Well, after trying once and finding my pics had that mission impossible quality i'll have another go.
Its Friday after all
Well, after trying once and finding my pics had that mission impossible quality i'll have another go.
Its Friday after all
I posted in the Daily Whinge thread that the Mrs was getting a build off the ground. It is a row of five single-storey apartments or "Rooms" as they are referred to by Thais.
The Mrs has built three of these previously all of 5 rooms each, the simple small construction means its fairly cheap to build, difficult to Fck up and the ROI is approx 8-9 years. She's popped one of these up as and when funds and time allow and its part of her retirement portfolio. The tenants tend to be the variety that stay in one place for up to a year are looking for a cheap rental and then move on but they are easy to rent and require minimal maintenance outlay.
The cost is c800k THB of which 330k is an agreed fixed labour charge, the Mrs is supplying the materials. As i mentioned in the moan she was going to start this last year but for reasons only she knows, she didn't, probably the wrong phase of the moon or got a text from a famous monk foretelling doom. Anyway the delay has played into her hands and she's lucked out with COVID as the price of material has reduced variously across aggregates, steel and cheaper crappers. The final cost is still a bit uncertain as she's still buying and ordering but it shouldn't be a million miles off 800k.
The build is on a bit of land she retained after selling most of the parcel but its not exactly rectangular, not a problem as many lots aren't in Thailand. I was however due to be there and as such i was going to act as the Measure Thrice cut once factor in setting out. Well clearly i'm not there and my lack of faith in Thai Trig was well founded when after much Line chatting i discovered they'd got the measurements wrong, also had set the end wall in the wrong place too.
The bloke she is using is one she's used for two other builds, he's based nr Korat and his quality is very good, he's usually reliable in terms of getting the setting out spot on - no idea why but it appears he had a brain fart. Its been corrected but it does start a little niggling worry. The Mrs is going to manage the oversight as she has done previously but wanted me to check the footprint and relationship to boundaries et al.
Now
To this thread; i will post updates as and when i can and there's no given that the photos will be good, bad or indifferent. She's popping some photos of plans across later so i'll try and get them up first.
Oh and no comparisons to TD Towers, this will not even measure to to their servants quarters.
Last edited by NamPikToot; 06-06-2020 at 12:08 AM.
Gonna keep pics to no more than three a page.
So plans. She re-used some she had before. They cost 5k THB she thinks but it was a while back.
The pic copies she sent had a lovely blue tinge like she'd been soaking the plans in LooBloo.
After some fine tuning here we go
The front which has room for a car.:
She found her first set of rooms which were bigger in size but lacked a car port and struggled with some customers. The next set she built using these plans attracted much more interest, the port is just about big enough for the high roller pick-up brigade as opposed to the Mitsubushi Mirage customer. The car port also can double as a business area and some customers run little shops or noodle/rice places in the front.
The Back.
Now this is where she's gone off piste with the plans. You'll notice the back elevation has a window and a door but due to the space constraints on the plot they have been taken out and its just a wall to the roof with vents and an opaque roofing panel for light. This area tends to get used for cooking etc.
Internals
They are tiny really but TBH its what the customers seem to want - they really only use the place to cook, eat, watch Lakorn and bump naughties when they are around and not working.
So thems the plans and now its down to the contractor to get the footings, base and columns aaaaand the roof on before the proper rains set in. I did say to her she's left it a bit late but actually the bloke was busy until COVID hit and then a build he had penned for an 8 month slot dropped through so she was lucky really. 3 Months is the estimate weather, materials and Somchai dependent.
The rest will be photo's with some commentary if David Baileypong can remember, i have been telling her daily. I'll try to get her to give me figures as we go along to give you an idea on the cost as it progresses.
As i said TD Towers it ain't but a more Thai flavoured different slant on the usual.
Last edited by NamPikToot; 05-06-2020 at 07:36 PM.
I am not seeing your internals.
is there a lot of pics missing ?
She's been lucky with the weather to date and the rains have been sporadic at best, good for her but unfortunate for the farmers and those with gardens etc
Its footings time
The groundwork crew consisted of 7 mainly Burmese as you'd expect but they were quick and did a good job.
