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  1. #401
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    Thais have their sockets 3 - 4 foot off the floor but i hate that too - ours are all 1 foot off the floor.
    Ours will be 40 cm off the floor to make it a bit easier on the knees as we get older.

  2. #402
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Mason View Post
    Two questions please -what material have you used for the roof ? It doesn't look like tiles. Is it a form of sheeting, please?

    One more - did you have any hassle regarding registration with the provision of the well?
    G'day Bob, appreciate your comments and apologies for the delayed response. Been busier than a one legged man in a bum kicking contest over the past week. Today's the first day I've switch the computer on.
    To answer your questions:
    1. The roof is Bluescope ZACS pre-fitted with PU foam insulation. Not the top of the line Bluescope roofing product but a close second. Colorbond is the best steel roof but a bit out of our price range.
    2. We don't have a well but I believe there is a requirement to register it if you do have one.

  3. #403
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    Update on Progress 18.02.23

    The rendering team are well on the way to being finished by Wednesday 22.02.23. The quality of their work continues to be highly satisfactory, however as we all know, rendering problems can take up to 12 months before they become apparent. Our builder Khun Pue has confidence in his team and assures us there will be no cracking either inside or outside. All rendered surfaces will be finished with a skim coat - this being the last part of the rendering process.

    See below image of today's progress.

    Western wall will be completed today - Northern and Eastern walls plus eight columns to be done and the rendering will be complete.
    Aussie Style House Build-rendering-team-outside-180223-png






































    Below image of the two bosses discussing installation of the attic, an on again / off again project SWMBO and I are still to agree on. Yuri has her eyes closed as she listens intently to Khun Pue's thoughts on how to easily access the attic space, making it more useable. Watch this space for further updates on whether or not the attic eventuates.

    Aussie Style House Build-site-meeting-2-180223-png






































    The image below is a schematic showing the proposed attic space. Compressed fibre cement sheet for the floor, allowing a fair bit of weight should we wish to make it a closet bar with a view out over the local reservoir.

    Aussie Style House Build-attic-schematic-png

  4. #404
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    Quote Originally Posted by peciacake View Post
    1. The roof is Bluescope ZACS pre-fitted with PU foam insulation
    PC any PU foam steel sheets i've seen installed have a tendency to delaminate after a few years

  5. #405
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    "1. The roof is Bluescope ZACS pre-fitted with PU foam insulation. Not the top of the line Bluescope roofing product but a close second. Colorbond is the best steel roof but a bit out of our price range.
    2. We don't have a well but I believe there is a requirement to register it if you do have one."

    Thank you for the reply. I will raise questions about wells when my probationary period is over and I am allowed to.

  6. #406
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    any PU foam steel sheets i've seen installed have a tendency to delaminate after a few years
    Yes, I've seen that first hand here at the mother-in-law's place. Thai metal sheet & PU foam parted company 18 months after installation. Hoping Bluescope's manufacturing process takes into consideration the different rates of expansion & contraction between PU foam and steel sheet. Other alternatives are laying SS mesh underneath the roofing to hold the foam in place, which we haven't done. If de-lamination does occur I can see myself up there with spray foam and SS mesh...

  7. #407
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    I was wondering whether smart board under the sheets was an option, its not just the delam but crumbling.

  8. #408
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    Update on Progress 04 March 2023 Rendering, re-rendering and First Fix Electrical

    Since the last update 18.02.23 work has been progressing steadily, with rendering taking centre stage. The team who applied the first lot of render were one member down for the majority of the job, putting pressure on themselves to meet their completion date. The upshot being a less than satisfactory finish: cracking continues to appear over most walls and columns. Our builder is right on it, and has a new team redoing all affected surfaces. He is keen to ensure his good standing as a quality builder is unaffected by what is really an aberration when put in context with the overall quality of the build.

    Below is an image of two of the new rendering team re-rendering the western wall. The difference made by having a full team allows them time to relax and complete the job without any pressure to meet a self imposed deadline (we have continually emphasised they needn't worry about how long the job takes, as long as it's done satisfactorily)

    Aussie Style House Build-rerendering-040323-png







































    Meanwhile the Sparkies were back today to do the first fix. Those of you who have been following this post may recall they were in too much of a hurry to cut the conduit in, making an unholy mess of the job (which on reflection, also added to the first rendering crew's difficulties, trying to patch up some bloody big holes. So it was pleasing to see the attention being paid to proper electrical standards, something of a rarity from my observations of Thai electrics. Perhaps my disappointment expressed to Khun Pue after the conduit debacle filtered through to the head sparky.

