New Build in Khon Kaen

[Foozool]

3 hours ago, Laza 45 said:

I take it that AAC blocks are the white aerated concrete blocks ...  do you attach the rigid foam and drywall with adhesive?..   What do you use?  Is this used as infill for concrete post & beam construction?  It is awhile since I did any building.. is the rigid foam commonly available... brand name?  Sounds easy to build.. and easy to keep cool.. Thanks for the tips.. 

Rigid foam will be glued(glue is available for rigid foam at HomePro or Mega Home) to the wall. 

Drywalls will be screwed to studs( variety of products at local construction material shops). Any light material. Something like what they use for drop ceilings. 

I hope the quick drawing helps to understand it better. 

Rigid foam will be placed between posts as the drawing shows. If you pick 2" foam , you will need 2"  stud as well.

rigid foams are available at construction material stores.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2017 by Foozool

[Laza 45]

46 minutes ago, Foozool said:

Rigid foam will be glued(glue is available for rigid foam at HomePro or Mega Home) to the wall. 

Drywalls will be screwed to studs( variety of products at local construction material shops). Any light material. Something like what they use for drop ceilings. 

I hope the quick drawing helps to understand it better. 

Rigid foam will be placed between posts as the drawing shows. If you pick 2" foam , you will need 2"  stud as well.

rigid foams are available at construction material stores.

 

 

Thank you.. that helps a lot.. the studs will keep the drywall flat.. 

[cheeryble]

sorry you already dealt with my questions about foam etc

Be careful with the glue never forget helping dad putting this foam round a loft tank in England. The glue melted the foam to nothing.

Edited September 27, 2017 by cheeryble

[Foozool]

14 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

sorry you already dealt with my questions about foam etc

Be careful with the glue never forget helping dad putting this foam round a loft tank in England. The glue melted the foam to nothing.

But the glue I mentioned will not melt the foam. It comes in tubes just like silicon and needs a gun to be used with. It is designed for rigid foam. 

 

[sirineou]

Nothing much happening , waiting for rains to stop to dig out foundations, 

and then , Monks to come and bless.

In the meantime   I  am talking with Dook ( the builder) about steel?

He send me the is plans, ( a pleasure to work with a builder that reads plans) but they are in Thai. From experience I can pretty much figure out what they say but I have some questions.

Waiting for him to get back to me , maybe one of you know.

Below are the plans, Most of the main steel is 16 mm (about 1/2 inch) which is fine  (I am asking him about grade of steel also) But there is one that looks like a column that calls for 12 mm steel I will color it in red .

Any ideas?

Thank You

 

[cheeryble]

Running out the door but at first glance it says in Thai "chun 2" i.e. floor two.

So the column rebar is down to 12mm for that floor. 

Later..... 

Edited October 4, 2017 by cheeryble

[sirineou]

9 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

Running out the door but at first glance it says in Thai "chun 2" i.e. floor two.

So the rebar is down to 12mm for that floor. 

Later..... 

Thank you Cheeryble,

the first thing I will do when I retire in Thailand, is to learn how to read Thai.

[cheeryble]

On October 4, 2017 at 2:15 PM, sirineou said:

Thank you Cheeryble,

the first thing I will do when I retire in Thailand, is to learn how to read Thai.

When i knew I was moving here I spent some time in the deli each day learning to read and write the alphabet.

If you do the reading and writing from the beginning it will get reinforced as you learn the language.

ps still pretty hopeless at speaking :)

 

ps kiddies alphabet charts are good bet there's something of the sort online.

[sirineou]

It has been a while since I updated this Thread. Partly my fault ( very busy with work) partly the Fault of TVF , it seems every time I get a chance to update , there is a problem with TVF being slow, or doing maintenance work.

Anyway. 

Finally the rains stopped , and a couple weeks ago we were able to dig the foundation  holes  1m x1m wide and 1m deep, they cut the   piles to the bottom of the hole places the footing steel and column steel  in the holes and had the monk come and bless the start of the build.

unfortunately I am back at work in the US and depend on others sending me pictures , and I dont have any good pictures of inside the holes but I do have pictures of everything else.

