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Our Philippine house project: the

structural heart of the house concrete
columns and beams

Share the joy

Our Philippine house building project: reinforced concrete columns and beams, the
heart of the house. What we did right in building our Philippine house and suggestions
on how to do a better job. Learn from our experiences! Just keep in mind that we are
not engineers or design professionals. We urge you to have your building engineered
by an engineer. We share our personal experiences and insights. They may help you
ask the right questions as your house is designed an built.

ROOF BEAMS ARE NOTHING NEW

PARTHENON
Hollow block walls in Philippine residential construction dont have much load carrying
capacity or the shear strength need to withstand lateral shaking. Thats why its so
important that the reinforced concrete columns and the roof and lintel beams are
properly specified and constructed. They may look fine until the shaking begins. During
the day that we written this weve had a number of tremors. Poor design
or construction can have disastrous consequences.

HYATT TERRACES HOTEL, BAGUIO

HOLLOW BLOCK HOTEL, 1964 VALDEZ EARTHQUAKE, ALASKA

This post will show how we constructed our columns and beams and will discuss some
ways in which we could have done a better job if we had known then what we know
now. Take advantage of what weve learned. While Bob was generally knowledgeable
about construction in the US, he had little experience with concrete and reinforcing bar
(rebar). Most of the Philippines, Panay Island included, experiences severe
earthquakes. An 8.2 magnitude quake struck our area in 1948, causing extensive
damage. We told our engineers we wanted home designed to survive earthquakes.
Here are some of the issues we faced.

Our crew, which was hardworking, intelligent and experienced, really knew
nothing about structural engineering. What they knew was learned haphazardly from
years of work building residences and other modest structures. They had not worked
on higher-end commercial projects where, presumably, they would have worked
under the supervision of an engineer and learned basic engineering practices for
using concrete and rebar properly.
We assumed that the plans developed by our engineers would ensure, if
followed, that our project would result in a soundly engineered house. In some
aspects, the design of the beams and columns, quantity and size of rebar, this goal
was met. Most people who looked at the way we built the house thought it
was ridiculously overbuilt. They may have been right in terms of concrete mixes,
column and beam sizes, and quantity of reinforcing bar. We used good materials
but, unknowingly, did not always follow good engineering practices. Why? In many
critical areas, the plans were woefully deficient. They did not provide details that
were needed to properly tie together rebar joints for maximum strength. There were
no rebar splicing details. There were few details about such critical issues such as
adequately tying corners and walls together so that the building can act as a unit to
resist earthquake stresses. Given that there were few instructions in the plans, the
workers followed their own instincts and prior experiences. While Bob was not
knowledgeable about such matters, he was on the job every day and became
uneasy about some of the work. He called in the engineer and
the inadequate splicing of the roof tie beam were corrected.

ENGINEER AND CREW MEET TO TALK OVER REBAR SPLICING

PROBLEMS. SEE ENGINEERS CHALK MARKS ON WALL GIVING
SPLICING INSTRUCTIONS.
However some other rebar placement and splicing work is seen to be inadequate. One
conclusion which can be drawn is that the owner cant depend on workers or engineers
to ensure that ones dream home is properly built. The owner must educate himself, in
advance, about building principles. One book I highly recommend is Peace of Mind
in Earthquake Country by Peter Yanev. I only wish I bought and read it before
building our house rather than after! You can buy the book inexpensively from
amazon.com. There should be an ad for it to the right. If you use that link,
MyPhilippineLife.com will get a small commission. Since the book can be obtained for
three or four dollars, dont worry too much much about our profiteering!

What was the engineers response to our complaints about the missing
engineering details? Basically that the workers should know how to do these things.
Obviously, they did not. If they did, why we would we need an engineer?

In some respects, the plans could have incorporated more

advanced engineering practices, especially given the mandate to make the building
earthquake resistant. For example, our house has unusually large windows. These
can very substantially reduce the shear strength of the building. It would have been
better if we had strengthened the wall areas surrounding the window openings. We
have bond or tie beams above the windows windows (lintel beams) and at the top of
the wall the roof beam. A bond beam below the windows would have also
strengthened the structure. We had a few downright engineering missteps. One of
these was leaving out a beam needed to support the roof rafters over the porch. The
solution involved demolishing some work already done and installing a pretty dodgy
beam and column add-on. Overall, our engineering experience was disappointing to
us. A recommendation that we use nine meter long rebar rather than six meter
would have resulted in less splices and a stronger building.
We are going to assume that someone is going to check and double-check the column
layout that columns are in the right places, that the building is square, that the
columns are plumb. Our foremen and crew were pretty good about that. Now well look
at how we did things in a series of photos showing what we did and pointing out some
pitfalls that you can avoid. We are going to be honest about our shortcomings in the
hope that others can benefit. We are covering concrete, concrete mixes and
concrete vibration in another post and hollow blocks in yet another.