    The image below shows the head sparky and his two team members working in the guest bedroom. Nice job guys - well done. (Please note fellow TD members, many years ago I worked as a sparky after doing my apprenticeship with the R.A.N. so I speak from experience)

    Aussie Style House Build-electrical-first-fix-040323-png








































    Those of you who have completed a build in Thailand would no doubt have experienced the vagaries of stock supply. Finding the right tiles in the right quantity and batch being one of the more common problems faced by home builders. So we were pleased to find exactly the right tiles we wanted, in the right quantity and the right price in Do Home, Surin. After a quick call to Khun Pue on Friday, he immediately arranged purchase: delivery took place yesterday. How's that for service folks? Quality writ large in my book.

    Below is an image of the tiles for half of the verandah - the other half being on the Eastern side of the house.
    Note the re-worked sections of render above the tiles. And the conduit for the verandah lights. A lot happening at the same time and everyone working in together.



    Aussie Style House Build-verandah-tiles-040323-png


































    That's all for now - more to follow as the next stage gets underway in a week or so.

  9. #409
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    Quote Originally Posted by peciacake View Post
    After a quick call to Khun Pue on Friday, he immediately arranged purchase: delivery took place yesterday. How's that for service folks? Quality writ large in my book.
    Good stuff mate. Keep keepin on.

  10. #410
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    Good stuff, been following along since the start. Just curious what the new crew had to do to remediate the old rendering to make sure it would not affect the new. Seems like you'd almost have to take it back to the block.

  11. #411
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    Update on Progress 07/03/23 - First Fix Electrical

    The re-rendering was completed Saturday 04.03.23. So far it looks good. According to Khun Pue any major cracking is likely to occur in the month following, after that there won't be any more cracks. Fingers crossed we don't have any more re-rendering.

    I'd appreciate anyone who has single AAC block walls that have been rendered commenting on their experience with cracks. I'm not able to do much other than wait and see what happens, but if anyone can share their own experience about problems I'd be grateful.
    As mentioned in the previous post, the first fix electrical started while the re-rendering was underway. Despite the congested work space the sparkies were able to get most of the first fix done on schedule - it will be finished tomorrow. Worked like cut cats to catch up, and still did a quality job, including CCTV camera and CAT 7 data cabling.

    See below from today

    Site Manager Yuri talking with the head Sparky. CAT 7 cable in the background
    Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-070323_1-png







































    View of the dining room & kitchen after finishing for the day. Notice how clean the workspace is. Impressive for Sparkies, who are not usually known for their good housekeeping

    Aussie Style House Build-screen-shot-2023-03-07-7-a







































    View of the front verandah lighting JB's. It is fair to say the house has no shortage of exterior lights. The place will be lit up like a Christmas tree

    Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-070323_3-png






































    More updates to follow as each stage is completed or a new one started. Thanks for reading

  12. #412
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    ^^ Looking good ,been lurking along, but have a quick question. What did the new crew have to do to remove or remediate the old rendering to make it acceptable for the new rendering. My concern would be how this was done and the bond between the two surfaces.

  13. #413
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    Quote Originally Posted by Froggy View Post
    My concern would be how this was done and the bond between the two surfaces.
    G'day Froggy, good question. They cut the cracked sections out giving themselves plenty of leeway between the cracked sections and the edge of the good render to ensure a good coverage of new render. Then they applied small dollops of the render to ensure a good bond for the new render to adhere to the surface to be re-rendered. This was left for 24 hours to harden before the new render was applied over the top. Stainless steel mesh was used on the corners of windows and doors and anywhere electrical conduit ran through an area being repaired. It was a slow process, done with a lot of care. We were impressed, particularly as the previous crew were going at it pretty quickly. Having said that, Yuri and I spent a good 45 minutes going over the render again today and noticed more cracks, some in the repaired areas. The smaller cracks will be filled using skim coat sealer / binder. Others will have to be redone using the process described above. It is starting to worry us as we have a friend who has experienced similar problems. We have complete faith in our builder but the lingering concern is what it will look like in 12 months time.

  14. #414
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    I'd appreciate anyone who has single AAC block walls that have been rendered commenting on their experience with cracks.

    What are you using for rendering the AAC ? the proper plaster mix designed for AAC, such as this :https://www.asiacement.co.th/en/bua-mortar-lightweight-block-plastering or the sand and cement mix as used for normal blocks ? If using the proper stuff you can get cracks if it is applied too thickly, it shouldn't be more than 1cm thick. I assume they used mesh over all the joins between columns, windows etc ?

