Thai Dhupp and Princess Joy's Thai House Build

[Thai Dhupp]

Lol...where did everyone go? I feel like I'm talking to myself!!

Surely not everyone went to the Manchester Derby!!?

Yeah, its going a bit slow at at the Chonburi mega-Project.

K.Pot is tied up elsewhere but hopefully he's back on it from today.

I'm expecting slab preparation pix imminently!!

(I get that 'talking to myself' feeling a lot, BTW, ever since I had the fall from the Hi-rise there have been 'voices, voices in my head.....)

[jonnyenglish]

Coming along nicely TD... so far so good with your builder and his team. If anyone reads these posts trying to learn anything about building in Thailand before they start their project, yours is the "go-to" thread.

Aside from recommendations, price, manner, professionalism etc when considering hiring the builder and the team, there is always an element of luck involved. That said, I'm convinced that at least half the issues that foreigners face when building here in Thailand is approaching the whole thing with an "I know best" attitude and micro-managing the project to such an extent that people just walk off the job.

Clear and concise plans and direction, good lines of communication and allowing room for errors (which can and do occur) without freaking out is the way (unless you are building a high-end resort and have teams of managers and architects employed to do this all for you).

Can't wait to see how your build develops once the aesthetic elements start to come in to play.

Top job so far TD... (by the way, if you or anyone reading this have any spare gravel left over, send it up to my place... rainy season is coming and I have yet to fix the dirt track to my place owing to being skint!)

[David48atTD]

Lol...where did everyone go?

Surely not everyone went to the Manchester Derby!!?

Maybe a few went to the Commonwealth Games ... https://teakdoor.com/the-sports-room/...mes-april.html (Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games ... April 4 - 15) ?

[Norton]

Yeah, its going a bit slow at at the Chonburi mega-Project.

Tis the season to be lazy..fa, la, la, la lah...
Songkran madness starting.

[Thai Dhupp]

Coming along nicely TD... so far so good with your builder and his team. If anyone reads these posts trying to learn anything about building in Thailand before they start their project, yours is the "go-to" thread.

Aside from recommendations, price, manner, professionalism etc when considering hiring the builder and the team, there is always an element of luck involved. That said, I'm convinced that at least half the issues that foreigners face when building here in Thailand is approaching the whole thing with an "I know best" attitude and micro-managing the project to such an extent that people just walk off the job.

Clear and concise plans and direction, good lines of communication and allowing room for errors (which can and do occur) without freaking out is the way (unless you are building a high-end resort and have teams of managers and architects employed to do this all for you).

Can't wait to see how your build develops once the aesthetic elements start to come in to play.

Top job so far TD... (by the way, if you or anyone reading this have any spare gravel left over, send it up to my place... rainy season is coming and I have yet to fix the dirt track to my place owing to being skint!)

Hi Jonny and thanx for stopping by again. Thank goodness someone spoke up.... I thought everyone was at the Bahrain Formula 1!!

Thanks for your encouraging words... I hope this and other threads will iinspire and encourage others. I am sure yours also falls into place as a front runner for this - lets see!!

Well.. for sure I am not micro-managing!! Imagine how frustrated I can get, sitting here in my office in Dubai, building the Museum of the Future while all the action is going on in Thailand!!

Yes... you are right about the builder and I hope he can keep it up. Definitely there is an element of luck in all of our builds, sometimes its not good luck, either.

Anyway...we have still go t a long way to go, so keep tuned in and I will lay it all out as it happens...

cheers!

[Thai Dhupp]

Oh...and there is no spare gravel on ours as, K.Pot is responsible for all the ordering and the price is fixed so it's all JIT and miniscule allowances for wastage!!!

Bet there would be tonnes of 'spare' if he was ordering but I was paying!!

I could probably scrape up a couple of bags and put them in the boot for you, if we are ever up your way...

[Thai Dhupp]

Maybe a few went to the Commonwealth Games ... https://teakdoor.com/the-sports-room/...mes-april.html (Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games ... April 4 - 15) ?

Yeah David...Manchester derby, commonwealth games, Songkran preparations and Formula 1 GP in Bahrain... that probably accounts for nearly everyone!!

[Thai Dhupp]

Tis the season to be lazy..fa, la, la, la lah...
Songkran madness starting.

Awww... c'mon... its all good fun, especially if you are sitting on 'blue' and some kind reveller sluices your back down with a bucket of cold water. I REALLY like that one.... the waterlogged mobile in this situation is a pleasant bonus and always makes me laugh...

What we need is one of those crowd-control water canons to really get those same revelers into the spirit of things.... there's nothing like getting knocked off your feet and the wind punched out of you in the name of celebration, right....

[Norton]

I tend to stay in the house during Songkran. After 30 years it no longer has the appeal it once had.

My comment was related to the inevitable slow down in the house build as the workers all head home for the holiday. Usually a week of little or no work. Good he is ahead of schedule.

Noticed a bit of rust on rebar in your last pics. Very little so you won't be having problems. Typical here with the dampness.

