Loosing technology of our elders

There are so many specialties of construction of houses in Kerala adopted by our earlier experts of House construction.Most of these die with that expert as he never bothers to pass on the knowledge to next generation.With his death ,the technology dies.

We have heard a lot on Perumthachan.There are  exceptionally great work of Architecture used in temple construction at Uliyannoor  near Alwaye where Perumthachan used to live.Whatever extra ordinary capabilities Perumthachan had in designing and building is not available in any books and nobody has made an attempt to study specialties of those buildings.Similarly the technology of making tiled roof with wooden rafters which was so common in Kerala of yester years is practically lost as it is very difficult to find people who know about such roof structure work now as nobody practically do such roof work now.In one of the houses which I built about ten years back,owner of the house(An Advocate of high court of Kerala,who is no more now) insisted on having such a roof for portion of his house facing a lake at Kadavanthra in Cochin.Even though he called me to see the work in progress,even I did not bother to learn the technique from those carpenters.

There are so many special features of olden days Kerala Architecture which are simply forgotten.It will be good if some one can at least make a study of such features by visiting such old buildings and houses in Kerala.Thekkanattu Parayil house at Thycattussery near Cherthala which is about 120 years old is one of those remarkable houses using olden days Kerala architecture features.

Fuel price hike-War against people

Common man in this country which is supposed to be having a democratically elected government “for the people,by the people” is helpless.Whatever these rulers of the country (who call themselves as servants of people but in reality looters of the country)do ,common man will have to suffer as none of them are not even bothered about common people of this country.Whether you rise price of petroleum products to any level and whether inflation goes so high to make our currency a valueless paper,these rulers are not affected.They get money in tones by looting the country and all their personal needs and comforts are taken care of fully by the state machinery.This is true whether the party ruling has a khadi uniform or saffron uniform or a red blood colour uniform.None of them are bothered about the people or even the economic health of the country.

The other day I was talking to an old friend of mine who has just recently retired as CMD of a large public sector undertaking of Kerala.I met him at the corporate office of a private sector company possibly for discussions to get an assignment in that company at a senior level. I asked him-“Why you did not try to get an extension or a posting in any other public sector undertaking?”His answer was not surprising to me.

“The central minister in charge is extremely corrupt.How long I can sign on the dotted lines sanctioning or abetting his looting?” I know my friend to be an upright honest man.In an earlier occasion when a high ranking person from Delhi representing a Dutch MNC contacted me for  assistance to approach this man for a murky deal,I have straight away refused without even contacting my friend knowing his integrity and honesty.
Funniest part of the story is that this particular central minister is not even considered as corrupt by the media who are eager to get any such story.Gone are the days when corrupt deals of few crores like Bofors  get headlines in news.Now they loot in lakhs of crores and still nobody bothers.Can you imagine these crooks ruling the country taking interest in lives of you and me?They are not bothered even if diesel price is made double and one tea or coffee price reaches Rs.100 or more.

Look at price structure of petroleum products.Almost 50% of the cost is taxes and duties.When you pay Rs.41 for a liter of diesel,price which the oil company gets is only Rs.20/-This price of Rs.20 itself has got in it inputs of import duty on crude oil and uncontrolled heavy overhead expenses of public sector oil companies merry making without any competition.More than 25% of the crude oil is indigenously manufactured and it does not have any  price to be paid or import duty.Who bothers about all these?

When Kerala ruling party declares yet another Harthal threatening people with dire consequences if they move out on daily chores from their houses as a protest against petroleum price hike,I wonder why they are not even thinking of reducing 25% local tax on price of diesel if they have even the slightest concern for the poor helpless people of this country run by political crooks including them?

They will not reduce taxes and will consider petroleum products as the easiest route to amass maximum tax revenue knowing  very well that common man will have to buy it whatever may be the cost.

Vasthu compliance

Almost everyone irrespective of religion and cast are now aware of importance of Vasthu in designing and building a house.Some people think of Vasthu as a superstitious belief.Vasthu is not superstition or blind belief.It is basically a science which deals with effect of polarity on human beings developed  by old sages of India.

Like many sciences developed by old Indian sages, several aspects of Vasthu are also lost especially those dealing with why certain effects happen.Such loss has happened mainly because of reluctance of our old sages to teach the knowledge they acquired till they find a student good enough for teaching.Sometimes they will never find that good student and the knowledge acquired by the sage will die with him.All science and other knowledge oceans we have are passed on to next generation through books and in normal case,next generation after studying and understanding knowledge already acquired try to improve upon that.