  15. #415
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    Teak Bench on Teak Door

    As it was too hot to do anything in the sun today, I set about giving a 60+ year old teak bench a birthday. See image below.
    This belongs to Yuri's parents and was used for a variety of purposes, including dining table, seat, bed for Yuri's mother while nursing her four children and finally as a store for Yuri's father's cow shed. He kept all manner of items on it including tins of paint, rice straw bales, tools, rolls of wire and bags of feed supplement. It has withstood the ravages of time well - the timber is in beautiful condition and still retains its oily texture. It wasn't built by a craftsman: the timber deserved to be made by someone sympathetic to the teak's quality. However a good sanding back, some caulking compound and finished with teak protector will see it last another 60+ years. Wish I had the skill to do a full restoration on it, not just a quick refurbishment. Timber this good deserves a craftsman's touch. To be fair to the person who made it, the village they lived in probably didn't even have electricity when it was made. Yuri's mum advised "It was cheap too." Not these days. Similar ones from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar cost a small fortune.
    It will look good on the verandah of our new house. Ideal for somewhere to sit and enjoy a quite beer.

    Aussie Style House Build-teak-bench-080323-png

  16. #416
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    G'day Mike, Thank you for your reply - very much appreciated. I'm assured the right render mix was used albeit it was not BUA MORTAR LIGHTWEIGHT BLOCK PLASTER Not so sure about the 1.0 cm thickness, which I was aware of through a friend's experience with cracking (as referred to in post above). I spoke with our builder about this, but was given an assurance a thickness of 1.5 cm was acceptable.... I didn't push it at the time. Perhaps on reflection I should have.

  17. #417
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    Regarding rendering, in fact any mortar mixing, the finished job will crack if the mix is too wet when applied.

    What happens it cures too quick.

  18. #418
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    ^ actually i would focus on having ensured the base was dampened before the render was applied and then once the render was applied and had gone off i'd wet it again late afternoon and let it dry slowly overnight.

  19. #419
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    ^ Yes, I always spray wet the surface before and after applying the motor but if the first mix is too wet it will crack.

  20. #420
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikenot View Post
    I'd appreciate anyone who has single AAC block walls that have been rendered commenting on their experience with cracks.

    What are you using for rendering the AAC ? the proper plaster mix designed for AAC, such as this :https://www.asiacement.co.th/en/bua-mortar-lightweight-block-plastering or the sand and cement mix as used for normal blocks ? If using the proper stuff you can get cracks if it is applied too thickly, it shouldn't be more than 1cm thick. I assume they used mesh over all the joins between columns, windows etc ?
    Wot he said. Around here I see a lot more houses being built with AAC and in many cases they don't use the AAC mortar to bind the blocks, they just use the old cement mortar they know and love. That being the case I'd be surprised if they used the correct plaster mix. AAC blocks can absorb more moisture than the old blocks.
    After 3 years I have two hairline cracks in my internal plaster. One is on the outside of a 90 degree corner, I suspect they didn't bother to overlap the blocks properly. The other is pretty much vertical in the middle of the bedroom wall, no buried conduits or anything there. I guess that is settlement of the foundations.

  21. #421
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    actually i would focus on having ensured the base was dampened before the render was applied and then once the render was applied and had gone off i'd wet it again late afternoon and let it dry slowly overnight.
    Hi Mike, yes a brush was used to wet the wall down prior to the render being applied. No, there was no further damping down in the afternoon, and the Western wall is affected more than the others, both inside and out. Watching the crew apply the render I can confirm it had a "stiff" texture as evidenced by the amount that was left on the floor after being applied, so I'm not concerned it had too much water as appears to be the case with the first crew's work. Also, we measured one of the pieces of the old render that had been removed - it was right on 1.0cm's thick. So no problems with being too thick which was a major concern of mine, less so now.

    We had another meeting with our builder on site today. He is confident any major cracking will occur prior to the end of March and be rectified accordingly. Minor surface cracking, of which there is a lot, will be fixed with poly seal, a process that is already underway. Given our builder's confidence, and his reputation for the quality houses he builds, I'm not quite as worried compared with a week ago. He assures us any further cracking will be properly rectified come the end of March and we won't have any further problems. Fingers crossed...

