need to wire the place up with earths to all the outlets etc even though nothing you can buy here is earthed...?? I need to read up a bit on this too now you come to mention it.....

6. Duct tape is looking like being my first emergency purchase.....:jap:

cheers everyone for your input......keep it coming

[Kwasaki]

1. Its up a couple of metres from the blacktop and then another metre or so down the other side to the rice paddy.

2. I also had a water well drilled and the guy had to drill through mostly rock to get to it.

3. Foundation importants,(I did kinda figure that part out for myself too....)

4. To engage the services of someone that does this for a living and see what he says.

5. Interesting point about the earthing though.....I never considered that.

6. And of course......small lady is chewing my ear to just slap some bricks together....

1. Sounds good, your good to go.

2. Sounds good too, nice consolidated ground.

3. Foundations can be really simple, it really depends on what your house design is going to be like e.g. 1 floor 2 floors ??

4. One of the local builders could easilly sort you with a foundation you just need area plans of the house.

5. Have you got electricity poles nearby or that could cost you as well. ??

Also a copper rod driven into the ground will give you enough earth protection.

Also if your getting air-cons, water heaters and electrical showers you want 15/45amp supply.

6. Duct tape is available at you local Homepro or Homemart.

I'll post a drawing for you, which regulated sizes but can be taken down a bit, again depending support required.

1. Its not all sweetness & light.... water pools down beside the blacktop and recently its been a quagmire there...so I'm thinkin about digging it down and back filling with a couple of feet of hardcore to toughen it up

2. Pretty much....I'm quietly confident about that....

3. I fancy a single storey house but raised up a metre or so, so that there's air gap below which should also assist with plumbing etc....

4. Plans.....aha, I need someone that can first decipher beer mat sketches.....

5. There is a point I can tie into about 350/400m up the road. Got a reasonable quote to take care of that too (40k all in) How far in does the copper rod need to go....any idea...?? I'm guessing here too that I need to wire the place up with earths to all the outlets etc even though nothing you can buy here is earthed...?? I need to read up a bit on this too now you come to mention it.....

6. Duct tape is looking like being my first emergency purchase.....:jap:

cheers everyone for your input......keep it coming

I'll answer on your thread .

[Kwasaki]

Lopburi,

all the above advice is good, however there may well be an easier and cheaper way of solving your problem.

What about raising the enterance height of your door.

By this I mean, remove the current door and frame, lay a couple of rows of bricks, then cut to size exisitng door and frame and refit.

Basically you can raise the height by the 20 cm you seek, and will now have in place a step over enterance, leaving the exisitng floor in place.

Hope the above makes sense.

Another thing that sticks out, "Old mooban (35 years) with home".

Are you suffering from rising damp?

Another good idea and a cheap quick fix, without seeing the house and what's the situated it's difficult to access these things.

[splitlid]

Lopburi,

all the above advice is good, however there may well be an easier and cheaper way of solving your problem.

What about raising the enterance height of your door.

By this I mean, remove the current door and frame, lay a couple of rows of bricks, then cut to size exisitng door and frame and refit.

Basically you can raise the height by the 20 cm you seek, and will now have in place a step over enterance, leaving the exisitng floor in place.

Hope the above makes sense.

Another thing that sticks out, "Old mooban (35 years) with home".

Are you suffering from rising damp?

Another good idea and a cheap quick fix, without seeing the house and what's the situated it's difficult to access these things.

shirley the easiest option is to just make some boards out of plywood, paint them a few times to seal them, then when the floods come just silicone them to the door frame.

no water inside.

and no messing about with the house.

now, about concrete columns, which arnt necessary here, unless using non load bearing materials, but there are plenty of load bearing blocks and materials available here.

so if you can, dont use them.

they are nothing but trouble.

[JohanB]

I built our house ,by my own drawings, in a remote area in Nakhon Sawan, a couple of years ago of 20cm superblocks (AAC) on a reinforced concrete raft slab without poles. Prefabricated (by uur selves) steel trusses bolted to cast in lugs on a 5x15cm reinforced concrete lintel around the perimeter of the walls.

