How Do Mexicans View Our Construction Methods in the U.S.? (apartment complex, insurance)
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True or false, my realtor in Rosarito Beach told me that you can't get homeowner's insurance on a structure built out of wood down there, one of the reasons being that wood is candy to the termites. When I had Arquimex design a house for me down there, it was all concrete, even the roof!
So when Mexicans view the numerous house/apartment/motel fires on Youtube, given mostly everything is built out of wood up here, how do they view this? Or the brush/forest fires that devastate any number of wooden homes up here every year? And how about the newer apartment buildings being built today, around the country, with wooden construction allowable up to the 7th floor? Does the idea of living on the 7th floor of one of these apartment building give them a bit of scare?
Do they think we're totally out of our minds? Or do they just chuckle and laugh about it?
I am a degreed Architect from Calif and built my house south of Rosarito using their concrete blocks or red brick for the walls etc. Did the house in two sections with the front being bi-level over a Garage.
Did all the wood myself (upper floor and roof)
Do have one small part of the ceiling beam showing a slight termite infestion and this is after 17 yrs.
Mexico has a pendage for concrete or blocks or red brick covered with cement.
Go to Mexico City if you want to see concrete covered houses....I lived there for three yrs.
Rooms are NOT square and a level is a rare item to see......they may use a old fashioned Plumb bob.
There is a lge building? going on across the street from me so I watch them and it's a trip on how they work....things are done backwards when it comes down to what should be done in what order.
Am not critical of their work.......just the old fashioned methods of doing things the hard way.
I asked a local Architect to draw up my plans based upon my sketch.
He came out and measured my lot as all the lots in this sub division are the same size. NO reason to measure.
You can draw a set of plans for a home and then look for a vacant lot to build upon.
You can have a vacant lot and draws plans for a home to fit the size lot in question.
When in school a class assignment was to draw a complete set of plans for a two story colonial style home.....foundation up to the shingle roof.
I had those plans for many yrs before throwing them away.
Location: San Diego CA>Tijuana, BC>San Antonio, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Bagu
I am a degreed Architect from Calif and built my house south of Rosarito using their concrete blocks or red brick for the walls etc. Did the house in two sections with the front being bi-level over a Garage.
Did all the wood myself (upper floor and roof)
Do have one small part of the ceiling beam showing a slight termite infestion and this is after 17 yrs.
Mexico has a pendage for concrete or blocks or red brick covered with cement.
Go to Mexico City if you want to see concrete covered houses....I lived there for three yrs.
Rooms are NOT square and a level is a rare item to see......they may use a old fashioned Plumb bob.
There is a lge building? going on across the street from me so I watch them and it's a trip on how they work....things are done backwards when it comes down to what should be done in what order.
Am not critical of their work.......just the old fashioned methods of doing things the hard way.
I asked a local Architect to draw up my plans based upon my sketch.
He came out and measured my lot as all the lots in this sub division are the same size. NO reason to measure.
You can draw a set of plans for a home and then look for a vacant lot to build upon.
You can have a vacant lot and draws plans for a home to fit the size lot in question.
When in school a class assignment was to draw a complete set of plans for a two story colonial style home.....foundation up to the shingle roof.
I had those plans for many yrs before throwing them away.
We'd love to see the house, show us a picture.
I am not an architect, I can only speak as observer. I love driving through the Aguas Calientes and Chapultepec sections of Tijuana and seeing what they can do with block and concrete on the hillsides of TJ. To me, the houses in Tijuana (the nice sections) just seem more interesting than the ones in San Diego.
True or false, my realtor in Rosarito Beach told me that you can't get homeowner's insurance on a structure built out of wood down there, one of the reasons being that wood is candy to the termites. When I had Arquimex design a house for me down there, it was all concrete, even the roof!
So when Mexicans view the numerous house/apartment/motel fires on Youtube, given mostly everything is built out of wood up here, how do they view this? Or the brush/forest fires that devastate any number of wooden homes up here every year? And how about the newer apartment buildings being built today, around the country, with wooden construction allowable up to the 7th floor? Does the idea of living on the 7th floor of one of these apartment building give them a bit of scare?
Do they think we're totally out of our minds? Or do they just chuckle and laugh about it?
We find the houses in USA as fragile, prone to fire or destroyed easily in case of a tornado, earthquake or hurricane.
As in Mexico there are not many trees and yes many mountains, construction methods are aimed at using concrete. On the roof is generally used a mixture of rod steel, concrete and clay blocks (barroblock).
