OUR SPECIALITIES
You may open pages with specific information about our specialties by clicking on one of the topics listed below.
Cyclone-rated designs
Earthquake-rated designs
Over-water building designs
Foundation engineering
Space frame structures
Wheelchair friendly
Rainwater harvesting (not longer available. Discontinued)
Prefabricating without any nails used
Designed for easy reassembly by yourself
In-house developed user-friendly interactive price list
Cyclone rated designs
Wind loads during a cyclone (hurricane or typhoon) are mighty and can be deadly and destructive, particularly for wooden houses. Prefabricated wooden houses are very sensitive to unbalance and it is therefore a prerequisite that wooden prefab houses be designed according to the proper codes and standards if such a house is to be built in a cyclone area. Based on the 40 years of experience of our Senior Technical Advisor we guarantee that the appropriate codes will be designed for your Prefab Bali House. We hereto apply the USA codes and regulations (IBC 2018 which is still valid today), including the applicable amendments that are in force for the County where the unit will be built will be applied. Many other countries acknowledge the IBC 2018. Where necessary our designs will be upgraded to cyclone rating against a variation order for the extra costs to reinforce the standard structure.
Recent scientific studies reveal that the Hurricane and Typhoon wind forces will increase considerably during the next decade due to global warming. In consequence and as per the scientific prediction we have arbitrarily increased the standard IBC wind loads by 10% for extra safety. The standard construction for our houses is based on a normal general highest wind load, however, the construction will be modified based on the results of our structural analyses including the 10% increase for the hurricane or cyclone area where the house is to be built. Log on to < hurricanes & typhoons >to read the featured article.
Earthquake rated designs
AXIOM: A wooden structure is much safer to resist an earthquake than any other type of structure (brick, concrete, steel, or any combination thereof)
Earthquakes have a minor impact, if not, no impact on a wooden building structure, - if a tremor is low -due to its tremendous flexibility. The seismic response of any wooden building is often amazingly high, compared to a concrete or steel structure. The structural codes and regulations for countries or parts of countries that may be hit by an earthquake such as Japan, Indonesia, California, Hawaii, Mexico, Turkey, parts of the Caribbean, the Pacific, and other areas, are defined such that the structure needs to be verified to its natural frequency (the number of vibrations per second) and be compared with the earthquake resonance (the frequency content of the ground motion). If this resonance is close or equal to the building's natural frequency a building will suffer the greatest damage. Here the advantage of wood plays a significant role. The natural frequency capacity of a wooden building is often much higher than the earthquake response factor. However, as is always the case, there are limits. Economically it would not be an advantage to design a wooden house that can fully withstand an earthquake to a force that exceeds level 8 on the Richter scale. It's possible but far too expensive. Click < here > for the featured article.
NOTE: The house shown at the right above is not one of our structures but it shows the flexibility of a wooden house.
Overwater buildings cannot be compared with on-land buildings, since the complexity of over-water-built structures is much higher than that of on-land buildings. In most cases, over-water structures are built on piles driven into the seabed, with the top of the piles connected with capping beams. The piling depth is crucial and needs to be properly designed based on the substrate soil materials.
Our senior in-house Civil/Hydraulic and Geotechnical engineer with 50 years of International experience under his belt, - in particular with over-water building techniques -, may help and advise you on the required piling type, piling depth, and superstructure. To safely determine the pile capacities one needs to take into account the pile's end bearing capacity + negative or positive friction along the pile shaft. This will define the safe pile driving depth. Waves have a minor effect on piles, however, it needs to be investigated if wave run-up caused by cyclones needs special treatment. We will be happy to design the over-water structure for you. You may read the detailed article < here >
Our Geotechnical engineer would be happy to advise you on the required type of foundation whether this is a shallow foundation, a piled foundation, a retaining wall foundation, a foundation on a slope, a foundation on weak soil, or any other type of foundation. Our foundations are also designed and verified for uplift forces caused by cyclone wind forces if a unit is built in a cyclone-prone area.
