When we built our house in 1999 I wanted a slab roof as they tend not to blow away during Typhoons, this I learned in Florida and Puerto Rico by just looking around after a hurricanes and seeing who had a roof and whom didn’t. With a slab roof there will be other concerns such as how do we get the rain water off the roof. My second floor roof has two 3” drains that for some reason just dumped the water on to the first floor roof below. The first floor roof has six 3” drains that take’s that water down to two 12” drains on either side of the house, then sends it to the street.
For the past decade this has not once caused a problem, until the Rainy Season of 2011 and our back to back Typhoons. This was the one that proves that all plans of mice and men… Normally one of us would have to go out and sweep leaves and such that were blocking the drains. Can you guess, who was the one out in the rain with that broom? In the past during a hard rain the roof would get an inch of water standing on it, but would drain away quickly. And no, the roof never leaked!
But this year when I saw three inches of water on the roof and more coming, plus the second floor adding its fair share to the mix, I knew a change was forth coming.
Article continues below pictures.
My plan was to bust through the wall and redirect the second floor drains off my roof to the ground. Plus adding one more drain through the wall vice the deck to aid in my flood control. Sound like a good plan, it was vetoed in seven seconds by both my wife and my “Construction Guy”. They wanted to go through the wall, and reroute the second floor drains into the system that was already in place. Using T-joints and elbows and presenting a neat and professional appearance.
Two decades here and I learned nothing. Tell your wife what you want it to happen, don’t get involved with the details like some Super Kano. Just step aside, have a beer and smile. The job requested will be better than you planed it and far cheaper. Go to the “Man Cave” have a beer and come back later to admire the great job. Don’t forget to snap some pictures to try and convince LiP readers that you planed the whole job!
The nuts and bolts of it, Saturday Boy-o and his partner (my brother-in-law Jhun) came by and disagreed with my plan, and then discussed it with Commander of the House (Mayang) The three of them went to the hardware, I was left home to have a beer and heal my pride.
Sunday morning, 08:00 the work commenced, the one hole was cut, pipes were fitted elbows and T-joints added, and stuff I know nothing about also happened as I was relegated to my “Man Cave” and only allowed out to snap those obligatory photo’s, I mentioned.
As I’m looking over the job, and sharing a beer or two with the Guys, I notice that there was a water faucet now on the roof that was never there before. All part of the service I’ll hazard a guess, but there was a need for it, it just wasn’t my idea. It’s that pride thing again.
In my time here I’ve learned to listen to my families advice, pay a fair price for the good work received, take the time to get to know the “Guys” you (your Wife) hires, treat them with respect, and then get out of their way so they can finish the job, and see how happy you are at the end of it. There is some real talent here, but let them do it their way. I am still friends with every person I’ve ever hired, because I follow my own advice.
Total cost, of this project, not including the beers, P 7, 265.00
Project three is underway as I post this. But you’ll have to wait until next week to find out what it is.
Paul,
A few years (“beers”) ago we chopped out the window to the floor of our second floor window looking out upon the hecters (sp)of farm field past the the 80 rooster houses. Beautiful view up to Mt. Makalang. There was never a window/frame there and a sliding door seemed to be more enhancing. There will be someday a cantilevered porch out there… The neighbor who is a consummate concrete finisher smoothed out out efforts – I helped out with the knocking out – fun. Then they smoothed out everything – it was like glass. Small problem though. It was not square. Sliding glass people tried to slant the doors, but it was more than could be shimmed. I drew on the wall how a square frame would be the only way. The pencil marks are still there. I was polite. They were polite. The concrete frame was redone and became square. The sliding glass door moves like a breeze. Out on to nothing. The cantilevered terrace will be completed one day. The doors are kept locked. Below is the rooster keepers lean-to house – so a fall would not be too far… We have a sala couch up there now and enjoy the floor to ceiling view.
Jade
BTW, Paul,
I always wanted a flat roof upon the second floor ceiling for a third floor patio –
well, the message never became understood during the building of the house.
We now have a standard tin slanted roof overhead. It would have made some special privacy area there, oh well… no yard…you see…
Jade
Oh Yeah, Your article title is about flood control – after 2 floods in 5 years the house is now configured like a Florida house on stilts. Bottom floor; nothing valuable that can’t be brought upstairs easily. Second floor – our regular living area…
Jade
Jade;
My buddy did the same thing, he abandoned the first floor and uses only the second floor with he had totally rebuilt including new steel framed Spanish tile roof. The ground floor he also redid with all electric fixtures 4 feet from the floor and tile on both the walls and floor, with a 12 inch drain in the middle of each room to drain out standing water when the flooding stops.
