#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Construction in Thailand >  >  > Building in Thailand Famous Threads >  >  Building your own Thai condo

## dirtydog

Well we have seen a few houses and swimming pools being built so time to move onto a bigger project, yep a DIY build your own multi story condo, no idea how many storeys this place will be, but reckon on 30 days per storey which will make this quite a long running thread.

Okay this is on Soi Thepprasit where KR Karting is, seems the karting is going and the whole plot is going to be developed, not that Pattaya and Jomtien need more hotels or condos but hell builders need to make a living aswell.

First up we got the pile driver there in the background, haven't caught him working yet so assume he is a bit shy.



Some of the pilings that have been piled into place.



Cant remember the name of the thing he using to check everything is relatively straight and where it should be.



These are stuck on top of the pilings while they are driven into the ground, underneath these they chuck in a few old sacks to help protect the top of the piling so it doesn't get too badly damaged while being driven into the ground.



Although sometimes they do get a bit knocked about, don't matter though once it is in the ground.



Piles laying in waiting and ready to be used.



Steel tipped so the thing don't crumple away as it is driven.



Rebar lugs so the things can be moved around, ie hooked by crane etc off of the lorry and that.

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## buad hai

> Cant remember the name of the thing he using to check everything is relatively straight and where it should be.


Transit? Theodolite? Or just a builder's level with a scope?

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## Marmite the Dog

> Theodolite?


That one rings a bell.

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## dirtydog

Well things are moving along at a rapid pace as they usually seem to do at the beginning of the job when the money is being passed around, this section you can see the piles are in and they have dug out for the footings.



One of the piles with some sack cloth stuck onto the rebar.



Nice job on this pile, although it does leave you to wonder maybe they should have used a longer one  :Smile: 



Freshly dug hole ready for rebar and concrete.



An exciting video of a pile driver going up and down as only a pile driver can.

*Guests you need to be a member to view videos on this board.*

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## a. boozer

As you say, it could be a long thread, but sure to be an interesting one, no doubt you will be taking photographs and making notes to pass on to the Health and Safety Executive.




Oops, sorry, forgot we are in LOS!

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## dirtydog

Time to get a couple of guys into the hole and start knocking off the excess concrete from the pilings, the trouble at this stage is they are using expensive power tools, ie the big angle grinders and a jack hammer, with the profit margins being so low they don't have enough power tools which causes a slow down on the job, or, they start on other stuff that it's probably not best to start on at this stage.



Got a lot more whacking on this one to break it down  :Sad: 



On a lot of them they are now pouring a cement base ready to put the footings in, trouble is they aint broken down the piling yet, it's not a major problem or anything but just seems a bit pointless when they still got 1,000kilos of concrete to break up in that hole.



Rebar being cut to size and shaped for the footings.



One set of rebar ready to go into a finished hole and have the concrete poured in.

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## Fabian

Very interesting. So you have no idea if this will be four or 40 stories tall?

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## dirtydog

Nope no idea of how many floors it will be, anyway hopefully tomorrow they may pour some concrete for some of the footings, they got a load of the rebar made up for the posts and already to go into the holes.

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## friscofrankie

> Transit


That's the one

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## Fabian

> Nope no idea of how many floors it will be, anyway hopefully tomorrow they may pour some concrete for some of the footings, they got a load of the rebar made up for the posts and already to go into the holes.


Oh the excitement.

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## shehiredahitman

> Oh the excitement.


I found the video of that pile driver in action particularly thrilling.

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## Fabian

Actually I find this thread really interesting.

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## dirtydog

Well they got the tops knocked off of most of the pilings, soon be time to get the concrete lorries in and start pouring the pads.



Nice clean neat job.

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## Fabian

Seems like no parking space under the apartment building.

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## dirtydog

Well things are moving along quite well, what is a bit of a shock is they are going to pour all the footings at the same time, normally the profit margin doesn't give you enough to justify buying shuttering for the whole lot in one go, ie you may set it up if you have 30 footings to pour you would probably make up 10 sets of shuttering and pour 10 perday, must be a good profit margin in this job.