For complicated issues, our engineer may ask for a soil investigation report along with the SPT graphs, bore logs, and/or laboratory test results. We will supply a set of foundation drawings showing footing locations, details, rebar drawings, and the type and number of special Simpson anchors to be installed. We offer the foundation drawings free of charge, provided a fabrication order for the wooden house has materialized. You may log on to the special foundation page < here > (a feature article that provides a lot of detailed insight into the types of foundations)
Space frame structures (especially for roofs)
Nowadays modern wheelchairs provide mobility and independence very much needed by those due to any reason, whether by injury, illness, or disease, who cannot walk or have difficulties walking. Through the years the wheelchair has developed from the traditional manual wheelchair to the electric and power wheelchairs.
Though there have been strict regulations imposed in the last decade for architects to comply with, wheelchair access is still not acknowledged in many areas. To help in this regard, wheelchair access is now a requirement in most countries, such as sidewalks with ramp access.
In particular, bathrooms are one of the places that should be adapted for wheelchair access. The usual problem arises in transfers from the door to the toilet and bathtub and back. Not only is the access door wider, but special rails need to be installed next to the toilet and the bathtub, so the disabled person can then use their torso or upper body and extremities to freely move about the area.
Another problem would be wheelchair access outside one's own house. Our prefab houses are elevated from natural grade to some 50 to 70 cm. Wheelchair access can only be achieved if a ramp is available. We can add this. Let us know whether your prefab house shall be wheel-chair friendly and we will design and build it as per your request. More detailed information < here>
Rainwater harvesting (This feature is no longer available)
The issue of high scarcity of water is a global issue now and those countries whose primary revenue sector depends upon the proper distribution of uninterrupted water supply come to a standstill when their natural water sources dry out.
Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and storing rainwater, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or reservoir with percolation. Rainwater harvesting differs from stormwater harvesting in that rainwater runoff is collected from roofs, rather than from creeks, drains, roads, or other land surfaces.
Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest methods of self-supply of water for households, and residential and household-scale projects.
Our company can help, advise and design a rainwater catchment or rainwater cistern for free,- if required -, when you order a prefab unit from us. For a detailed description, you may log on to our < rainwater harvesting > article (*)
(*) Unfortunately we had to discontinue these services due to a lack of interest.
Prefabricating without any nail used
Nails and hardwood are never a perfect match. When driving nails in the hardwood you may experience the misfortune of having a large crack appear, or even a piece of your timber breaks out at an edge. In addition, any nail driven in hardwood will be set due to high friction caused by the wood cells around the driven nail (similar to the build-up of friction when you drive a pile in the subsoil). The resistance of the nail shank to withdrawal for a piece of hardwood is therefore very high and needs a lot of force to take out. So, you may wonder what will happen if nails are used to connect prefabricated hardwood parts that need to be taken out during the dismantling process. More details can be read < here >
Designed for easy re-assembling by yourself
No need to engage a contractor, since it is straightforward to reassemble our Bali Knockdown Homes at your end. With only a little DIY experience, you can build a prefabricated home with us without any nails to be driven. Ask a few friends for some helping hands (wood can be very heavy) and don't forget to ask them to bring a screwdriver at least.
Our prefabricated houses and structures come with an extensive and detailed 3-dimensional re-assembly manual. The manual uses numbers and colors that correspond to the actual prefab parts. Even the direction of North is given, for as you know a column has 4 sides and only one side faces North. View an example manual < here >
In-house developed user-friendly interactive price list
In addition to the PDF price list showing our standard prices we offer an interactive price list If you wish to know the prices for all of our models for all export qualities including additional building options, cost options, and shipping costs. If so, this INTERACTIVE PRICE LIST will be the tool to use. Our interactive price list is a unique tool painstakingly developed by our engineers and not seen anywhere in Indonesia at any wooden prefab house supplier.
With our Prefabworld Bali International interactive price list, you can review the prices of all of our more than 100 models at a nick of time for our 4 export qualities, with or without chosen upgrades, a price for the skeleton of the model only, shipping costs and many other options in just a few clicks. On average 5 to 10 minutes are sufficient to obtain a full price for a model based on your options and requirements, such as cyclone upgrade, stainless steel fixtures upgrade, complete termite resistance upgrade, with or without roof decking, with or without a kitchen, and more. We can't make it easier for you. The interactive price list is programmed in Excel and can calculate thousands of different prices (39,000 to be precise). If you need help with the filling-in process you may download the user's manual via a link on the interactive price list.
Learn more < here >. Browse through the list of available options, and try out an example.