Hello from Colombia

[jsanti]

Hello everybody!

I'm going to start to build my own home in about 1 or 2 months.

I live in Medellin, Colombia (South America, so it's Colombia, not ColUmbia hehe)

I don't think there are many people here from anywhere outside North America or UK, but I've been reading this forum for several months now and it has been a great source of inspiration and courage for me so I'd like to share with you a little bit of my experiences facing this challenge.

Around 95% of the new houses built here are made using concrete and/or clay adobe (except for the roof which is usually wood).  The rest of them are country houses made of wood, but they are structurally built using a technique more similar to timber framing and not stick framing (the loads are transfered through large round beams and columns) and because of the great concern of wood boring insects,  wooden constructions are always made using pressure treated wood (something I've read is not allowed or recommended in the US except for the sill plates).

Anyway, I love wood and I want to build my own home using stick framing and for that I've been reading and studying this technique through several books and Internet.

My wife and I designed the house of our dreams and we are waiting for the required permits, and if everything goes well I think the build will start in about 1 or 2 months max.

Thanks guys for all the inspiration and knowledge you share in this forum.  I hope to start my own build thread in the future

[Redoverfarm]

  jsanti.  I am glad to see that your goverment is hard at work as ours with permit requirements ( Ha. Ha.) Look forward to your progress.  Keep us posted and don't forget the pictures (eye candy).

[duncanshannon]

 

looking forward to hearing about how the building in Colombia goes!

[UK4X4]

Welcome

I might be from the UK - but I'm presently residing in Bogota ! just up the road- a few hundred Km ! and 400 curves.

Bienveniedo !

I speak way better Spanish than I can write !,

actually I think my english is the same !

post up your designs so we see the latin influence

[jsanti]

jsanti.  I am glad to see that your goverment is hard at work as ours with permit requirements ( Ha. Ha.) Look forward to your progress.  Keep us posted and don't forget the pictures (eye candy).

Haha, you are right, but I think these requirements are not so strictly enforced here after the building license is granted. For instance, there are no structural or mechanical inspections after the building is completed or during construction, and the only important aspect is that you keep the house area and external appearance according to the submitted and approved plans.

Thanks for the welcome!

[jsanti]

I might be from the UK - but I'm presently residing in Bogota ! just up the road- a few hundred Km ! and 400 curves.

Wow! I almost feel like I've found a 'paisano' here! LOL

Are you planning to build your house in Colombia? If you have a building thread please point me to it.

post up your designs so we see the latin influence

Well there's not much latin influence in our design I think.  We love the architecture of traditional US country houses and that was or main source of inspiration. Also I wanted a beautiful and functional house that make people to ask me HOW is it built, so I can introduce them to the wood frame construction thing

I'll post the pics of the design later, have to work now.

[rick91351]

Haha, you are right, but I think these requirements are not so strictly enforced here after the building license is granted. For instance, there are no structural or mechanical inspections after the building is completed or during construction, and the only important aspect is that you keep the house area and external appearance according to the submitted and approved plans.

Thanks for the welcome!

So glad that we are not the only ones in the world that requires paper work and permits.

[UK4X4]

Living and working here in CO since Mar- my Cabin project however is in Colorado

Here like much of latin america - concrete block and sand is relatively cheap, available and and bug proof


Timber - is relatively expencive in comparison.....

how will you deal with the hungry insects ?

are you building out on a Finca or in town ?

[jsanti]

I'm building out of town near to Medellin in a small lot I've bought with my wife.

The lot is placed about 2750 meters above sea level (~9000ft) and mean temperature is about 12ºC (53.6ºF) year round.  Not too cold, but cold enough for me to justify the investment in better thermal insulation than adobe or concrete.

Luckily there are no termites in this region but there's one kind of woodboring beetle called "comején".  Is not too aggressive but is a PITA to deal with it once it comes to live into your house so I plan to spray all the structure with BoraCare, and use Zinc Borate treated OSB sheeting.

Here are a couple of pics of the house design:

[John Raabe]

Welcome jsanti:

No tiny cabin that! But it looks like you have a good start.

The borate treatment for the framing materials should be an effective and relatively non-toxic route to bug control. Your high elevation and cool climate probably helps as much as anything else. We have a similar climate here in WA state and will not usually have bug problems as long as all materials can be allowed to dry out. Consistent moisture is the invitation to trouble.

[jsanti]

Thanks Mr. Raabe!

Haha, yeah that's not tiny at all, we ended up at about 2200 sqft but I feel ok with the final size because it will be our main residence and we plan to grow our family there.  My top priority is to have it dried in and habitable (1 finished room, kitchen, and 1 bath) by the end of this year so we can stop paying rent and move in to the new house.

I plan to work full time on it so we hope to have a steady progress. We'll see how it goes .

[glenn kangiser]

to the forum, jsanti.

Borate was what I was going to recommend as a pretty safe alternative to the many not so safe products for keeping bugs out.  Glad you found it.  Looking forward to pix too.

Seems one of the singers I like is from Colombia.... Shakira....

I think she even has an appropriate song....
Shakira - Moscas en la casa

[Don_P]

Borate treated framing lumber is also available which has a higher concentration than you can get with a spray or dip.
This is one;
http://www.ufpi.com/product/borate/index.htm

For lowest toxicity straight borate works well but a glycol carrier helps it penetrate deeper, especially in dry wood. Ethylene glycol is the most common glycol used and is quite toxic. This is the glycol in Bora-care. Propylene and polyethylene glycols are used in other products like Shell Guard. Ethylene glycol has recently been in one trade journakl as a suspect in childhood asthma. It is also a common additive in paints, apparently especially enviro safe low VOC paints. The commercial treaters are using straight DOT, borate, and high pressure from what I can tell.