Roatan Insights © September 2001
News from the Honduras Bay Islands and North Coast
September 2001
By Pierre Renaldo, The Coastwatcher©

Rain, Rain and Cisterns Full

I am completely turned around by the weather this summer. I was even writing October on my checks because of all the rain. I did not keep count but I am almost certain that it rained every day of the month in August. It seemed like Florida, reputed to be the lightning capital of the world, with all the electrical disturbances we experienced on Roatan. Some of them shook the house and kept me awake all night. They were really bangers.

Don't let this be a deterrent to you if you're considering coming here in summer. These storms arrived well before daylight and had little effect on daytime tourist activities. The diving, horseback riding, water sports, fun and games and other regular activities were not affected adversely because of the rain.

The Worlds Worst Telephone Company Lives up to Expectations

In July we were without telephones for two days, and in late August we had another mini-disaster. Hondutel controls the Internet traffic into and out of Honduras. True to form, they sold more bands than they had available and the overload crashed the main computer that handles the traffic for Internet service providers in Honduras. We had almost no Internet communications anywhere in the country for three days during this most recent fiasco. That may not seem like much but Internet access has become a very important means of communication for the business community of Roatan.

What a pathetic excuse for a business they are. The pity is that the government cannot find any takers to buy controlling interest in their antiquated, obsolete and useless junk heap they think is a telephone company. Nobody else agrees.

Pity the poor people whose telephone lines were snagged by a couple of dump trucks that belong to that blank road building company. The phone lines were ripped from the poles over two months ago and they have never been repaired. The road building company will certainly not do anything about it. I'll bet the people still get billed. So what is Hondutel going to do if they don't pay? Shut off the telephones?

Eventually, Honduras will pay a horrendous price for this lack of concern for providing adequate voice communications to the population and business community. Some day soon, wireless technology will make Hondutel unnecessary. It can't be soon enough to suit me.

The Bridges of Flowers Bay

Every time I brag about something in this country it backfires on me. I should learn to keep my big keyboard shut. It looked so promising when seven new bridges were started in early summer on the Coxen Hole - Flowers Bay Road, that beaten path which I call the Coastal Road.

There has been no progress whatsoever for well over a month. All the heavy equipment is gone and the bypasses around the new construction are becoming quagmires. There has been no little guy out there waving a red bandana at anybody either.

If we get a tropical depression this hurricane season those mediocre crossings will wash away when the creeks overflow and spill over the temporary roadbed. That's when we hafta four-wheel it through seawater again.

The Public Pier

I will not make too much of this item, but there were two work-boats tied up at the pier for a couple of days. They are not the typical cargo boats that operate across the Bay of Honduras, so I'm hopping this is it. I needed to give you some good news this issue. The bigger cruise ships are supposed to begin calling on Roatan in October, four per week is the street talk.

So now we come to the subject of our construction related discussion for this month. A reader remarked that she wished I had been here before she made her ill-fated attempt at building in a third world paradise. I keep hearing these stories, even from experienced people.

Friends, it just ain't like back home when you do things here, even the everyday stuff. This is not the U.S.A. You hail from a country with a lot of smart people, but you will not find people like that here. Even when you roll up your sleeves and apply good old American 'know-how' to the job at hand the going is slow.

Unless you do it yourself, with others who have the necessary skills, you will not get what you would expect back home. If you are courageous enough to let a local do it for you while you are at work earning the money to pay for it, expecting to come back to your little slice of heaven and find your dream waiting for you as promised, you are a dreamer.

Last month we reviewed concrete construction and now we will take a good look at wood frame. I like both and most often combine the two methodologies whenever I can. It gives my clientele the best of both worlds, maximum flexibility and with proper care, a wood structure will last a lifetime.

Wood Frame Construction

Wood frame has been a popular format for residential construction since the days of the colonial settlers. Back then is was a plentiful resource and one of the easiest building materials to acquire. Over the centuries, wood has maintained its popularity in home construction for a variety of reasons.

Let's take a look at some of those reasons and examine them more closely.

Wood is flexible. It can bend more easily than concrete or steel and then regain its original form. In other words it gives. You will notice this difference if you have occasion to walk on a wood floor as opposed to concrete for a prolonged period of time. The resilience of the wood will be most appreciated by your feet.

Wood is strong and lightweight. It is relatively easy to lift and handle.

Wood is easily fastened to other wood and wood structures can be assembled during most weather conditions without adverse effects.

Wood is durable and can be made even more so by chemical treatment.

Wood is readily available and can be transported easily.

Wood is warm. It is a natural insulator.

Wood is beautiful and practical at the same time.

Wood is competitively priced as a building material.

Wood structures go together faster.

There is another angle to the flexibility of wood that I personally like very much. It is simple to change or alter something made from wood by comparison to many other building materials.

*Special note:
I use the terminology I am used to in my explanations. Some of these names for things are different in different parts of the country. If you do not understand the phrase or terminology, just send me an e-mail:
elouis@globalnet.hn
I will try to simplify or clarify.

