Building with VIVA Wood- or fiber cement Boards

[amitsch]

Hello,

i am currently in the planning stage for building a house on Koh Tao.
A friend suggested to use fiber cement panels or -boards on a steel structure instead of cement or brick walls and quoted a price app 25-30% less than i got quoted for a "normal" cement building.
Obvious advantage is: shorter building time and therefor reduction of building costs.

Does any of you know what might be disadvantages of these boards. According to the manufacturers brochure they are everything you need them to be like:
- termite resistant
- water resistant
- fire proof
- lightweight
- heat and sound insulating
- long-lasting
- easy installation
- etc etc...


I would be very thankful for any qualified information.

Thanks guys!!!

[casualbiker]

They can be brittle and snap easily. You will have to budget for insulation. How long do you want it to last?

[weegee]

Quick and easy, but very hot in dry season. Cost wise the cheapest is still brick and cement.....Steel prices here are expensive, Villa board is not so cheap and it

is not the quality you would buy in western countries.....Therefore,WATER does seep through it, in heavy rain...you will need to use expensive sealers and paint.

Most Thai workers know cement, stick with what they know.....

[eyecatcher]

I plan to do the same on my build but I am going the build with masonry first, and then fix vertical steel cladding rails only one inch square or so. And the walls rendered as well first.

Then fix the boards horizontally.

Internally it gives you the opportunity to have a nice plastered wall, insulate it further .

These boards can crack if subject to building movement and if you have nothing substantial internally you will be regretting it, rain will drive in and damage plasterboard, insects,birds,snakes anything will be in.

Treat the boards as cladding only to give you the effect you want to see. This building was clad the same way,and looks fantastic, even the loud colour grows on you.

[IMHO]

No way would I build something I live in out of these.

* Hot (as in hot, hot, hot)

* Can be broken in half by a 2 year old, so useless for security and even just little bumps.

* Regardless of claims, they absorb water and will get mouldy.

* About the same mount of noise insulation as a piece of paper. Same for heat - did I mention how hot they are?

They're great as exterior cladding on a cement rendered wall though..

You're talking about an average time before first repair of as little as minutes, vs 50-100 years for a properly built and cured concrete and brick construction.

Edited August 27, 2014 by IMHO

[amitsch]

First of all thanks to all of you for your input!

@ IMHO

You have personal experience with them?
I think your points are well respected but also a little exaggerated dont you think?

[IMHO]

First of all thanks to all of you for your input!

@ IMHO

You have personal experience with them?

I think your points are well respected but also a little exaggerated dont you think?

I personally love them as cladding - especially when mounted on C-Line with a reflective foil barrier between them and the rendered cement. I also have built a garden shed out of it, used them for the roof of a sala, used the 3cm thick ones for staircase treads, the 2cm thick ones for decking, and the 0.8cm ones for fencing.

That garden shed, even with cement roof tiles, reflective foil, and ventilation is an absolute sauna though.

[amitsch]

Thanks, that explains your above statement respectively puts it into an understandable context.

Cheers for that!

[Gandtee]

The timber decking on my veranda is well past its best and I'm thinking of replacing it with Conwood style decking. Has anyone had experience with this? I am concerned about water and heat abortion.

[IMHO]

The timber decking on my veranda is well past its best and I'm thinking of replacing it with Conwood style decking. Has anyone had experience with this? I am concerned about water and heat abortion.

As noted in one of my previous posts, I have used the 2cm planks for decking. That was done a little over 2 years ago now, and we used the recommended finishing paint. So far, no sign at all of any mold or water ingress/damage. They do get hot in the sun, and they do retain heat... Would I use them again? yes, but only where I'd otherwise use wood... just over a year ago when I did my pool, I considered using it for some decorative decking around it, but binned the idea because of how hot they get.

Edited July 9, 2015 by IMHO

[coulson]

Never used a CFC sheeting as an external wall. It could be used, but only as part of a composite construction with a membrane & insulation + finish to the outside. I do not see how doing this properly would be 25-30% cheaper than a masonry wall. If the steel frame is bringing your costs down, by all means use steel and masonry.

The only place I've used it externally is a soffit sheeting finished with render.

[Crossy]

The timber decking on my veranda is well past its best and I'm thinking of replacing it with Conwood style decking. Has anyone had experience with this? I am concerned about water and heat abortion.

You may want to look at one of the recycled plastic wood substitutes, more flexible (like wood). Probably about half-way in price between the concrete stuff and real hardwood.

[krisb]

You can double or triple or as many layers as you like. Not sure about Thailand but in Aus it comes in various thicknesses and plenty of houses use it as external walling.

[canopy]

Some here might not know viva board is different than gypsum and especially suited for outdoor applications and can take water. It's pretty hard and solid too. The advantage list you made however is exactly the same list as aac blocks like qcon. Actual advantages are a smaller list: (1) viva construction automatically makes a space between walls which is nice for hiding electrical/plumbing chases and putting in insulation and sound proofing. (2) You can get a smoother finished wall that some prefer. However, some people in this case would opt for an aac block wall then a batten and gypsum board on the inside to get the same advantages. The one thing I wonder about these thai type stud walls is how much creaking you get from the steel battens and fasteners expanding and contracting in the heat.