Thread: A "not so Grand Design" in Ubon Ratchathani

Love a good building thread. Great ideas.

Originally Posted by Texpat

Love a good building thread. Great ideas.

Feel free to post up yours tex..if you have the time

Day 2 of the walls and things slowed down a bit, not quite as many workers on site as yesterday which is probably a good thing, they were almost tripping over each other yesterday...to say nothing of all the power leads everywhere. By lunchtime when I left they were up to window lintel height for most windows, and when I came back in the evening the lintels had been formed and poured:

The kitchen's back door was in the right place !

And I am glad to see K. Ae is not a believer in the Thai urban myth that you cannot use AAC blocks in a bathroom:

After toolsdown this evening, with another load of blocks just delivered:

I cannot imagine how long it would have taken to get this far if the wife had listened to those people telling her to use red bricks not AAC.

Originally Posted by mikenot

the Thai urban myth that you cannot use AAC blocks in a bathroom:

OK ?

And the reason for that being ?

^ A lot of people claim that AAC cannot be used in a bathroom because of the humidity and water affects them. "You have to use red bricks in the bathroom".

It's a myth that pops up regularly on Thai builds. And I always ask, if you cannot use AAC in a bathroom where they are covered in tiles and just subject to a gentle shower for a few minutes, how could they be OK to use on an exterior wall and be subjected to torrential rain for hours.
Hebel (the inventors of AAC) and Qcon here in Thailand, make bathroom and kitchen counters so they think AAC is OK in those rooms. But some Thai builders are just stuck in their ways...

Mike, coming along. Re AAC, i note you have full wall lintels so i assume you aren't adding inter course ties along a course that run every 2 courses like i did on my last build?

Originally Posted by mikenot

A lot of people claim that AAC cannot be used in a bathroom because of the humidity and water affects them.

Yes, kind of knew the answer.

And ....myth

You have to treat (seal)the surface correctly and that's it


(44 years experience in this ..crap )

Originally Posted by helge

44 years experience in this ..crap

no a damp proof or membrane in sight

Originally Posted by malmomike77

no a damp proof or membrane in sight

Walls not up yet

^ better too many sockets than too few ...

@mikenot - shouldn't the sockets be included in the electrical plans for the house? Or you didn't need to submit electrical plans? Just curious...

The build is coming along nicely.

Did they have to put vertical rebars as support for the AAC? What's the composition of mortar used 1 is it the same as when using CHB (concrete hollow block)?

^ Katie ... there was a plan for the lighting circuit but not power points, specs did say conduit to be used, but nothing else.
no vertical rebar used, just tied into the vertical concrete columns and beams around the windows/doors. There is a special mortar to use with AAC, it's more like a glue than the ordinary sand/cement mix for normal bricks and blocks.

The sales blurb:
Ready-made mortar developed especially for lightweight block construction work. Provides high adhesion strength, is sticky and smooth, easy to build, and works quickly. Makes the constructed wall beautiful, strong, and durable.

Originally Posted by Topper

better too many sockets than too few ...

Amen to that brother. Both inside and outside.
I would put an outlet on all 4 outside walls. Sure to be used for more than just charging phones. A variety of electric gardening tools and of course water pump/s.

@mikenot - thnx for the info. I looked at the AAC blocks again & noticed that they don't have holes in the middle part where the rebar would fit. I've seen AAC blocks being put up in a YT vid some time ago - have forgotten abt it.

Thnx for sharing info abt the adhesive too. Learned something new.

The walls would still need plastering, right? How thick would the plastering be - same as for CHB or thinner? And would it need a skim coat after plastering?

Render (plaster) should be about 12mm Katie. Then painted with a primer followed by paint.

^ah. So it doesn't need a skim coat, unlike a CHB wall. Saves on time & labor for that stage. (Here in PH, AAC blocks are more than 10x pricier than CHB.) And yes, primer then paint.

I "follow" some vloggers here in PH who are contractors. They show the progress of the builds/ renovations that they do.

Looking good, Mike.

We love the veranda on the villa, glad to see you planning yours.

Originally Posted by Norton

I would put an outlet on all 4 outside walls. Sure to be used for more than just charging phones. A variety of electric gardening tools and of course water pump/s.

Yup, we got extra ones fitted on all sides when renovating the villa. We've already put in fish ponds and the pumps go to the extra sockets.

Fan and electric moo kratha set etc on occasion.

Originally Posted by BLD

Feel free to post up yours tex..if you have the time

The master did a lot of his house, but the pics have done a lulu.

Issan house complete, shed scheduled

He's done alright, has Teksy.

Originally Posted by Norton

Amen to that brother. Both inside and outside.
I would put an outlet on all 4 outside walls. Sure to be used for more than just charging phones. A variety of electric gardening tools and of course water pump/s.

There are sockets just inside the doors at both ends of the workshop, and we will have an external/weatherproof socket on a carport column, and another center of the front verandah. They will be run in conduit down the pillar so no need to cut or chase out anything for those.
We will probably have a water tank and pump at the left rear corner, so will also run conduit outside, down from soffits for that....out of sight and mind there for 99% of time so not too worried about aesthetics for that.

Originally Posted by mikenot

are you asking if we have tied every second course into the posts? If that is what you mean, then yes, rebar in the posts and buried in the top of every second row of blocks.

yes, i've seen a few that don't

Originally Posted by mikenot

ust last night i was telling the wife we have to start thinking about where we want power points. Her first response was that the builders know where to put them .

always put more in than you think you need

Originally Posted by mikenot

Somehow they did forget to put a window in the bathroom !

Well, the guy doing the electrical rough-in has been AWOL for the last couple of days so nothing more has been done in that department. The rendering crew started work on Monday, and promptly started rendering over a wall where he was supposed to be cutting out a channel for the electrical conduit. Then another wall where he had done the conduit but not yet done the recess for the socket box...don't worry they tell the wife, he will cut it out later. Every building video I've seen on Youtube has had the electrical boxes installed first before the plastering starts, this will be an exception it seems.
I mentioned a missing bathroom window earlier ....they have plastered over that too. We have been reminding the wall crew about it and they keep saying, we will cut it out soon.
Now the plasterers are saying don't worry about that either, easy to come back and do later. It may be easy, but it's a waste of time and materials. Half a dozen AAC blocks, mortar, the render, the labour wasted...all coming out of the builder's profit margin not our pocket so I suppose I shouldn't worry.
First wall :

And today:

Looking down the central spine of the house, from the verandah door towards the "Buddha Zone"

We had our first sundowner on the verandah this evening :

A nice comfortable rocking chair, or maybe a hammock, would have been better than a couple of AAC blocks to sit on though ! The Leo still tasted pretty good.

K. Ae, the builder, wants to go into town with us soon to choose tiles so the wife and I were looking at tiles on the Thai Watsadu website last night until my head started spinning...too many choices !

wonderful.. loving this thread and your home is great.. gonna be so enjoyable for you sitting in a comfy chair watching those sunsets soon.

As far as tiles go, please, please, please be strong and resist the Thai idea of putting gloss tiles in wet areas.
I renovated a guesthouse a few years ago and I went against the wishes of both the builder and the wife and put matt, rough surface tiles in the bathrooms.
As soon as a Thai used the shower they changed their minds about the tiles as the found out they "not slippy".

Originally Posted by mikenot

A nice comfortable rocking chair, or maybe a hammock

We went for those teardrop hanging chairs for the verandah. Lubbly.

Originally Posted by Edmond

We went for those teardrop hanging chairs for the verandah.

Exactly what I would predict.

Honestly, it's uncanny sometimes.