Plinth beam shuttering
All ready for the pour (once the mixer truck can get on the site).
Some of my 'instructional' sketches...
As some of you may know, I am not adverse to 'getting the message across' with a scribble or a sketch or two. I'm not the worlds best artist so probably they hinder as much as they help (!) but never the less, as I cant speak a whole lot of Thai, they are a comfort to me and make me feel I am 'contributing' when PJ is on site with K. Pot...
Here's what I mean..
He was asking where to put the plumbing, as we have not yet finalised the kitchen layout yet
Again we were discussing outer shutters and inner windows...
The PEA are moving that power pole off my land for free. I wanted to know how much to move it right 10M so that we have no pole in front of the plot. (sorry its a bit blurry)
Although some way off, tile choices .... I want the diamond pattern (on the right), so I sketched it to avoid any confusion later...
Boundary wall on the road side is 2.5M, but the rest is 2m... so I was showing the step down arrangements for each side of the plot
My duct bank arrangements under the slab 'just in case' we need to run anything front to back, so we can avoid breaking out the ground floor slab. Might not ever use it but its there anyway.
Need an entrance gate, right? And pedestrian access? OK... my vision but not yet sure if we can do this. Hope so... no panic yet but will need to be agreed with the builder before he starts the boundary wall.
Sorry.... I have been a bit tied up with work so could not post anything the last few days...
Back on track now so will post the catch up pics today...
The column cages now completed...
NB... thats the power pole i want to be moved to the right 10m
TD,
Thank you for an interesting thread. I follow with interest, having a piece of land and a plan. (Well, she has a piece of land and I have a plan.)
Your builder looks to be doing a great job.
One question.I don't see it asked here, apologies if I missed it: What made you opt for drilling and then casting piles in place? Most builds that I see rely on a ring of plinth beams only. On occasions where I see piles they are usually precast, hammered in to unequal depths of equal resistance, then cut off and capped. Your land looks pretty firm already, suggested by that drilling rig in your pictures.
I have no ideas about the relative merits and costs of the different options. Just curious. Thanks.
Query over the amount of cover on the plinth beam at the junction with the ground floor columns
Well... I had to have one query, right!?
It 'looked' like the cover was only about 10mm - not enough, in other words. No matter, I circled the areas and sent PJ to check. She brought the OrBorTor land engineer with her (he was going to visit anyway)and everyone met up on site.
Turns out the picture is worth a 1000 words but can't get 1000 angles or perspective!
there is in fact 30mm of over as confirmed by the engineer
Hi Shutee, welcome and thanks for your input and interest...
OK.... it depends on the strength and ability of the land to support the load (ie the house) and the size of the house you are building (and engineers will tell me to mention point loading, bearing friction, etc etc!!)
In our case we took advice from the OrBorTor office. The top layer of ground looks firm but when wet it becomes springy, soft, and slippery i.e not so good. We built up the land in any case with another 1m of as dug material but it was no better than the original layer. Below that however is a much stronger and solid strata and thats what we wanted to get down to.
Often when you see small slab supports in the soil and a ring beam, it is a single story dwelling, ie much lighter. Someone will have done that calculation for the point loading and the strength of the soil and determined how many uprights are needed. As you say, the ring (plinth) beam and slab ties it all together. Its a sort of raft foundation, spreading the load so as nothing sinks.
Our 'dwelling' , when finished will have 2 stories and a substantial roof, with a footprint of 256m3. its being built in 2 stages - zone A and B now and zone C when funds allow (!).
So .. we have to pile. Now as to why we went with drill and cast. Simple really... K.Pot (builder) had all the equipment to drill and cast, could make super cages for the drill holes and gave a very good price to do it. Either method would have been Ok; we went with him as he has total control and it's in his interest to do a good job as the house he is then building rests on his pile work.
Last edited by Thai Dhupp; 03-03-2018 at 07:32 PM.
Buying the duct bank PVC pipes
So, going on from my sketch, here are the builders guys collecting the pipework to do it...
I like it when a plan comes together...
Pouring the Plinth beam concrete
I knew he would have a skip...
The ladies keeping up though, with the buckets
The ladies production line flat out...
Of course, we are not hand mixing this pour, not enough time and we want a consistent mix
Digging out those pesky mango tree roots
That mini-digger is surprisingly powerful...
when he finished digging, he levelled everything up..
Another job completed.
Striking the plinth beam
A good pile of shuttering had already been gathered. PJ's Bro checking proceedings...
Yes..K.Pot confirms it s plinth beam, all right...
shutter frames.
OMG shutters everywhere!
Khun Pot surveys the beam and I know hes thinking...pretty good, huh!?
The column shutters were already being placed
Ground floor column shuttering
some shutters placed before striking the plinth beam...
reasonably straight...
the OrBorTor engineer dropped by to see the ring beam.
....now, about that inspection...
Plinth Beam / general inspection
the Engineer, Khun Ek arrives from the OrBorTor Office.
''lets get straight to it...''
'so...this bit is the ''downstairs-outside-under-shade 'bit', is it?...''
...'and over here is the West Wing...''
K.Pot: ''Apparently, he calls this bit the 'study/office' but it might be retreat or man-cave or hidey-hole... he's specified a lock on the inside and a hidden booze cupboard, anyway...''
K.Ek: ''interesting...very interesting...''
"'OK gents... looking good... can you crack on 'cos me and those lovely PEA ladies have all got invites to the pool-party when its finished....''
Ground floor plumbing
Lol...hopefully, all of the above means something to someone - I am not a plumbing expert, so I'm relying on the original plans and K.Pot's ability to follow them.
I think its the right colour anyway. Oh... and its in the ground below the floor so I think thats right too...
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