One area where there is no clear cut written information is  available is on House construction In Kerala.That is why I started writing these blogs using my experience in designing and building houses in Kerala.

During my years in designing and building houses,I have seen and heard the influence of Vasthu factors in the life of people living in houses.With these first hand knowledge I can tell that Vasthu as written in books are completely correct and it influences life of people.But Vasthu is one area where there are so many crooks with little or no knowledge in Vasthu but pretends to be experts in Vasthu .They emphatically tell people totally wrong ideas as vasthu factors.Most of them belong to old “Asaries”of Kerala.

As Per Vasthu there are four sections in a house.North East portion is called Eesanya.This is ideal for Pooja room and this area should be kept neat and tidy.This is the only area where there can be well for the plot.Our old asaris used to keep Kitchen in North East and some of those crooks who call themselves as experts of Vasthu insists on advising people to put Kitchen at North East which is not correct and it will give bad effects to people staying in the house.

Second zone is South east. It is called Agni kone and it is ideal for Kitchen.If you have a Bed room at South east it will give very bad effects.South West is called Nairudhi and North West is called Vayu corner.Ideal position for Bed room is at South west.In an office the Chief should sit at south west.North West can be second option for Kitchen.If you want to study Vasthu get book on Vasthu available at The Avenue  Press,25,D’Silva Road,Mylapore.Chennai-600004.Please do not simply believe all those self proclaimed experts on Vasthu who will definitely misguide you.

I had several experiences of these crooks misguiding my clients as I do not wear a Kaavi mundu and sport  a long beard to look like a Vasthu expert like these crooks.While designing house for a Marine Engineer at Edappally I have kept all rooms at Vasthu correct positions.But the owner of the house wanted to cross check with a Namboodiri who is the self proclaimed expert of Vasthu in Kerala and he get the maximum business for Vasthu consultation In Kerala.Almost everyone desirous of Vasthu compliance simply believes him and he due to his ignorance advice them wrong positions.Whatever plan of the house you take to him ,he will say that Vasthu is wrong.He has got a drawing section who will redraw the plan and will charge for redrawing the plan.Only if you redraw then only you can get money from the client.So he make money by misguiding people.

This Marine Engineer client of mine got the plan redrawn  by the Namboodiri resulting in wrong Vasthu positions.After few years he started getting wrong effects in the house and then he called another Vasthu expert who fortunately was knowledgeable on Vasthu.He told my client about wrong positions of rooms and then he called me.Fortunately I had copy of original plan with me untampered by the great Vasthu Namboodiri.So the new expert told my client that all changes made by the Namboodiri was wrong.I had several clients who go to him after getting plan from me and then he changes positions of rooms.Luckily in the recent past he made only dimension changes for a Plan and kept room positions as I kept.I do not know What happened to him.

Then there is this so called story of “Chuttalavu” and “Maranachuttu” talked about by our local Asaris which do not have any mention in Vasthu books.My attempts to learn this from old Asaris was not producing any effect as none of them was willing to part with the secret.Finally I got a fellow who after making me promise not to tell the secret to any one told me the great story of Marana Chuttu.I have not told anyone this secret even after years.This deals with chuttalavu or perimeter of plan of the house.Take this measurement in meters.Convert the measurement into old measurement system in Kerala.Instead of feet introduced by British people and meter introduced in India after independence,they used Kol as measurement unit.One kol is 0.72 meters.If you convert perimeter of a house into kol and divide it by a certain number, the result should not be a whole number.If it is so the owner of the house will die immediately after completing the house.This is called Maranachuttu.If it is exactly in between two numbers say something like 3.5,then the perimeter of the house is supposed to be highly auspicious.

I do not understand the logic of this.It is as good as assigning divinity to the measurement system called Kol and Angulam which cannot be true and hence this story of maranachuttu does not have any scientific basis and can only be a lie by these crooks.These local self proclaimed experts of Vasthu insists on having this safe perimeter for each room also and I do not follow these as in my opinion,this has no justifiable basis of correctness.

How to escape after doing anything

There are few people who try and become VIPs on their own.They manage money somehow.As long as you have money power nobody bothers to ask you how you got it.Once you have enough money amassed,then you need political power.What better way than forming a political party? If you have money ,you can get people to shout for you,and very recently two people even pretended to do suicide for the “great leader unable to hear possibility of him getting arrested.” Luckily they got what they wanted(media coverage) and they escaped unhurt in the attempt to self immolate them for fear of their” undisputed leader getting arrested”!