All electric and water pipes are cut in to the superblocks. You can cut 25mm in to a 20cm superblock, without risk the structual strength. Th only concrete poles you see in some pics, are only cast into the beams and not digged out under. They are for supporting the roof over the almost open mid-section-room in the house.

The problem I encountered was that nobody had any knowledge of using AAC:s in a load bearing construction on a concrete raft slab. I think the pole-system, even in non/wooden houses, is a heritage from building with wooden poles.

The company Superblock even sent instructors with the shipment, to teach our builing crew. (village workers)

[PattayaParent]

Take a look at the site and pics; in between the super blocks , there are columns...

Blocks alone would never be as strong as columns with re bar inside, and would never be able to hold a structure.

Most houses in England are built with blocks only or with bricks, in Viet Nam also you see old houses only built with bricks.

The main reason they don't use them here is that Thai brickies don't bond the blocks, they just lay them one on top of the other which makes the wall weak.

[Kwasaki]

I built our house ,by my own drawings, in a remote area in Nakhon Sawan, a couple of years ago of 20cm superblocks (AAC) on a reinforced concrete raft slab without poles. Prefabricated (by uur selves) steel trusses bolted to cast in lugs on a 5x15cm reinforced concrete lintel around the perimeter of the walls.

All electric and water pipes are cut in to the superblocks. You can cut 25mm in to a 20cm superblock, without risk the structual strength. Th only concrete poles you see in some pics, are only cast into the beams and not digged out under. They are for supporting the roof over the almost open mid-section-room in the house.

The problem I encountered was that nobody had any knowledge of using AAC:s in a load bearing construction on a concrete raft slab. I think the pole-system, even in non/wooden houses, is a heritage from building with wooden poles.

The company Superblock even sent instructors with the shipment, to teach our builing crew. (village workers)

Very nice too, looks a great build, maybe the way for " bigdod " to go.

[JohanB]

I built our house ,by my own drawings, in a remote area in Nakhon Sawan, a couple of years ago of 20cm superblocks (AAC) on a reinforced concrete raft slab without poles. Prefabricated (by uur selves) steel trusses bolted to cast in lugs on a 5x15cm reinforced concrete lintel around the perimeter of the walls.

All electric and water pipes are cut in to the superblocks. You can cut 25mm in to a 20cm superblock, without risk the structual strength. Th only concrete poles you see in some pics, are only cast into the beams and not digged out under. They are for supporting the roof over the almost open mid-section-room in the house.

The problem I encountered was that nobody had any knowledge of using AAC:s in a load bearing construction on a concrete raft slab. I think the pole-system, even in non/wooden houses, is a heritage from building with wooden poles.

The company Superblock even sent instructors with the shipment, to teach our builing crew. (village workers)

Very nice too, looks a great build, maybe the way for " bigdod " to go.

Yes maybe a good idea, but you must know how to make the slab sitting steady on the soil. To have a stable slab is the key to a good building that never cracks.

First shave away all organic material from the building site. Then level the site with a very stiff material called "Lacterite" (used in road construction) Or Macadam, hire in a road compactor to compact the foundation firmly.

Then used gravel and sand under the slab reinforcement beams, with absolutely no organic material in it.

Compacted sand, ground-cloth ( also used in road construction), and washed gravel top layer in the filling between the beams under the slab, to cut the mostiure suck up path from the ground.

All layers watered compacted separately, so the whole underside of the slab is supported.

This makes the load on the ground distributed all under the slab and the ground pressure very low / SQ-meter. The slab is actually "floating" on the ground, so thats why its called "Raft slab"

I will put some more pictures in a separate post, not to risk loosing my writing on the slow EDGE internet I have.

/JohanB

[JohanB]

How to make a steady "raft slab" in pictures. The red stuff spreaded on the yellow sand is "Lacterite", but good "MacAdam" will do too if you can find.

/Johan

[Kwasaki]

How to make a steady "raft slab" in pictures. The red stuff spreaded on the yellow sand is "Lacterite", but good "MacAdam" will do too if you can find.

attachment=149746:Maelaewa 283.jpg]

/Johan

Like I said thats a beaut of a build, thanks for the great pictures, interesting for some who want to go the same way.

