Roof drain is flooding inside our kitchen everytime there is heavy rain.

[harryopal1]

We do not have to go far back in Australian or European history to find all kinds of inconsistencies as to hygiene needs, inadequate building standards or where religious beliefs limit the possibilities of a better life. In Australia in the 1950s many inner suburban areas were not connected to a sewerage system. Instead there were outhouses adjacent to a lane. A truck would come along every few days, the "nightman" would come along, lift a flap on the lane side of the dunny, take out the bucket and empty the nightsoil into the truck. Most working people used torn up newspapers. Much more affordable than toilet paper.

So many of houses in working class suburbs were tiny and cramped with little regard to luxuries like large windows to allow light or views. Without money for adequate maintenance over time these buildings became tattered and forlorn and were regarded as slums. Eventually a modicum of wealth trickled down, the slum houses were torn down and houses became bigger with nice large, airy windows and well maintained.

If I am not incorrect, in working class Glasgow, few houses had bathrooms. People would take their towels and soaps and walk to a public bathing house. Not because the Scots were dirty but crushingly poor with higher standards of hygiene facilities beyond reach.

Living in Sitiawan, Perak Malaysia in the 70s, along the main road were large metal bins about 14 feet long, 5 feet wide and six feet tall with huge metal lids. Night soil from adjacent houses was dumped into these bins. Walking down the road it was rather aromatic. Now Sitiawan is sewered.

As for "wasteful" religious habits working class people in many Christian countries were habituated by the churches into seeing virtue in sacrifice and the making of offerings to the churches as essential for their spiritual well being and ending up in heaven rather than hell. Huge, enormously expensive cathedrals dotted the landscapes with much of the funds coming from families where the average bread winner man might own two shirts, a pair of shoes and maybe a suit and with the rest of the family similarly sparsely clothed. But at church they would still make their sacrificial offerings or tithes. Living in poverty in this life was accepted as means of ensuring the joys of a blissful hereafter.

Merah Putih has summarized the problems rather nicely. There is not much point in constantly hammering local people for perceived inadequacies or ignorance when much of it is rooted in poverty. It may be several more generations before the economy in Indonesia sees many of these detailed, seemingly illogical methods to do with hygiene, construction and standards of living uplifted.

 

[jstar]

I think you’re a bit apologetic Harry. I still see people throwing their McDonalds trash out of the window of their Innova.

 

[Shadrach]

This is getting off track from broken pipes into why People build like this, and People being bankrupt, even going into how Religion is the backdrop to it all. the last comment said that the reason People build like this is because they are meant to suffer in this life, and give their money to the Temples, Churches, Mosques. while living now they just have to accept being impoverished, and then when they Die, All of a sudden in a blink of an eye, Life will be full of Peace, Harmony, Abundance, Rainbows, Unicorns, No more suffering, No more Greed, War, Rich, or Poor! Bad construction!
Who came up with this concept? I think it was a bunch of the Religious leaders that said, Hey, if we convince the Masses to accept that life now is Hell, and full of suffering, if they Pray, give us their money, and tell them they are going to Nirvana, Heaven, Etc, after they die. They will just accept that's the way it is!
It was such a sweet candy coated story that everyone thought Hey, this sounds great, let's go to the Church, and give Money to God! And after we're Dead, then everything will be Great!
Do you really think in a blink of an eye. That Humans will not be Greedy, Angry, Jealous, Possessive, Lustful, Etc? I don't believe it. So I don't pray to a Mythical Being in the Sky, that I will never see, talk to, hear. If God is so loving, then Why is there War, innocent Children getting blown up, dying of Cancer, and On and On!
Sorry it just doesn't make sense to me to have Blind Faith! But I won't judge others if they believe there is.
I think We should live life to the Fullest while we are Alive, DO THE Best we Can, Build everything the Best of our ability, Enjoy Life, Eat Healthy, Drink Clean Water, Leave this World a Better Place For the Generations to Come! And Don't think about what happens after you Die! As far as I know, No one Has Died and come back and Told everyone How Great is Was being Dead!

 

[Jaime C]

Digging up the pipes to the street this morning.

 

[Jaime C]

Well, it’s turned into a bit of a Where’s Waldo hunt. They dig it up and find a pipe. Cut into it. Pour a bucket of water from the roof. Nothing comes out. Ran a wire into it, for a meter or two, and don’t find any blockages.

Such fun!

 

[Shadrach]

Well, it’s turned into a bit of a Where’s Waldo hunt. They dig it up and find a pipe. Cut into it. Pour a bucket of water from the roof. Nothing comes out. Ran a wire into it, for a meter or two, and don’t find any blockages.

Such fun!

