Chile Forum

Greetings,

My apologies if this is not the right forum. I am currently looking for any information regarding residential construction as far as standard building practices and codes are concerned in Chile. I am having no luck so far on my research and by looking at the forums here it appears if I was to quote a typical Canadian prefabricated house package the pricing would be ‘blown out of the water’ compared to typical Chilean construction. Any information or guidance would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Andrew

My basic theory is that if you build to Vancouver or Los Angeles standards you will far exceed anything that Chile has. Like the admin said, you would be over building, but one of the other complains I here from him and others on the forum is that most houses in Chile are "disposable" after 5 to 10 years.

I want a house that won’t be falling apart in 10 years. So those North American codes do serve another practice. Sure a lot of the crappy housing in Chile has a lot to do with unskilled labour, but another part of that equation is that the homes are not structured to last.

Jason Roesler
ISH

It depends on the house and the construction, you get what you pay for, like everywhere else

you get what you pay for,

welllllll, that depends! The object of the exercise is to actually get a decent house for a decent price but if the standards are shoddy you won't get that either.

Thanks to all for the useful information. By ‘blown out of the water’ I meant for cost comparison. It appears if I were to build a house with engineered I-Joists, 2x6 exterior walls, engineered trusses, R20 wall insulation, R40 ceiling insulation, etc, etc, which is standard for here in Vancouver it would double or more the cost of a typical Chilean house. But having said that I agree I don’t want any house I build to be “disposable” the house and all houses should be built to last a lifetime.

I'm far from the only AllChilean, expat' or national, who'd expect to pay more for a better building -- and I certainly don't want a poorly built house at any price. But I'd also not want unnecessary features, such as (in and around temperate Valparaíso) Pacific-Northwest-style insulation. Excellent construction, suited to the particular environment, is the ideal.

Not insulating your house is like throwing away your money on heating and cooling costs. If you use Pacific-Northwest-style insulation in Valpo you would save enough in heating in 2 years to pay for the insulation. At my in-laws in Santiago a $30 tank of Lipigas last about a week and half. In Fact a properly insulated house might not even need to be heated in Santiago or Vaplo, depending on who many people live there and how many pets there are. In my opinion you should insulate everywhere, hot or cold. Build the proper system and your house will be comfortable year round. If you don’t you will freeze in the winter and bake in the summer.

If I had an option that for $1000 - $2000 was going to give me that comfort I would absolutely fork out the money.

As for the explanation about being blown out of the water it is probably some what accurate. I don’t know about doubling the price, but there will absolutely be a price increase. But comfort and piece of mind in knowing that you house is going to last considerably longer than your neighbours is absolutely worth every peso.

Jason Roesler
ISH

You would be surprised how many people don't know that a well insulated house is just as good for a warmer climate as it is for a colder one. Or maybe they just don’t want to pay. Savings in heating can also be applied to savings in cooling with a well insulated house. Maybe a good idea in Chile is a compromise between Pacific-Northwest-style building and Chile building. Something like 2x4 exterior walls with R12 insulation and dimensional 2x10 and 2x12 for floors and ceilings with R28 insulation for the ceilings. Structurally fine and insulated without the higher cost of Pacific-Northwest-style building.

While I agree with the pro insulators, I am most interested (at least on my project) in good flashing details. I am amazed at the Micky Mouse approach to waterproofing at doors, windows etc on residential jobs in region V. The insulation $ are well spent IMO but a seminar for your maestro on flashing a house correctly will be a better investment IMO

I also think that some of your cost is going to be offset by the time you save. For example a wood framed house of standard Chilean size could be done (with roof) in a few of days by a good framer. Where a masonry house you are only supposed to do about 3 or 4 feet of height a day. Plus with masonry you have to get your electrician in there halfway through so he has access to walls t run his wiring. I have seen small house in Chile take a couple weeks to get done (with out roof). Over the course of a whole house being build you could probably save your self a few weeks worth of labour.

Another thing I wanted to comment on is the idea of using dimensional 2x4 walls compared to 2x6. Through my experience you can get away with less lumber in 2x6 construction as compared to 2x4… especially in your bearing walls (All exterior walls). You can usually go from 12” on centre for 2x4 to 16” on centre for 2x6. I know in the houses my company builds here it makes sense from a cost stand point (that 4” per stud make a big difference over the length of a whole wall). But one would have to do a cost comparison for the Chilean market place… and another benefit is that you have less surface area of wood in your wall… which means you can fit more insulation, which give you a better R value, which will finally in turn save you money year after year.

There are pro’s and con’s with all building techniques… my best advise is to read up on how you want your house to be build and make sure you talk to the guys swinging the hammers. If the can’t tell you why they are doing it a certain way, then they are probably doing it wrong.

Jason Roesler
ISH