Land development with wall and house...photo thread..first effort.

[Bettyboo]

Gotta say, mate - she is beautiful; you are one lucky guy...

Looking at those last couple of pics, you could easily put a machine gun turret and a powerful spotlight this side of the pond. Then you could gun the invaders down with a martini in your hand... I'm liking your setup!

[Marmite the Dog]

she rooted out an armful of this stuff this afternoon and sold it for 300 baht

They seem to drag it out of the drainage ditched next to the ring road in Udon. I don't eat it if I can help it.

Oh, bloody nice fence and agreed that it's a much better idea than yet another block wall.

[nigelandjan]

Ah morning glory!

When you get to my age those words take von a complete new meaning

[nigelandjan]

Good stuff anyway mate, loving your pics, , you have a lovely plot there

[Bettyboo]

When you get to my age those words take von a complete new meaning

Did you have a German nanny, Nige? Care to tell us about it?

So, when's something gonna go wrong with this build? Where are the roof tiles, where are the close-ups of the bathroom tile job - I want something to whinge about...

[nigelandjan]

Don't have a Yer man nanny Betts

But I do have a Korean fanny

It's called a Galaxy

[terry57]

Very interesting build mate, good luck with it.

[koman]

Have we all had enough of fencing yet?... Anyhow, I'm off on another buying trip today....oh fok... counter top stoves, ovens, hoods.....more frigging lights....sigh.

Still, after my successes on the toilet bowl buying trip, I'm full of confidence that we can keep this one under a million or so...

Next posting will be about the highly complex business of building big foundation walls...with loads of rebar and readymix.......it could actually be quite erotic for some TD members, so view it with caution....

[BaitongBoy]

.......it could actually be quite erotic for some TD members,

Some woodies comin' on soon!...

[Boon Mee]

Have we all had enough of fencing yet?... Anyhow, I'm off on another buying trip today....oh fok... counter top stoves, ovens, hoods.....more frigging lights....sigh.

Still, after my successes on the toilet bowl buying trip, I'm full of confidence that we can keep this one under a million or so...

Next posting will be about the highly complex business of building big foundation walls...with loads of rebar and readymix.......it could actually be quite erotic for some TD members, so view it with caution....

Talking about counter tops, are you going with granite? Makes a lot of sense to actually as that's one of the benny's of construction here in LOS where granite is quite affordable and lasts versus wood.

[bsnub]

Great thread Koman! In keeping with your earlier post I have dispatched a red. I am sure that Ant will be along shortly to do the same.

Kidding! Green inbound. Keep it up!

[gusG]

Have we all had enough of fencing yet?... Anyhow, I'm off on another buying trip today....oh fok... counter top stoves, ovens, hoods.....more frigging lights....sigh.

Still, after my successes on the toilet bowl buying trip, I'm full of confidence that we can keep this one under a million or so...

Next posting will be about the highly complex business of building big foundation walls...with loads of rebar and readymix.......it could actually be quite erotic for some TD members, so view it with caution....

No! The fence is not finished yet, so carry on.

Great thread, thank you.

[koman]

Talking about counter tops, are you going with granite? Makes a lot of sense to actually as that's one of the benny's of construction here in LOS where granite is quite affordable and lasts versus wood.

Yes, kitchen counters will be granite. We had it in out previous house....it's the only way to go really. Looks great and virtually indestructible.....no doubt there will be some negotiations over the color though....

[koman]

Great thread Koman! In keeping with your earlier post I have dispatched a red. I am sure that Ant will be along shortly to do the same.

Kidding! Green inbound. Keep it up!

Thanks BSnub....I don't get many greens from the Marxist, Leninist's here on TD .....just goes to show, construction is common ground .....

[koman]

The reported buying trip went remarkably well. We managed to get a countertop stove (gas and electric combo) and oven.....plus one of those microwave/grill combo things....plus the most fucking expensive range hood ever manufactured. It look slit the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.... I tried, but I can't win them all.....payback for beating her down on the toilet bowls I suppose....

Anyhow as promised, we will now launch into the wonderful world of foundations.....

We have driven the piles deep into the ground...5 to 7 meters....
We have excavated a square hole over 1 meter square to a depth of 60cm and cut off the tops of the pylons....
We have inserted steel cages of 40mm rebar into the hole and tied them to the exposed rebar of the pylon.....
We have erected steel box columns which have been tied into the steel cages....
We have filled the hole with concrete...about a cubic meter of it.....




Now we have formed ridges of soil between the columns. These ridges are where the walls will be erected.




The ridges of soil are topped with a layer of coarse sand....on top of which a thin layer of cement is poured and allowed to set.... it does not look very tidy but it has a purpose... This photo showns a rebar cage being prepared for placement on top of the ridge.. You can see the sand and cement underneath..



There's some of the rebar cages which have been placed on the ridges.....



No doubt you have been wondering why they would pour a thin and messy layer of cement over the sandy top......well, here the reason is revealed....and it's absurdly simple. They use the cement to draw accurate lines using a chalk line....in order to place the steel cages accurately. You can see the lines on the cement underneath..... you can't draw a nice clear permanent line in damp sand... I can't believe the trade secrets that are being given away here....



This close up shown the steel cages being tied in with the steel upright columns... when it's all done we have a whole system of these very strong cages tied in with all the uprights.. These will be formed and filled with ready-mix cement in due course.



This is the prefabricated guts of a foundation wall. This will be a load bearing wall so it's gets treated to 12 stands of 40mm rebar. The non load bearing walls are somewhat lighter construction, but still very strong.....we don't want the whole frigging thing coming down in the middle of dinner...do we?



