Thread: Newbie Build in Chiang Mai (Don Kaew)

Today they delivered the planks for the second level. Maybe they had some left over, because they also did the living room on the 1st level. The planks are 9 cm thick, so I think the concrete/cement on top may make 10 cm all together. The wood forms at the top are for the concrete/cement pour later.



Damn, Photobucket is irritating!

Here is the living room. It is quite small now that I can actually stand in the middle of it. But that's OK, because it will really be used primarily as a TV and computer room. It will be about 4m X 4m. The "living space" will be outside, as long as the weather is OK . . . . and the mozzies are under control.

Totally Irrelevant Bonus Pic: Kids in a mud puddle. The little one forgot his pants. Mom should be pretty happy.

Originally Posted by terp80

Damn, Photobucket is irritating!

Might want to try dropbox.

Originally Posted by BKKBILL

Might want to try dropbox.

Thanks BKKBILL. OK, now can you tell me how to get the pic from Dropbox to Teak Door?

If you put your pictures into the DropBox Public folder then right click the one wanted you should see copy Public Link click that and paste to your post as normal.

I do this is on a Mac so could be convoluted on the PC. Here is a link for how to.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/90/en

Hope that helps.

Seems a solid economical build, OP. Congratulations.

Thanks BKKBILL. As usual, nothing seems to work. Even the Instructions don't seem to match up. Maybe for Macs it is easier. I'll attack this again later. And thanks again.

Originally Posted by mustafa goze

Seems a solid economical build, OP. Congratulations.

Thanks Mustafa. Economical it probably isn't - at least in the sense of being cheap. My original budget was 2.2M baht. But that is old history. Although it is a relatively small house, I'm sure by the time all is said and done, it will be over 3M, but by just how much we'll have to wait and see. I have concluded that, since now it will be my permanent home, I will not be happy unless it is a quality build, so I will have to come up with the extra money somehow.

What's the problem with photobucket ? I've never had a problem posting pics from there to here.

Steve

Originally Posted by stevefarang

What's the problem with photobucket ? I've never had a problem posting pics from there to here. Steve

It lets me upload one photo, then "fails to upload" the next one. Sometimes I close Photobucket and start again, and that works. Sometimes even that doesn't work, so I have to try again after a while. Annoying.

To say nothing of having to listen to the video ads while it takes a while to upload - or NOT.

Starting to work on the fish pond. The plan is to eventually have Koi, so we consulted a guy at Jomtien Market behind Tesco-Lotus on the Super Highway. He speaks just a bit of English, as his father was English. He came out today to speak with my building team about the plan, because they are preparing for the pour pretty soon - I think at the same time the topping is poured on the 2nd floor planks. The concrete for the pool will have waterproofing added. It will be a one-time pour. In other words, the bottom and sides will be done at the same time.

The rebar is one piece as it covers the bottom and up the sides. The drains will be underneath the concrete between the rebar. We had to correct a mistake I missed on the original plans: the beams went across the fish pond underneath what will be the walkway from the terrace/deck across the pond to the stairs leading down to the side yard. The crew had to knock down the two beams with a jack hammer and cutting tool. The final tool was a sledge hammer. It was a tough job, which actually made me feel good about the strength of the beams throughout the rest of the house.

You can see the beams off to the left in the picture. Now, the fish will have an unobstructed swim in 50cm of water down the length of the house to the waterfall at the far end.

My architect noticed something unusual at the base of one of the columns: what appears to be remnants of termites (no live termites visible). He called the termite company to come back and re-spray the ground and to re-affix some of the tubing, as it had already started to come loose, plus there were a few crimps/kinks in the tubing which would stop the insecticide from spreading properly. The termites may have found some paper or wood pieces attached to the concrete (from the formwork). Whew! These termites are damn aggressive.

And finally, some shots showing the first rebar for the 2nd floor columns going up.

Originally Posted by terp80

Quote: Originally Posted by stevefarang What's the problem with photobucket ? I've never had a problem posting pics from there to here.

Steve It lets me upload one photo, then "fails to upload" the next one. Sometimes I close Photobucket and start again, and that works. Sometimes even that doesn't work, so I have to try again after a while. Annoying. To say nothing of having to listen to the video ads while it takes a while to upload - or NOT.

So Steve, just like when you take your malfunctioning car in to the service place, and the car performs flawlessly, after me ranting on about Photobucket, these uploads went perfectly!

^^^
Yes, I had similar problems when I uploaded over in Thailand. Some pics would load, others would not. Then I would have to go through and figure out which one failed to upload and try to upload it again.
So I can sympathize with that.
Glad to hear you finally got them all finally uploaded !

Steve

Originally Posted by stevefarang

Glad to hear you finally got them all finally uploaded ! Steve

Thanks. We'll see how it goes later today.

They spent the day getting the forms ready for the fish pond and finishing the rebar.

After everyone had gone, I noticed that the ground was wet and had sunk about 6 inches or more in some places. It looks like the water made the dirt compact down, but I'm not sure. If that's what did happen, then I want the whole area heavily watered so that all of it will compact down. Then they can add a little fill before they put the 1st level planks down, which I think will happen on Friday.

Early this morning, the termite guys returned and re-sprayed. I got there after they were done, but not gone, so I didn't see them spray, and I couldn't tell by looking at the ground. The foremen were there, so I have to assume that it was done.

Continued work on the fish pond forms. The fish pond man came with a helper and started to put the pipes in, but the fact that the rebar was already down on the bottom made their work extremely difficult. Plus it was very hot today (40). However, they were able to put down most of the lines for the drains and the aeration tubes, etc. I wasn't there at the end of the day, so I don't know if they were finished with what they needed to do before the concrete pour, which will be on Saturday.

Went out to the site this morning, and nobody was home. I guess they had completed everything necessary for tomorrow's pour. I took some more shots of the fish pond, and it looks like there are some additional pipes added from yesterday. Tomorrow will be a big day for concrete, and I will meet with my architect/builder in the morning to have him make a final check of the fishpond before the pour. I'm not sure if the fish pond guy will be there, but I would like him to be, because once this is poured, obviously it will be very difficult to make any changes or adjustments.