Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Hi Guys,

I am feel great able to write to this forum, and I am new here, I just bought 18 ARE land (UBUD) and wanted to develop something, I have been reading alot and wondering can we still discuss about the wooden house?

I am considering to build wooden house (pre frabricated) houses on my land, I think prefrabricated wooden house is much cheaper and less management work at least from my end, like I don't have to worry so much with the design and finding best building materials. I am expecting lifespan of the house for say 50 years...

please give me your advise.

Regards,
Lang.

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject with two very polarised views. At the end of the day I believe you should go to an expert rather than ask in here as it is your money and your choice.

That way you should get an unbiased view.

At the end of the day I believe you should go to an expert rather than ask in here as it is your money and your choice.

Hmmm, and here I thought my Balinese brother in law, a noted architect in Ubud WAS an expert.

Lang, stop by Naughty Nuri's some day and ask the expats there how many of them have built their homes in Bali out of pre-fabricated wood.

If you're expecting a 50 year life span...forget it. In fact, good luck finding anything in Bali made of wood that's 50 years old. Cheers and good luck.

That way you should get an unbiased view.

Unless the expert sells wooden houses, of course.

I think the sharing of our experiences would be a help anyway.


My experience

I have a tukan coming on November 1st to rip out the wooden floor I have and replace it with ceramics. The house is 5 years old and the wood has been half eaten away by termites.

Unless the expert sells wooden houses, of course.

Well done!

Jimbo, thanks so much. I have budget constraint, can only afford pre-fabricated house

Roy, Is this Naughty Nuri's a construction company or pre-fabricated house seller? sound like name of Bar or Discoteque

MimpiIndah, Thanks so much for your reply, I read from pre-fabricated house website they said, the wood will not be eaten by termites May be they are not telling the truth.

I read from pre-fabricated house website they said, the wood will not be eaten by termites May be they are not telling the truth

They also told me the wood I bought for window and door frames for my buildings in Lombok would not be eaten by termites. But we had to replace all in one house after only a year.

We also built wooden stairs in one house which we ripped out and replaced within the last 12 months. That house is about 6 years old.

Just my personal experiences

an entirely wooden house / structure will definitely be higher maintenance than bricks, mortar and reinforced concrete, there's no question about that.. oiling, resealing and of course termite control..

ct

Naughty Nuri’s is a well known warung style restaurant run by an expat from New York and his Javanese wife, Nuri…thus the name. It is directly opposite the Neka Museum northwest of central Ubud.

MimpiIndah, Thanks so much for your reply, I read from pre-fabricated house website they said, the wood will not be eaten by termites May be they are not telling the truth.

Bingo! And welcome to Bali. Unfortunately, there are a number of unscrupulous developers here on Bali…not necessary all run by westerners either, who don’t mind taking your money. Two famous quotes come to mind:

“Penny wise, pound foolish is one”, and the other is, “there is a sucker born every minute.”

If you are serious about pursuing this all wood house idea around Ubud, be sure to ask any developer to take you to ANY all wooden structure in Bali that can be dated to twenty or more years old and still as originally built. Good luck!

Lang - the only way you'll get a long lasting wood structure here is thru use of old growth timber and about the only source for that locally is via dealers in reclaimed/recycled wood. Forget long life with those prefabs.

Fyi - despite what some on the forum may say, Bali is one of the PREMIER locales 'in the world' for sourcing old growth (recycled) tropical hardwoods - in fact the founder of the largest US retailer of reclaimed tropical hardwoods recently relocated to Ubud from Northern California - they source from Thailand and Indonesia.

Mim - you're leaving out the details...like what wood was used, but sounds like your problem was the builder

I'm glad to see this thread revive because it is a theme that I am also interested in and I have gathered as much information about it as I can from internet studies and emailing as many sources as I could. There have been a lot of those!

I won't repeat the things that I have already written about my research into wooden house building in past threads but if you would like to have my sources then you can PM me and I would be happy to share with anyone that is interested in learning more.

In short I would just say a couple of things:

1.Wood isn't just wood - if you want to build to last with wood then it will probably cost you as much if not more than building with bricks and mortar - it just won't hurt so much when it falls on your head during the next earthquake. (light touch paper and stand well back ). Do some research Wood has been the construction product of choice for thousands of years throughout the world - the tropics is no exception. If taken care of it can last centuries, such as the Lyman Mission House in Hawaii: http://www.lymanmuseum.org/Default.aspx?tabid=57

2. Bali is one of the premier exporters to other tropical countries around the world for prefabricated tropical wooden houses - these buyers aren't little two bit operations but major hotel chains and construction companies in places such as Thailand, Hawaii and mainland US. I presume they know what they are doing.

DCC seems to know the most about this subject and I respect and agree with everything he says about it.

Mim - you're leaving out the details...like what wood was used, but sounds like your problem was the builder

Sorry I dont know/recall what wood was used. I wasn't familiar with the terms. It was ever named like pine/teak etc only that at the time it was x class and wouldnt be eaten by termites.

DCC seems to know the most about this subject and I respect and agree with everything he says about it.

In that case, I invite you both to ignore what the Balinese have known for many centuries, and have a blast building your all wood houses!

No worries about me telling you, "I told you so" a few years down the line.

Sorry to be repetitive, but I think it bears being repeated…if ANYONE is seriously thinking of an all wood house in Bali, with 50 years of potential longevity, then find just ONE all wood structure that is still here after 20 years, and in its original state.

I am still laughing at Markit’s comment…

“DCC seems to know the most about this subject and I respect and agree with everything he says about it”…

But all the while, I’m looking at DCC’s AND Markit's avatar!

Is it just me, or does one seem to perfectly follow the other?

Please Roy don't think I disbelieve anything just because it's coming from you because I did, in fact, check on many of the claims you have made concerning building in Bali with tropical hard woods and their longevity.

Among the many disclaimers I received from different sources it would seem that the primary reason for expats being so vociferously against wooden housing was that it almost always comes from Balinese/Caucasian partnerships and is rooted in the Balinese side of the couple being totally swayed by a peculiarly Balinese prejudice that says stone/brick houses are simply higher class than wooden ones.

Apparently this belief is rooted in the old Balinese/Indonesian class culture.

Now Roy nobody would ever, ever accuse you of being in any way class conscious now would they

Or, for that matter, of having your opinions made for you by the other half of your avatar - since you did bring avatars up.

Doesn't it seem strange that the rest of the world buys good Balinese tropical wooden houses but the Balinese supposedly don't? Termites can be found from New Zealand up to Alaska and Siberia - they are more at fault for global warming than all the cars Detroit and Germany can produce - just some food for thought.

i'm with roy on this one.. it's not that you can't build a structure out of wood that has a chance of lasting 50 years, it's that it would cost you a hell of a lot (in materials and the design considerations) and then even after that, there's nothing to suggest it wouldn't look all beat up in 7-8 years, just like every other wood structure in bali does..

now, i'm not opposed to all wood structures - in fact our cabin here in bc is a full log cabin, handscraped.. but i havent seen any evidence in bali that a wood structure is either traditionally relied upon or that it can stand the test of time or the elements.. and particularly when it comes to pre-fab, well the materials they source are generally far-far-far from high quality..

all that said, we're putting a lot of wood in our place, but it's not structural and it's accessible for the periodical maintenance it needs..

ct