Building a house in Brazil (Armação dos Búzios, RJ)

Kind of jealous of all the materials and equipment available to you. We built a multi-level house in Bahia back in 1985 and didn't have so much available like there is now.
-@cindylido

Ah yes, Bahia. Another one of my favorite places in Brazil. I've been a few times, specifically Salvador. I am curious, what would you say is so different from the materials you had available in 1985?

Hey, so how's your build going? Any updates on progress or where things are at now?

Just finished reading and wow what a great source of information and gold mine I feel I've stumbed upon. It's really appreciated thank you. How are things going at the moment?

Hey, so how's your build going? Any updates on progress or where things are at now?
-@robertjames

Just finished reading and wow what a great source of information and gold mine I feel I've stumbed upon. It's really appreciated thank you. How are things going at the moment?

-@robertjames

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your post and apologies for my late reply. I was hoping to update this page earlier, but also wanted to wait with a next big update.

A lot has happened since the last update. Not sure where to start!

• We hired a local interior (and exterior) decorator, who is assiting us in all things related to tiles, furniture, shower accessories etc. We are only going to visit again in March 2023, so using a local professional was the best option for us. The communication has been great and we were able to select tiles, wood, door styles, accessories etc. all through various online video calls and WhatsApp.
• I have attached some pictures of the tiles we chose. See below.
• Bricklaying is currently ongoing. There was a lot of rain, so work had to stop every now and then throughout the past weeks. The condominium (gated community) does not allow any trucks inside, as not all roads are paved yet. When it rains, the trucks "destroy" the already questionable roads.
• Steel beams and pillars have been put in place (and welded).

A view from the kitchen island, across the future living room, across the terrace, towards the pool and garden area

Similar "garden and pool area" view, but from the terrace area

A view from the other side, back towards the house (from the terrace/pool area looking into the house)

Some shot of the inside

Here are a bunch of 3D renderings. The little gourmet-grill area on the terrace will not be built. These are old renderings. We have decidede to build a larger covered grill area towards the back of the land, behind the pool. I will share renderings and sketches of that once they are ready.

We are opting for large 3.40m high glass-in-wood doors. Four in total, crossing over eachother per two so that you can open up a large part of the insid towards the outside.

Here are some bathroom renderings, starting with the master bathroom in the master bedroom

Cut-away image of where the shower glass separates the bathroom and shower (master bathroom in master bedroom)

Downstairs guest room bathroom

Dual-Guest room (or kids' room) bathroom and shower area

A lot has happened since the last update! The roof is on, most of the walls are finished, some woodwork (pillars) for the covered area are installe and the pool is looking more like a pool.

I made a 360 degree virtual tour - have a look here: https://kuula.co/share/collection/7FqPy?logo=0&info=0&fs=1&vr=1&sd=1&initload=0&thumbs=1

03/08/23 @fred2brazil.  Wow, Fred -- looks really great!  Have a move-in day yet?

03/08/23 @fred2brazil. Wow, Fred -- looks really great! Have a move-in day yet?
-@abthree

Thanks! Well, it has a roof so actually I could move in tomorrow! In all seriousness; the house will more or less be finished in three or four months. After that, we will still have some gardening work and landscaping to do, as well as interior decorating. We will use it mainly as a holiday home.

@fred2brazil Thank you for sharing your building experience.  Did you get to move in?  One question that I have is:  do you plan to put solar panels?  I am trying to figure out whether the roofing material will sustain puncture of the solar panel mounts - or is there a specific way to mount the rails?  I am not familiar with the roofing material and roof installation.

Thank you in advance.

Hi Pablo,

We did not move in yet. We already installed some solar panels. We currently have "only" 5 of them installed, but we chose an inverter that has the capacity to add another 5 or 10 solar panels. We used the company SolarJet from Cabo Frio. I can share more info in private messages.

The cool thing about our region is that the electricity we generate can also be used in other properties we own. Seeing as we also bought an off-plan apartment in Arraial do Cabo, we can use the electricity generated in our house in Buzios to pay for the electricity in Arraial do Cabo.

@fred2brazil This is literally a cool project.  Love it that you have thought of so many ways to make things work so well.  Kudos and thanks for sharing.

@GuestPoster204 isopores is not an noise reduction material. Most used to relief the weight of structures so you can play with soils resistance in order to minority costs in foundations or make higher buildings.

@Texanbrazil.. wouldn't  go wood here. Also join the fb expats group in brazil n search house building.  There's  a guy i know is bringing all his german friends over to build his house cus quite frankly the standards n work ethic here just suck. I am not sure if he is on this app/forum or not.

Also, if you're  on fb dm me there. There's  a company here doing ICF houses. They can prob build yer place or have plans thst might work for you depending on your budget. If you need a lawyer n finance guy in the fb group talk to james chapman for $$$ sending to here n Phillippe Macedo for lawyer transactions.

12/13/23 @Cserebogar.  Unfortunately, we lost Texanbrazil in April:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1024789

Any updates? You have no idea how much this thread as helped me! Just wanted to say thank you

Also, any pictures would be great!

@carla10 as per.my.post.. don't  do wood here.. id do icf but like a bunch of us mentioned the standards here and work ethic is extremely  lacking.

