Waterproofing your roof deck

They say there are several ways to kill a cat, but when it comes to something critical or of high importance such as a leaking roof deck, we always turn to our favorite tried and tested solution – a cement mix fiber reinforced crystallizing material that seeks out the microscopic pores and cracks and seals water out.

Even if you waterproof your roof deck during construction, over time, the usual cement mix material during construction will fail, due to several factors such as earth movements, sun exposure – which causes cement to wear out, constant hammering of people walking around the deck during parties, etc., so it is inevitable that over time, leaks start to occur. 

There are a lot of materials out there – from cheap ones, not so cheap ones, and really costly ones such as the rubber cure, but as we are here in the Philippines, we always seek out that material or method which is cost effective, not so cheap, not so costly, but highly effective – a cement based fiber reinforced acrylic polymer that is mixed with portland cement. 

The material we use is a flexible, fiber-reinforced, modified high-grade acrylic polymer that is mixed with
portland cement to provide superior water sealing of your roof deck. It has great advantages and benefits such as superior water impermeability, highly compatible to concrete substrates since it is cement based, high water vapor transmission, superior UV resistance due to the high grade polymer and cement, monolithic, tintable (can be mixed with different colors), moves with concrete as it is fiber reinforced, bridges hairline cracks, excellent adhesion to concrete due to its chemical and mechanical bonding properties, releases retained water vapors in concrete, prevents blistering, no joints and laps, minimizes painting cost.

Affordable Engineering

Competition in the construction industry today is tough especially if you’re trying to target the affordable segment – those looking for affordable construction services.

Here are some of the designs we’ve created and saved for those customers in the affordable segment.

Lumba residence in Surigao
Dahlberg commercial original design
commercial complex
Glassy design
Residential with terraced car port
Banilad commercial original design
Residential
Residential project in Surigao
Residential project in Catmondaan Catmon Cebu
Residential project in Camotes Cebu
Modern residential
Golden Meadows residential
Surigao Residential
Zen interior
ESL school
front view 2 Lumba
front view 3 Lumba
front view Lumba
side and back view Lumba
Golden meadows Cordova Original design

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Common problems of low cost row house units

We get a lot of calls from row house owners for various troubles such as leaking roofs and ventilation problems.

The roof leak problems usually stem from the original design of most low cost row house units. Their original design is the open kitchen in the back area. Their purpose of having an open kitchen (roofless kitchen) is for good ventilation – so that air or wind can freely come in and out through the open back area, then through the front door or windows, or vice versa. The open kitchen is usually connected to the other unit’s open kitchen. You see, most row houses are built for the low cost market, thus the units are not only connected sideways, but also connected back to back. 

Low cost row house buyers usually want to close this back area by adding a roof as they don’t want to get wet when cooking during the rainy days. Now this usually causes the leaking roof problems since they cannot touch the other unit’s roof, thus they will have to build an additional wall at the center and connect the new roof to that wall. Over time, the leak becomes not just a leak, but a serious water fall inside the kitchen. Adding to their agony is the elimination of the ventilation system since their unit is now close from the back. The roof leak problems occur right where they connect the new roof the new separating wall. They usually just use rubber sealants or thin metal strips to connect to the wall, and over time – both will rot – the thin metal strip will corrode, and the rubber sealant cracks due to the sun.

Here is our suggestion: When closing your back kitchen, do not connect your roof tip at the wall with a thin miniature metal gutter, instead put a standard gutter that collects the rainwater. If you use a standard gutter. it will be easier to find replacement later on when it starts to rot, or better yet, use PVC gutters. PVC gutters cost a little more, but they certainly last longer…

 

To paint or to buy pre-painted

Sometimes this little dilemma comes up – to paint the corrugated sheets or to buy pre-painted?

Usually we find painting ordinary corrugates cheaper than buying pre-painted ones.

And yes – certainly, most pre-painted corrugates are priced higher because they are also thicker and more sturdy than ordinary unpainted corrugates.

