Thread: Water feature upgrade

^^ coming along nicely. 3 degrees?

I am now surrounded by a lake 100% and it is a water feature.

Another thanks to the Thai engineers who assured me 100% it would not flood when I told them it would............

Bunch of no brain monkeys but it is something one expects from a bunch of ............................cvnts!

Originally Posted by armstrong

Do you eat them or are they like a pet?

Well the story is about 4 years ago my wife saw a dozen or so at the market. They were small. She bought them up for a hundred baht and brought them home. I said OK, let me toss them in the water feature and lets see what happens. I think my wife (being Thai and all) fully intended on eating them. However she forgot about them and I just started raising them and now they have bred to about 25 to 30. Problem is/was the area was too small for them to really grow big so they became my pets, along with a few small turtles (not tortoises) and various pond fish. Its just a hobby for fun.

Now with basically 3 times the volume they could get bigger but my wife has no interest in eating them now.

she will when you boil them with some cajun spice

Originally Posted by malmomike77

she will when you boil them with some cajun spice

well if I can get to a hundred...that could just happen.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

I am now surrounded by a lake 100% and it is a water feature.

Another thanks to the Thai engineers who assured me 100% it would not flood when I told them it would............

Bunch of no brain monkeys but it is something one expects from a bunch of ............................cvnts!

I sense some frustration…

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

Another thanks to the Thai engineers who assured me 100% it would not flood when I told them it would............

It's not a hobby, when you don't want it. It is an annoyance. Sorry to hear LT. Hopefully your Govt sponsored water feature will recede soon.

^ & ^^

When they were working on Siam Country Club Road it was obvious that the increase in drainage flow volume could never be handled by our klong so I visited the local council offices and spoke to the Mayor warning him and all those involved about the danger. I also prepared drawings and built a prototype flow tank to prove my point.

They all informed me that it will be OK, as they were experienced and trained engineers, and at end of the day exactly what I predicted has happened.

The filthy part of all this is the council know that this flooded land is privately owned and millions of baht of damage has been caused because of their stupidity and negligence.

One thing for sure is this is going to get nasty if they don't do something soon.

Water courses down that road as a river in rainy season, and has done for decades.

The resultant potholes are quite something.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

They all informed me that it will be OK, as they were experienced and trained engineers, and at end of the day exactly what I predicted has happened.

There seems to be no sense of responsibility for runoff here, apart from some neighbours getting sanctioned for roof runoff crossing the boundary any ground surface water seems to merit only a shrug of "not my water, not my problem." There are two big landfills locally that are coincidentally adjacent to flooded roads that never flooded before. It is a major problem for people's lives and businesses that those people cannot fix.
To add a note of balance, there are all kinds of housing projects in the UK being built on flood plains and even well-organised protests seem to fail. Ultimately the areas flood and the householders cannot get insurance. More unfairly, nearby properties that never flooded before also get hit. Even with all the UK planning controls these things still happen.

Originally Posted by Shutree

There seems to be no sense of responsibility for runoff here

After working here since 2005 one thing that I have found to be very evident is that Thai folks ( in general) are not forward thinkers. They react well but do little to think about the "What if's". In my opinion that's because to forward think means you have to spend money on things that to them make no sense. Its a product of their society. Its not a bash, just my observation having worked at numerous companies and seeing how they look at things.

So to see flooding because there is too much water doesn't surprise me one bit. The little villages along little creeks that get washed away is a thing that will happen forever here. The neighbor who adds dirt to their property to raise it above their neighbors so when it rains they get all the water....doesn't surprise me. The neighbor who sets up a drain to focus all the water to a small run off and then it floods ....doesn't surprise me. The list goes on

It has been raining a lot the last 24 hrs. I did manage to get the Bestbond cement with sealer applied. Now have to wait 2 days. Then a rinse and then will fill with water and check.

You've done a good job on those corners. The challenge is they don't seem to sell half bricks so it is tricky to mate the curved face with the straight face. Or so I've thought, I haven't actually tried to do it.

Thanks Shu. I was massaging those corner pieces alot as uncle mocked them up. Had a few that I went to far. Scrapped a few 14bht bricks.

It's time consuming as you do a layer then add cement down the hole with the steel rod for support then start the next. It's kind of like adult Legos with cement and a grinder.

I had to watch a YT video on the BestBond stuff with my wife and she had to translate. We had some good laughs.

^ I could have introduced you to many builders who're great at building curved walls Stumps... trouble is they were trying to build straight.

Originally Posted by Stumpy

I was massaging those corner pieces alot as uncle mocked them up.

I was curious. How is your Thai? Does uncle speak any English? Do you communicate like cavemen?

JPPR when can you start doing lengths

Originally Posted by bsnub

I was curious. How is your Thai? Does uncle speak any English? Do you communicate like cavemen?

My Thai is as poor as his English but we know enough to communicate and get it done, laugh a lot and share a good Bourbon at the end of a day. My wife says we are a couple of clowns. It's just another day in life.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

JPPR when can you start doing lengths

Well if I add Piranhas it could be interesting.

Originally Posted by Mendip

trouble is they were trying to build straight.

Funny enough, I showed my uncle how to use a laser level I have. He loved it. In fact so much he bought one. He said that 20ft surgical tube method is terrible if you want straight walls or level floors. He tossed the tube out.

Originally Posted by Shutree

The challenge is they don't seem to sell half bricks so it is tricky to mate the curved face with the straight face. Or so I've thought, I haven't actually tried to do it.

I just score them round the middle and then chap them in half with a hammer and chisel.

Originally Posted by Stumpy

My wife says we are a couple of clowns. It's just another day in life.

Sounds good!

It's coming along

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

I am now surrounded by a lake 100% and it is a water feature.

Another thanks to the Thai engineers who assured me 100% it would not flood when I told them it would............

Bunch of no brain monkeys but it is something one expects from a bunch of ............................cvnts!

Buy a jetski and enjoy.

While the waterproof cement with hardener cures for 2 days. Wife and I took a ride to CM to look at center pieces and a few pumps.



Started with a few more stepping stones for around the well area and water feature area first



Center piece that will have a fountain out top



2 pumps, one a recirc, the other to run the centerpiece. I might see if I can get the one pump to do both and add a valve to govern flow to the centerpiece.





Picked up a handful of various plants while there to go with the original ones that I will clean up and put back in



Rocks for the pond for looks and to allow the crawdads and turtle to hide in and climb out of the water


Still have to pull power through the wall and install a waterproof box.