Hi all, thanks for your messages and questions. A lot has happened since my last post.

Pretty much all of the interior tiles have been laid (120x120cm). The outside area will slowly be worked on now.

The terrace sliding doors were installed. These are 8m wide and almost 4m tall (each panel of glass weighs around 200-250kgs. They are huge. I specifically opted to change the steel frame construction of the house in the last moment and chose to have the terrace steel frame higher up to accommodate for taller sliding doors. The installation company said that they have never installed doors this tall in a residential home in this area. They came from Bazze and INEXT, who apparently produce these PVC door systems for the south of Brazil (where the conditions are colder).

All of the windows were installed. These are all aluminium window frames in black, with the exception of the window on the mezzanine which is also PVC. The glass is 10mm (1cm) thick. The standard glass size was 4-6mm, which I (as a European) find very thin, regardless of whether it is hot or not in Buzios. I am used to double or even triple-pane (safety) glass where I am from and I am certain that thicker glass also makes sense in Buzios, where it is hotter, to keep the hot air out and the cool air conditioned air inside the house.

We had the back wall of the staircase covered in Pedra Madeirca Branca Bossa Nova, which was installed by a specialist. We may add this feature on the inside of our extior walls on some spots in future.

The wooden ceiling was finally finished. This was not cheap - I was amazed as to how much this cost. The alternative would have been drywall (Gesso), but I think the wood finish is more "local" to Brazil and gives the house a more exclusive look.

The team will now stucco (grafiato) the outside of the house and start painting it.

The kitchen island and backsplash were installed, as well as the custom-built "marble stone" sinks in some of the bathrooms/ensuites.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and videos! Any questions, just ask!

This will most likely be the outside of the fassade:

This will probably be the style of the door:

Kitchen:

Staircase with stone wall:

Other pictures

Video Links:

Sliding doors: https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/video/480_h264/de3dfa38-23b3-497c-b3ee-acc74ef0b7a1.mp4

Kitchen island stone: https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/video/480_h264/9b071488-2a9c-4505-8b20-5ecf356373ea.mp4

@carla10

Thanks for following our progress! I am glad my posts and information have helped you. I posted some new images and descriptions. If you have any questions, just ask!

@fred2brazil Parabéns on your place, it looks really nice. One regret we have with the our reforma here in Brasilia is that the architect convinced us to install rectangular/flat-bottom sinks on the bathrooms. It appears that your decorator did the same. We were very frustrated to find that the water (and toothpaste rinse) would pool in the bottom of the sinks and not drain. So we had to hire a guy to grind the sinks down a bit to allow the water to flow to the drain. We didn't have that problem with the similar-style American sinks we brought for the kitchen and the bar.

@fred2brazil Parabéns on your place, it looks really nice. One regret we have with the our reforma here in Brasilia is that the architect convinced us to install rectangular/flat-bottom sinks on the bathrooms. It appears that your decorator did the same. We were very frustrated to find that the water (and toothpaste rinse) would pool in the bottom of the sinks and not drain. So we had to hire a guy to grind the sinks down a bit to allow the water to flow to the drain. We didn't have that problem with the similar-style American sinks we brought for the kitchen and the bar. - @EricPau

Luckily they actually did it the right way. There is a slab/plate on top (within the sink) that sits on four pedestals, which are angled (different heights) as well. Underneath is the sink construction which is made out of four sections, cut from each corner towards the center hole, at an angle so that the water can drain properly.

The house is finally finished...! more or less!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Overall we are very happy with the results.

Not all rooms are shown in the images below.

12/04/24 @fred2brazil.  Fred, your house looks absolutely wonderful.  Thanks for sharing the whole adventure with us, step by step.  I wish you and yours many, many happy years living there.  You certainly deserve it!

@fred2brazil, love what you have done here.  Buzios is on my "to go" list and hope to see your handiwork in person.

Well done!

Great thread !!! The house ls beautiful, thanks for the constant updates, very interesting. I've been to Buzios many times and find the area overall a wonderful place to stay for a holiday, but, I could easily imagine myself living there as well.

12/04/24 @fred2brazil. Fred, your house looks absolutely wonderful. Thanks for sharing the whole adventure with us, step by step. I wish you and yours many, many happy years living there. You certainly deserve it! - @abthree

Thanks! There is still some more work to be done, so I will continue updating you all!

@fred2brazil, love what you have done here. Buzios is on my "to go" list and hope to see your handiwork in person.
Well done! - @Pablo888

Feel free to let me know when you're planning to visit. My place is available for use! Speak soon!

Great thread !!! The house ls beautiful, thanks for the constant updates, very interesting. I've been to Buzios many times and find the area overall a wonderful place to stay for a holiday, but, I could easily imagine myself living there as well. - @kolyaS122HSU

Same here! When we were given the opportunity to take over the land and slowly start building something, we visited plenty of times during the process. I started imagining living or maybe retiring here one day!

We have continued some more "minor" upgades to the house. We are now in the process of finalising the outdoor pergola.

Some wooden slabs are still missing on the top, and at some point we will opt for some more covering (sunshde).