There’s just one problem: The applied paint on unpainted corrugates usually peel faster than factory pre-painted corrugates. 

Well sometimes, we will just have to settle for the cheaper alternative, and gladly don’t expect much from it…

drying the paint
manually painting corrugated roof sheets
paint peel off faster

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Straightforward recommendation

We received a straight-to-the-point recommendation from one of our renovations customer and this note is worth posting as it always delights us…

This is from Egon of Crimson Resort in Mactan: “Hi Diedier
My house already rented again for one year so no further inquiries needed
I did some renovations this time and last view years with a small company from Lapu 2 . I am 35 years here in the Philippines and I can tell you the quality people and job he does I can not find any better here
So I highly recommend that company if you have some works here in crimson
Hope we meet still one of this days while I am here ( I was last night for dinner at the new Spanish restaurant)
All the best , Egon
Attached the information about my contractor and his contacts
Cheers”

Egon’s house need paint retouches and minor repairs such as leaking toilet and broken screen door lock. Most of his base board also needs to be replaced due to termite infestation. Some of the walls also has superficial cracks and we’ve fixed them well.

A tap on the back or a good job note always inspires us…

Charity works thru Save the Children Foundation

Helping charity is a way of giving back to the community. One afternoon, two years ago, as I was strolling at Ayala Mall, a volunteer for Save the Children introduced  me to their cause. Save the Children helps impoverished children all over the world thru various medical and relief programs aimed at alleviating the plight of the impoverished children and their families. 

As the volunteer continued explaining, I started to fear that I might not be able to afford helping them. To my amazement, anyone can help Save the Children as their regular monthly pledges go as low as 500.00. They will need to get your bank account details though as they prefer to automatically deduct your pledge from your account monthly.

Anyone can afford 500.00 to help alleviate the poor. All that’s needed is a little sensitivity to answer the call of the needy.

To learn more about Save the Children, you can visit https://www.savethechildren.net/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Children 

 

Experience with Bitumen based cellulosic roofing: Onduline roofing material from France

Got a call for help from one of the users of this relatively new bitumen based cellulose roofing material called Onduline Roofing Systems from France. This roofing material is one of the recommended roofing systems by Paramount Realty in one of their communities – Fonte Di Versailles in Minglanilla town. Since the community is very close to the beach, this onduline roofing system, since it is bitumen based, is meant to withstand the corrosive properties of the nearby beach.

Unlike the Philippine popular and cheaper metallic roofing systems, the onduline material, as it is bitumen based and made of cellulose materials, is meant to withstand corrosion, is quiet-especially during rains, lightweight, and is a good thermal shield from the heat of the sun. Upon checking at the hardware, onduline is also relatively affordable-about only 30% more expensive than the ever popular metallic color roofing systems. This material now seems better than the metallic roof.

Upon checking at the owner’s house, there is one weakness I found in this material which I believe still makes the metallic roofing better that this onduline at least in one aspect – which could mean the metal roof will still be preferred just due to this one aspect. That one aspect is that it cannot withstand human weight. It easily gets deformed when being stepped upon. This is the reason why from just one leak, it is now 3 major leaks for the owner. The leak problem started right from the beginning with just very little water coming in. The owner stated that it was just due to the installers not following the prescribed overlaps. As you may know, some contractors do not follow the prescribed over laps or ridge gaps to try to save just a little. But this will be a big problem for the house owner. Going back, the little water intrusion over time has increased, as strong winds does deform the onduline material and over time the gaps within the overlaps increase. The leaks increased from just one, now 3 when they asked carpenters to fix the original leak. The workers had to step on the material while fixing the original leak. Their weight had caused the ridges to get deformed and the strong winds had further aggravated the deformity and increased the gaps thus allowing water to come in.