View attachment 4963

Sounds like good ole Bali construction! Kaki di Kapala, Kapala di Kaki?

 

[Jaime C]

Almost makes me want to sell the house and build a new one from scratch. Almost…

 

[centurion]

That pipe looks pretty small. You woud need a 100mm/4inch one.

 

[Jaime C]

That pipe looks pretty small. You woud need a 100mm/4inch one.

As Sargent Schultz would say, “I know nothingggggggg”!

 

[centurion]

As Sargent Schultz would say, “I know nothingggggggg”!

The one on the photo is 50 or 75mm, not enough.
When I renovated my building I pulled out the rainpipes outside the building and installed on the outher side of the wall, in accordance with common sense and building practice everywhere else except here. Indonesians have a tendency to put pipes trough walls and coloumns, where they crack by time, leak and spread humidity. Seen that building practice only here.

 

[jstar]

Toilets : 110 mm
Rain water : 70 mm
Household : 40 mm
Obviously they need to be bigger in the final outlet where pipes are combined.

 

[Shadrach]

The one on the photo is 50 or 75mm, not enough.
When I renovated my building I pulled out the rainpipes outside the building and installed on the outher side of the wall, in accordance with common sense and building practice everywhere else except here. Indonesians have a tendency to put pipes trough walls and coloumns, where they crack by time, leak and spread humidity. Seen that building practice only here.

And here with the High humidity factor, you get walls that turn Black with Deadly Mold! I just had that problem here in my bathroom. I had to get them to work on redoing the paint on the walls 5 times! They put in new larger windows as I requested, but didn't put on painter's tape on the glass when they painted on a stain on the wooden frame, so of course they got stain on the glass which they scrapped off, thus scratching the Glass! They brought in cheap labor from Java, that cleaned off the moldy black paint. Only to paint again on the moist concrete walls! Of course the paint started bubbling off within a week! I told them time and time again, and even translated English to Bahasa Indonesian to tell them they have to seal the walls first with a waterproof sealant paint. They did a Shitty job, and now again there are spots that are bubbling out, after a month!
I don't get it. Are they just cheap, and don't want to do a good job. Or are they just Cheap, and Stupid and don't have the Brains to understand?
Welcome to Bali!

 

[Shadrach]

Toilets : 110 mm
Rain water : 70 mm
Household : 40 mm
Obviously they need to be bigger in the final outlet where pipes are combined.

They might even have secretly run the sewage water into a local stream for all you know!

 

[centurion]

And here with the High humidity factor, you get walls that turn Black with Deadly Mold! I just had that problem here in my bathroom. I had to get them to work on redoing the paint on the walls 5 times! They put in new larger windows as I requested, but didn't put on painter's tape on the glass when they painted on a stain on the wooden frame, so of course they got stain on the glass which they scrapped off, thus scratching the Glass! They brought in cheap labor from Java, that cleaned off the moldy black paint. Only to paint again on the moist concrete walls! Of course the paint started bubbling off within a week! I told them time and time again, and even translated English to Bahasa Indonesian to tell them they have to seal the walls first with a waterproof sealant paint. They did a Shitty job, and now again there are spots that are bubbling out, after a month!
I don't get it. Are they just cheap, and don't want to do a good job. Or are they just Cheap, and Stupid and don't have the Brains to understand?
Welcome to Bali!

You have a leak on the walls from some water source, or the bathroom is humid because there is no ventilation. When the water leak or source of humidity is isolated, the wall has to be dried and painted. You cannot put paint on a wet wall.

 

[Shadrach]

You have a leak on the walls from some water source, or the bathroom is humid because there is no ventilation. When the water leak or source of humidity is isolated, the wall has to be dried and painted. You cannot put paint on a wet wall.

Thats exactly why, I had a new window put in. Before it was the typical Bali design. A tiny window high up on the wall that didn't open. But anyone with any knowledge about painting on Concrete knows that a waterproof primer coat of sealant has to be painted on the walls to create a moisture barrier. It is not a matter of finances, because the owner has plenty of money. I don't really know if it's a case of them not knowing how to do a proper job, or that they are cheap, and don't want to pay qualified workers, and don't really give a damn! I think it's the latter! There is not any sealant on the walls. They were dry, and they painted regular house paint on the concrete walls. Eventually moisture seeps through the concrete from the rain outside.
There is a big problem of lack of communication here. I told them to hire Professionals, but they didn't listen and hired the cheap labor from Java. I was even in the next room while they worked. They would come in, do a shitty job, then leave, without saying a word to me. No one came to inspect their work, no one talked to me. I just don't get it. Why is communicating such a problem here in Bali? This I don't want to lose face thing is down right Stupid!
I would go in after they left, and see they didn't use painters tape on the walls, or the windows! I complained to the staff, then they bought tape. Every time they worked I would see how they did such bad work. That's why I complained and they came back 5 times! It really isn't my place to do this. It's the managements job to be aware of what these workers are doing!
P.S. This is the wall next to my bed!