DIGGING THE COLUMN FOOTERS

The workers insisted on using mahogany rather than coconut lumber for batter boards.
They were right. We were able to reuse the mahogany many times. Coco lumber is
much poorer quality. The crew did a good job laying out the house using simple tools
fish line, a water level and my 25m tape. The only problem was that they assumed that
the front of the house faced the road. It actually faces the mountains. They had to
reverse some of the layout. What a start! Anyway, they did a good job. Again, its

critical that the layout work be near perfect. Small problems with the layout can cause
big problems later.

CONSTRUCTING THE REBAR COLUMN CAGE

COLUMN REBAR GOING UP

COLUMN REBAR CAGE AND FOOTER.

The rebar mat supporting the columns is constructed grid of sixteen pieces of 16mm
rebar wired together. The mat and the footer are 1.2 meters (about 4) square. The
footer excavation is 1.2 meters deep. The column rebar cage is of 12mm rebar,
the stirrups 10mm. As you can see in the photo, the bottoms of the vertical rebar are
bent and wired to the mat.
Thus, for our one story house, a six meter rebar extends without a splice from four feet
underground to a few inches above the roof beam in which it is embedded. As you
can see in the photo, this particular column is at a corner of the house, is L-shaped, and
consists of seven 12mm rebar. There is nothing to apologize for here. It should be
an usually sturdy column resting on a substantial footer, possibly suitable for a two-story
residence.
The photo above also gives a good overview of how the footers were done. Our
workers put a shallow layer of large gravel in the bottom of the 1.2 meter deep footer
excavation, perhaps 4 of it. (No gravel was indicated in the plans. Were not sure if this
was necessary or desirable.) Then the rebar mat goes in the bottom and the column
cages are put in and wired to the mat with 16 gauge galvanized tie wire. Then the

column footer is poured. The plans call for the footer to be 1.2 meters square by 25 cm
(10) depth. Hint. Make sure your workers support the mat above the bottom of the
footer so that the column rebar is embedded in and bears on the concrete footer, not on
the dirt underneath. My workers had to be instructed to do this. To raise the mat you
can use stones to lift up the mat so that the concrete will flow under the mat. Also
make sure that the footer extends the full depth into undisturbed native soil. We had
done some filling of the area where the house was to be built, so our excavations had
to be deeper 1.2 meters plus whatever depth of fill there is.

COLUMN FORMS WERE OF MAHOGANY 22 AND 1/2 MARINE PLYWOOD

Once the concrete footer has set, the plywood forms are secured around the column
rebar assembly. Use good materials for the forms. During the project these materials
will be used and used and reused. Coco lumber and thin plywood will not hold up. Of
course its essential to check and double check that the columns are exactly in the right
place and that the forms are plumb. The columns, which total about fifteen feet high, are
formed up and poured in sections. Make sure the rebar is centered in the forms. As
youll see, its very difficult to fill every void in a column form. The the usual Filipino
method is to use quite soupy concrete which flows easily, but of course the column will
be weaker. Our L-shaped corner columns have advantages. They make strong corners
which end up being the same thickness as a six inch hollow block. That means there is
no exposed column to work around during finishing. Youll have a simple, square corner.
The downside is that the column form is filled with lots of steel which the cement may
have a hard time flowing around. Apply the rule of thumb that the aggregate should be
no larger than 75% of the smallest gap the concrete need to flow through.
See http://www.concretenetwork.com/aggregate/gradations.html. Any big stones
are going to catch in the rebar and prevent a proper flow. Keeping the column concrete
thick enough to be strong and thin enough to fill the form is tricky.

We used a gasoline powered concrete vibrator to try to ensure there were no voids in
concrete as we filled the forms. The vibrator has a long flexible shaft with a vibrator on
the end. The use of vibrators is common in non-residential concrete work. More on the
vibrator HERE and HERE. We pried the forms off our first column and this is what we
found. We were all pretty discouraged.