Paul;
Yes they do good work, and they are hard working guys! Very dissimilar to me.
Jade;
There’s an old song by the Rolling Stones titled “You Don’t Always Get What You Want” (lol)
Jade;
That second floor sliding door is begging for an add on patio on the second floor. See if you can sneak that idea in.
Hi Paul – All in all, I’d say good work! 😆
Paul,
A wise older gentleman from the mountains recently convinced me of the benefits of a concrete roof for my house which is about to have the roof installed. I thought how fortunate I was to have gotten this advice before the materials were ordered. I told my engineer builder nephew that we should change the plan and install the slab roof. I don’t know what it had to do with anything, but he told me the plan for the metal roof has enclosed hidden gutters set in from the edge, and the metal roof would be the best. It became obvious a day or two later that we will have a metal roof, when the steel for the frame showed up on site. Maybe we don’t have support for the added weight, or maybe we need the metal for the proper operation of the hidden gutters, who knows. Any way I get to make the important the decisions on which beer to drink, sometimes I have to argue about the quantity though.
Big P;
Older??? The way they built your building, I understand the roof they are adding. I think it will look good, on your third flood SLAB roof! I’m waiting to give you a hand with those beers.
Hey why are my responses popping up where ever the want too? Operator error!
Paul,
Looks like they did a super job for a small price. Sometimes good workers are hard to come by. When you do find them you should take care them and they will take care of you. Alot of time they will go the extra mile for you. I have a auto mechanic that i’ve used for years, spent thousands of dollars at. Since i’ve been loyal to him, he will move me to the front of line no matter how busy he is. And a few times never charged me and has given me a free loner car or a ride home. Looking forward to project 3. Can you give a hint what it might be lol? Again sorry to hear about Frankie. It’s hard to lose a family member, but being only 4 years old and don’t know the cause is harder. Take care and be safe.
Papa Duck;
Here if you are fair, treat the workers like what they are “Human Beings” You will find it’s like you’ve struck gold. Okay here’s a hint, look at the pictures and tell me what the house needs. My mechanics have been to my house many times for parties with there families. and I remember them at Christmas time. Treat people good and they’ll do the same for you.
Paint job or retile the roof?
Ricardo;
Wow! You’re quick, they both need doing! But this year I can only afford to do one.
Paul,
The sun and moisture really play havoc with houses there. Similar to florida with the mildew and fading paint. I know i’ve pressure washed and repainted several times. Remember to always make sure you have a beer budget lol. The work on the house will always be there. Take care and be safe.
Papa Duck;
At the end of every rainy season you must power wash the mold off of everything. Beer is a staple and part of the power washing cycle.
Well, there goes that new new car for another year! Then, again, you can’t live in your car. I’m thinking that the benefit of a flat roof in your area is that you could mount 20-person liferafts to it. Keep a ditch-bag stocked with beer in a ref up there & you’re all set.
Mike;
If I put a 20 man raft on the patio someone would move in and live there! But I like the thought about the beer.
Hi Paul,
When we built an extension on the house I wanted to build an upstairs terrace. I was vetoed by the wife because she said that someday we would be too old to climb the stairs. I was only 45 at the time so I tried to resist to spare my dignity. I did concede to her that maybe she was right because during that time we were invited to a small mansion built by an elderly couple from Chicago. While there I noted that they no longer occupied the upstairs. I was allowed to engineer the extension and have a bit of pride when people ask who the designed our house. I did include a underground drainage system that works very well. My concession to not getting my terrace is my recently completed sky kubo. It is a two story kubo with a billiard table below and the drinking sala above. I found an old chandelier in storage that I installed to give it some class. One improvement that I made to the house during the addition was a good ventilation system to remove the heat that gets trapped in the attic. We had a closed umbrella style roof with many vents along the soffits but no way for the heat to escape. We cut out the center of the highest point of the roof and built a raised roof cap that looks like a lechon manok stand. I was proud of my idea until I saw a picture of a house in Thailand that obviously stole my design. Before the ventilation the house was very hot during the day. People would say nice house now lets go out under the mango trees. At night you would hear popping from the steel contracting as it cooled. Now the house is quiet at night with the exception of the two snoring pugs.