The Floor Wafer (Deck):

The first piece of wood that goes on top of the foundation wall is called a sill plate. It is bolted down to the block/concrete by means of steel bolts that have been embedded into the concrete on the top of the wall. The floor joists are then placed on top of the sill plate at the designated spacing, to span the open area below.

* Note: I frequently use the term 'member' or 'framing member' to describe any piece of lumber used in the framing process.

Floor Joists:

Usually the largest of the framing members because they do a very important job. That job is to carry all the dead and live loads placed upon them, for as long as the building lasts. There is another member placed at the ends of the joists that forms the rim of the floor wafer. It is called the rim beam or sometimes referred to as a sill.

Floor Trusses:

An engineered factory fabricated structural component designed to span long distances. They are also capable of accommodating heavy loading and resemble the superstructure of a bridge. There are many other types of components that do the same work as floor trusses and are much lighter in weight for ease of handling.

Blocking:

Blocking members are used to help hold the floor joists in vertical position so that they do not have a tendency to curl or cup (warp). They will consist of pieces of wood the same depth as the floor joists and are cut to fit tightly between the joists in a continuous row at or near the middle of the span. They also help to transmit loads placed upon them, distributing some of the weight to adjacent members.

Bridging or X-Bridging:

These member also occur in the middle of the span. They serve a similar function as blocking but are two pieces of wood or metal that hold the joists in a vertical position. They form the letter X between the joists because of the pattern in which they are nailed.

Sub Floor:

The next application is the material that covers the floor joists. This is often called decking, and can consist of laminated products like plywood or solid wood boards. The edges of either of these products may be tongue and groove (T&G). This means they will interlock so that each component will lend support to the adjacent piece, resulting is a very sturdy sub floor.

Bearing Partitions:

Partitions are an assembly of 2x4's or larger members that enclose spaces at the perimeter and within the house. Bearing partitions mean that these walls will be built to support some type of loads from above. They have to hold up other dead loads. The exterior walls of a house are most often bearing partitions (walls).

Non-Bearing Partitions:

You guessed it. These walls just separate the spaces you call a floor plan. They support no loads from above.

Plates:
There are plates on the bottom and top of partitions. The bottom plate is often referred to as the sole plate or the shoe. Both are different names for the same thing. I have not heard of top plates being call anything but top plates. There are two top plates on bearing partitions and only one is required for non-bearing walls.

Studs:

The vertical members in a partition are called studs. (Not to be confused with any 'macho' carpenters on the job.) They, together with plates, form the walls, which divide the spaces into exterior walls and a floor plan.

Headers:

This device is really a wood beam and functions much like the pre-fabricated lintels we talked about in concrete block walls. When a space is required in a load-bearing wall, for doors or windows, then something is needed to span the opening and hold up the load from above.

Headers are made from wood members. They can be made up on the job site, which is often the case. Two pieces of 2x8 or larger dimension lumber, are fastened together for this purpose. However there are pre-fabricated products of great strength ready to use. They only need to be cut to the required length for the opening to be spanned.

Headers* are also used in other locations. You will become aware that they are very important when an opening is necessary in a floor or roof. Examples of this application are openings for stairwells and sky-lites.

(*Authors note: Most of the local "builders" on Roatan do not use headers. If you are talking to anybody who claims to be a builder and he does not know about the sizing and placing of headers and jacks in a structural wall then you have made a bad choice. There is no code in the U.S. or Canada that permits bearing walls to be built without headers to span openings for doors or windows etc.)

Point Loads:

This means a concentrated load being placed onto a very small area. If a point load is required to land on a surface that is suspended over an open area below, then another type of header device may be required to carry the point load.

This may consist two or more floor joists to be grouped together into a header or beam, to carry the point load across the span. You may use a manufactured component to accomplish this task. Parallamä as manufactured by Truss=Joist McMillan is a product that is ideal for this type of application.

Ceiling Joists:

Similar to floor joists these members are used when a flat ceiling is desired. They are placed on top of the top plates of the partitions, much like the floor joists of a second story. In one story construction, ceiling joists are not required if vaulted (slopping) or cathedral ceilings are desired.

Rafters:

These are the members that makeup your roof structure. They are most frequently placed on an angle, giving the roof of the building slope, for rainwater runoff.

Roof Trusses:

An engineered factory fabricated component used to build roof structures. These lightweight structures are capable of spanning long distances and have been commonly in use since the 50's.

The truss technology enables roof structures to be assembled very rapidly, with little or no field cutting required as in conventional roof framing. They can be designed to accommodate a wide range of architectural styling and configurations.

Ridge:

There is a framing member at the very top of the roof, where the rafters meet that is called the ridge. It is sometimes referred to as the ridge board or the ridgepole.

Roof Sheathing:

This is the layer of material that is applied to the top of the rafters to complete the roof structure. It can be of plywood, or other laminated products, as well as solid wood. This process of sheathing is very similar to the side-wall sheathing that is applied to the exterior of the exterior walls.