DEMOLITION OF COLUMN

ANOTHER COLUMN PROBLEM

I was in Iloilo buying supplies. When I got back I saw a suspicious looking patch on a
another column. The tried to hide this behind some mortar. This is what it looked like
after a removed the mortar.

A GOOD COLUMN, BUT OTHER PROBLEMS

This L-shaped corner column looks to be just about perfect. The rebar protruding from
the column will be spliced into the horizontal rebar in the hollow block
walls. The protruding rebar on the right is far too short to make a strong
splice. When the earthquake shaking starts, the building corners are critical to holding
the building together. Its hard to imagine these tiny splices doing the job.

CORNER AND TEE COLUMN PLANS

Compare this to my rough drawing showing stronger rebar placement in corners.
The outside rebarshould be bent around the corner and extend as far as possible
into each wall. Of course these long rebar tails are a bother on the construction site.
Also, consider using longer rebar in beams than the standard 6M (20) lengths. That
means less splices and more strength.
The ends of the inside rebar should be bent down into the block cavity.

POORLY TIED CORNER

I did not have a good photo showing how the corners were tied in our house but the
above photo of another house under construction illustrates the problem very well. This
house uses lots of rebar no expense is being spared but note how little attention is
being paid to tying the corners together. It is these corners which will come under

tremendous stress in a seismic event. Wed love to hear an explanation from an

engineer as to why things are done this way. Its probably practicality. These complex
rebar cages are put together on the ground and raised into position, just as if they were
wooden beams. Long protruding ties would be a nuisance. The end result is that much
of the potential strength of the building is compromised.

The columns and the walls go up simultaneously. Here you can see the vertical rebar
sticking up from the hollow block walls. Although we had big windows, no extra rebar or
reinforcement was specified. If you have big window openings, we suggest you add two
additional vertical and horizonal rebar in the hollow block at each side and above and
below the window opening. The wall footers and walls will be covered in more detail
in another post. Note that the bamboo staging is secured with old-fashioned Manila
hemp rope. According to the crew this rope will not stretch and grips the bamboo much
better than synthetic rope. And where does Manila hemp come from?

ABACA (MANILA HEMP) BEING UNLOADED AT PORT OF ILOILO IN 2010.

ANOTHER PROBLEM
In the photo above you can see the hollow block wall almost touching the rebar cage for
a column, leaving little to no room for column concrete. Since our columns are almost
exactly the same depth as the 6 hollow block we used on the exterior walls, forms for
these columns were simplified. Although Bob was not especially knowledgeable about
concrete columns, it was pretty obvious to him that there was a problem in not having
the rebar well embedded in concrete. Bob brought the problem to the engineer and she
agreed. These hollow blocks had to be cut back to allow room for the full column.
Frankly, the engineer somewhat grudgingly admitted the problem. That the
experienced crew could not see the problem and that the engineer was not especially
concerned encapsulates some of the problems facing the foreigner (or Filipino) trying to
build a quality house in the Philippines.

REBAR CORROSION
Rebar corrodes. Corroding rebar can break apart columns and beams. If any rebar is
exposed to moisture the corrosion is much faster. In commercial projects, hot dip
galvanized or epoxy coated rebar may be used to slow down corrosion.

COATED REBAR. GALVANIZED IS BETTER BUT MORE EXPENSIVE.

The next step was the lintel beam

FORMS FOR LINTEL BEAM

Window and door openings weaken walls. Lintel beams carry the weight of the wall
above door and window openings and can also help tie the building together. Lintel
beams typically are only over the door and window beams, but since we have so many
and so big openings, we decided to make the lintel beam into a continuous tie beam.
Our lintel beams were 15cm x 20cm (6 x 7) and used two 12mm rebar with
10mm stirrups. Usually lintels are not so strongly built as other beams as they are
bridging small spans. It might have been better if we had used four 12mm rebar. More
on that later.

LINTEL REBAR
This photo shows some nice long splices in the lintel rebar, but the splices are one atop
the other. They should be staggered. See below. In the red circle, a very short splice
in the vertical hollow block rebar.

LINTEL BEAM FORMS OFF

It looks like theres a curve in this beam but its aspherical distortion in my zoom camera
lens. A few notes. The rebar stubs extending downward from the window opening will
be used to weld in the steel casement windows. The ends of the column rebar are the
very ends of six meter (20 foot) rebar the other end of which is securely anchored in the
footers 1.2 meters (4) underground.