There's usually a land location reason for raft type foundations, was this in your case or was it your preference.?

I would also think it is not in the buget for some who want to build and out of there price range.

The 8 square shuttered poles with reinforcement within would be considered as columns which are raised from the slab and being tied in as you say.

Congratulations and enjoy your new home it looks great.

[JohanB]

How to make a steady "raft slab" in pictures. The red stuff spreaded on the yellow sand is "Lacterite", but good "MacAdam" will do too if you can find.

attachment=149746:Maelaewa 283.jpg]

/Johan

Like I said thats a beaut of a build, thanks for the great pictures, interesting for some who want to go the same way.

There's usually a land location reason for raft type foundations, was this in your case or was it your preference.?

I would also think it is not in the buget for some who want to build and out of there price range.

The 8 square shuttered poles with reinforcement within would be considered as columns which are raised from the slab and being tied in as you say.

Congratulations and enjoy your new home it looks great.

Yes, some parts of the ground under the house is quite soft and watery and other parts dry and solid. Thats the reson I wanted the stiff slab to float on the land.

Its actually 2 slabs, forming a T with a lose connection to release tension. Movement between them is only a couple of millimeters in 3 years.

The reason I wanted to build exactly there in this spot, is the nice and clean Mae Wong River, passing by below the veranda......

/Johan

[thomas2969]

The house looks really nice,thank for share. I look forward to see more pictures and also House Plan if it´s available.

You said you build your house without concrete columns but if i look on the right way Picture Number 283 it show concrete columns?

If i am right, Superblock they also have Floor slaps for build a two storey house also. So, it mean there is no problem to build a two storey house without concrete columns. What is your opinion about it?

Regards

Thomas

/Johan

Edited November 10, 2011 by thomas2969

[maxpower]

?

Edited January 12, 2012 by maxpower

[thunder30101]

Simple engineering basically if you use the standard sold everywhere aac blocks here you will notice they are all 7.5 width which is not enough to support the weight load bearing for your roofing structure, now if you special order the wider widths (which you dont see for sale in most places) that are load bearing rated you wont need those posts, but your costs will skyrocket. Post construction with filler block in between is a cheap building method used the world over, the posts and cross beams support the roofing weight with red brick, cinder block or 7.5 aac as a filler material for the walls. Your only other options are using steel for your posts (expensive) or wood (termites and expensive). Personally in thailand with the limited choices of building materials I prefer post and beam with cheap double block walls with an air gap for insulation. AAC block in thailand is highly over rated by people with no real construction exp. In a few years all of that aac block produced without any bacterial or mold retardant in the mix will cause many people many problems. It makes me think of all this sheetrock being used now in houses in a tropical enviroment what a mess to come.

[Kwasaki]

Simple engineering basically if you use the standard sold everywhere aac blocks here you will notice they are all 7.5 width which is not enough to support the weight load bearing for your roofing structure, now if you special order the wider widths (which you dont see for sale in most places) that are load bearing rated you wont need those posts, but your costs will skyrocket. Post construction with filler block in between is a cheap building method used the world over, the posts and cross beams support the roofing weight with red brick, cinder block or 7.5 aac as a filler material for the walls. Your only other options are using steel for your posts (expensive) or wood (termites and expensive). Personally in thailand with the limited choices of building materials I prefer post and beam with cheap double block walls with an air gap for insulation. AAC block in thailand is highly over rated by people with no real construction exp. In a few years all of that aac block produced without any bacterial or mold retardant in the mix will cause many people many problems. It makes me think of all this sheetrock being used now in houses in a tropical enviroment what a mess to come.

Yes but if you use steel OK if cost is not important, and wood is no problem if it is the Thai hard wood treated or some cases untreated.

Preformed or site constructed beams with inconnecting walls is always the way I would go.

That said AAC blocks have been around since the 1920's whether AAC are use or not what makes you think they are not produced in Thailand to the the same spec.

There's nothing wrong with dry lining products here either.

I think you are unnecessarily scaremongering

Edited January 12, 2012 by Kwasaki

[astral]

LOS is an earthquake area, especially in the north.

I understand the concrete pillars give greater strength and stability to the whole building.