When using the onduline, I highly recommend you don’t step on it. When trying to fix a leak, put a 3/4 inch plywood on top for you to step on to distribute your weight over the onduline sheets. When leaks occur due to gaps due to strong winds, you will need to replace that sheet if it cannot be fixed with just tightening the ‘speedy screws’ holding the sheets – my ten cents.

brand new onduline roofing and ridge
close up onduline ridge
dark onduline ridge
dirty onduline
exposed side of the onduline material
finding the source of the leak for the onduline roofing
installation of onduline roofing
installing the onduline roofing
metal truss for onduline roofing
onduline material close up
onduline material inner side close up
onduline roofing and ridge close up
onduline roofing as required by paramount realty for fonde di versailles
onduline roofing at fonte de versailles
onduline roofing with man
onduline roofing

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Rise of the GT (General Technician)

If you live in a condo setup or subdivision, sometimes you will encounter technical problems in your unit or abode and you can’t get quick help.

Enter the GT…

A GT is an all-around, on-demand technician who is so well roundedly endowed with vast technical knowledge and experience that he can diagnose and fix any appliance or home -related technical problems.

A GT doesn’t have to be a one man show. He can be just a representative of a group of technicians with all-around capabilities. When one particular GT is a master of just one trade or technical area, then he can simply tap out and request deployment of another GT who specializes on the particular technical problem at hand. But for a technical person to be worthy of the GT title, he should at least have all-around technical background experience so he can at least effectively make preliminary diagnosis of the problem before calling the specialist technician.

The GTs we currently have in our office ready for deployment have expertise in the following fields: Civil, structural, architecture, electrical, electronics, air conditioning (residential and automotive), plumbing, masonry, carpentry, painting and polishing, refrigeration, welding, CCTV, data cabling, glass works, satellite TV, computer hardware and software, and automotive works.

The GT service industry is the new wave of service technicians ready to answer your needs.

Contact us when you need one.

Dahlberg low cost commercial building – Banilad Cebu City

Commercial buildings with rental spaces are lucrative business set ups if you’re looking to cash in on those starting entrepreneurs who are looking to start up a business in the city. If you have a great strategic location with lots of people and businesses around – building a commercial building may just be for you, but when you’re short on cash, your commercial building will have to start small…

To start a commercial building with rental spaces with the least cost possible to fit your limited budget needs a contractor that is still relatively small and willing to accept low budget projects. Low budgeted projects are not very attractive to most contractors because of the little profit it gives them. Small time contractors who accept low budget projects are those contractors who focus on helping others. These contractors believe that great rewards just flow naturally if you keep on helping others.

Accepting low budget projects require great experience and budgeting skill as the contractor should be able to find alternate materials and construction methodologies that costs less, yet meets industry standards.

Typical phases of construction

It is important to know the phases of construction to guide everyone involved in the project – be it residential, commercial, or industrial. The construction industry is certainly a very interesting field not just for architects, civil engineers, or other engineers because it is not only lucrative, but is also a very interesting industry to learn from – professionally and academically.

Phase 1 is acquiring the lot. Solicit ideas for the design and start the planning. Study and develop concept designs for the plans and perspectives. Submit your plans for the building permits at the office of the building official so they can check your structural, architectural, plumbing, and electrical designs.

Phase 2 is when the owners decide to proceed with project implementation based on the approved design blueprint. It is important to calculate the project cost for the purpose of benchmarking the deliverables for the project. The cost analysis is based on the quantity surveys for the structural, architectural, plumbing and electrical plans based on the technical specifications set by the architects and / or engineers involved. Further on the project implementation, you will also need to hire project inspectors, managers, and supervisors to control, check, balance, and monitor the progress as per project timetable.

Phase 3, the final phase, is when the contractor secures permanent power to energize the electrical systems. At this point, the occupancy permit will also need to be processed. This phase is where you need to do punch listing, balancing of design items, and correction of defects if there are any. At this stage, you will also need to rectify works that are not in conformity with the standards.

The technical term project close outs and turn-over is when everything is completed and turned over to the customer / owner. After all is well, the building project enjoys a one year of warranty by the contractor. (by Engr. Josifer Bejer – project manager and consultant)