[Thai Dhupp]

I tend to stay in the house during Songkran. After 30 years it no longer has the appeal it once had.

My comment was related to the inevitable slow down in the house build as the workers all head home for the holiday. Usually a week of little or no work. Good he is ahead of schedule.

Noticed a bit of rust on rebar in your last pics. Very little so you won't be having problems. Typical here with the dampness.

Yeah...I saw that too Norton, I guess its 'OK' but I remember him sending a previous pic where one of the ladies was rubbing some of the steel down.

I will keep an eye on the future now as, as you said...minds may be elsewhere...

That said, a little bit is almost inevitable. We have the same problem here in UAE as the humidity rises. (its already coming now, wait til we get to summer with 50 DegC heat and 90%+ humidity in any 24 hour period. oh Joy!)

[Airportwo]

What is the roof framework going to be constructed from, Steel?

[Thai Dhupp]

What is the roof framework going to be constructed from, Steel?

Hi AP2... yep steel construction. Wood would be simply too expensive

[Airportwo]

Hi AP2... yep steel construction. Wood would be simply too expensive

I was reminded of the following after reading the remarks about re-bar rust.

I had a good builder for the house I am currently living in, one area we didn't see eye to eye on was the roof construction, first they coat the steel in red lead primer - which is just about useless, primers need a "sealer" especially given your location I would make sure that the steel gets a decent "coating" best being a 2 pack paint system. We stopped using Red lead in shipyards 35 years ago, think Thailand bought up all the excess!
They like to cut the steel using an electrode, which is 'bad practice" to be polite! They were not happy when I made them start cutting with a cutter/grinder, there are some good welders in Thailand, not one of them came any where near my roof, some of the birdshit they called welding was bad! At the end of the day it came out ok, we don't get near the humidity that you get in your location which influenced me accepting some of it. I was trying not to be too harsh on them, I was working in Singapore at the time building a billion $ MODU project for the GOT, so had to try adapt to slightly different standards!
Just something to bear in mind, I lived in Pattaya for 15 years and it wasn't unusual for roofs to rust out in the area, the "steel" is such poor quality, once it starts to go the only thing to do is replace it, prevention is better than cure!

[dennis4558]

We have the same problem here in UAE as the humidity rises. (its already coming now, wait til we get to summer with 50 DegC heat and 90%+ humidity in any 24 hour period. oh Joy!)

TD you can send some of that heat my way, moisture I don't need we're getting plenty of that but it's not as rain, I don't know where everyone thinks it's global warming, it's april and we're still getting snow dumped on us.
Your build is coming along very nice, choke dee on the remaining work to be done.

[Klondyke]

roof construction, first they coat the steel in red lead primer - which is just about useless, primers need a "sealer" especially given your location I would make sure that the steel gets a decent "coating" best being a 2 pack paint system. We stopped using Red lead in shipyards 35 years ago, think Thailand bought up all the excess!

I think the usual problem is that they do not make a decent sealer by a thin primer applied by brush but by spraying. Therefore the sealer does not properly stick to the steel surface. Then any further coating does not matter much...

[Thai Dhupp]

I was reminded of the following after reading the remarks about re-bar rust.

I had a good builder for the house I am currently living in, one area we didn't see eye to eye on was the roof construction, first they coat the steel in red lead primer - which is just about useless, primers need a "sealer" especially given your location I would make sure that the steel gets a decent "coating" best being a 2 pack paint system. We stopped using Red lead in shipyards 35 years ago, think Thailand bought up all the excess!
They like to cut the steel using an electrode, which is 'bad practice" to be polite! They were not happy when I made them start cutting with a cutter/grinder, there are some good welders in Thailand, not one of them came any where near my roof, some of the birdshit they called welding was bad! At the end of the day it came out ok, we don't get near the humidity that you get in your location which influenced me accepting some of it. I was trying not to be too harsh on them, I was working in Singapore at the time building a billion $ MODU project for the GOT, so had to try adapt to slightly different standards!
Just something to bear in mind, I lived in Pattaya for 15 years and it wasn't unusual for roofs to rust out in the area, the "steel" is such poor quality, once it starts to go the only thing to do is replace it, prevention is better than cure!

Its yet another thing to keep ones eye on.

I may well be there for part of that roof fabrication in which case I will be sitting on his shoulder when we are 'deciding what to do'!! If not, my trusty right hand man, K. Ek from the OrBorTor office will certainly steer him to the right decision.

I am not a welder (officially) my self but I do know what is right and wrong from an inspection point of view. I'm sure the OBT Engineer does too. but... we have all seen..so far K.Pot has been pretty much the consummate professional. He has the reputation and the equipment and he's also got his eye on stage 3 of the build, plus the pool and later (on the other plot) maybe the resort too.

in other words... he doesn't want to kiss goodbye to that work by fcuking up on this!

[Thai Dhupp]

We have the same problem here in UAE as the humidity rises. (its already coming now, wait til we get to summer with 50 DegC heat and 90%+ humidity in any 24 hour period. oh Joy!)