[WarpSpeed]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

[sezze]

There is nothing wrong with working with columns . In fact , everywhere around the world , yes also in Europe , industrial buildings are build with columns . There is less need for a solid foundation with columns , as only the columns need the solid foundation . I do not believe anybody saves 1 satang when not using columns as they are not expensive . They are also quite easy to work with , fill in the spaces in the middle as you want , because non load bearing . Another thing , and this is told to me in the past when i build my house . When putting on the columns , you can put on the roof allready , so the workers afterwards are not working in full sun or rain . Plenty of advantages working with columns and i do not see disadvantages at all ( strong , cheap , easy to build with ) .

[Kwasaki]

LOS is an earthquake area, especially in the north.

I understand the concrete pillars give greater strength and stability to the whole building.

Yes because they give more lateral movement to the building, and also the beams tied into them make a framework.

Still get out and away from buildings if you can or stand under door frames or wooden staircases or dive under one of those really thick hardwood tables I have seen in Thailand.

If concrete plank flooring is used, use intermediate beams on upper floors.

[Naam]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

how hurricane proof where the matchstick roof trusses, the plywood and the shingles?

[Kwasaki]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

Yes but whatever you use what does a roof rest upon.

[Kwasaki]

There is nothing wrong with working with columns . In fact , everywhere around the world , yes also in Europe , industrial buildings are build with columns . There is less need for a solid foundation with columns , as only the columns need the solid foundation . I do not believe anybody saves 1 satang when not using columns as they are not expensive . They are also quite easy to work with , fill in the spaces in the middle as you want , because non load bearing . Another thing , and this is told to me in the past when i build my house . When putting on the columns , you can put on the roof allready , so the workers afterwards are not working in full sun or rain . Plenty of advantages working with columns and i do not see disadvantages at all ( strong , cheap , easy to build with ) .

+1

[WarpSpeed]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

how hurricane proof where the matchstick roof trusses, the plywood and the shingles?

Is he asking about those or is he asking about the walls and foundation? But in spite of being off topic for a fact it has EVERYTHING to do with the design of those as well and there are many designs and materials that hold up equally well.. Simple really, take a page from automobile aerodynamics what makes them hold together and keeps it on the ground? Apply that logic and you can realize designs that work..

What usually makes roofs fail is not their design but upkeep such as termites in the attic trusses etc. one small weak point in the wrong place can be exploited, especially at those wind speeds.

JFYI anyone who thinks that the current house/s they live in here won't come tumbling down on top of them in the slightest tremor is foolish and naive beyond all belief as the roof trusses here are barely welded together, the tiles even less so mostly with thin, non-rust proofed tye wire and the walls between the columns will crumble like those proverbial matchsticks even if the columns stay in place and they weigh a whole lot more. ....

Edited January 14, 2012 by WarpSpeed

[WarpSpeed]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

Yes but whatever you use what does a roof rest upon.

Trusses and walls? Your statement evades me ? There are thousands of homes in Florida that have stood through decades of massive storms and are still standing..

[Kwasaki]

As a point of reference, a lot of the old housing authority single family homes that were built around Bangkok in the 1970's have walls made of concrete "cinder" blocks without columns. They also used wooden piles with a concrete pile cap for the foundation. Most of those that received any kind of routine maintenance are still around and very much habitable today. These are typically two storey, three bedroom homes.

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

Yes but whatever you use what does a roof rest upon.

Trusses and walls? Your statement evades me ? There are thousands of homes in Florida that have stood through decades of massive storms and are still standing..

I was just pointing out you wouldn't or shouldn't put roof trusses dirrectly on top of blockwork walls.

On top of the walls there is alway a beam, which acts the same as a column whether it's in timber or other material, beam tied to wall, trusses tied to beam.

Sitting a concrete padstone on top of a blockwork column for the truss to sit on is an alternative.

Quite right what you said before " simple really ".

Edited January 14, 2012 by Kwasaki

[Naam]

Is he asking about those or is he asking about the walls and foundation? But in spite of being off topic for a fact it has EVERYTHING to do with the design of those as well and there are many designs and materials that hold up equally well.. Simple really, take a page from automobile aerodynamics what makes them hold together and keeps it on the ground? Apply that logic and you can realize designs that work..