Above the lintel beam are two courses of hollow block. On top of those goes the roof
beam the main structural beam in the building. This is where we missed a key
opportunity to strengthen the building at very little additional cost. We
could have, and should have made a single, strong 80cm x 15cm reinforced concrete
beam from the top of the windows to the top of the walls, replacing the lintel beams, the
two courses of hollow block and the roof beam. Combined with rebar wrapping in the
corners, this would have greatly improved the shear strength of the entire structure and
would, in our amateur opinion, have been a good engineering response to the many
large window and door openings. Of course no such improvement was in the plans,
suggested by the engineers or thought of by myself or the workers until it was too late.
So we hope that our readers may be able to raise this issue with their engineers and
perhaps end up with a better, stronger house.
So, the next steps were to lay the top two courses of block and form-up for the roof
beam.

This photo shows the 16mm rebar framework for the concrete roof beam. The plans
called for 15cm x 25cm (6 x 10) room beam with 16mm rebar. We decided to build a
15cm x 30 cm (6 x 20) beam
A visit by our engineer confirmed our suspicions of a problem with the arrangement of
the rebar in the beam. Rebar comes in six meter lengths. As shown in the photo above,
the workers spiced all the rebar in the center of the span. The engineer directed that
splices be staggered with no splices at mid-span in the bottom rebar and no splices at

the support columns in the top of the beam. Everything above was taken down and
redone. Our plans lacked a rebar splicing plan. This has caused endless required
corrections and wasted time and money. Our foreman and workers just dont know the
engineering principles. We asked the engineer to prepare a splicing plan so that the
workers (and owners) will be sure that things are done properly. We never got one. We
suggest that you insist that your architect or engineer include a complete splicing plan.
Heres a few rebar splicing guidelines we learned. They are only rules of thumb.

The splices for reinforcing bars in the top of the beam should be between
columns.

The splices for reinforcing bars in the bottom of the beam should be
approximately over the support columns.

The reinforcing bar splice overlap should be a minimum of 40X the diameter of
the rebar. For example the splice on a 12mm rebar should be a minimum of 48cm.
For a 16mm bar, the splice should be at least 64cm. Longer splices are better.

This photo (above) shows 16mm rebar spliced with a 40cm splice. The minimum
overlap should be 64cm. This rebar cage had to be disassembled and redone.

REBAR CAGE AT INTERSECTION OF ROOF BEAMS AND COLUMN.

Our engineers left a porch support column and a beam out of the roof plans. Our
workers spotted the problem. The engineers came up with an ad hoc solution adding
slender (15x15cm) columns so as to not spoil the appearance of the porch. Both we
and the crew thought the columns were too small. It this photo you can see the tangle
of rebar coming together at this tiny column. Its hard too see exactly where there is
room for concrete. We used small aggregate (the rule of thumb is that aggregate
should be one-fifth the size of the smallest rebar opening) and gently vibrate the
concrete. Poor planning by the engineers.

To put in an additional porch column, we had to demolish part of an already completed

wall and wall footer and pour a column footer under the existing wall footer.

A FOREST OF BAMBOO SCAFFOLDING. ROOF BEAM.

BAMBOO STAGING IN HONG KONG

POURING THE ROOF BEAM. CONCRETE VIBRATOR IN USED.

The crew worked feverishly to finish pouring the roof beam. This is the last structural
concrete work.

BEAMS AND COLUMNS DONE

Despite our missteps, it does look pretty strong doesnt it? It takes at least two weeks
for the beam to cure, then the steel roof trusses can go on. At this point we laid off
some of the laborers as there was not so much heavy work left to do. The welders kept
busy with the roof trusses and windows, the masons with interior walls. Our next
coverage is WALLS, ROOF and WINDOWS.
READ THIS BEFORE YOU BUILD. Thanks to reader Naldy Bulan for recommending
an excellent, free UN publication on building in the Philippines: Handbook on Good

Building Design and Construction in the

Philippines at http://www.unisdr.org/files/10329_GoodBuildingHandbookPhilippin
es.pdf
Read all our Philippine House building project pages at /building-ourphilippine-house-index/
Related

