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| Beach House in La Paloma, Uruguay photo by Julie R Butler |
After much thought and consideration, and a trial period in your newly adopted homeland, overcoming all the hurdles, avoiding every scam offered to you, having researched flood plains and access to major utilities, you managed to find your ideal piece of property, and want to build a home on it.
Here are a few suggestions and hints. As you may have noticed, there are houses everywhere in the world. It is the standard of building that sets many of them apart. You could easily live in an adobe house, like many people do in the southwest of the United States, or buy bricks that are either homemade or manufactured. Roofing ranges from tile to steel to palm frond. There are many ways you can go. Here are my suggestions for you:
Before leaving civilization, get some self-help books on things like plumbing, electricity, septic systems and construction. Have a good idea what you want. In many countries, the utilities are surface installed, sometimes electrical wires are just stapled onto the wood, but you have a choice here how you want to proceed. First of all, you must be prepared to be your own builder/contractor/architect! Generally, building in developing countries is a seat-of-the-pants affair.
You may not find a capable contractor, electrician, plumber or skilled craftsman. But you will have an overabundance of local labor to choose from, who will need supervision all of the time, if you want things done your way. Maybe you will get lucky and know someone who has just gone through what you are about to begin, and you can pick their brains on the local labor pool situation, who is trustworthy and capable, where to get your building supplies (Always in Cash).
Plywood is a US commodity, and is very expensive in many other places, when and if available, but for your walls, there are these lovely red partially hollow bricks, that make walls go up quickly.
Most cement and mortar is mixed by hand, and it works very well.
Site preparation is very important, if you want your house to be stable, and if you are building in a seismic zone, like along the ring of fire, you want to make sure that you use a sufficient amount of steel rebar, in case of tremors, and a foundation that is sufficiently thick. This is the opportunity to lay all your utilities into the foundation, as opposed to the local customs of adding it afterwards. When it comes to the LP Gas, many places require you to hire a professional installer, and they will want to inspect that, before you cover it.
If you have the means, it may not hurt to consult with an architect, regarding the layout and floor load limits should you build a multistory house.
Almost anywhere you are likely to go, screened windows are a must, and if you move to a place like where we are here in Patagonia, double glazed windows will save you a bundle on heating costs in the winter. Likewise, make sure that all your doors to the outside fit snuggly, and that you have a weather strip on the bottom to keep the cold air out.
If you plan on placing bars over your windows, make sure that you install a quick release somewhere, to give you a way out in case of fire.
The roof of course is the most important thing of all. It gives you shelter from the elements, so that is the last place you want to skimp. Good heavy gauge galvanized steel will last many years, and when properly installed, will not leak. If you want to go for aesthetics, colored glazed tile roofs of good quality will last generations, but require a sturdier basic roof construction.
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| View from the Side photo by Julie R Butler |
You should be available at all times while your home is under construction, and supervise all major aspects of construction. You may get lucky and have a capable foreman to supervise the gang, but you must always be aware that you are building something they probably never built before, as the construction industry is still evolving, and most fortunately they are not building houses like in so many prefab neighborhoods the USA, where sections are stapled together, the ground settles after construction, cracks appear in the foundation in the first year and your roof routinely need replacing. In your building project, you are presented with an opportunity to do it right, for less money.
And if you live in the hurricane or other high wind zone, DO NOT USE THOSE STATE OF FLORIDA APPROVED HURRICANE CLIPS! They are worthless! Contractor’s lobbyist in the southeast worked hard to get those approved. I toured the Gulf coast after Katrina, the entire length, and not a single hurricane clip survived, whereas I saw some roofs on houses that were otherwise destroyed, where the steel bolted roofs were intact.
Over all, use common sense, and remember that you get what you put into it back, should you ever want to relocate.
Good Luck and Good Living.
Jamie Douglas
Patagonia
Special Note:
We would like to thank our editor for the opportunity to guest edit and write for this site for the month of January. We would also like to thank our readers for all the positive feedback we have received, and we are looking forward to contributing to this site at a later date.
Sincerely,
Jamie Douglas and Julie R Butler
To contact Jamie regarding this article, email: jamie@expatdailynews.com
Jamie Douglas is an Adventurer, Writer and Photographer with an amazing array of Nikon equipment, and a lifetime of experience traveling and documenting. To contact him for assignments and new adventures. email: jamie.douglas [at] yahoo.com
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