 

[jstar]

I have never seen a house in Indonesia where they don’t have that on some (or all) inside walls. After some years they all get it. And without aircon you’d have black mold too.

 

[Jaime C]

Thats exactly why, I had a new window put in. Before it was the typical Bali design. A tiny window high up on the wall that didn't open. But anyone with any knowledge about painting on Concrete knows that a waterproof primer coat of sealant has to be painted on the walls to create a moisture barrier. It is not a matter of finances, because the owner has plenty of money. I don't really know if it's a case of them not knowing how to do a proper job, or that they are cheap, and don't want to pay qualified workers, and don't really give a damn! I think it's the latter! There is not any sealant on the walls. They were dry, and they painted regular house paint on the concrete walls. Eventually moisture seeps through the concrete from the rain outside.
There is a big problem of lack of communication here. I told them to hire Professionals, but they didn't listen and hired the cheap labor from Java. I was even in the next room while they worked. They would come in, do a shitty job, then leave, without saying a word to me. No one came to inspect their work, no one talked to me. I just don't get it. Why is communicating such a problem here in Bali? This I don't want to lose face thing is down right Stupid!
I would go in after they left, and see they didn't use painters tape on the walls, or the windows! I complained to the staff, then they bought tape. Every time they worked I would see how they did such bad work. That's why I complained and they came back 5 times! It really isn't my place to do this. It's the managements job to be aware of what these workers are doing!
P.S. This is the wall next to my bed!

That’s why you always hold back payments on jobs. Indonesia and everywhere. Even on our big remodel job in Bandung, we held back 10% of the total to 30 days after everything was all the way completed.

We started out giving them 10% to start buying supplies, and would release another 10% when a certain amount of progress was made.

Even in the US, I had my old asphalt roof ripped off and replaced. I bought all the materials. The price of labor was so much a square foot. He over ordered the asphalt tiles, and he returned the excess. He seemed shocked that he got paid for the labor for the actual amount of roof tiles used, not what he ordered.

I held 10% back for a month to make sure there were no leaks. Even 6 years later, never a leak.

 

[Jaime C]

Thats exactly why, I had a new window put in. Before it was the typical Bali design. A tiny window high up on the wall that didn't open. But anyone with any knowledge about painting on Concrete knows that a waterproof primer coat of sealant has to be painted on the walls to create a moisture barrier. It is not a matter of finances, because the owner has plenty of money. I don't really know if it's a case of them not knowing how to do a proper job, or that they are cheap, and don't want to pay qualified workers, and don't really give a damn! I think it's the latter! There is not any sealant on the walls. They were dry, and they painted regular house paint on the concrete walls. Eventually moisture seeps through the concrete from the rain outside.
There is a big problem of lack of communication here. I told them to hire Professionals, but they didn't listen and hired the cheap labor from Java. I was even in the next room while they worked. They would come in, do a shitty job, then leave, without saying a word to me. No one came to inspect their work, no one talked to me. I just don't get it. Why is communicating such a problem here in Bali? This I don't want to lose face thing is down right Stupid!
I would go in after they left, and see they didn't use painters tape on the walls, or the windows! I complained to the staff, then they bought tape. Every time they worked I would see how they did such bad work. That's why I complained and they came back 5 times! It really isn't my place to do this. It's the managements job to be aware of what these workers are doing!
P.S. This is the wall next to my bed!

We had problems when they painted our daughter’s room. We let her choose the color, and she picked a very bright orange (think Clownfish orange). They didn’t prep it right the first time. Scrape off and do again.

A few areas were still not right, so they had to fix those.

Now my kid wants to redecorate her room, and paint it. I told her that we mentioned she got to choose the color only once!

 

[Shadrach]

We had problems when they painted our daughter’s room. We let her choose the color, and she picked a very bright orange (think Clownfish orange). They didn’t prep it right the first time. Scrape off and do again.

A few areas were still not right, so they had to fix those.

Now my kid wants to redecorate her room, and paint it. I told her that we mentioned she got to choose the color only once!

How appropriate, Clowns Painting the Walls, bright Clownfish Orange! Next time maybe they should choose Bozo Red, to represent Bozo's nose! And of course, Not use any primer before painting indoor paint on Concrete Walls!

 

[jstar]

There are practically no concrete walls. That would create much less problems. They make pillars and fill the space up with a single layer of brick, concrete stone or the white gypsum blocks. And they cover that with cement. No use of DPC (foil to resist water from the soil) whatsoever.