Columns 16 mm rebar 6 of them coming out of the hole as per engineering plan, then 4 of them for the first floor, and they were supposed to reduce to 12 mm for the second floor but I asked the builder, and he agreed to keep them 16 mm .

 

poured footings on top of piles , vibrated as per request.

Monks did their thing, (glad I did not have to be there)

Ground beams were formed ( notice the spacers to insure proper coverage)

no explanation needed

Beams poured

and stripped

Notice the black pipe.

I meant to to talk to Dook (the builder  TC House Khon Kaen) about Termite protection and between  getting back to The US  and all the work waiting for me there, I forgot. I was pleasantly surprised to see Dook doing it without me even having to ask. 

 

I will post picture if the next stage (slab, and columns) as soon as I get them and have some time to do it.

Cheers. 

[Naam]

what i see in this picture makes my neckhair raise. vibrating concrete in an unprotected hole with heaps of soil around. unfortunately no picture "down" available.

 

 

[sirineou]

2 hours ago, Naam said:

what i see in this picture makes my neckhair raise. vibrating concrete in an unprotected hole with heaps of soil around. unfortunately no picture "down" available.

 

 

 

they seem to have a plywood form around the footings so it looks protected to me,  and if you zoom in you will see the pure level to be to the fouth stirrup ( square rebar holding column together)  down from where the sixth rebar stops , Having counted the stirrups   on the columns I can see that they poured  two stirrups and a half up from the bottom . stirrup spacing looks like  12n inch, so  aprox  24 inch footing resting on piles driven until they hit bedrock.

overkill if you would ask me

I was there and I could feel the ground shaking when they hit rock and would go to further.  That combined with the hard ground in the area , huge ground beams,16mm steel, and  hard ground in the area leaves me unconcerned as far as the foundation is concerned.

   As far as the vibrating of the concrete is concerned , it is a tricky situation. You want to vibrate enough that the concrete settles in the form leaving no voids, and that air bubbles rise to the surface  eliminating sponging. But no so much that settle the aggregate from suspension and rising slurry to  the top.  I had this conversation with the builder and he seemed very knowledgeable in the subject. How much the workers adhered to it is anyone's guess.

I will say this about the builder,  I am a concrete professional with close to 30 years in the highrise industry in NYC , everything I talked about with him he got immediately and was able to intelligently expand on the subject, The same way you would know if someone was blowing smoke up your arse when talking about finances,  I know he was not talking trash about building. Whether he was talking a good line remains to be seen and time will tell  . So far I am impressed. 

I know I should be there but it would not be cost effective.So let's hope for the best.

If not , it is less than a $60,000 build! My pickup truck cost me more in the US. I would not cry too long, but I will cry a litle LOL.

I have a better picture of the footing , but for some reason the picture upload always fails. Don't know why I had no problem with the other pictures it is only a 293 kb file, will try again later 

 

   

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by sirineou
cant leave well enough along LOL

[Naam]

6 hours ago, sirineou said:

they seem to have a plywood form around the footings so it looks protected to me,

i see plywood left and right but nothing at the back and in front some sort of plastic foil.

 

[cheeryble]

9 hours ago, sirineou said:

 

   As far as the vibrating of the concrete is concerned , it is a tricky situation. You want to vibrate enough that the concrete settles in the form leaving no voids, and that air bubbles rise to the surface  eliminating sponging. But no so much that settle the aggregate from suspension and rising slurry to  the top. 

 

   

 

You taught me something about (over) vibrating concrete!

As you're now my concrete consultant I'm presuming the wood going across through the column rebar and under the stirrup is to hold the base rebar up off the dirt so the rebar there will be sealed in concrete as a better method than putting spacers underneath?

 

ps: would love to have heard the Thenglish conversation about the over vibration

pps: careful with the truck

Edited October 30, 2017 by cheeryble

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, Naam said:

i see plywood left and right but nothing at the back and in front some sort of plastic foil.

 

 The consumption of a bad batch of Gagh followed by copious    amounts of Romulan Ale have being known to cause the above described visual affliction   LOL

2 hours ago, cheeryble said:

You taught me something about (over) vibrating concrete!

As you're now my concrete consultant I'm presuming the wood going across through the column rebar and under the stirrup is to hold the base rebar up off the dirt so the rebar there will be sealed in concrete as a better method than putting spacers underneath?

