i love wooden floors but this is for ricos. in order to have a wooden floor in DR you gotta have mucho money to have good workers put it correctly and then some more money to spend on a yearly basis to give it maintenance. i know some properly rich folks and i have never even seen anyone crazy enough to have a wooden floor.
- Thread starter chrisdr
- Start date
An adventure in DR
I love wood floors too, and if they're done right it shouldn't matter where you live. I have hardwood floors throughout my house in NJ, and I'm VERY close to both the ocean and the bay [small island]. House was built in 1912, so these are OLD floors, the salt doesn't hurt them at all. That being said, you certainly can't wash them with a pail of bleach and water like Dominicans do......
The wood for the floors and beams has all been treated for termites and I also used carbasota aswell just to be sure! I coul have easily gone for using metal beams an concrete floors and roofs and it would have been around the same price but I want to keep it original as possible - just wish I was rich enough for Caoba!
chris, take my advice and look into further maintenance. you will have to treat this floor from time to time and take care of it. in poland every now and then the floor like this is sanded, cracks filled and then everything painted twice. and of course no one cleans it with a bucket of cloro with a splash of water 
chris, take my advice and look into further maintenance. you will have to treat this floor from time to time and take care of it. in poland every now and then the floor like this is sanded, cracks filled and then everything painted twice. and of course no one cleans it with a bucket of cloro with a splash of water
Well its a bit late to change it, its finished lol, but I know what needs to be done to maintain it, I still havent sanded it etc yet but will look good when finished
Thanks, it has kind of taken over my life at the moment but thats not a bad thing. Yes, you are right everytime you tick something off there is another thing waiting - that is expected with a building of this age though.
Costs? well I will let you know how much it cost when its finished. As I got fed up of people telling me it was impossible on my budget - but the good thing is I went in to this with my eyes open - there is not much that could surprise me a I knew everything needed doing. I did take an average of all the quotes I had and I will say that I have finished the roof and the floor at 30% of the quoted prices! If I keep that up I will be able to finish on my very tight budget...
I have four Haitian workers working for me, two are skilled (block work, panete etc) and two are unskilled laborers. Costs vary for workers, they actually live on site at the moment as its good security and its cheaper for them as they do not need to commute. I did have an engineer that I paid by the day to plan the roof etc but he has finished now, so its just me and my four workers - I am pretty much doing most things... electrics, plumbing...
Thanks, I wouldnt say it looks awesome yet but just wait....
wood floors here are the worst thing possible, i will repeat i curse the person who put them in my house every fu8ckin day! I can't wait till we can afford to change the WHOLE HOUSE! FRIGGIN IDIOTS! OMG I must not get this p$ssed before going to sleep or i will dream of the stupid wooden floors!!
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Kudos on your progress. I found the roof construction fascinating. brick laid on its spine and mortar covered with cement. What is the white top coat? A polymer paint?
Thanks.
Yes the roof construction is a bit peculiar - but I wanted to keep it original - although having a few problems with it. I have a couple of small cracks along the top of the roof at the joins. Nothing to major but water getting in. When I put the beams up we had a LOT of rain so now the beams are properly dying out I am getting some movement. That white top coat is a waterproofing sealer - although I wish I waited now as I will have to repair the cracks and seal it again.
Yes - had the hangover from hell! thanks for that. Didnt get much work done that day!