Some of them they are using wood shuttering.



Here's what it looks like just before filling up with concrete.



Some metal shuttering.

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## dirtydog

Time to start filling those holes with concrete.



They should have all been finished today.



Yep, got a crane in to lift the concrete over to the form work.

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## Sparky

Cant wait to see what they will do tomorrow ?

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## Fabian

One week without any progress?

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## Sparky

This is almost as exciting as Elderado was on TV , any one remember that ?  The young bitch Marcus Tandy was shaging was well fit , lovely arse . Rather play with her than pour concrete !

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## dirtydog

Well they have been slowly tieing rebar together for the beam work and putting up the shuttering for the form and generally getting ready for the next concrete pour.

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## Sparky

Very professional looking job .

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## dirtydog

Well they still got the last few tops to knock off of the pilings, would you do this for 200baht perday?



Some of the rebar still exposed to tie in something big and heavy, maybe stairs but it doesn't look like it to me.



Most of the wood up for the form work for the uprights to be poured.

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## Fabian

Hm, in the last picture the uprights don't look straight.

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## dirtydog

It's cos of the camera, they will be within about 10mm which is close enough, well aslong as we don't get too many earthquakes down here in Pattaya that is  :Smile: 

Here we have the brand naked concrete posts revealed in all their glory.



Time to start wrapping them in plastic, although we seem to be having rain every night so one wonders whether it really is necessary, they aint gonna dry out that quick.

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## Sparky

Its starting to come together nicely , when can I move in ?

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## Fabian

Seems like it will take some more time.

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## dirtydog

Well they have been spending their time tieing up bits of rebar to each other and putting in the wooden supports for the form work, once the rebar is all tied together then the sides of the form can be put on and the next lot of concrete poured.

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## DrAndy

DD does anyone put lifts in to these places?

what is the cost of a small lift to 5 stories?

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## dirtydog

Well there is a bit more to the cost than just the lift, ie in the original construction you need extre reinforcing beams, also fire wall surrounding the lift structure so incase of fire people don't get baked too quickly, also they are not legal in private homes but obviously that can be overlooked for a small fee, reckon you aint gonna get no change out of a million baht for the smallest and it could be considerably more expensive depending on lift capacity and building design.

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## DrAndy

right

I had not realised there would be a legal problem for private homes

does that include private flats?

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## dirtydog

Private flats normally have a common area which the lift would come under.

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## Fabian

That's a strange law, why aren't they legal in private homes?

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## dirtydog

No easy access to check for safety standards I assume.

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## a. boozer

> No easy access to check for safety standards I assume.



In Thailand ?????????

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## dirtydog

Well they have started on the posts for the second floor, the beam work is all done and concrete poured.



These are the concrete plinths used for the floor, they are 30cms wide and you can order whatever length you like but they always have 4 meters in stock.



These are supported by any old wood you can find or you may have to buy eucalyptus trunks at like 10baht per meter as supports, on top of this is put the rebar for the floor and then another concrete pour on that to make a lovely second floor, yeah I know it sounds cheap but there is also a lot of expensive wood used in the form work and the supporting stuff, so don't take much notice of the price of crappy tree trunks.



Heres a load of form work ready for making a load of new posts, you get to use this wood like 3 or 4 times then it starts getting bitty, at that stage of the game you will be buying as little wood as possible to help the old profit margin.



A close up of the corner of the building.

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## gusG

Is that steel the starter bars for the stairs?
How come, the last thing they build on a house or condo in Thailand are the stairs?
They seem to spend the whole time building a structure, climbing and lugging shit up pissy little ramps or ladders, then at the last moment they put in a proper access.

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## dirtydog

At the beginning of any job it is easier to rope and pulley or crane stuff up to the floors you need it on, those cross beams need 30 days to get to 80 percent hardness so they need a lot of time before you can put the weight of the form for the stairs and the weight of the concrete pour for the stairs on them.