Look at what all the great achievements of this great leader.More than 55 innocent people killed in bomb blast at Coimbatore are forgotten by every one.Nobody is punished for the great crime for “lack of evidence”.Our judicial system has got the basic principle that it simply do not bother if a culprit of heinous crimes is left out.Funniest part of the story is that the culprit start talking as if the bomb blast has taken place without anybody doing anything for it.Probably those people died in bomb blast are punished by God for their sins without any of the great “leaders” doing anything for it.
After escaping jail,the accused is treated as a saint.Great Pinaray talks as if he is innocence in human form.One more Kalamassery bus torching and now Bangalore bomb blast.With the help of money power and political power that follows he is still eloquently talking as if he is innocent.Probably he will again manage to obtain no evidence for this case also.
One more bomb blast and several innocent people die.But who cares for them? People behind such anti national activities are acclaimed as innocent VIPs!There is not a single political or otherwise leader in Kerala willing to call a spade a spade.Those died in bomb blasts are simply forgotten.They have no money power or political power.With the kind of encouragement and VIP treatement given to these anti national hooligans calling themselves innocent,they will  do any heinous crime and will laugh at our legal system and threaten dire consequences if some one dares to touch them.Nobody will touch them.All those in power in Kerala will bow in front of him hoping to get papers printed with pictures of poor Mahatma Gandhi.

Cost of constructing house

This is one area where there are many controversies and confusion.Quite a lot of  people think that there is a so called square feet cost of construction.Local contractors who does not know anything about Engineering Estimate or Quantity estimate of each item of construction had no other way to quote their price other than offering a” square feet rate” of construction.

When they give such a rate,they include some items and conveniently put some other items as extra.For some items they will put substandard or unacceptable quality as their standard offer ,knowing very well that client will not accept such items.So they will ask for extra charges for acceptable substitutes.

Even for items which forms part of basic essential structure,they will try to use substandard material,less material than what is required so that they will continue to make profit in spite of spiraling up cost of all inputs during construction..Client will not be able to understand the compromises in quality and quantity of materials used or easier working methods adopted to reduce labour cost.After all,contractor has to make profit and a sizeable profit as per his expectation.Why should he worry about quality and structural stability about which he does not know much.If at a later date as and when quality problems may crop up,he can wash his hands saying that he is not technically qualified and hence not aware of all those intricacies.

Neither the contractor nor the client has heard about structural engineering.Each steel reinforcement used in concrete has to be properly designed by a structural consultant.What actually happens in nearly 98% of house construction sites in Kerala,is that the main mason will decide what and how many steel reinforcement to be used simply based on what he has seen his earlier “asan “(teacher of work) do.If something is inconvenient he may even reduce that part.

I remember the case of putting steel bars for concreting of roof for a house at Chengannur for which I acted as consultant.After the scaffoldings were placed in position,the main mason told me that steel work will be completed in two days.Then I asked how he know about it as he has not even received drawings from me for steel reinforcement.This time it was his turn to get surprised.”What drawings?I know how to put steel bars for roof concrete”Normally client believes these words.So it is easy for him to put steel rods as he feels comfortable to work not knowing about structural requirements of steel reinforcement.You need a structural Engineer to design steel reinforcement and when such a design is used steel required will be more than what the mason was thinking of and the labour involved also will be more.Will the contractor who has taken the work for a “square feet rate” will be willing for increasing cost of material or labour?

All square feet rate contractors talk of plain work with plain sunshades,no slope roofs ,no design work etc.For all these they will charge extra.Person who construct the house might have given the work to a contractor after getting attracted by his low square feet rate.This continuous procession of extras and extra charges,compromises in quality of construction to increase profit of contractor , unknown to him are never expected by him earlier.When the work near completion if you mildly ask the owner of the house about square feet  cost of construction he will naturally say:”I some how has to complete construction.House warming date is fixed.I am borrowing money from wherever possible”

So my advice to you is simple.Do not get into this trap of square feet cost.Even flat builders never put their square feet cost in their advertisements and they add a proportional area of common spaces to all flat areas.So when you buy a flat of 800 sft and if you measure it,it will not be anywhere near 800 sft.Flat builders keep increasing their square feet rate from beginning of project till completion .As project near completion their price increases.In their case,no customer will come and check how they do construction.When I asked a flat builder about extreme poor construction quality,he said;”Who is going to see all these? Customer will come only after painting.Then everything will look good”

Then how do you arrive at cost of construction if you go with professional design,structural engineering and quality construction?

