Thai Dhupp and Princess Joy's Thai House Build

[Thai Dhupp]

He made about 300 chairs in that batch, in case any one is trying to count them...

[Norton]

ground floor ring beam

Isn't this several cms above ground?

[Thai Dhupp]

Isn't this several cms above ground?

Yeah..sorry..getting ahead of myself there.... ground floor is about 0.5m above the ground level, but you get the idea.

Very long and hectic day at the Museum of the Future yesterday.... I am frazzled

Lot more photos to upload, including today's offerings ceremony with the monk on site this morning

[Norton]

The reason I asked the question was I couldn't figure out why the chairs needed on the ground floor. Never mind. All will be clear soon.

[Thai Dhupp]

The reason I asked the question was I couldn't figure out why the chairs needed on the ground floor. Never mind. All will be clear soon.

Hi Norton...sooner or later... he will be casting floor slabs. He's just planning ahead I reckon.

[Thai Dhupp]

Fabricating the pile cap cages

Good day to all...





For when the pile cages have been concreted in and its gone off and been dug out...

[Thai Dhupp]

Drilling and concreting day 2


The bore looks something like this - when you are drilling the piles they will of course be circular, hence those spiral cages...


The 'sharp end' - taking a rest.


Lowering the pile cage into position before pouring the concrete.


The drilling rig is setting up again


This ones going right down - concrete is all mixed ready to place once the cage has been inserted.





OMG!! ...that snake was our lunch - you there!! Pull it out now!!


The 3-girl-powered concrete batching plant in full swing...


This hole needs this cage - some are shorter than others but the key thing is getting down to the hard layer below.


Time out while the crew show off their super-clear safety toe-cap work-boots...


That rig never stops...mainly because he has another job to go to...


The supplies keep a-comin'...


...and the batcher keeps using them!


Cages waiting in the wings...


Good mix and not a slump test in sight...

[Norton]

Good mix and not a slump test in sight...

Hope a good mix. Time will tell.
Surprized not using premix for the pilings. Hand mix is cheaper but risk a bad mix.

[Thai Dhupp]

Drilling and concreting - day 2 (continued)


Everyone's helping now...


Cage in place


Crane relocates again


Yep - 5-and-a-bit meters... bit more to go yet...


Drill out, cage and concrete in!


Boss-man carefully checks to see if he is still vertical, while in the background ladies are playing with some sand - and - water...


After a heavy round of chair fabrication, 'Junior' is crashed n burned...


"Right! swing it out n lets get the cage in..."


K.Pot, looking happy cos he knows hes nearly completed stage 1 and no problems at all whatsoever


Even my up-skirt camera is getting in on the act. I mean 'covert bird-watching'...



Phew! ...thats the last one!

[Thai Dhupp]

Hope a good mix. Time will tell.
Surprized not using premix for the pilings. Hand mix is cheaper but risk a bad mix.

I hear you, Norton but I have faith in him, and anyway the OrBorTor Engineer is checking.

You need to be putting the cage in straight away and then back-filling it with the concrete quickly to avoid any chance of collapse. With these piles the mixer truck would be waiting a long time between each hole as they take some time to drill out.

[dennis4558]

Depth of those holes there shouldn't be any settling going on, looks like things are moving right along.

[Thai Dhupp]

Depth of those holes there shouldn't be any settling going on, looks like things are moving right along.

Hi Dennis, yeah, there were a few at around 8m, but in the main around 5-5.5m.

Things are moving on - thats stage 1 completed already. 7 more to go plus the snagging and final payment.

i really hope they all go as smoothly as this one has.

[Norton]

I hear you, Norton but I have faith in him, and anyway the OrBorTor Engineer is checking.

You need to be putting the cage in straight away and then back-filling it with the concrete quickly to avoid any chance of collapse. With these piles the mixer truck would be waiting a long time between each hole as they take some time to drill out.

Cool. I am unfamiliar with pilings. All house builds I have done use footing and columns.

[Thai Dhupp]

Cool. I am unfamiliar with pilings. All house builds I have done use footing and columns.

In essence its the same as when we were small and digging holes in the sand on the beach. eventually, part of the sides would fall in.

In the case of the pile holes, if it falls in and blocks you end up having to basically re-align the rig over the hole and run the drill back down the hole to clear the blockage - all wasted time.

The same issue, but even worse if it collapses after you have put the cage in because now you have loose soft earth where concrete should be. (we checked ours by shining a torch directly to the bottom of each one before pouring). You can also add a specialist mortar compound or even wet clay to the drilling process to 'line' the holes sides and it also seals up any fissures in the hole side which would swallow concrete. This process is called grouting.

Its exactly the same process as we used on the piles we placed on the Abu Dhabi airport job -except those piles were up to 1.5m diameter and 29m in length! We needed to do a table lift to actually place them. Same drilling. same grouting. same placement. same concreting, though.

[Norton]

Learned something new today. Thanks.

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

Early morning.


About 7.15am






Bless her... she worked very hard to get all this ready


Cages all ready to be placed once the gold has been buried...
















Just waiting for the Monk to arrive...

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...
The monk arrives.




No...thats not his table leg she putting the candle to...






Im sure there is a'health and Safety' issue somewhere here..."Monk breaks leg on Construction professionals building site" springs to mind....



(more pix tomorrow... I need to go home now!)

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

Placing the gold and silver






Breaks my heart to see all that hard-earned gold being buried...


A spirit ceremony would not be complete without a few tent pegs hammered in...

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

The offerings to spirits ceremony begins.































Some of these photos might be a bit out of sync as i have sooooo many to post!!
(i can post less, I suppose...)

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

The holes are dug , lined with gold and ready to receive the banana-clad cages

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

Placing the cages

[Thai Dhupp]

Spirit offerings ceremony on site...

Final concreting in...

[mikenot]

I thought the first post ceremony was to appease the land spirits, so it's an animist thing usually conducted by a local elder or mor duu/witchdoctor and not a Buddhist ritual involving monks ? And then monks bless the house when it is finished. Or maybe I'm just used to the pagan rites of deepest darkest Issaan and not the civilization of Chonburi ?

[Norton]

Or maybe I'm just used to the pagan rites of deepest darkest Issaan and not the civilization of Chonburi ?

You are. We do things differently up here as you stated.
Mor duu to start. Build the house. Walk around the house until the mor duu gives the all clear of bad spirits and allows you entry. Then a gaggle of monks and the entire village go inside and bless the house.

[Chittychangchang]

Did you watch the cement being poured on that gold and silver?
I'd be tempted to dig it up and re-skim it

Interesting insight into the ceremony.