Tom;
Post a picture of that Kubo on Face Book, It sounds great. When we built our house my wife built two master beadrooms one on the first floor and the other on the second floor for the very same reasons, well I’m 64 now and we still use the second floor bedroom, but someday…..
Okay will do that soon. I am still looking for a hanging billiard table light like in the pool halls. Have you seen one of those in your neck of the woods?
Tom;
A friend of mine was asking the same question a week ago, and we wondered why they weren’t that easy to find. I used to have the Bud long light with the horses for pool tables but it disappeared years ago.
Great job Paul, except for that red crooked downspout in photo #10.
A little advice for those in Typhoon pathways, all down spouts should be embedded in concrete.
Robert;
The crooked downspout came to be as the top used to just dump the water from the second floor roof by an existing drain. When Boy-O ran the new section to tap into the old piece with the T-joint, that’s the way it worked. All my downspouts go into the cement to a large drain to the street. And about it being crooked; yeah your right! (lol)
Tell me something about crooked, this is in my backyard, notice the leaning (crooked) concrete column. I would need a ton of plastering mortar to make it look strait.
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/822/dsc02683o.jpg
Robert;
I tried to open your link, but to no avail. But a guy with a crooked stanchion pointing out my crooked drain, now that is a guy I’d have a beer with!
Hi Paul
Go to the other thread ‘Another project Papaya’, I have posted a couple of photos there as well. My answer is at 09:33 am.
If you can’t open it there it means you do not have the right software.
Other people seem to be able to open it.
In any case, let me know if you succeeded or not.
Thanks.
Robert;
I could not open Paul’s either, so I am placing myself on the list of software challenged people.
Senior,
I like your approach on this. Let the head of the house handle it and sit back drinks a SMB and let the good times roll. I also belive like you do It doesn’t matter how they do it as long as the end result is good and it looks professional.
My Asawa already told me that when we get there she that she assumes command of the ship and i’m just a figure head on paper. wonder what she meant by that?
Hi Bruce
The day when I had a few SM beers that was the day when the construction workers did my columns. Unfortunately it is not the only one. All others had to be heavily plastered with mortar to straiten them because they are highly visible. So instead of 10″ x 10″ columns they became 16″ x 16″. The Kano had to pay for it, of course!
Did you have a look at the picture above?
Let me know what you think.
I can’t open any of your pictures. It says I need to “log in”.
Bob;
So, I’m not software challenged! I feel so much better.
Robert,
Yep there is a obvious slant to the column there. Only two things I could think of 1. They did not have the expertise and tools.or 2. they dove into the SMB before the job was done. Either way you pay of the error. But look at the bright side you have columns that will stand up to any typhoon mother nature can throw at you. LOL
Suggest to you asawa that next time check into their qualification before hiring. ( Just a suggestion).
Hi Bruce (Shipmate)
CINCPAC House will ensure the beer is chilled for you, then she’ll assume the CON, while you go to your “Man Cave”. That is the standard Chain of Command here, who would fight that?
Let me try again and let me know if the photo of the crooked post is now visible to everybody.
Please let me know if you need to copy and paste or is it just automatically clickable.
http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff474/PhilippinoBob/DSC02681.jpg
Thank you in advance.
works fine now.
Robert;
All is well in cyberspace once more, I connected to your link.
Here you can see it even better
http://s1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff474/PhilippinoBob/?action=view¤t=DSC02683.jpg
Or here: http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff474/PhilippinoBob/DSC02683.jpg
During my visits, at times my Filipino friends want to do things for me that I ordinarily would rather do myself. I guess I am a creature of habit and just like things a certain way. To be polite, and maybe learn something at the same time, I don’t question my Filipino friends when they want to do something for me.
There was a Hit Country song that came out maybe about 10 years ago titled ” Just Shut Up And Drive “. That song comes to my mind when my friends there do something for me now, I just think to myself ” Just Shut Up and Watch ” and more times than not, the end result is very favorable !
Hi Bob;
Sage advice, which we can all learn from. When I was in the Navy and as a Senior Chief, I would have bite my tongue and let the young Turks handle a mission or a task. I found that given the freedom they would do very well on their own. (I trained them)
It works here also; let them use their knowledge and experience and get the job done. So I guess I’ve learned to “Shut up and Watch” with a cold beer and my country music. (I have that song)