Using Engineering Estimate methods,an Engineer will be able to give you quantity for each item of construction in the structural pat of the building.Cost for these unit quantities will be correct or near correct if the same engineering agency is doing construction as they will be aware of current cost variations.An Estimate thus prepared can give you somewhat fair idea of construction cost of course variable with each passing of day as no builder or contractor is going to absorb increase in cost of material and labour.In Kerala conditions cost is going up almost everyday and only escape from this cost increase is to get your house constructed as fast as possible with or without external financial assistance.

After structure work,you have to again sit with your Architect to plan finishing work for your house considering money left with you,funds available through banks and other sources.One more Estimate will have to prepared by your consultant also considering latest trends in finishing works for the house.Here again your professional consultant will be able to guide you properly and save your money by suggesting cost effective options.

Financial planning for house construction

How much a house will cost?Do I have the money to construct a house? These are questions which come to the mind of any person thinking of building a house

About ten years back if you had with you about Rs.6 lakhs,you could have constructed a 2000 sft house with not less than three bed rooms attached with all the usual common features like Living,dining,sit out,car porch etc.But in 2010 after about ten years you need at least Rs.30 lakhs to complete the same house.I think you will now get a feel of how much increase take place in construction cost in Kerala.

About ten years back,river sand was available freely at price which you cannot even imagine these days.Foundation of building was even filled with river sand ,those days.Now even if you are willing to pay anything ,river sand is almost impossible to get.You have to use crusher sand which nobody was even willing to use about 5 years back.One mason used to be paid Rs.100/- per day about ten years back.Today he will demand nothing less than Rs.500/-..Even then you may not get a mason.So if you plan to construct your house after five years,even with Rs.60 lakhs,you will not be able to construct 2000 sft house.

Look at land prices.About ten years back you could buy one cent of land in Kaloor at Cochin for about Rs.50,000/- Now even if you are willing to pay Rs.15 lakhs per cent you may not get the land.After five years from now unless you are a very rich person you cannot buy land in Cochin and build a house.You will have to think in terms of buying a flat only after five years.

So everyday you delay for buying land or starting construction of house is going to literally push away those dreams forever from you.So the most important golden rule is-Buy that land and start construction immediately with whatever money you have and whatever money you can get from banks as house loan.If you delay or keep the decision pending,you will never be able to construct house.I tell my clients usually to start construction even if you have money for foundation only.At least that part will be over.If you do not have money to buy land,banks are willing to give loan for buying land also.Grab opportunity in front of you today.DO NOT WAIT FOR TOMORROW.

Teak wood-use in Kerala house construction

Many people think that there is only a single type for teak wood available in Kerala.But there are so many varieties of it.Depending upon the place where the teak tree grows the nature,quality and finished appearance of teak wood changes.

Just like any other tree, teak also will have better quality of wood if the tree grows in a place where water availability is less.If the water availability is more naturally the tree will grow faster.If you cut the tree ,cross section of it will show an outer ring which is called soft core.This is not good for using in manufacture of wooden items used in house construction.When you cut a tree growing very near to a river or any other water sources or in locations where water is available close to surface of land,that tree will have comparatively more soft core.This soft core normally look nearer to white in colour and hence in Malayalam it is referred as “vella”.This vella or soft core portion will get eaten away by pests as years pass by.Hard core of teak will not be eaten by pests even though hard core of other wood commonly used in Kerala like Anjily or Plavu will be eaten by pests.Reason for this protection of hard core of teak against pests is due to the fact that teak has got lot of oil in the hard core and that is one reason why teak lasts for hundreds of years when used in  any form for house construction.But even this oil get depleted over years and if you use old teak items removed  from old buildings  chances of it lasting again hundred more year is not so good as with passing of years oil in teak wood get reduced and once oil content reduces to low level teak also get deteriorated like any other tree.

I have found Anjily also lasting long as I have found one old house built about 120 years back still having Anjily wood parts remaining strong.But then that Anjily must have been quite old and strong in hard core when used.Many people think that rosewood is stronger than Teak.Even though it is true,as it has more oil content than Teak,it gets damaged fast when it come into contact with cement mortar.That is why rosewood(Eetty) is not used for manufacture of doors and windows for house however rich may be the owner of the house.Eetty(rosewood) is normally used only for furniture, if the person can afford cost as it cost higher than Teak.

Eetty(rosewood) if planted today,can be cut for use only after 120 years as it grows very slowly and will attain sizeable dimensions(normally referred by wood sellers by its diameter)only after about 120 years whereas Teak will attain size suitable for cutting after 60 years.I have planted a teak tree in my plot near Alwaye periyar river about 13 years back.Due to availability of plenty of water in soil ,teak has grown very fast and has acquired a diameter of about 60 inches(a size wood sellers consider decent enough for cutting) but rosewood planted together has not even got one fourth of that diameter even after 13 years.

