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Thread: An Isaan Pond

  1. #651
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    [QUOTE=Mendip;4262772]^

    I'm starting to think I don't need this fancy gym that's on it's way... I may not have fancy gym muscles but I'd like to see some of these gym types hammer away at concrete for 8 hours a day in 35 degree heat and 80% humidity. They wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world.


    Mendip
    I can't but wonder if you were the source of the expression, "mad dogs and Englishmen" as in "Only mad dogs and Englishmen would go out in the midday sun".
    A "smart" person would hire a jack hammer and have the job done in minutes. Or better still get his gardener to do it and just supervise from the shade of the Sala.

    Also I would have thought it would have been better to pump the pond out like you said you were going to BEFORE doing this work, it might have made it easier?

    Good luck.

  2. #652
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ootai View Post
    Also I would have thought it would have been better to pump the pond out like you said you were going to BEFORE doing this work, it might have made it easier?
    The pumping out is since long postponed, Mendip thinks we haven't noticed that.

  3. #653
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    Big on your brand names, eh.

    Were they even going when you last surfed?
    OH Yeah, all of that gear has been around for years. I went to school with the O'Neill's and they had all that stuff in their shops. Billabong has also been around for years. All that surf and beach gear is comfortable. Its like buying a no name Blue jean or Levi's. No comparison. And Yeah, Levi's have been around a long while before my days... You know the saying Cyrille, "You get what you pay for"

  4. #654
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    You know the saying Cyrille, "You get what you pay for"
    It is actually "You are what you pay for". Or "money can't buy good taste".

  5. #655
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I'm starting to think I don't need this fancy gym that's on it's way... I may not have fancy gym muscles but I'd like to see some of these gym types hammer away at concrete for 8 hours a day in 35 degree heat and 80% humidity. They wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world.
    While I have been known to do manual labor in the heat I would never do that in the heat of the day. I do agree swinging a 6 or 7kg sledgehammer to break up cement is a good work out. I took out a big section of slab behind my car park area a few years ago. It was poured years back by my FIL and just wasn't mixed properly. Fortunately it wasn't loaded with rebar just chicken wire so a few good swings from the sledge and it would break up in nice hunks. It all feels good until you get up in the next morning and you feel like a cripple.

    Carry on. Just think there is a nice big glass of chilled paint stripper and some Leo waiting for you

  6. #656
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    Carry on. Just think there is a nice big glass of chilled paint stripper and some Leo waiting for you


    Harsh! but true!

  7. #657
    Thailand Expat armstrong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lom View Post
    It is actually "You are what you pay for". Or "money can't buy good taste".
    No it's not.

  8. #658
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    [QUOTE=ootai;4262788]
    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    ^

    A "smart" person would hire a jack hammer and have the job done in minutes. Or better still get his gardener to do it and just supervise from the shade of the Sala.

    Also I would have thought it would have been better to pump the pond out like you said you were going to BEFORE doing this work, it might have made it easier?
    I enjoy some manual work... within limits.

    It's a strange one... despite very different upbringings the Thai contingent in the household thinks nothing of giving orders from the sofa, whereas I'm just not comfortable with it and like to demonstrate that I'd not ask anyone to do something that I wouldn't do myself... which means I end up doing most of the worst jobs. But anyway, that's the way I am.

    And that's a very pertinent comment about draining the pond... the thing is I've let the level go down a couple of times with the view of draining it... and then it bladdy rains. We've had a lot of heavy rain very early this year and one downpour completely fills the pond. Building the Jetty Mk II gives me time to plan for the drainage.

    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    It all feels good until you get up in the next morning and you feel like a cripple.

    Carry on. Just think there is a nice big glass of chilled paint stripper and some Leo waiting for you
    I feel like a cripple already. That paint stripper doesn't come in such a big glass, although I guess it is possible to refill. This was my reward tonight for a day of purgatory... and I was sitting in the rain but I just didn't care... I was that knackered. That glass is only 3cm tall, or slightly slightly bigger than 2 inches for you Americans and Shutree.



    After lunch I started digging out the footings for the onshore concrete plinth. You should never underestimate just how completely shite Thai tools are... the shovel crumpled very early on.



    Footings dug I checked and finished off the levels of the tops of the offshore legs. Some cosmetic work and they looked pretty good. I got sunburnt to fuk digging out the footings so it was actually quite soothing to do some submerged work afterwards.



    And the finished product... not too bad for an amateur.



    And the trench for the footings... I poured water in to check the base was level. PAG made the astute observation that this could be a load bearing structure so I went down a fair way and I should get 10 inches of reinforced concrete for the plinth.

    To be honest I've always found that 10 inches gets the job done.