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## dirtydog

Time to start pouring the concrete beams on this section, note they got a crane in, suppose it's quicker and easier than a bucket and pulley.



If I remember rightly the concrete plinth lorrys can get the floor plinths up onto the 3rd floor, anything higher than that and you got to arrange a crane, so prices start getting a bit more now.

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## dirtydog

Things are getting exciting now with the big toys being moved on site, here we got a crane and a cement lorry, I took these pictures whilst standing between the two vehicles, noway they would allow some stanger to do that in the UK, ie walk onto a site and then walk into a hazard area to take pictures, they just smiled  :Smile:  the joys of Thailand.



Here we got the cement lorry filling up the bucket for the crane to lift up so it can do the beam pours.



The video is of the bucket and some Thai guy holding onto it and being lifted into the sky, he has a safety cowboy hat and safety flip flops on just incase anything goes wrong  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

The guy on the bucket made it this time, one guy to hold it all steady and one guy with the pipe to control where the concrete goes.



The guy on the right is using an electric vibrator to settle the concrete as it is poured, this is good as you should get rid of any bits where the concrete hasn't got and also most of the airbubbles, generally though they would just use a stick or something to have a prod about at the cement.

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## Fabian

If some german work security officer will take vacation in Jomtien I am sure he will get a heart attack seeing that worker in his safety cowbay hat flying around.

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## dirtydog

The form work for the next lot of posts is going up now, wonder how many floors this building will have.



Supports for the form so they don't topple over when filled with concrete.

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## dirtydog

Well the forms are off and it on with with the next lot os support beams, also they have started with the blockwork on the ground floor, even using insulation blocks aswell.

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## jizzybloke

> The form work for the next lot of posts is going up now, wonder how many floors this building will have.


 
83  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

The block work is carrying on, in the foreground you can see the wood used for the forms for the upright concrete posts.



A crane lifting the concrete plinths for the floor.



This is where KR Karting kept all their go karts, gone as the building is being knocked down.



The only international standard go kart track in Thailand I believe being laid to waste  :Sad:

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## Spin

> wonder how many floors this building will have.


Well it needs at least 9 or 10 I reckon,  tall enough for farangs to fall off :Smile:

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## Norton

> Well it needs at least 9 or 10 I reckon, tall enough for farangs to fall off


Actually about the height of a bar stool would do.  Many more farangs falling off them than 10 floor buildings. :Smile:

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## Fabian

For all we can see so far it will probably be an architect's masterpiece.

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## dirtydog

Well the place is slowly coming together, cranes are there a lot more often now as the building is getting taller.



Door and window frames concreted in place.



I am suprised they went for wooden window frames, seems a shame when they are using insulation blocks that they don't use something more modern, got enough pvc frame and double glazing shops in Pattaya now.



Video of another Thai man doing the crane ride  :Smile:

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## Fabian

I had to put my monitor sideways.

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## dirtydog

Sorry about that I must have uploaded the uncorrected video.

Well it's time for some dissappointing news, I am pretty sure they are only going up 4 or 5 stories high, they have now started putting in waste water pipes so I really don't think they are going much higher, too much chance of pipes being filled with concrete if they were.

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## Fabian

Too bad. 

Just make sure you get some pictures when they build this new Condo, Thailands next highest building.

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## dirtydog

Well it seems they have reached the top, I am a bit disappointed they didn't go higher.



But they are starting new buildings now.



Look at this one.



I rally have no idea why this hole is so big.

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## MrBoJangles

Only just seen this thread.

Can anyone tell me why they pile drive concrete posts into the ground, then dig an hole around the post and then smash it to bits ?

Why not just dig a big hole in the first place and then pour concrete around rebars or whatever.

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## dirtydog

I think a digger can only go about 6 or so meters deep, and it just wouldn't work, they dig pits not holes.

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## MrBoJangles

Yeah i suppose so. Cheers DD

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