Wooden Balcony Building Advice Please

[Markit]

Hi all, I'm thinking about adding a larger (3 x 6m) wooden balcony to an existing concrete house and would like to enclose the lower part of the balcony as an extra room with windows and doors.

Questions:
1) Obviously don't want water coming through into lower rooms - how to stop?
2) Attaching to pre-existing building?
3) Choice of woods?
4) Weather-proofing required?
5) Small alang-alang roof over part of the upstairs (1/2) possible - advisable?

Ta in advance all you big-stud builders and Matsaleh too.

 

[SHoggard]

Without knowing the construction of the main building, I can only chop in on the wood:
Jati (teak) or mahoni (mahogany) are good ryap-resistant choices - do NOT get jati puteh a ryap magnet, and doesn't much like water.

Jati Muda (the white 'young' part of the main trunk of Jati can also be an interesting meal for ryap .... no biggie, a coat of anti ryap sorts that out.

In Java (Jepara) mahoni is about 4.5 million per cubic or less (don't know the price of jati, fluctuates too much)

Weather proofing? Depends.... I'm using Ultran Lasur varnish (either Gloss or Doff depending on whether it looks better gloss or matt)

Window: Mahoni with 2 coats of mahoni-merah woodstain & 2 Ultran Gloss
Wheelhouse side wall Jati 1 coat Ultran Classic teak & 4 coats of Ultran Doff .... it has been in the direct sun & rain for about 6 months & so far no discolouring

 

[Markit]

Ta very much Shog - when you gonna appear at my beach with your boat? Jati is stupid expensive and I'll probably go with Coconut (Sessi) with some serious bug protection and ironwood for the roof shingles. Gone off the idea of alang-alang.

 

[SHoggard]

Iron wood (Jati Bessi)??? Super expensive, no?
If you have to go with coconut (actually called, kelapa - maybe sessi is Balanese) .... I actually considered it for some interiors (makes an interesting contrast from acres of boring teak and mahogany...joke,they are nice, but some 'flecky' stuff would be good also).... anyway all wisdom here on the 'beach' says:
1. attracts ryap like sugar
2, absorbs water like a sponge
but... if that's the road you must travel, then:
a. build a bath & soak it in benzine for a few days or...
b. use only Kelapa Sulawesi - its some kind of stronger more resilient species

I didn't use it anyway.

Hmm, as for visiting you ....well winds, time and tide wait for no man.... and we've stood on the poop, wetted fingers pointing skywards and consensus is that we launch end Sept, beginning Oct.... and with High Winds and decent mirror-flat sea, might head to Bali Nov (sea-trials dependent)
latest video here: http://www.asiaislandcruises.com/video/129-building-the-raja-naga-laut

 

[Nydave]

Markit do you have much information on Ironwood,like availability and price,im interested because I use huge amounts of it here in New York,and its imported fro Brazil,each year goes up by more than $1 per sq ft (sorry not very familiar with metric dimensions),I would be interested in checking it out on my next trip end of this year,who knows maybe its cheaper to import from there to Usa,i had heard its only grown on one Island there but cant be sure if that's true,if so it probably means its quite expensive,

 

[Markit]

I'll let you know - I've seen it about and it's usually already cut into arrow shaped shingles.

Who knows where it's from or what it's really called. Here you need to ask 10 people something if you want to be 40% sure of have a half-way correct answer. That's why I always love those contributors that are 100% sure of anything.

 

[Nydave]

Thanks I appreciate anything you might be able to find out,couple of years ago I had dealings with a guy somewhere between Sanur and Denpasar,he had some show buildings like pergolas,and outdoor stuff in a small space along the road,he showed me a place he had built with the same Ironwood shingles on the roof I think the same ones that you are talking about,all I can remember is his name was Niki ???.im almost sure my wife still has his contact number somewhere,i will try to get for you and pass it on ,then if you make contact with him perhaps you can ask a couple of questions regarding what im looking for,

 

[Markit]

Dave it's not necessary for the wife to dig out old numbers the kind of shingles I think we are both talking about are everywhere.

 

[SHoggard]

@ NYDave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusideroxylon_zwageri

My Ironwood hull (all 180 X 15 ft of it!) comes from Kalamantan, Borneo Island.
It is bloody heavy - probably 2-3 times the weight of teak. I bought a ready built hull, so didn't have the pleasure of the purchasing process at source.

I don't think the idea of exporting to the US is going to work:-

1. It isn't something you can order by remote control on e-bay: you'd have to go there, find the merchants/dealers - check each log AND personally make sure what you bought & paid for is what is loaded into the container (eg: when buying mahoni in Java & shipping to Sulawesi, I watched it being cut down, painted a number on the base, watched it transported to the sawmill & cut into blocks, then checked off the painted numbers as they were stacked into the containers)..... see below

2. Get the correct Chain of Custody documentation - or it would be impounded either by Indon or US officials - shipping any kind of wood around Indonesia involves getting lots of CoC paperwork tracing it back to the source to make sure some Joe hasn't just wandered off into the rain forest & cut you off a few big trees
3. Then it would probably have to be shipped to Surabaya or Jakarta for trans-shippment out of the country.