  22. #422
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    Progress Update 90.03.23- Ceiling Installation

    After the Sparky's departed this morning (why they didn't leave last night and sleep in their own beds has me puzzled), the Plasterers arrived. A very professional crew, well organised and well presented. They were fully unloaded and straight to work within 20 minutes of arriving. Mid-afternoon their boss arrived, holding a site meeting with the crew and Khun Pue to go through the ceiling installation. The same contractor is also installing the windows. Window manufacturing being the main part of his business in Roi Et. He took the time to go through our window spec, confirming each window, opening type, frame colour, etc, etc. Very professional. I can see why Khun Pue uses him. His whole approach was quality.

    Below images are from today.

    The image below shows the cabling for the data switch. The switch will serve internet, CCTV, cable TV, smart lights & switches etc. Pleasing to see the quality of the workmanship. No shortcuts taken: all work properly done.

    Aussie Style House Build-data-switch-wiring-090323-png







































    The next two images show the Plasterers installing the tie straps and C section steel that will support the plasterboard. They were going at it pretty fast, and doing it properly, due in a large part to being well organised.
    More to follow as work progresses.

    Aussie Style House Build-ceiling-plasterers-090323-pngAussie Style House Build-ceiling-plasterer-090323-png

  23. #423
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    Quote Originally Posted by peciacake View Post
    why they didn't leave last night and sleep in their own beds has me puzzled
    On site sleeping accommodations may be better than home.

    Quote Originally Posted by peciacake View Post
    Window manufacturing being the main part of his business in Roi Et. He took the time to go through our window spec, confirming each window, opening type, frame colour, etc, etc. Very professional. I can see why Khun Pue uses him. His whole approach was quality.
    Pue has used him for years and the guy is great. Simular to K. Pue in that work is good and followup if problems occur is guaranteed.

    Really glad to see working out with you and the builder.

  24. #424
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    Plaster Work 11.03.23. Interior Almost Complete

    The team installing the ceiling were able to almost finish the interior on Fri 10.03.23, leaving only a small section in the kitchen to be finished, leaving only the verandah to be done. It looks like they will either finish the whole job Sun 12.03.23 or go close. Quality of the work remains high despite the speed they work at..

    The following images were taken Sat 11.03.23

    2nd Bedroom - Mango trees in the background, full of fruit too.
    Aussie Style House Build-plasterwork-110323_3-png







































    Kitchen and dining area taken from the lounge room showing the only area not completed Fri 10.03.23

    Aussie Style House Build-plasterwork-110323_2-png







































    The image below taken from the kitchen door looking to the front entrance & lounge room.
    Aussie Style House Build-plaster-work-110323_1-png

  25. #425
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    Plaster Work 18.03.23 and Temperature Control

    Further to the last post, more images of plastering since the interior was completed. Boring I know, but some of you like to watch...
    The image below shows the Western wall of the house @ 17:15. The afternoon sun starting to come through the kitchen window. Important that we only have one window on the Western side and it's next to the doorway, helping to create a venturi effect to increase the airflow through the kitchen. We didn't want any other windows on this wall: thermal conductivity of AAC blocks being far better than glass.

    The red flag tied to the column is a to signal the ice delivery truck to call in and top up the ice chest in the morning.
    Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-150323_3-png







































    The image below is a view of the front verandah looking West. The one on the right is looking towards the front door. Both were taken about 17:20. The 2.5m verandah doing its job to minimise direct sunlight inside the house. The wide front doors will work with a narrow back door directly in line with the front doors acts as the main breezeway for the house. Given the use of AAC blocks, a white roof insulated with PU foam, a fully insulated ceiling combined with ceiling fans and breezeways, we are confident cooling will require only minimal aircon use
    The image below shows the evaporator drain above the window: we've calculated a 23,000 BTU unit to cool the living, dining and kitchen areas.

    Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-150323_1-png

    Aussie Style House Build-screen-shot-2023-03-15-8-a






































    The image below is taken from the main BR window looking towards the doorway. The combination of large window and relatively narrow doorway also serves to create another venturi effect: air flows through the bedroom even with negligible breeze outside the house.

    Making the house as energy efficient as possible was a key part of the design. We didn't want to be relying on aircon for cooling so all the elements described above, plus the orientation of the house on the land to take advantage of the prevailing breezes were factored in to the design. So far, so good...

    Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-150323_2-png







































    More to follow as building moves to the next stage over the next week.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Aussie Style House Build-weekly-progress-150323_4-png  
    Last edited by peciacake; 15-03-2023 at 08:43 PM. Reason: Images didn't upload properly

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