What usually makes roofs fail is not their design but upkeep such as termites in the attic trusses etc. one small weak point in the wrong place can be exploited, especially at those wind speeds.

JFYI anyone who thinks that the current house/s they live in here won't come tumbling down on top of them in the slightest tremor is foolish and naive beyond all belief as the roof trusses here are barely welded together, the tiles even less so mostly with thin, non-rust proofed tye wire and the walls between the columns will crumble like those proverbial matchsticks even if the columns stay in place and they weigh a whole lot more. ....

i was clarly referring to "hurricane proof". having lived in Florida from 1989 till 2004, built four homes, saw what a few hurricanes (among them "Andrew") caused, nobody needs to lecture me on how foundations and walls make a home "hurricane proof".

hurricanes or tornadoes give a sh*t about foundations and walls. the weakest point of most american homes is the utmost flimsy roof structure as well as the roof itself (plywood and asphalt shingles) and no diversion such as "[here in Thailand]... barely welded together... wires rusting... walls crumbling" changes that fact. by the way, wires are superflous if the local concrete roof tiles are correctly overlapping.

the same applies to "hurricane anchors" which all Florida building departments adopted after "Andrew". even an infinite number of these anchors will not prevent a category 4 or 5 to blow any matchstick roof off the best engineered walls. period!

[sezze]

Is he asking about those or is he asking about the walls and foundation? But in spite of being off topic for a fact it has EVERYTHING to do with the design of those as well and there are many designs and materials that hold up equally well.. Simple really, take a page from automobile aerodynamics what makes them hold together and keeps it on the ground? Apply that logic and you can realize designs that work..

What usually makes roofs fail is not their design but upkeep such as termites in the attic trusses etc. one small weak point in the wrong place can be exploited, especially at those wind speeds.

JFYI anyone who thinks that the current house/s they live in here won't come tumbling down on top of them in the slightest tremor is foolish and naive beyond all belief as the roof trusses here are barely welded together, the tiles even less so mostly with thin, non-rust proofed tye wire and the walls between the columns will crumble like those proverbial matchsticks even if the columns stay in place and they weigh a whole lot more. ....

i was clarly referring to "hurricane proof". having lived in Florida from 1989 till 2004, built four homes, saw what a few hurricanes (among them "Andrew") caused, nobody needs to lecture me on how foundations and walls make a home "hurricane proof".

hurricanes or tornadoes give a sh*t about foundations and walls. the weakest point of most american homes is the utmost flimsy roof structure as well as the roof itself (plywood and asphalt shingles) and no diversion such as "[here in Thailand]... barely welded together... wires rusting... walls crumbling" changes that fact. by the way, wires are superflous if the local concrete roof tiles are correctly overlapping.

the same applies to "hurricane anchors" which all Florida building departments adopted after "Andrew". even an infinite number of these anchors will not prevent a category 4 or 5 to blow any matchstick roof off the best engineered walls. period!

I agree , many roof systems in Thailand have nice steel framework but extremely bad welding . On top they put mighty heavy tiled roofs , which are not good for Thai climate IMHO and are just to heavy in general . That's why i stick with steel sheet ( like colorbond ) roof systems as they are thermally better , and do not have any weight to speak off .

[WarpSpeed]

Built 150 MPH hurricane proof housing for decades back in Florida with no columns just concrete cinder blocks, albeit double the thickness of the local blocks but there you have it, it would be easy enough to double them and leave an air gap for insulation, wiring, plumbing and circulation though the cost will double you'll have a much better built, cooler house then anything else around.

There is a relatively new style of brick (I can never remember the name of) that even has a press you can purchase to make your own on site and the are cupped and dished to interlock and much thicker then local blocks, it's certain you can use these without columns as they are very dense and thick..

Yes but whatever you use what does a roof rest upon.

Trusses and walls? Your statement evades me ? There are thousands of homes in Florida that have stood through decades of massive storms and are still standing..

I was just pointing out you wouldn't or shouldn't put roof trusses dirrectly on top of blockwork walls.