Our Philippine House Project: Rebar SplicingAugust 16, 2011In "Construction Quality and Materials"
Our Philippine house project: walls and wall footers.August 12, 2011In "Layout, Footers, Columns,
Beams, Walls"
Our Philippine House Project: Learn from our mistakesJuly 8, 2011In "Construction Quality and
Materials"

Related posts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Our Philippine House Project: Rebar Splicing

Our Philippine house project: walls and wall footers.
Our Philippine house project: layout, footers and columns
Our Philippine House Project: Concrete Quality, Concrete Vibration
Our Philippine House Project: Learn from our mistakes

APRIL 19, 2012

COMMENTS 34
Filed under: Layout, Footers, Columns, Beams, Walls
Tagged: Abaca Manila Hemp, bamboo scaffold, concrete beams, Concrete Beams
Philippines, concrete columns, Concrete Construction Philippines, earthquakes
Philippines, Engineering Philippines, Footer, lintel beam, Philippine Concrete, Rebar
Philippines, rebar splicing, Retire in the Philippines, roof beam, scaffold, Splicing rebar

Share this:
Comments (34)Write a comment
1.
o
o
o

ramil
20.06.16 @ 12:53 am

I like the idea very much, but could you give me an idea of the size of footing and
column + the steel round bars that i should use for a 2 storey 50 sq meter house.

A contractor that I talked to, told me that 16mm round steel bar is enough for a column x
6 for vertical and 12mm for horizontal support
Reply

o
Bob and Carol
21.06.16 @ 7:53 pm

We are not engineers. We can only say that when we were going to build our
house as a two story building, the engineers recommended 25mm for the
columns but then relented to 16mm.
Reply

2.
giltadeo capote
12.03.16 @ 9:08 am

o
o
o

what will happen to two story building. if the contractor had made a mistake on the
foundation ( under design foundation) they tried to dig again and make it bigger and
wider by welding additional rsb. on the wire mat. and add another tie beam over the
existing foundation by welding again. as I remembered in our structural design class we
are not allowed to weld the re-bars specially on the foundation for ot weakens the
structure rather we have to tie them with tie wires. By the way its a government project
in the Philippines.
Reply

o
Bob and Carol
12.03.16 @ 3:17 pm

The only situation like this that I am familiar with was to dig under the existing
problem foundation and pour a large new footer. This can only be done one
short section at a time under the supervision of an experienced engineer.
Good luck!
Reply

Marc
28.04.16 @ 5:27 pm

To bob, carol and all readers of this article,

First of all it was really a great article on residential construction and its
really informative. But if you looking for an earth quake proof, there is

none! Anything can destroy by earthquake and natural calamities

because this is nature and no one can predict or design the maximum
factors for this force majeure. But there is so called earth-quake
resistance (they are different meaning proof means like its hard to
destroy and resistance is its resisting the force of nature as far as it can
and depends of the load factor that the civil or structural engineer
considered in his seismic design and structural calculation) now if you
want to house to be resistant as it could my suggestion is (one) hire an
LICENSE ARCHITECT for he knows how to analyze the site where are
the possible wind blows and safe distances and setbacks that need to
be imposed on your house, the height, the width, length and other
planning consideration and besides from aesthetic of course. In
addition, he can provide full details from architectural to electrical for he
has connection to different license engineers that may help him to
finalize the design at the proper, correct, complete and detailed
construction working drawings. He and his engineers will be the one will
give the best solution for your dream house. (Two) hire a LICENSE
SITE ARCHITECT / ENGINEER to be on-site 24/7 for he will be
responsible for every construction methodology that will apply and
implement on site. NEVER EVER TRUST AN EXPERIENCE FORMAN
for they only experience and not study the world of engineering and
construction. I am not against them but if they will be the one to take
responsibility think again! These 3 professional architect (the
designer), his engineer (allied profession) and the site
architect/engineer will be your backbone for a safer and good house
design and construction. YES! This will be extra cost but its better to
pay when it will assure your comfortability and safety.
Reply

