Maduka Nweke, [email protected]
Although, Nigeria is suffering acute housing shortage, most people do not know what they want while looking for accommodation. What determines what you want while searching for house to rent or lease of determine what you want when building your own home. Some people, because of affluence, go after terrace houses while others go for duplexes and townhouses as the case may be. Ordinarily, one should not go for any type of house for the fun of it. There are houses meant for commercial purposes, and residential while others are there for other purposes. There are residential houses befitting one’s social status, so if you are building your house without considering any of the above, then, you will be firing empty shot in the sky. It is therefore necessary to consider for you not to embark on white elephant project.
Although, it is rumoured that there is at least one underground home in every state in Nigeria, they might not be well dug and constructed. Unlike what you would find in the western countries, ranches are not the common housing type in Nigeria but in states where individuals possess many plots of land, the houses are somewhat related to a ranch as there is usually a large expanse of land in front of the building. They may even have a garden or farmland in the backyard of the house. This type of house is mostly found in villages and towns where subsistence farming is still being practised. There is so much of confusion as to what house is which and that is why it is pertinent to give these salient but very important pieces of advice for you to carefully pick out from the different housing types in Nigeria.
Bungalow House
These houses are most predominant in reeling our rural areas and emerging towns. The moment a town wants to reel out of thatch dominated houses, the first set of houses that enters the town is the poor bungalows. These bungalows may not come with fantastic designs. They are meant to taste the use of corrugated iron sheet houses bricks wall.
Bungalow houses are a simple single-story house without a basement. To a large extent, the most popular residential and commercial house in Nigeria. These types of houses are economical to build while maintaining luxury and durability. Bungalow houses are either detached or semi-detached. The detached ones are a single standing property that does not share any walls with any other structure. These property type due to its isolation are usually very private.The semi-detached ones are joined together by a common wall in the middle. One side of each house shares a common wall while the other side is detached. These types of houses in Nigeria can be found in both rural and urban areas of the country.
Duplex House
Anyone who considers a duplex as a residential building has risen is financial status. Again, this kind of kind of house is not built just anywhere because there is a vicinity you put a duplex house it will be odd. So the person, the place are some of the determinant factors that help building a duplex.
Duplex houses are stacked apartments on two different floors which often looks like either two houses put together or a large single house sharing a wall between halves. Similar structures with three or four housing units or floors are called triplex or fourplex. Duplex houses are more common in cities although city dwellers have been known to establish such buildings in their hometowns. Like bungalows, duplexes in Nigeria are usually two types; detached and semi-detached. The only difference is, while bungalows are grounded, Duplexes are usually story high.
Townhouse
This kind of housing is not common everywhere. There are certain customs and cultures that accept this kind of building. Townhouses are also like the terraced houses. They are often three or more stories tall and may include a garage on the ground floor. Townhouses are found in housing units or gated estates.
Terraced House
This kind of housing is more for commercial purposes because it accommodates different families and people with differing financial capacity. It makes provision for a densely population that cannot be found in the other kind of housing. This style of housing has identical individual houses conjoined into rows. In other words, they are a line of houses which are placed directly onto each other built with shared walls between dwellings. They usually have uniform fronts and uniform heights making the houses identical. This is the common form of housing you find in estates and some housing units.
Penthouse
The penthouse is not popular among Nigerians. This kind of house selects the occupants. The occupants of the penthouse are usually people of certain reputation in the society. It is not common to find this type of house in Nigeria. Usually, the penthouse is the apartment on the highest floor of an apartment building or hotel. They typically have luxury features which differentiate them from other types of house. These luxurious features include high-end appliances, finest materials fitting, luxurious flooring system, private entrance or elevator, vaulted ceilings. They are often associated with a luxury lifestyle. The residents of penthouse often have fine views of the city skyline. This type of house because of the terrain they are found and the activity of the colonial masters can only be found in cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Warri among others.
Traditional Houses
The traditional houses in Nigeria are usually found in the rural areas of the country. The traditional building materials of these houses are also determined by the local environment.The principal building materials used in traditional houses in Nigeria include mud, wood, straw, palm fronds and raffia matting. Straw and mats made from raffia palm leaves are commonly used for roofing in the south and in some part of the non-Moslem north. You wouldn’t find houses built of solid wood except for those in the riverine areas. The Ijaw people of Nigeria, especially those close to the river, have their houses built from strong bamboo sticks and woods. These houses are built directly on top of the water areas.