As mentioned it was a slightly awkward plot and we'd decide the position of the footprint in relation to the boundaries in a certain way and had marked up the plans accordingly. I suspect as it was penned by johnny foreigner, Somchai immediately knew better and freestyled the outline measurements and markers thus giving himself the afternoon off to build up a Lao Khao miasma before a trip to the local rent by the hour motel to see if he could catch something worse than COVID.
The upshot was they got the markers wrongly situated and even dug the ring beam bases in the wrong position at the back. Numerous Line discussions and wobbly video chats later it was agreed that they should have stuck to whities plan and amends were made.
So to the ground work.
Its all a bit samey so apologies. The construction is reasonable shallow foundations for the uprights with a ring beam so standard Somchai stuff. The ground is rock hard about a meter down and so no need to dig deep holes which was good news for both time and money.
Soil dropped in and foundation holes dug and poured.
The build is fairly light in terms of both walls and roof so overall the uprights and ring beam don't need to be over engineered.
Here the boss is getting one of the workers to check the ring beam alignment, site safety rules observed (you don't want to lose your shoes in the mud) but worryingly check out his bottle bottom glasses - i'd check thrice too.
Last edited by NamPikToot; 06-06-2020 at 12:14 AM.
Internals are there now.
But not the foundations.
:-))
It's the same as last time.
Your first pics show up OK, though they could do with being bigger, then your following pics don't show.
Can't see any possible cause of that other than human error.
^ Trying again number one
Christ at this rate this thread may end up seeing me out.
Time for a Chitty break.
Whatever you did in the Chitty break, it worked. I can see the foundations now.
Excellent, i am rollering the kitchen walls between video meetings, posting and actually getting some of my real work done.
The rest of the ring beam form work to come along with more self destructing pictures lets just hope this isn't an omen for the build.
Finishing the ring beam set up - more footing fetish filth.
The rebar for the ring beam is 6 bars which may be a little OTT but the price of a 10m length is c150THB at the moment so its peanuts.
The forms are plastic and are 1.5 THB per metre for 2 days and then 1 THB / day there onwards. Now you have to be careful with the forms, they get a lot of abuse. The first order was delivered with mashed up forms, convex shaped ones and ones which had been used so often they were impossible to secure.Three orders in total to get a full set of working ones.
My advice is if you can, go along pick them out yourself even if they are being delivered as it'll save you loads of arse ache in the long run. I have no idea why they try to keep fobbing off the knackered ones as anyone, even Stevie Wonder could spot the problems a mile off.
Anyway to the final rebar and form work for the ring beam
They will pop bits of smashed concrete block under the rebar before the pour. Those who've read ThaiDupp's excellent thread will have seen the cement chairs his builder used, which are the proper way to do it but this is a Thai build. A real Thai build wold just see them left on the ground and the rebar rusting up in 5 years and blowing the concrete but this is a halfway house solution and will work.
in some of these they are still tying in the rebar as Somchais help had wired 4 not 6 but its easily remedied and was.
Last edited by NamPikToot; 06-06-2020 at 12:18 AM.
Forms
Just pics to finish off the ring beam work with the forms and ready for the pour, the concrete is ready mix as is all concrete on this build but more on that tomorrow.
some may look a little wonky but they adjust them as the go, the boss is quite meticulous which is refreshing.
all for now folks. Apologies if these shots are a little dull but that's the lot of a ditch digger, wet sand, stones and cement tomorrow.
PS ever seen those roadside shacks with bundles of Euca poles well, this is where they get used - stakes for the forms.
Last edited by NamPikToot; 06-06-2020 at 12:19 AM.
You've missed the carport curtains mate.
What's the short time rate in that Love Motel?
^ i'll have to ask, can you provide arrival and departure dates and number guests please.
Mrs Toot says she isn't pimping the place out. She has a respectable working class clientele, slightly in need of a wash but salts of the earth nonetheless.
^ Cheeky but no she doesn't have any places nr Patters. There were a couple of low rent Yermans in the vicinity some years back but i think the Lao Khao got them before they could escape to ze faazerland.
NPT, do your wife's Thai customers like the "Rooms" to have those internal dividing walls making each internal room so small? (Living room, 3m x 4m; bedroom, 3m x 3m, etc)
Nev, as mentioned they really don't care. The rooms are just a place to stay, they are less bothered about size and aesthetics hence the change after the first set of rooms she built to include a carport at the expense of space. Day time if they are home they tend to sit outside a lot anyway. What can i say..they are built for a specific market and its Thais. Functional.
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