Once all the steel cages are placed we start to enclose them in plywood forms which will allow the pouring of copious amounts of cement to form an extremely strong beam on top of which we can build the walls of the house.









This is what it looks like as more and more forms are placed around the horizontal steel cages.

Once this is all finished we will be able to pour the concrete into the forms.....and then we will start to make up the forms for the upright columns and fill them up with concrete too..... a whole series of stiff erections is ahead.....

[Koetjeka]

Once this is all finished we will be able to pour the concrete into the forms.....and then we will start to make up the forms for the upright columns and fill them up with concrete too..... a whole series of stiff erections is ahead.....

Going pretty quick now, which is a good thing I guess.

What kind of oil do they use so the forming comes off easily later?

[Bettyboo]

This crew are artists -beautiful work once again. Chalk and cheese to most crews I've seen on these threads.

My crew have done nothing like this stuff... But, I suspect that the foundations are different due to the ground and the height/size of the structure. Very interesting pics these ones.

[Wasp]

You've had many compliments about your thread - and I can only agree with them all . I too am greatly enjoying the story . I want to add something .... you take a fine photo ! Beautifully clear and well framed with no shots that are uninteresting . Great stuff in other words .

On a separate issue would you explain the "greens" ? I don't know what that means when you thank people for a green . But a fine thread . One of the better building threads .


Wasp
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[Loombucket]

A good photo thread indeed. A nice mix of building work and natives and some good ideas on display. Each building thread has been slightly different from the last, as there is no hard and fast rule. This one has a good sprinkling of humour mixed in, so keep it coming please.

[koman]

Once this is all finished we will be able to pour the concrete into the forms.....and then we will start to make up the forms for the upright columns and fill them up with concrete too..... a whole series of stiff erections is ahead.....

Going pretty quick now, which is a good thing I guess.

What kind of oil do they use so the forming comes off easily later?

Interesting question: I have not seen any oil or wax being used. The forms in this case are made from nice new plywood, which does not adhere very well to concrete. They just give them a smack with a big mallet and off the come. May be different if you use grungy old boards....which seems to be the norm for these parts....

[koman]

This crew are artists -beautiful work once again. Chalk and cheese to most crews I've seen on these threads.

My crew have done nothing like this stuff... But, I suspect that the foundations are different due to the ground and the height/size of the structure. Very interesting pics these ones.

The boys really appreciated your world tour suggestion BB.....

On the matter of building height/size. This will be a single storey building of 250 m2.... We are using Q-Con aerated block for all the walls except the bathrooms which should always be build of brick. The roofing will be C-Pac concrete tile laid on steel beams.
Each column has been engineered to support 27.6 metric tons.....but the maximum load will be somewhere under 20 metric tons. A pretty wide safety margin.

We used pylons just to play it safe. Nobody else around here has ever used them for a house...only 3 storey and over ..and mostly commercial buildings. We debated back and forth over the need for this extra expense, but in the end decided to go with them, mainly because the land had been filled just under a year ago and I did not want to take the chance of building on the fill.....so we went down to bedrock. What the hell....it's just money after all... and it will be comforting, knowing that the kitchen will not end up a meter lower than the dining room in a couple of years...

[koman]

You've had many compliments about your thread - and I can only agree with them all . I too am greatly enjoying the story . I want to add something .... you take a fine photo ! Beautifully clear and well framed with no shots that are uninteresting . Great stuff in other words .

On a separate issue would you explain the "greens" ? I don't know what that means when you thank people for a green . But a fine thread . One of the better building threads .


Wasp
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Thank you Mr Wasp.... my photos have improved greatly since the wife allowed me to upgrade from my thousand baht camera...

"Greens" are those little tokens of approval (reds for disapproval) that we TD'ers send each other when we really like or dislike what somebody has posted. We call it "repo" ....or reputation if you like.

[koman]

A good photo thread indeed. A nice mix of building work and natives and some good ideas on display. Each building thread has been slightly different from the last, as there is no hard and fast rule. This one has a good sprinkling of humour mixed in, so keep it coming please.

Anyone without a sense of humour had better not attempt construction in Thailand.... Thanks for your kind words...

[koman]

My main concern with your fence would be preventing the steel posts from rusting at ground level otherwise I like the fence a lot and may use the same idea myself sometime.

Thanks for all your kind comments ootai......I had the same concern about rusting at the bases...but everything was treaded with 3 thick coats of anti-corrosion primer and then topped off with Jotul gloss. I think (hope) it will be ok...time will tell.

I'll poke around to find your postings.....
Cheers

Just to follow up on this.....I looked up ootai's threads on house building and the evolutionary shed....bloody excellent threads.... and I may just steal a couple of ideas from them.... Lovely house and a spectacular shed....


This is one of the great things about TD's constructions threads.....you can learn a lot while enjoying the entertainment. I hope that somebody gets help and a bit of inspiration from my efforts too..... Thanks ootai....

[lom]

Going pretty quick now, which is a good thing I guess.

What kind of oil do they use so the forming comes off easily later?

Interesting question: I have not seen any oil or wax being used. The forms in this case are made from nice new plywood, which does not adhere very well to concrete. They just give them a smack with a big mallet and off the come. May be different if you use grungy old boards....which seems to be the norm for these parts....

You can use any kind of oil for this, old car engine oil that you saved for this purpose, or you can use diesel.
Concrete doesn't stick much onto new plywood for the first or two first times but after that it gets only worse and worse. With some oil on they will be like new even after being used ten times.
The surface of your concrete will also be more smooth and look much nicer.