    And the status at end of Day 2. Tomorrow morning will see the wood shuttering go in, then off to the builders merchants to buy materials. I need to get cracking this week as I've just been told the daughter's school is opening up next week... so that'll mean 3 hours a day lost in Korat's awful traffic.

    Last edited by Mendip; 24-05-2021 at 09:44 PM.

  9. #659
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I'd like to see some of these gym types hammer away at concrete for 8 hours a day in 35 degree heat and 80% humidity.
    I'd like to see you do it....or anyone for that sake.

    That you use 8 hours to smash that bit must have included one box of Leo and 7,5 hour of planning.


    The son and I designed, build, painted and placed a Duck House in our pond today.

    One hour and no sweat

    I drank beer when the work was done

  10. #660
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    You should never underestimate just how completely shite Thai tools are... the shovel crumpled very early on.
    I fell off my bar stool laughing my ass off Mendy. Long ago, before I moved here full time, I had an early experience using a Thai shovel, hoe and wheelbarrow. It was the most frustrating few days of my life. The shovel folded in half trying to dig a trench. I grabbed the hoe and a few swings the head catapulted 20 meters across the yard. The POS wheelbarrow could only hold about what a 5gallon bucket would and had a thin solid wheel that caught up in everything. This was a huge wake up call and drove me to load my cargo container up with tempered steel shovels, hoes, rakes and a real wheelbarrow. They have paid dividends 100x since being here...

    Thanks for the picture. Good laughs

  11. #661
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    This was a huge wake up call and drove me to load my cargo container up with tempered steel shovels, hoes, rakes and a real wheelbarrow
    Clever man
    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    They have paid dividends 100x since
    Oh

    Nobody "borrowed" them ?

    Lucky and...clever

  12. #662
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    And that's a very pertinent comment about draining the pond... the thing is I've let the level go down a couple of times with the view of draining it... and then it bladdy rains. We've had a lot of heavy rain very early this year and one downpour completely fills the pond.
    Oh I thought you said before that you were waiting for more rainy days so the pond could get refilled quickly.
    I was really looking forward to see that job being done..

  13. #663
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    Looks a pretty good plan Mendy. Anticipating the roll out of grief/laudable prizes for effort (beers)/final and conclusive christening of the new structure.

  14. #664
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    Quite impressive job there. No doubt your ancestors were the stone masons that built all those lovelly castles in England. Much easier without the Thai heat!

  15. #665
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    Quote Originally Posted by lom View Post
    Oh I thought you said before that you were waiting for more rainy days so the pond could get refilled quickly.
    The problem is Lom, the rain seems to come very unexpectedly and localised... you never know if it'll be a gentle shower of a torrential downpour until it actually happens. Anyway, you have to be careful what you wish for...


    Quote Originally Posted by PAG View Post
    Looks a pretty good plan Mendy.
    Quote Originally Posted by CalEden View Post
    Quite impressive job there.
    Thanks guys, although I think your praise may be slightly premature.

    We had a downpour last night... I was awoken around 11pm by rain coming in through the open bedroom window.

    I went down to the pond this morning to double check my measurements before heading to the builder's merchants (while I was up to my neck in water with tape measure in hand, calling out the numbers, the gardener wrote down the measurements on the opposite sides of my diagram, ie, the left side dimensions for the right side of the jetty and vice versa, or at least he thinks it was all of them, or maybe not all, and he also wrote down '4's instead of '3's...) ...

    And anyway, I was confronted by this...



    The water level must have gone up 6 inches overnight and breached the trench I dug for the footings. To say I'm pissed of would be an understatement... my project has come to an abrupt halt.

    But I guess the good news is... my blue level mark is still around 3 inches above the water level, and the tops of the offshore legs (and future onshore plinth) are a further 75mm above that, so I should be OK for the hundred year wave.



    And at least the dogs are happy!


  16. #666
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    Oh

    Nobody "borrowed" them ?

    Lucky and...clever
    As in the states and as I do here, I do not ever loan tools to friends or neighbors. While I would like to, typically people do not respect borrowed tools and either ruin them or never return them.

  17. #667
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    Lots of rain there Mendy. Does the water recede quickly or does the pond hold the water well? It rained last night here for a few hours where I had to drain 3 or 4 inches out of my pool this morning. Like you said, these rain storms come out of nowhere and are random as they might blow right on by or near by and flood other areas and not leave a drop at your house.

  18. #668
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    [QUOTE=Mendip;4262929]
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai View Post

    That glass is only 3cm tall, or slightly slightly bigger than 2 inches for you Americans and Shutree.
    Erm, you might want to check that. Have you been telling the girls that 9cm is actually bigger than 6 inches?