On top of the walls there is alway a beam, which acts the same as a column whether it's in timber or other material, beam tied to wall, trusses tied to beam.

Sitting a concrete padstone on top of a blockwork column for the truss to sit on is an alternative.

Quite right what you said before " simple really ".

Yes of course there is a "beam" on top of the block wall but as I understand it he's not referring to THAT type of beam, I read it that he's referring to vertical columns yes?

[WarpSpeed]

Is he asking about those or is he asking about the walls and foundation? But in spite of being off topic for a fact it has EVERYTHING to do with the design of those as well and there are many designs and materials that hold up equally well.. Simple really, take a page from automobile aerodynamics what makes them hold together and keeps it on the ground? Apply that logic and you can realize designs that work..

What usually makes roofs fail is not their design but upkeep such as termites in the attic trusses etc. one small weak point in the wrong place can be exploited, especially at those wind speeds.

JFYI anyone who thinks that the current house/s they live in here won't come tumbling down on top of them in the slightest tremor is foolish and naive beyond all belief as the roof trusses here are barely welded together, the tiles even less so mostly with thin, non-rust proofed tye wire and the walls between the columns will crumble like those proverbial matchsticks even if the columns stay in place and they weigh a whole lot more. ....

i was clarly referring to "hurricane proof". having lived in Florida from 1989 till 2004, built four homes, saw what a few hurricanes (among them "Andrew") caused, nobody needs to lecture me on how foundations and walls make a home "hurricane proof".

hurricanes or tornadoes give a sh*t about foundations and walls. the weakest point of most american homes is the utmost flimsy roof structure as well as the roof itself (plywood and asphalt shingles) and no diversion such as "[here in Thailand]... barely welded together... wires rusting... walls crumbling" changes that fact. by the way, wires are superflous if the local concrete roof tiles are correctly overlapping.

the same applies to "hurricane anchors" which all Florida building departments adopted after "Andrew". even an infinite number of these anchors will not prevent a category 4 or 5 to blow any matchstick roof off the best engineered walls. period!

Wow! Apparently you do need a lecture as you're clearly sorely misinformed on Florida building codes (having said that it's important to realize that I am a Florida native of 45 years, with a Florida building contractors license not a transient temporary resident) a lot of illinformed generalizations made in your post about mulitple building codes that span mulitple County and city jurisdictions.. Hurricane "proof" was stated at the limitation of 150MPH was it or was it not? And applied to new building structures as it has for decades now not the extreme of a tornado spawned by a hurricane in which winds often exceed 250Mph for which the only real protection is hiding underground.. Furthermore that is taken on the context of a new construction and why your mentioning a code that was enacted IN ONLY CERTAIN districts (in many others it was already law) post a storm that was almost 20 years ago is beyond me? Completely irrelevant to the discussion of todays codes and building standards..

What you fail to understand is some codes just as in many California codes are expressly written to require lighter building materials to prevent serious injury just like crush zones on a car for instance. In Ca for example when I was in high school over 30 years ago in San Diego they were building a new school and it was all manufactured of lighter materials designed to flex and move and not to crush (victims) if the school collapsed (within reason) where as the 100 year old school they tore down was actually made of much stronger, heavier, inflexible materials I.E. stone, brick and cement that took 20 hits with a 2 ton wrecking ball to crack the paint and came down in massive chunks of death had that been a quake..

The reason I took note of this was because it was a study project I made for myself as I was studying architectural drafting and design at the time with eyes on a future in that field and decided this was a rare hands on learning opportunity and made an A++ report on it..

The roofs you see or saw torn off in Florida were both improperly fixed on some buildings or it wasn't required at the time or in the given district by code and some where corners were cut but, as stated, also many that were in disrepair and knowing which ones failed to do those issues is debatable but certainly unknown with certainty so unremarkable in todays topic and your across the board generalizations.

Plywood and asphalt shingles indeed........ Further proof of very limited knowledge of Florida construction on your part and the purpose of those as well..

In EVERY locale in order for houses to be affordable to the masses instead of a privileged minuscule few some compromises have to be made in their construction otherwise if they're all fortresses no one could afford to own one except maybe Bill Gates ...