 

ps: would love to have heard the Thenglish conversation about the over vibration

pps: careful with the truck

I think the wood going across through the column is mostly there to keep the column upright and in the desired location. , in the bottom of the hole there is the top of the pile that was driven in to the ground  , It should be cut a few inches above the dirt then gravel is placed arounded and the  footing cage rests on the gravel supported with spacers to give it  concrete coverage.

I think the column cage would be to heavy to hung and at the same time keep upright and plumb. 

hanging beam caged is easier to do, ( something I did when I build the perimeter wall  ).

I have a good picture depicting the Pile, footing cage, column assembly, but I seem unable to post pictures on TVF after my first fost today, perhaps I have used my TVF allowed data for the day, or I also had too much Romulan Ale and am also not seeing something LOL.

 

 

 

 

[sirineou]

^^^^^

From post # 35 , top left corner  of steel plan picture, 

pile footing cage column and beam assembly 

Edited October 30, 2017 by sirineou

[Naam]

3 hours ago, sirineou said:

 The consumption of a bad batch of Gagh followed by copious    amounts of Romulan Ale have being known to cause the above described visual affliction

[Morakot]

23 hours ago, Naam said:

what i see in this picture makes my neckhair raise. vibrating concrete in an unprotected hole with heaps of soil around. unfortunately no picture "down" available.

 

 

 

This is already an  "advanced" way. Your average formwork is a hole in the ground...

 

While at MIT and elsewhere in the West, star architects are experimenting with expensive flexible formwork, many Thai builders have already mastered the art of clay formwork.

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Morakot

[sirineou]

Ok so we are moving right along.

They placed drain and water pipes and filled the space between the beams with dirt which was compacted. Not really necessary  structurally to compact since the slab would be supported by the beams, but a good idea . If not compacted it could settle later on an leave voids and it also provides extra support.

 They bend the rebar sticking out of the beams over and then they placed wire mesh.. While pouring the concrete they pulled the wire mesh up so it would be inside the concrete slab instead of under it as seen in the picture. an other way to do it is by placing "rebar chairs" (spacers) under it but not as good as pulling it IMO when working on dirt because rebar chairs tend to be driven in to the dirt as workers walk on the wire mesh to pour the slab.

  

Unfortunately they did not place a vapor barrier below the wire mesh. My fault I should had requested it, and was not there to see it when done, But not a real biggie  , the ground floor is open for the most part and the slab is elevated as you can see by the ring beam keeping moisture in the fill to a minimum.

Then they  poured the slab:

Notice the Blue drain and water pipes. On the left is a a single drain pipe, it is for the washing machine. There should also be a water pipe to supply the washing machine, I  mentioned the discrepancy to  Dook the builder, he was very apologetic and they will retrofit it.

Then they Formed  and poured the columns:

Notice the plastic wrap around the columns to prevent moisture loss while curing. Excesive moisture loss will diminish concrete strength.

And the Upstairs beams are formed :

and that's where we are at this point. After this they will lay preformed concrete planks , wire mesh and pour concrete over it.creating the upstairs slab.

I hope to have more pictures next weekend.

Edited November 4, 2017 by sirineou

[sirineou]

It has being a couple of week since last update ,have being very busy with work and life lately, a lot has happen, with the basic structure, and so far I am very happy with the job my builder   TC House Khon Kaen  https://www.facebook.com/dooktanakorn7772/ and the owner Dook. He keeps me informed on every step before it is done so that I can voice any concerns and afterwards sends me pictures of how it was done. If I have any concerns they are immediately addressed, all very professional ,  with no drama. After all I have read about builders in Thailand , I must say , a pleasant surprise, and a pleasure to work with.

Wife is coming to Thailand this weekend, to supervise details such as kitchen, tiles bathrooms etc.

since we spoke last,  the upstairs beams were poured:

Bathroom slab

Then Concrete planks were placed on top of the beams , wire mesh on the  concrete  plank (I dont have picture), and an additional couple of inches of concrete was poured/

Concrete Planks from underneath:

Next , Upstairs columns, Stairs, Roof steel and Septic system  

Stay tooned to the next installment coming soon to  a  Theater near you LOL. 