    When I was at primary school we were taught Imperial units. I can still remember those exercise books printed on the back cover with the numbers of pecks in a bushel, how many gills and fluid ounces in a pint, and how many pounds in a hundredweight. Even at that tender age I can remember thinking that this was daft. Then at secondary school we only ever dealt in metric, except that we did need to learn that there were then and still are now 2.54 centimetres in one inch.

  19. #669
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    Anyway, I am well impressed by the progress of your labours and look forward to seeing the finished jetty.

  20. #670
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    Might be awhile with that rain.

  21. #671
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRealKW View Post
    Might be awhile with that rain.
    This is Thailand. It is always going to be too hot or too wet. I am aligned with those who think it would be wise to set out some design ideas then hire the necessary workforce and supervise them from a safe distance.

  22. #672
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    While our very own ex-marine was scouting his pond, I slipped the Gardiner a few hundred BHT to scout out Mendy's office

    He returned with the updated planes for the pond structure ...

    An Isaan Pond-file-20201005-16-18454wb-jpg

  23. #673
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    BTW, the Sala at the Pond is made with 2 concrete posts into the pond, foundations on solid ground, 2 metal bearers joining the two and those pre-cast concrete planks which sort of look like steps.

    About 1 metre long, 30cms wide and 3cms thick (something like that)

  24. #674
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    [QUOTE=Shutree;4263185]
    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post

    Erm, you might want to check that. Have you been telling the girls that 9cm is actually bigger than 6 inches?
    Yeah, my maths was slightly off there Shutree... put it down to semi-sunstroke after a day labouring in the scorching sun. But why ever I'd be talking about 9 centimetres to the girls I do not know. It's always imperial chat for the women.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shutree View Post
    This is Thailand. It is always going to be too hot or too wet. I am aligned with those who think it would be wise to set out some design ideas then hire the necessary workforce and supervise them from a safe distance.
    ... or to cold or too windy... or anything else that makes a good excuse for watching crap on TV all day. I've had five building projects in Thailand, the last of which was the disintegrated jetty that I just dismantled. The only experience I've gained is crossing off five builders from my list of contractors to use in the future.

    Nope... I'm doing this alone.

    As they say, you can't keep a good man down. Once I saw that finishing up the footings and shuttering off were out of the question due to flooding, I decided to get all the materials in to finish off the project when possible.

    Every time these guys deliver anything, they always come in frontways down the road rather than reversing... then get stuck when trying to turn round.



    I thought I'd ordered a half cube of sand and a half cube of stone... but I got a cube of each. At least it made the gardener get off his arse as it blocked his access road... he likes to take out his fancy van at night to visit the short-time bars and this would have cramped his style.



    I also ordered three bags of cement but received four... either they're taking the piss of there's something seriously wrong with my Thai.

    It was a pleasant, overcast afternoon so I thought I'd get cracking... back when I was still alive a pleasant, overcast afternoon could have meant a few hours fly fishing on Blagdon Lake... but now it means cleaning and priming steel beams for a jetty.

    Anyway, I selected a nice shady spot for the work... this may look lovely from the pic but what you don't see is the legion of red weaver ants infesting the ground. I sometimes wonder if there is a single place in Thailand without annoyances.



    First things first and the metal 4 x 2 lengths required a good clean to get rid of the grease and grime before priming. I guess this stuff is similar to metholated spirit and removes all the shite.



    And then to get on the primer... or primeauuuurrrrr!!! as they like to call it round here. The metal 4 x 2 comes in six metre lengths, and from what I could deduce from the gardener's figures we needed at least three lengths (18m). This should be just about enough... I hope. Or way too much of course.



    For painting work I've always been firmly in the 'less clothes the better' camp. Why get good clothing spattered in paint? These old boxer shorts first appeared in Joe 90's photo competition... but I reckon I can get another few months out of them yet.



    With an eye on the ever building storm clouds I managed to get three coats on the metal by 5pm... not a bad job even if I say so meself.



    I was under pressure to get finished before 5pm as Vigo is on antibiotics and I need to hand feed him every day when he turns up for food... and I'd just finished the painting and was feeding Vigo when the heavens opened. The water level had gone down maybe half an inch (1.27 cm) over the day... and then we had this.



    There was no time to get the metal under shelter before the last coat of primeeeaaauurrrrr dried... I was well pissed off... but it's just typical.



    And that is why I drink... and why 5pm is Ya Dong time. It's my reward to myself for getting through another day in Isaan... one day something will go right.



    At least I have good company.

    Last edited by Mendip; 25-05-2021 at 09:39 PM.

  25. #675
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    ^ You bought that black oily metal which must be cleaned and prime painted.
    If you instead had bought galvanized then you'd only need to prime paint the welding spots.

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