Concrete/ Block house construction

[db4570]

Hi, Everyone. This seems to be a topic that is not covered here at all, but this is the best forum I've found for people building small country cabins, etc.

I'm thinking about building a little house, probably well under 1000sf, in the Caribbean, and am strongly leaning toward concrete block or a combination poured concrete and block construction. The houses in the region tend to have a very distinctive style, which I tend to like. The only sites talking about concrete house construction seem to be outfits selling plans for oceanfront McMansions that look like they are on Cape Cod.

A stick built house is something I understand the construction of well, but concrete and block are somewhat new to me. Are there any DIY sites that anyone can recommend for learning about block or concrete house design and construction?

Thanks!

David

[HomeschoolMom]

   You will find a few people building with block over on the owner-builder projects page.  Here are two links that I can think of first hand.  They are both bermed homes, but I think you will still find some info useful.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5386.0

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5690.0

[n74tg]

Check out dry-stack block walls, ie no mortar between the layers of blocks.  This is how I built my block walls.

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/drystackblock.htm

http://www.drystacked.com/?gclid=CI2-pf-dkaACFRy4sgodc3soeA

And if you want to read about it on my blog (address below), check the archives Dec 2006 to Dec 2007

[NELSELGNE]

111 pages of building a dry-stack block home.
see: http://www.texasmusicforge.com/gimmeshelter.html

[db4570]

Thanks for the replies. The dry stack techniques look cool, but I'm most interested in the standard Caribbean/ Latin American style and construction, but can't find anything on the specifics.

David

[Billisnice]

My first house I built in college in the 70. A 24 x 36 block house with a concrete slab. It cost me 16,000 to do the work myself with a retired blockmason.  Trusses on top, etc. I used the reader digest yellow and blue book to wire it myself. But, I did a dumb thing. I added to many rooms for a small space.