 

[cheeryble]

4 hours ago, sirineou said:

 

Good descriptive photos....

Edited November 23, 2017 by cheeryble

[sirineou]

Four days off from work ,Thanksgiving weekend here in the US  , so a chance to catch up with this thread. 

So after the upstairs slab was poured they erected the forms for  the columns , changing the rebar from 12 mm to 16 as agreed. 

also the stairs were formed

Poured and wrapped in plastic to insure proper curing 

Then they started with the roof steel, Properly paintad

Then the rebar sticking out of the columns was trimmed to the appropriate height and a plate was welded to accommodate the roof structure,

later on the gap between the plate and the column will be filled with concrete. 

and the roof steel was erected awaiting reflective foil and CPack  dark gray  Monier  top right in picture below. I know, I know , too dark too hot. Wife likes it and I like it too, I rather deal with the hot than deal with the wife'

Make sure they clean and repaint all the welds.

Thy are working on the septic system right now and I will have pictures in the next couple of days , right now there is a Turkey with my name on it and I am going for it soon, If I don't fill up on side dishes and beer'

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families 

 

[sirineou]

42 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

Good descriptive photos....

Thank you Cheeryble!

I try to document the process as best as I can so as to give some of the others that are thinking of building an idea of some of what is involved . Over the years I have gotten a lot of help in this forum and in my little part I would like to show my appreciation by contributing a litle..

[sirineou]

Work on the septic system  has started 

Plastic septic tank   where all excrement will flow to (not a very good pic). The way I have been eating lately , I am wondering if I should  have gotten a bigger one LOL 

Buried 

Note to anyone doing this, make sure to fill it with water after burying .if it rains after putting in the ground, they will float and pop up like a cork, pushing the dirt up and breaking any pipe connections . Lucky for me  Dook the builder is on top of things.

 There is an inlet pipe and  outlet pipe clearly marked as such,  it is important that the tank is hooked up  properly.  Excrement will flow into it  and settle to the bottom where they will break down and hopefully liquify   (chilly loving bacteria are a must in Thailand LOL) all liquid will flow to the top and moved to (if space allows) a leachfield best located in a sunny area for evaporation and good draining soil for absorption. Unfortunately I have neither of the above , so plan B and the use of the Thai way and the trusted 5 concrete ring system.

 two  holes were dug for two drainage tanks, one to service the septic tank that will only handle excrement and one to service showers, sinks and washing machines, You do not want water containing bleach, antibiotic soap, detergents and other chemicals entering your septic tank, and  destroying ar compromising your bacteria culture.

Rings were lowered into place:

You can not see it but gravel was used to fill around the rings, I wish the holes were dug wider and more gravel was used .

The dirt in our property is cement like clay and I suspect the perk rate (soil absorption rate) is close to Zero. and I hope I am wrong but will need to be pumped out periodically. As you can see, the area where we put the septic system is between the house and the fence, Two meters wide, and will be covered with a cement walkway to prevent surface water from entering the drainage rings and because I want a  concrete walkway.

Notice the neet work and pipes properly covered to prevent dirt from entering the system while working, also notice the flexible rubber  connections  to the septic tank to prevent pipe cracking from tank shifting.

Dook (my builder) in the hole and on top of things making sure everything is done properly, very impressed by him!!

As  water and waste enters the tanks air is pushed out, you do not want this smelly air at ground level where you hung out so vent pipes are in order.

I called Dook and raised a concern about the vent pipes, I am 5'10" tall and it seems to me as if the vent pipes were nose height LOL, Dook agreed and we decided that they will be moved to the house side and vented above the roof.  Even the best Builders ( and Dook is the best I have seen in Thailand) need a  litle supervision..

 

 Some Superblock  was delivered to the Job site ( 15 mm for exterior walls, 7.5 for interior walls. ) 15mm are in short supply (not in big demand as too expensive for most Thais) and need to be ordered, I discussed the option of  a double 7.5mm cavity wall with Dook .

And awaiting delivery of the Cpack roof tiles and My wife's arrival there Monday morning.

PS: I appreciate any constructive criticism, I am not beyond learning new things, and I am sure there might be things I am missing or could do better.