TD you can send some of that heat my way, moisture I don't need we're getting plenty of that but it's not as rain, I don't know where everyone thinks it's global warming, it's april and we're still getting snow dumped on us.
Your build is coming along very nice, choke dee on the remaining work to be done.

Its 36 degC today, Dennis and already I am melting. Ramadan is coming mid-May, immeditely followed by the summer midday shut down (this was introduced in UAE to prevent unscrupulous bosses from slave-driving their dehydrated employees to death from the intense midday heat and sun).

The shut down makes for a long day because a lot of construction companies, mine included work a 2-shift system, with the first shift finishing at 1230 and the second shift starting at 1500. For me, I have to cover the 'day' so I'm catching both the shifts (obviously not 100% of both of them but, as an office based person, I don't get the midday shutdown). yessssss.. long days for 3 months.

Crazy, but... I would love to see some snow right now! Even a good downpour would be good! 'Hot n sunny' looks good from a wet 'n' windy Spring back in Europe but believe me... every day? relentlessly? OMG... give me a break!!

Thank goodness we have 'SkiDubai' on the Mall of the Emirates, to at least see a bit of the white stuff...

[Thai Dhupp]

I think the usual problem is that they do not make a decent sealer by a thin primer applied by brush but by spraying. Therefore the sealer does not properly stick to the steel surface. Then any further coating does not matter much...

Hey Klondyke...What is the '2-pack system?

I too have seen red lead painted or rolled on just about everywhere so any improvement on that should be used if possible...

[Thai Dhupp]

ahhh... AP2.. sorry, I see it was you talking about 2 pack paint systems, not Klondyke....

...what 2 pack systems do you mean?

[Airportwo]

I think the usual problem is that they do not make a decent sealer by a thin primer applied by brush but by spraying. Therefore the sealer does not properly stick to the steel surface. Then any further coating does not matter much...

The new paints will adhere to any reasonably prepared surface, you can spray, brush or roller it on, they also tolerate humidity well. Doubtless due to cost they still use what we were using 50 years ago here, it didn't work well back then, but there was nothing else!

[Thai Dhupp]

oh yes...Klondyke...



...how does that infinity edge water overflow work in conjunction with your additional water input? what controls the additional water input?

I forgot to ask you before.

[Thai Dhupp]

The new paints will adhere to any reasonably prepared surface, you can spray, brush or roller it on, they also tolerate humidity well. Doubtless due to cost they still use what we were using 50 years ago here, it didn't work well back then, but there was nothing else!

Thanks AP2... I am going to push for it, nonetheless!

[Airportwo]

ahhh... AP2.. sorry, I see it was you talking about 2 pack paint systems, not Klondyke....

...what 2 pack systems do you mean?

Basically its "paint" and you add a "hardener" there's obviously different types, your close to Laem Chabang (I think?) be lots of places that service the SY would stock, or would be able to order..............
Another alternative would be to have the steel dipped/galvanised, that would be a pain though, shitty for the welders also.

[Dead Metal]

Hi TD, I'm looking forward to the steel roof part of the build because I'm not sure in my mind how they fix the Gyproc \ Sheet Rock, to it ?

In previous builds I have noted ( and commented on ) that the Thais tend not to break the line when fixing up gyproc-boards, just tend to fix them in a straight line at full length . Whilst we would fix up a full board followed by a half board and so - on. Thus evenly distributing the weight and also adding to strength and rigidity .

[Klondyke]

...how does that infinity edge water overflow work in conjunction with your additional water input? what controls the additional water input?

The water source system is not directly connected with swimming pool system.

The rusty water I am getting from the bore well is sedimenting in the tank on the roof - no continuous water addition - just one-time batch - settling ca. 3 days, then emptied thru the system of gravitation sand filters (5 pcs, shown #1 - 5 in green) and kept in the storage tank for house and swimming pool demand:




Swimming pool has its own re-circulation system, fed from a OverFlow tank and partly 50/50 also from pool bottom outlet (good for sucking the fine dust at the pool bottom). The OF tank is kept filled in to a certain low level. What is pumped out will come back again by the OF channel.

The minimum water level in the OF tank is supervized against dry pump run by a swim switch interrupting the pump. That's, however, does not normally occur. When I see time by time that the water is nearing to the minimum I add water directly into pool, until seeing that the water flows over the edge into the (open) OF channel and the level in OF tank is OK.

It's not good to fill the OF tank too high: Once it's rainy, the tank is very fast overfilled by the water coming from pool in the ratio of their surface areas (if the pool 40m2 gets 5 cm precipitation, the OF tank 2m2 will increase its level 40/2=20 x 5cm = 1m high. So, a lot of water overflows away from OF tank - if the OF is thought on - pity of the good water.


That's my Hi-Tech machine room:



Advantage of an open OF channel: well overviewed and good for keeping the sucking hose for the vacuum cleaning - always full of water, immediately ready to suck (after the correct valve is open):