Dry In:

You probably know what tarpaper is. The dry in is exactly that. But the construction industry likes to call it 'felt paper' or 'felts'. It is a vapor barrier to help prevent moisture penetration through the roof sheathing or side-wall sheathing. (Skin)

Flashing:

No! This is not someone giving a peek show. Flashing in this instance is metal, although I have used some metallic coated fabric in the past. These metals are used in places on the roof that require a very durable, long lasting material to keep water from leaking through your roof, walls, chimneys, plumbing vents, etc.

There is type of flashing used at the eave of your roof called edge metal or drip edge. It is there to prevent leakage through the outside edge of your roof. Flashing is installed before the finished roof is applied over the dry-in. These metal protectors are also used over doors and windows, and at other potential problem areas in exterior walls to prevent leakage.

If you have ever noticed plumbing pipes coming up through a roof and have seen something metallic around them, that's a type of flashing. And I'm sure you have noticed flashing where chimneys project through roofs.

Roof & Attic Ventilation:

This is a very important aspect of keeping your home cooler especially in the warmer climates. Let me explain.

Roofs and attic spaces need to be ventilated. Heat can be trapped in these spaces. If it has no way of escaping, it will expand and force its way down through the ceilings of the house. You come home from work and the house is hot. You open all the windows but the house is still uncomfortable.

The ventilation I am referring to here is not the fans you have inside your home. The problems arise from enclosed spaces over living areas that absorb heat and have no way of expelling it. If not properly ventilated these spaces will pass the heat into your living areas even if you have insulation.

We let the hot air escape through ventilating devices the are not fans. Many homes have ventilated soffits. This is the underside of the roof structure (rafters) that overhangs the outside walls of a house (eaves). Little holes or screens in the soffits let air in. Now let's take a look at the higher parts of the house and roof. If we can create some openings up there to let the hot air out, then we have something good going for ourselves.

Hot air rises. As it travels upward it draws cooler air with it from below. Now if that hot air has someplace to escape, we have circulation. Once we have circulation we have it made.

The roof of your house, on a warm summer day can absorb and hold tremendous heat. Dark color roofing materials get hotter than light colors. Roof wafer temperatures can reach 140 degrees or more! You certainly do not want anything like those temperatures in your house.

The solution begins at the lowest part of your roof, the eaves. Ventilation in the form of screen vents or perforated soffits are installed to allow air to enter the spaces over the insulation and between your rafters. The high part of the building is then ventilated with ridge vents, roof vents, and/or gable vents.

They all do the same job, but look different and are located differently on the roof or gable wall. Ridge vents are placed directly over the ridge of the roof (highest point). These are the most effective. They consist of a sheet metal fabrication, low in profile that can be connected together into a continuous ventilator along the entire length of your roof.

The Roof Vent:

is another sheet metal fabrication that is placed over a hole cut into the highest part of the roof. It functions much the same way as the ridge vent but several are needed to allow good air flow. They are much more evident and less attractive than ridge vents.

Gable vents are devices placed in the gable walls of your home to allow the hot air to escape from the roof wafer/attic space.

Turbine ventilators are little mechanical devices placed on roofs to extract hot air by creating a suction. When there is little or no wind, these seemingly adequate ventilators are not effective because they must rely on wind force to operate and expel hot air.

Roof exhaust fans are far and away the most effective of roof/attic ventilation. There are many very good types on the market that are energy efficient and are controlled by thermostats that turn them on and off automatically as needed.

Siding and Exterior Trim:

The cosmetics of your home. The face you will look at for many years. They are extremely important because they are the character of your home. They make others see the style and design features your architect/designer has worked to create.

There are many excellent kinds of siding on the market today. Wood, laminates, plastics, authentic colonial and Victorian products, metals and vinyl. The choices are a wonderful opportunity for you to expound on your home styling theme.

Exterior Trim and bric-a-brac:

are additional ways for you to enhance the architectural style of your home. Again, the choices are now greater than ever.

Brick or Stone Veneer:

is another way of adorning the exterior of your home with color and texture. The varieties are almost endless. Whether you will have brick or stone, on all or part of the exterior, these products can create great impact.
I like both to emphasize style on the interior by using brick or stone in areas other than fireplaces.

Some of the homiest kitchens I have ever built have had brick feature walls, brick bar-b-que areas and brick or stone cooking alcoves and often fireplaces. That good old country kitchen is a very comfortable place.

Much of the foregoing is an excerpt from my book "How to Avoid the Pitfalls: Building Your dream Home"

I am happy to report that this book will shortly be available in print through my publisher, 1st Books Library. You can also preview the novel
"Red Dog Chronicles"
there as well. It will be available through
1st Books and in bookstores by the end of September.
Visit www.1stbooks.com for details.

Several E-books are available on my site: www.eroatan.com

As of September 1, 2001 the exchange rate in Roatan banks was:
$1 U.S. = LPS. 15.57

Comments or questions?

Drop me a line:

Pierre

elouis@globalnet.hn

By Pierre Renaldo, Mountain Coastal S.A,. General Contractors, Construction Management and Construction Consultants.