 

Stay tuned  

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2017 by sirineou

[Crossy]

Coming along well, that's going to end up a nice home.

 

Keep it up.

 

Have you got your sparks on board yet? As soon as the walls are up he will need to start chasing out for the conduit and getting anything that's above the ceiling sorted.

 

[Rimmer]

I have enjoyed reading your new build topic immensely and particularly the photos, reminds me of when we built our house.

Good to see you are using QCon or superblock as you call it, I used double QCon blocks with a cavity and it works well keeping the rooms cool and the sounds outside and the builder loved the speed it went up.

Keep the photos and your commentary coming

[sirineou]

On 11/26/2017 at 8:08 PM, Crossy said:

Coming along well, that's going to end up a nice home.

 

Keep it up.

 

Have you got your sparks on board yet? As soon as the walls are up he will need to start chasing out for the conduit and getting anything that's above the ceiling sorted.

 

The builder has his own electrician that he uses at all his buildings, He did the house of a friend of mine and TVF member and he was very happy with his work. 

We were supposed to use 15 mm  QCon (super block) for the exterior walls and 7.5 mm for the interior walls. Last I spoke with Dook (the builder) he said he was having difficulty getting the 15 mm and he had to order it. I told him that a cavity wall with double 7.5 mm  would also be acceptable and it would have the benefit of hiding the columns and leaving a space between the blocks for chasing electric, and plumbing. He thought it was a good idea and I think we will go that way.

Either way is fine by me.

 

16 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

I have enjoyed reading your new build topic immensely and particularly the photos, reminds me of when we built our house.

Good to see you are using QCon or superblock as you call it, I used double QCon blocks with a cavity and it works well keeping the rooms cool and the sounds outside and the builder loved the speed it went up.

Keep the photos and your commentary coming

Glad you are enjoying it.

We were there when we started with driving the piles and laying out the location of the house,and then I had to return to the States and back to work.

Wife just returned to Thailand yesterday and will be supervising the finer parts of the build such as lighting appliances, tiles, paint doors etc

. She is a bit of a shutterbug , but mostly taking pictures of herself and the food she eats,  hopefully we will get some pictures of the house also. LOL,

But seriously, This forum has become such a valuable  resource to me.Any time I need to know some Thai associated issue, I post a question and some very good answers and advice are quickly forthcoming.  I have learned most I know about building in Thailand from this and other  forums and would like to return the favor .

Roof tiles coming Saturday,  and walls starting tomorrow, will post more this coming weekend, or earlier if I have time.

 

 

 

[KKr]

hi, nice post, we are looking to start a similar project, so very interesting for me to see that it can be done properly.

my two cents:
from experience, try to make sure your electricians use proper pipes, correctly sized wires, proper connection boxes and connectors, especially in invisible areas. I had the lot taken out during a renovation as there were too many tape covered knots of wires hidden in the ceiling and columns for my liking.
Then, ask them to show that it works before closing the ceiling. 
I did not, and of 12 wires leading to six switches, three wires are not connected as expected because someone had a bright idea and made connections above the ceiling, instead of running the wire to the switch block.
Also, in another house where wires were not protected by a pipe, rats took a liking for the plastic insulation, the rats were followed by snakes, who were followed by a snake catcher, so we had a big repair. Lucky that the wires did not short circuit.

Furthermore, I ran an earth-wire to most of the sockets, as without that my desktop tingles seriously.
Crossy can tell you all about how that works in hot and dry areas,  but in Europe the earth-wire comes into the house from the electricity company.
A few European type sockets can come in handy as some kitchen appliances are fitted with what type of plug.

If you consider solar heated hot water, and after installation have zero electricity cost, make sure you have properly sized pipes for warm AND Cold water in place.

then, a water proofing under the bathroom floor can come in handy. 
And not to forget a tiler that tiles the floor first, and then the wall so water from the wall tiles run off onto the floor and not into the concrete. 
Moreover, a typical sewage pipe has an airlock as there is no roof vent, so the shower and bath runoff have to be open and are smelly.