The advantages of using these methods are durability and strength to natural disasters.
Another thing is that in Mexico it is not customary to buy insurance policies for houses, so you have to build with this in mind.
Few yrs back watched a man down a few lots from me (my house was the 2nd home in this sub division) slapping down a red brick every minute on cement. They were crooked and NOT level by any means but later were covered over with cement.
My very first experience in seeing this type of construction was back in 1985 after getting married to my Mexican wife at that time in Mexico City.
Step daughter was building a home and I saw the red brick before being covered with cement and I just shook my head in wonderment at that time.......since then have learned a lot.
True or false, my realtor in Rosarito Beach told me that you can't get homeowner's insurance on a structure built out of wood down there, one of the reasons being that wood is candy to the termites. When I had Arquimex design a house for me down there, it was all concrete, even the roof!
So when Mexicans view the numerous house/apartment/motel fires on Youtube, given mostly everything is built out of wood up here, how do they view this? Or the brush/forest fires that devastate any number of wooden homes up here every year? And how about the newer apartment buildings being built today, around the country, with wooden construction allowable up to the 7th floor? Does the idea of living on the 7th floor of one of these apartment building give them a bit of scare?
Do they think we're totally out of our minds? Or do they just chuckle and laugh about it?
I can tell you what my parents thought when they came to visit us here in the States (they live in Eastern Europe where all houses used to be concrete or brick): they shudder at the thought that most homes here are built out of sticks with nails and glue. What kills them most is the cost of building here for the quality you get (I have to agree). Also the whole bank->insurance company->various appraisers->real estate agent system is interesting to them (they always get this sad expression when talking to me about it and look at me with that look that says "my poor sad donkey son is getting ripped off")
Ever watched footage from the Bosnian wars a few decades ago on the news? You could see a house that was hit with a grenade or a tank fired ordinance and there would be a hole in the wall where the thing was hit but the rest of the structure was still standing as if nothing happened to it.
When my parents built their two story lake home - it was solid brick with deep foundation (poured concrete). There was a concrete floor between 1st and 2nd floor and between 2nd floor and roof too. None of that silly asphalt shingle - regular clay shingles were used. Inside you had a crew of folks hald apply a mixture of cement, sand and water to the walls (instead of drywall here). When you wanted to hang a painting, there was work to be done!
Needless to say, their house will be there in 200 years looking pretty much the same it looked the day it was built.
In my case most comments I have heard Mexicans make about residential construction in the U. S. were about the construction being mainly of wood, and the perception that such houses are fire traps.
From what I've read, the lumber companies in the U.S. are powerful lobbyists in Washington, DC. I've heard it too often: it's much more expensive to build with concrete. And Americans continually buy into that propaganda.
Yes, Habitat For Humanity has proven, if organized, have all the material present, you can throw up a wooden house in a matter of days, a week. But, long term, doesn't haste make waste?
There was a developer here in Las Vegas, who was building Latin-American style, all-concrete homes on scattered sites here, and he claimed it only cost $3k more per unit to build with concrete vs. wood.
I always feel safer when I stay in a motel in Tijuana, realizing, even in a 2 story motel, there's concrete under my feet on the 2nd floor, concrete above my head, and when I rap on the walls between the units with my fist, it's solid! Not like these paper-thin walls of so man of the motels you stay in, in the U.S.
If you get on YouTube and call forth House/Motel/Apartment Building Fires in the U.S., there's pages and pages of fires to watch. And, curiously, I did the same search for similar fires in Mexico. Yes, there was quite a fire to watch out in Otay Mesa, but it was a house built out of wood.
In the older sections of Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas, concrete block houses was the rule, except for the roofs. But somewhere along the line, in the 70's, that style was abandoned. I wonder why!
Things may be different in other parts of the US, but in the Chicago area a high percentage of the homes are brick exterior over wooden joists. That is a very sturdy method of construction. Some of the 1960's and 1970's apartment complexes are flexicore, which is like concrete legos, also very sturdy. Frame housing is cheap, and is usually seen more in the far-flung suburbs. It may have to do with the colder climate, and lack of termites as mentioned.
When I visited relatives in Greece, I noted that much of that nation's structures are concrete as well.
Let's not forget the Great Fire of 1871 that all but leveled the city of Chicago and all its wooden structures.
I believe it was mandated, after the fire, that all structures have brick exteriors.
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