Bob and Carol

29.04.16 @ 3:16 pm

Marc,
Your points about resistance versus proof are certainly correct. We
did have architects and engineers for our project, but there were
problems. It took my own construction crew to notice that a needed
porch support column and beam were completely missing from the
plans. The plans had to be revised during construction to add the
missing structural elements. Further the plans were missing key details
to assist the construction workers, such as a rebar splicing plan. Having
an engineer on-site 24/7, while a lovely ideal, is not practical. Most
engineers are supervising multiple jobs. Further, many engineers have
their own construction crews. They have given the property owner an
estimate for the cost of the project. This provides incentives for the

engineer/businessman to cut corners on labor and material so that

more of the final cost is in the engineers pocket rather than in the
building. I agree 100% with the benefit of having a competent
architect/engineer to develop the plans and supervise the construction.
Since this blog is giving a foreigners perspective. the foreigners ability
to determine the quality of the design team is difficult. There are good
professionals out there and there are unscrupulous ones. How is the
foreigner to know? I have seen some wonderful houses built for (and
by) foreigners and I have seen lots of shoddy work. Thanks for your
input. Bob and Carol
Reply

3.
Stephen Dodge
15.11.13 @ 9:51 am

o
o
o

Bob, I have enjoyed reading all the chapter about your house and how you have
attempted to make it structurally sound and earthquake-proof, but recent events have
caused me to wonder: Did your house survive the major earthquake that hit Bohol in
October and the winds and rain from Typhoon Yolanda from last week? If you have
time, how about adding another chapter and tell us all about your experiences with
these 2 calamities. Regardless, I wish you well there in Iloilo and hope it wasnt too bad
for you.
Reply

o
Bob and Carol
15.11.13 @ 7:36 pm

Stephan,
I really cant give any feedback because (thankfully) neither the earthquake
nor the typhoon Yolanda were especially strong here. I hope it stays that way!
Bob and Carol
Reply

4.
o
o
o

jode
11.06.13 @ 5:51 pm

Hi Bob and Carol,

Good jobvery informative for non engineering builders. Need some insights ..advice
that can help me decide in having a dependable quality in housing. My contractor is
suggesting to use I-beam instead of rebar columns. Im not that so comfortable with ibeam as it is not commonly use for residential house. My blue print is a two storey
house with a roof deck. Can you give us a guidance which to take should it be I beam or
the reinforce concrete column/post. Another thing that bothers me is the quality of stell
that we have in the market. How can I ensure that the stell being use is not a
substandard quality.
Reply

o
GOIloilo
16.06.13 @ 7:34 pm

Jode,
You raise some question which we really cant answer. Personally, I would
stick with conventional engineering unless you have a talented engineer in
who you have complete confidence. I would not follow such advice from a
builder or contractor. Rebar quality is a legitimate question. I have read that
rebar (most of it from China) is a product produced by the lowest-end, lowest
tech mills. That said, more specialized material, rated for strength, is available
in the bigger cities. Also available is galvanized rebar and expoxy painted
rebar and longer length rebar for fewer splices.
Bob and Carol
Reply

5.
fred mcclure
31.05.13 @ 12:31 am

o
o
o

do you have a spreadsheet detailing the costs?

Reply

o
GOIloilo
31.05.13 @ 7:57 pm

Sorry, the best we can do is to refer you to our final cost report
at http://myphilippinelife.com/final-house-construction-expense-report/
Reply

6.

ceazar nieva
24.03.13 @ 3:01 pm

o
o
o

Thank you for your blog. I too, is building my house in Albay province. I found a site that
may be of use for the reader regarding anti-earthquake building, http://www.worldhousing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/RCFrame_Tutorial_English_Murty.pdf.
Reply

o
GOIloilo
26.03.13 @ 2:54 pm

Ceazar,
Thanks so much for suggesting this terrific resource. Anyone building a hollow
block house in the Philippines should read the publication you recommend
first and insist that their architect/engineer do the same. Giving this
publication to an architect and seeing how she/he reacts would be a good
indicator of how serious they are. Thanks again!
Bob and Carol
Reply

7.
Wayne
08.02.13 @ 10:06 pm

o
o
o

Great job of documentation! I used the book you talked about in earthquake engineering
class back in 75. Wasnt aware i it was still in print! You happen to have this in PDF?
Wayne
Reply

o
GOIloilo
09.02.13 @ 10:27 am

Wayne,
Nor sure if its in print but very widely available as a used book for very little
money. I have good luck with abebooks.com because some of the sellers
offer international shipping for a reasonable rate. No, I dont have a PDF.
Bob
Reply

