Thread: Marmite's Pad

Originally Posted by glennb6

I issue the warning that nothing is flat, or level, or straight in this country

completely disagree with that, wouldnt be too difficult to find thai workmanshup which would prove the opposite, unless your saying that in jest?!

only partly in jest. level, yea the water in a tube does the job. flat? not in my neck of the woods. Tried finding form boards for concrete work, which are supposed to be straight, nope. All the hardware shops, no. Lumber yards, checked and nothing straight. Watched numerous projects being poured here, nope, no straight board. Screeding and finishing for a flat surface? You jest!
I am a bit miffed at spending the money and getting crap results, and at the very limited resources in general upcountry.

Originally Posted by glennb6

only partly in jest. level, yea the water in a tube does the job. flat? not in my neck of the woods. Tried finding form boards for concrete work, which are supposed to be straight, nope. All the hardware shops, no. Lumber yards, checked and nothing straight. Watched numerous projects being poured here, nope, no straight board. Screeding and finishing for a flat surface? You jest!
I am a bit miffed at spending the money and getting crap results, and at the very limited resources in general upcountry.

Have your crew rent the steel forms that will give you a strait pour. I started with buying the form wood which is costly and as you have said, none are strait.

I will go a bit further and say nothing built in any country is really straight.

My homes in Thailand are close enough and in the states it was also close enough.

All the posts and ground level beams are done. Cost a lot more than I was told it would. Will post pics soon.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Cost a lot more than I was told it would.

Get used to that. I hope you budgeted for more, because it never costs "less" here.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Cost a lot more than I was told it would

if they stuck to the plan then the estimate is what you pay

if you have added or changed things then you pay

in fact, you always pay

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

All the posts and ground level beams are done.

I thought you didn't want ground level beams

Originally Posted by Thetyim

I thought you didn't want ground level beams

I didn't, but I didn't think it was worth the aggro to get them to dig proper footings. The agro will start when I get the framework done as I don't want it piss-weak Thai style. This may mean taking a week or 2 off work and supervising a different crew.

^
Money well spent. I personally think the foundation is the most important part of the build and I spent a little more than planned to make sure it was strong.

Whats happening with the build ? has rain stopped play in Udon now ?

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Cost a lot more than I was told it would. Will post pics soon.

& 6 weeks later, nothing...

^ too busy slagging off Aussies and Americans.

Gus is right - that takes a lot of my time.

I've got the camera back of the Midget and will post some more pics soon. There's no hurry as not much will be happening for a while (Oct/Nov) apart from us putting in the drains and concreting the ground floor slab.

^ Blimey thats gonna be a long old build ,, mind you probably better let everything set and dry well before moving on

I might start and finish before Marmite completes his build, and I have no starting date...

I've got to save up the cash for the next bit 250 - 300k, so give me a chance!

^ Pass the hat round mate

Or get a bank loan? Then you just pay off the mortgage. Bit of a hassle for new builds, but likely better than staring at Stonehenge for the better part of the year.

Originally Posted by WhiteLotusLane

Or get a bank loan? Then you just pay off the mortgage. Bit of a hassle for new builds, but likely better than staring at Stonehenge for the better part of the year.

We're not in any hurry and we're about 15kms from the site, so no need to stare at anything.

OK, after the 6 week wait, there's only a few photos of 'interest' to post.

This is after the ground level beams have been done. They've since filled up all the inside of the areas with soil, which they'll have to take out again as I want concrete floors downstairs, not dirt. We have to put the drains in, so it'll be all dig up any way.




We had the old well enlarged and done better with a new pump and filter stones. I think this was 18k with the pump. They broke 2 of their state-of-the-art machines doing our hole.




Sadly, we didn't strike oil, only muddy water.

& we're on the way...

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

They've since filled up all the inside of the areas with soil, which they'll have to take out again as I want concrete floors downstairs, not dirt.

you will not have to remove much;what they put in will compact plus the floor does not need to be very thick

you can see they haven't filled the space completely just so you can concrete it and tile the area