Teak which is growing in places where water availability is good is called as country teak and do not command good price.When used it tend to get darker over a period of time.But remains almost intact if properly polished.Teak from Nilambur is so good to see especially after polishing as it has got marvelous grains giving the wood excellent design look.I have built a house at Nilambur and used Nilambur teak for the entire work of the house.Second in quality can be Teak available from Konny forest nearer to Pathanamthitta.Most of the Anjily tree is also coming from Erattupetta nearer to Pathanamthitta.

Lot of people use an imported wood called Pingoda which is available through wood sellers at price nearer to that of Anjily.They call it “Cheruteak”just to cheat people who may think that it is a variety of teak.It has nothing to do with teak and these grown in western countries and imported is not suitable to Kerala climate and conditions.

Teak normally available for buying from wood sellers is again imported Burma Teak which is more whiter in appearance with lesser grains and comparatively cheaper.Best teak wood available in Kerala are Kerala Plantation teak and in that Nilambur Teak is superior.

There is a Teak museum in Nilambur worth seeing.It shows different classification details of Teak based on diameter of log like B1,B2 etc and also many details of Teak.Old teak plantations in Nilambur were planted and grown by British people when they were ruling us.

Look at the picture of front side of Teak Museum at Nilambur.

Buying ready built Villa or apartment in Kerala

There are quite a few people especially Non resident Keralites who prefer buying an apartment or ready to occupy Villa.They do not want to go through hassles of buying land,getting the house designed,and going through patience testing procedures of getting the house constructed.They prefer to go to so called” well known builders” who offer apartments and Villas for sale.While doing so they never come to know of the following and many more important facts.
1.So called well known builder is treated as well known or reputed simply due to the heavy advertisements through media and other modes of communication.There is no agency in Kerala which certifies the quality of work or even credibility or professionalism of the builder.
2.There is not a single builder in Kerala who undertake construction of Villa or apartment with their involvement in every stage of construction.All that you can see in their attractive offices is simply a marketing office and some one to manage works entirely subcontracted.
3.No government agency or any other statutory body is enforcing or even carrying out proper checks on building constructed for structural stability or other quality parameters of the building.So any one can construct as they feel  good .Every building drawing  issued with building permit  by local authorities have a seal in every page of the drawings affixed which reads like this:”Owner of the building and Architect/Licensed Engineer will be fully responsible for structural stability .Corporation/Municipality/Panchayath is not in any way responsible for quality or structural stability of the building.”
4.Almost all the builders cannot even be called as builders as they never do that “building “ part.They subcontract the entire work to some one who  are the real builders and in most of the cases same person or company may be building for rival companies in the market.Only the brand name changes.
5.Over a period of years,so many of the so called reputed builders have simply vanished from the scene in some cases leaving apartment projects in various stages of construction.For example are you still remembering builders like Jyoman ,Penta,Link,Semic? Even now some of the builders are closing shop and leaving the scene by leaving customers to fight cases against banks from whom builder has taken loans.
6.Most of the builders do not even buy the land where they put up apartment projects.They enter into an agreement with land owner offering him few flats when completed and if the project run into problems,both the land owner and those who have booked flats will land up in problems.Builder will not be even traceable anywhere in India.
7.Most of the buyers of flats and villas in Villa projects are either corrupt politicians/government officials to hide their ill gotten money or NRIs.Very few or practically no one will fight against builder legally in case the project is abandoned by the builder due to whatever may be the reasons.
8.Finally actual construction cost has nothing to do with the price offered.Price keep on rising as the project near completion and depending upon market demand and cartel pricing by builder lobby.For example a 2600 sft Villa  near info park at Kakkanad with five cents land in a Villa project now available for sale is offered at Rs.1.25 crores.Actual construction cost with land cost cannot go above Rs.60 lakhs and you can build a better quality house at that cost!
Sometime back an NRI from gulf countries mailed me to enquire about plot for which he entered into a sale agreement with one of these so called"reputed builders" .He was confident that the land purchase agreement against which he paid several installments of advance payment is safe as the developer is a "reputed builder".
When I made enquiries about it,I found out that the developer started selling the land in plots mostly to NRIs by marketing heavily in gulf countries when they found out that they will not get permit for construction for the lake facing plot due to CRZ restrictions!.
So this man has not even bothered to make technical or legal evaluation of the title of property before paying almost 80% of land cost as advance blindly believing on "reputation of the builder"