THINGS TO SERIOUSLY THINK ABOUT BEFORE BUILDING IN A WATERLOGGED AREA
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Many people buy lands to build in waterlogged areas for different reasons; some due to its cost and others due to availability. Whatever reason for wanting to build in a waterlogged area, you need to first understand the kind of waterlogged area you are dealing with, is it a swampy or marshy area?
A swamp is an area of land permanently saturated, or filled, with water. The plants that make up the area are covered in water and they are dominated by trees. There are two types of swamps: saltwater swamps and freshwater swamps.
A Marsh on the other hand, is a wetland or an area of land where the ground is covered by water for a long period of time but not permanently. A marsh is a type of wetland where herbaceous plants are the dominant vegetation. (A herbaceous plant is a plant that does not have any woody stems above the ground). Marshes are nutrient-rich wetlands which support a variety of weeds and grasses. Many marshes exist in areas with poor drainage and they also get saturated from rain water.
As you can see a marshy area and a swampy area are not the same. The kind of vegetation that grows in each is the main difference. A swampy area is filled with trees while a marshy area does not normally have trees but is filled with grasses and other herbaceous plants. Marshes are also typically not as deep as swamps.
Now that you know the kind of waterlogged area you are dealing with, lets find out what are the things you should seriously consider before building in a waterlogged area;
The most painful thing when it comes to building in a waterlogged area is to find out after everything you have done, that the land is owned by either the federal or state government and/or reserved as a wetland region.
So the very first thing you need to do before making payment for any waterlogged area is to find out if it is permissible to building therein. Do this by conducting a search at the surveyors' general office to find out if the land has been classified as a protected wetlands by either the federal, state, or local authorities, if it’s so you need to run away from acquiring such land.
Now there is a limited choice of foundation you can use for building in a waterlogged area, but to be sure if you have to choose between a raft foundation and a pile foundation, you need to do a soil investigation test. I can’t overemphasis the need to do this.
We have seen people choose a foundation type based on their pocket size and not on what can support their proposed structure. So, because Mr Chuks, your neighbor, spent 3million naira on raft you also believe that’s the best option for you, but you failed to know what kind of soil profile and building Mr Chuks wants to put up, you are setting yourself up for lots of tears in the future.
A soil investigation (also called geotechnical investigation) test report will tell you the profile (characteristics) of the soil at each depth range and their corresponding bearing capacity. Once your engineer has calculated the estimated load your structure your building will exert on its foundation, you just need to know from your soil test report what depth can sufficiently support that load.
When the foundation of your structure (either pile or raft) transfers its load on a soil that doesn’t have the bearing capacity to support it, it can lead to excessive settlement of such structure and possibly the collapse. Unfortunately, many developers don't know, it's not even about the foundation type, it's about the type of soil/rock your foundation is resting on.
I once had a client in Magodo area of Lagos who wanted to rebuild his house after he had to completely demolish his one-storey building in that area because when it rains, his children believe the world wants to end. Water floods everywhere in their compound and inside their living room with their expensive furniture floating in water and they have to always go to the top floor and live in fear. All there furniture had been completely destroy by the flooding.
But it was not always like this, the man lamented to me, it all started after they constructed their road. The moral of this story is to take appropriate level before commencing your foundation layout.
Levelling is a process of determining the height of one level relative to another. Use this in your construction to establish the elevation of your foundation in relative to the highest surrounding point called a datum (probably the highest flood level).
Before you start building in a waterlogged area, you need to seriously consider what you are going to do about disposing household waste from toilets and kitchen? You know you can’t just get a digger and start digging a sewage in a waterlogged areas like you would in a dry land.
Also, you can’t just sink a borehole easily in a waterlogged area, often these waters are always contaminated and never clean for drinking. If you have anyone living around Lekki area, ask how drinkable is their water?
If you must build in a waterlogged area, you need to seriously think about the cost of putting up a solid sewage system and also how to purify your water for drinking.
Many engineers and builders are experienced with building on dry lands but when it comes to building in a waterlogged area, its is a whole new ball game for many, but they would mostly not admit. You need to seriously consider hiring a verified seasoned engineer/builder who has experience with building in waterlogged area.
If you are serious with owning a structure in a waterlogged area, two things you should never compromise, using the right materials and hiring a qualified engineer/builder, irrespective of the cost. On the long run, if you compromise on this, in a few years it wont matter if you used tiles from Italy, curtains from Turkey, or imported paints from Tokyo, you will have no option than to pull down the house.
Run away from buying lands in a waterlogged area if you are not financially capable of tackling it many challenges. The cost of the land itself might be cheap but the cost of building will not be. But if you most build;
1. Find out if its free from Government acquisition.
2. Choose the right foundation suitable for your own building.
3. Know where the water rises to when it rains heavily and move your foundation a lot higher.
4. Think about how much its going to cost to construct a sewage system and drill a borehole.
5. Don't bet on quacks, hire professionals with experience to handle your building.
Do buy a land or property in Lagos State without reading our FREE guide to owning a property in Lagos.
If you need any of our service(s) for your property in any location within Lagos State, please visit our service page to request that service.
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