8.
Naldy Bulan
03.05.12 @ 6:32 pm

o
o
o

I am neither an Architect nor an Engineer. I am also planning to build a new house but I
want to draw the plans myself. I am doing some research online. Your article has been
very helpful. I think youd be interested to further back-up your construction
observations with some practical structural standards. Ive come across this website
which you might be interested in: the Handbook on Good Building Design and
Construction in the Philippines
at http://www.unisdr.org/files/10329_GoodBuildingHandbookPhilippines.pdf. I look
forward to reading more of your articles. How nice of you to put up such website,
thanks.
Reply

o
GOIloilo
05.05.12 @ 4:12 pm

Naldy,
Thanks for bringing this publication to our attention. Its excellent! Ill modify
some of our pages to include a link to it.
Thanks again
Bob and Carol
Reply

9.
german
21.04.12 @ 4:11 am

o
o
o

how is the rebar placement in a restrained beams at both ends.

Reply

GOIloilo
21.04.12 @ 5:05 am

Ive added a photo which shows weak corner ties.

See http://myphilippinelife.com/wp-content/uploads/corner_rebar2.jpg
The photo is from another house under construction nearby.

Reply

10.
Merlin Baptiste
20.04.12 @ 7:46 am

o
o
o

Hello Bob,
Did you replace the Lintel Beam and hollow blocks to have the 80cm X 15cm reinforced
Concrete Beam installed?
Reply

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GOIloilo
20.04.12 @ 11:13 am

Unfortunately not!
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11.
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donah
20.03.12 @ 4:52 pm

unbelievable.This site is amazing .Thanks to great people like you..I savored and
enjoyed everything that you have to say.
Reply

12.
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edward
09.12.11 @ 7:12 pm

very helpful.
Reply

13.
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Mark Corton
04.10.11 @ 5:12 am

Nice documentation!!!
Wish I could do the same but am not very good at consistency- write now, not write now
(if you know what I mean)
Found your blog while looking for rebar cutters:))

Congratulations on a job (documentation) well done. Might be in Iloilo for Christmas to

visit my wifes family.
Reply
14.
Pingback: Our Philippine house project: walls and wall footers. | My Philippine Life
15.
Pingback: Our Philippine House Project: Concrete Quality, Concrete Vibration | My
Philippine Life

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tom duca
30.07.11 @ 10:42 am

bob and carol, it is great that you are writing about this. you should put together a
good building crew now that you have trained them and sub out to high end builders, or
some niche like that! probably more work than a retired couple like you wants to do, but
all this learning and training should be used in the future!? you are both doing an
awesome job, i hope catherine and i get to see the results in person someday. good
health and enjoy the construction process and your new home!!
Reply

17.
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Doug
29.07.11 @ 7:29 pm

So well done. You are amazing Bob.

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henry pabines
02.04.10 @ 10:51 am

i always encounter similar situations as to rebar splicing even though the plans
indicated the splicing details. understandably, the experience of a residential
construction foreman is too far way off compared to a high rise building foreman.
residential foreman, most of the time, never review the plans on a regular basis.
inexperience to structural detailing is a serious concernsome foreman never learn on
their previous projects or they were never mentored by their engineer as to the basic
principles on rebar installation.
its good on your part that you actively participated in the construction of your house.
errors is costly and affects the construction timetable. i really appreciate your constant
monitoring on the progress of your house project.
Reply

19.
Peter Clark
09.03.10 @ 11:03 am

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Rebar splicing seems logical but complicates things by constructing the cage on top of
the wall. If the join is midships but overlapped by a couple of feet wouldnt this add more
strength and serve the purpose just as well?
Reply
20.
Pingback: Building our Philippine House Index at goILOILO.com

21.
Ron
16.02.10 @ 10:16 am

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Bob, Can you imagine how this would turn out if you were not on top of everything? I
continue to follow your construction project with great interest. You should have filmed
all of this and made a documentary out of it. Ron
Reply

o
GOIloilo
17.02.10 @ 8:47 pm

Ron, its likely that it would come out looking just the same. All of these
problems would have been hidden from view. Maybe all my fussing over
these details will not really make much difference unless theres an
earthquake and maybe not enough if there was a big earthquake. Its
amazing how Filipinos are blase about earthquakes, as though they are a
remote possibility. What Warren Buffet said about financial markets applies to
building construction in earthquake prone areas something like you dont
know whos swimming naked until the tide goes out. While there was
widespread destruction in Haiti, there were many buildings which seem
undamaged. My engineer told me that construction quality in Philippine
commercial buildings can be quite good but that with residential construction,
many corners are cut. Bob
Reply

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