Doors are usually fitted into a hole hewn in the concrete whether there are tiles or not, not the best alternative, especially in bathrooms.
for my next project, I will make a table where the carpenter can make the doorframe 90 degrees to fit the door, and make sure all hinges are properly cut. The frame is then stabilised  with crossbars and put into place without the need to later make all sorts of adjustments to doors not properly hung.
by the way, it is possible to have all doorframes same height.

apologies for long post, hope it helps 

as a question, does your shower and kitchen water flow into a different tank or into the septic ?
I keep on wondering what would be the better solution, but do not have an answer.

Edited December 1, 2017 by KKr

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, KKr said:

hi, nice post, we are looking to start a similar project, so very interesting for me to see that it can be done properly.

my two cents:
from experience, try to make sure your electricians use proper pipes, correctly sized wires, proper connection boxes and connectors, especially in invisible areas. I had the lot taken out during a renovation as there were too many tape covered knots of wires hidden in the ceiling and columns for my liking.
Then, ask them to show that it works before closing the ceiling. 
I did not, and of 12 wires leading to six switches, three wires are not connected as expected because someone had a bright idea and made connections above the ceiling, instead of running the wire to the switch block.
Also, in another house where wires were not protected by a pipe, rats took a liking for the plastic insulation, the rats were followed by snakes, who were followed by a snake catcher, so we had a big repair. Lucky that the wires did not short circuit.

Furthermore, I ran an earth-wire to most of the sockets, as without that my desktop tingles seriously.
Crossy can tell you all about how that works in hot and dry areas,  but in Europe the earth-wire comes into the house from the electricity company.
A few European type sockets can come in handy as some kitchen appliances are fitted with what type of plug.

If you consider solar heated hot water, and after installation have zero electricity cost, make sure you have properly sized pipes for warm AND Cold water in place.

then, a water proofing under the bathroom floor can come in handy. 
And not to forget a tiler that tiles the floor first, and then the wall so water from the wall tiles run off onto the floor and not into the concrete. 
Moreover, a typical sewage pipe has an airlock as there is no roof vent, so the shower and bath runoff have to be open and are smelly.

Doors are usually fitted into a hole hewn in the concrete whether there are tiles or not, not the best alternative, especially in bathrooms.
for my next project, I will make a table where the carpenter can make the doorframe 90 degrees to fit the door, and make sure all hinges are properly cut. The frame is then stabilised  with crossbars and put into place without the need to later make all sorts of adjustments to doors not properly hung.
by the way, it is possible to have all doorframes same height.

apologies for long post, hope it helps 

as a question, does your shower and kitchen water flow into a different tank or into the septic ?
I keep on wondering what would be the better solution, but do not have an answer.

Thank you for the good advice , Good advice can never be too long.

Kitchen, showers and washing machine does not and should not, go i into the septic because we do not want to introduce detergents , chlorine bleach, and other antibiotics into the bacterial culture of the septic tank. Also water from the kitchen  sink goes through a grease trap first. Solidified grease can reduce the perk rate. (rate of soil absorption)

Keep the advice and comments coming .

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by sirineou

[KKr]

9 hours ago, sirineou said:

Thank you for the good advice , Good advice can never be too long.

Kitchen, showers and washing machine does not and should not, go i into the septic because we do not want to introduce detergents , chlorine bleach, and other antibiotics into the bacterial culture of the septic tank. Also water from the kitchen  sink goes through a grease trap first. Solidified grease can reduce the perk rate. (rate of soil absorption)

Keep the advice and comments coming .

 

yes, now I understand. 
in my house there are different circuits also, however the kitchen etc. water goes into a kind of covered open sewer to the moo baan.
Don't like that too much as chemicals will be seeping into the gardens, but it seems the common practice here.
Good luck with your project.

 

[sirineou]

We are now in the process of doing the walls and the roof. 

As mentioned before , the walls will be cavity walls with double 7.5 mm supper block (QCon , or otherwise known as AAC block )

We normally connect the two parts  of the cavity wall with small strips of galvanised metal but Dook does it differently , by cutting strips of ACC block the size of the cavity and gluing it to the tro parts.

 

A concrete with rebar in it, window sill is poured to solidify the wall and support the window ( I think Dook is building a bunker  LOL)

 Who says Thai's cant build square?

 

PS: ACC block is glued with special  thinset glue.  I will post more pictures of walls when they are completed , next steps are to run electric and then render.