None of the above is impossible, just frustratingly time-consuming

 

[Nydave]

Thanks SHoggard,I appreciate your advice,and yes you are right,its extremely heavy,we use huge amounts of it here,and again your right I would have to check it out myself,that I can do no problem cause I live in Indonesia from December to end of May each year so I will be going back there in a couple of months,im already pretty familiar with the export and import of things from there to Usa,I actually import Teak garden furniture into Usa all the time,and the process it pretty simple,on furniture there is no I,port duty coming into Usa,so all I need to check out is if its the same when importing raw wood,i have an import agent here in Ny who handles everything for me,including trucking from factory in Jepara to the port in Semerang ,shipping,insurance and also the trucking from the port here in Ny to my place of business,im sure I could do a lot of that myself but its just easier to have them take care of it,thanks again for your advice

 

[Nydave]

Markit,previously I said I would look up the contact numbers of a guy in Denpasar who did some work for me back in 2009, he had given me samples of ironwood,my wife searched for high and low and found his email and phone number,however the number I have for him is no longer active but his email is,i have already checked it out,so if you are still interested in talking to him I can give you the email address,however I don't wouldn't feel comfortable putting it on here on a public forum,but I could PM it to you if I can figure out how to do that,i have never Pm`ed anyone before,so let me know what you want to do and I will be happy to forward his info to you,,ooh and by the way your prediction of the $ making 15,000 rp by Christmas is right on track,dont know if you are following it recently,in the last 24 hours its above 13,800,at one point yesterday it made it to 13,857,,

 

[Markit]

Thanks Dave give it to me as a message.

Yes, my predictions are right up there on par with Warren Buffett (or was that Jimmy?).

Only very slight fly in the ointment was that I made the prediction last year and some petty souls here will maintain that I may have gotten the year wrong.

Other than that I'm right on target.

 

[SHoggard]

@ MArkit... Is that an admission you came too late?

@NY Dave.... Interesting you mentioning Jepera - my plan is after launching the boat to take her to Jepara for interior work/furniture etc.
I have a few contacts, but if you have any recommendations for someone who can do custom work, the more the merrier.
Actually it's not too customized in terms of design/styles etc - it's just that boats seldom have right angles.
Nearly forgot.... finishing varnishing coating etc

If you need a contact for illun ironwood - I ban check back up the supply chain to see if I can get a name or location

 

[Nydave]

Yes please do check,i appreciate that,as for the fitting out of your boat I really don't know,i only have my guy who makes teak furniture on a big scale,interestingly enough he also makes what he calls boat furniture,nooo not furniture for inside your boat but furniture made from old wooden boats,i have seen it in his place,he sells a lot of it toEurope,its sort of an acquired taste type thing,the designs are perfect but say a chair can be all different colours,whatever the colours of the old boars were they leave it like that so a chair can be made from 3-4 different colours,I couldn`t imagine having it in my house I mean how could you match anything with it,anyway I could give you my guys contact and email and perhaps he knows someone who does what you are looking for,like everywhere you look in Jepara there is furniture,so im sure someone must specialize in what you are looking for,and I guess the best way of finding out is to people like my guy,also I believe there are some beautiful Islands off Jepara which would be a nice run in your boat,cant remember the name but you can google it,i have read about them in the past and they sound interesting,let me know if you want my guys info,

 

[SHoggard]

Yes, I've seen the type of "boat furniture" you mean, and agree, I can't see it fitting into any Home & Garden decor plan.
I've been to Jepara a couple of times and you're right - furniture all over the place.
An idea is to buy some of the ready-made stuff & modify it to fit.
I guess I'll just have to take the boat there & see how it goes.

 

[Nydave]

OK but I will pm yu with my guys info,maybe you want to check him out,he actually did some custom stuff for me too and worked out very good,i had a client in Nyc who just supplied a couple of pics and the guy worked from that and everyone was happy,so maybe worth a try

 

[davita]

Fwiw....be careful with 'Bali Antique' furniture...it could be full of termites. I bought a standing framed mirror and had to have it injected with some poison to get rid of termites.
Last few days my friend, in Umulas, had to have his house termite-proofed (cost IDR 9 juta). They think the termites entered via a large Balinese framed picture.

 

[Nydave]

Luckily the ironwood we get here in the Us is bug proof,Here its called Ipe,Pronounced like E-Pay,,Although we have been using very large amounts of it for years I honestly don't know if Ipe is its proper name,I think ( but can`t be sure )the term Ironwood comes from the fact that its like working with iron,Well at least the species that we get here,Its super hard,Impossible to drive a nail or screw into it,Even using a nail gun on a compressor,Everything has to be pre drilled in order to screw it,There are a couple of other woods which I believe are relatives of Ipe,Tiger wood is of the same family but not as dense,Cumaru I believe is another and then there are a couple more that I cant even attempt to spell,I have come across a couple of guys here that can`t work with it,Some come out in a rash and others get a sore throat and various ailments from working with it,Im not sure if the Asian version is the same as the South American species,I did get some samples a couple of years ago from a guy in Denpasar and it certainly looked the same,I actually have a complete typed report from tests conducted by some lab for the City of New York Dept of Buildings back in 2001,things like Strength Properties,Surface Burning Characteristics( it used have an A grade fire rating here for several years but that has since changed ),Specific Gravity and unit weight,and many many more,all very impressive,the Army Core of Engineers guarantee it for 30 years without any treatments,But then again weren`t they were the ones responsible for the walls holding back the water down in New Orleans and we all know how that worked out for them,