Brickwork disaster - is this normal?

[canopy]

2 hours ago, bankruatsteve said:

First time I've heard that.  We chased the AAC in our home 10 years ago and no evidence that being a problem.  ??

 

Of course in Thailand people do as please and they don't care about rules. But if one want to do AAC correctly, 100mm blocks or thinner must not be chased, ever. Now even if you do have 125mm (5-inch) blocks or thicker below are the rules from Hebel, the company that brought q-con to Thailand:  "The depth of the chase must not exceed 25mm - The width of the chase must not exceed 25mm - The maximum number of chases allowed is 2 chases per 1 metre length of wall. - All chases must be backfilled with a material that will adhere to the wall".

 

Also the minimum thickness required for exterior walls would astonish people and maybe even moreso the typical block thickness in many developed places is 37.5mm (15-inch thick walls). But in Thailand of course no one cares about durability, r-value, or noise abatement and just get the cheapest blocks they can find, call it a day, and get to that bottle of chang and life goes on. It's just a totally different approach to building.

 

[grollies]

2 hours ago, Rimmer said:

That has to be the worst cheapest pile of rubble I have ever seen. Get them to tear it down and put up double Q Con blocks if you want soundproofing.

Galvanized steel conduit is usually only used on surface installations where it might suffer mechanical damage, maybe in this case it doubles as rebar to help strengthen the wall

I have to agree. They could have at least laid the 'little itts'  flat.

[Naam]

9 hours ago, grollies said:

Never mind the brickwork, I'd be more concerned about the wiring. Looks like blue and black wires, don't look to be big enough and where is the green earth wire as you have metal back boxes. Please put me right if I'm misinterpreting your photos, not hard to tell.

green wires are obsolete. they don't contribute to soundproofness.

[grollies]

35 minutes ago, Naam said:

green wires are obsolete. they don't contribute to soundproofness.

Absolutely correct. This is the (white) earth our 'qualified' electrician hooked-up for the hot water heater. Note, the chain is for locking up our gas bottle.

 

 

[transam]

22 hours ago, Bassosa said:

Thanks everyone. Solid input. Yes, the bricks being laid flat would've been preferred. I see now ????

 

This is how they fixed it btw. It's not a load bearing wall and they'll smear a ton of plaster on it but can't help feeling we're not getting the most out of the wall this way. 

 

Plaster....are you posh....?...????

[leither69]

On 6/1/2019 at 6:45 PM, ballpoint said:

The bricks also appear to have been laid on their sides, rather than face down.  This will use fewer bricks, but makes the wall a lot thinner.  

They are laid on end as they should be, Thai bricks are not the same as bricks made in the west

[grollies]

39 minutes ago, leither69 said:

They are laid on end as they should be, Thai bricks are not the same as bricks made in the west

Every wall I've seen here made from little itts has been laid with the brick flat. 

[shaurene]

They have been cut nice and tidy, you are lucky, looks like a decent Thai Electrician, most others would just hammer the spaces out. 

And those bricks are shit, all hollow and no real strength, cheep cheep. Would have been better and stronger with breez block.

Looks good to me.

Kep his phone number.

 

[zyphodb]

Thai builders are great at building using bamboo & small trees, as far as using even semi modern materials go though, the vast majority of them haven't a clue and just make it up as they go along...

 This is probably one of the reasons, (as well as ghosts of course) why Thais don't like buying secondhand buildings

[rocketdave]

I've always been amused by Thai construction methods after I saw some 30 years ago a sea front bar being built with similar bricks but using sea water the mix the cement.

I was an aerospace quality engineer prior to retirement but I know that you don't use salt laden sea water to make any lasting structure!

[Bundooman]

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 6:45 PM, ballpoint said:

The bricks also appear to have been laid on their sides, rather than face down.  This will use fewer bricks, but makes the wall a lot thinner.  

But it's worth checking that you didn't pay for the total number of bricks that should have been used the correct way, ie., laid flat.

They have used less bricks this way - did they by any chance pocket the difference?

[eyecatcher]

Even the bagged cement here offers huge 15bt discounts.

First time i was faced with a cement choice

"well poon thammada is not strong, have not much portland cement"

 

But it was 15bt a bag cheaper.....thats the key

[Fruit Trader]

1 hour ago, leither69 said:

They are laid on end as they should be, Thai bricks are not the same as bricks made in the west

[Pedrogaz]

Fore the electrician. Knock the wall down and start again but first do it with a large firm, someone you can sue and get a written contract. Pay what they ask but give little upfront. Any work they do that is shoddy, tell them to repeat it. It will be a headache for you, and especially for your wife who will have to tell them 'no money until it's done right' but it will be worth it.

[transam]

1 hour ago, leither69 said:

They are laid on end as they should be, Thai bricks are not the same as bricks made in the west

If they are laid on end how do you get a window to fit.....The wall will be too narrow...

[Dumbastheycome]

On 6/2/2019 at 10:30 AM, canuckamuck said:

It's all blue and brown these days, it was black and grey not so long ago. I will never understand why red for live and grey for neutral wasn't the obvious choice the world over. As for green, don't you know you don't need that in Thailand? Not same America. ???? But seriously there should be an earth line.

It is now PEA policy for connections to new buildings that an earth  be installed. On existing buildings already on supply it is not in question.

The brown and blue and yellow/green that are more than less the international standard was chosen to overcome the most common form of color blindness which in many instances prohibited sufferers from becoming trade electricians (or so I was once told ).

My transition from red, black and green was to see brown  as in the family  of red, blue in the family of black and  yellow  green hybrid of green. lol

Have never ever understood  why black is used  as  the phase wire  in single phase circuits!

 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

It is now PEA policy for connections to new buildings that an earth  be installed.

 

 

That was the case when my house was built 4 years ago.....but no inspections were done as to check if I had complied or not....PEA called round to connect into the meter only

[sometimewoodworker]

On 6/2/2019 at 12:40 AM, Enoon said:

On 6/1/2019 at 7:59 PM, Naam said:

relax mate, it won't make any difference.

 

Until those bricks start to crack away, and separate, from the load bearing wall.

It isn't a load bearing wall. Like the overwhelming majority of walls in Thailand it is not load bearing. The posts and beams are the load bearing structures. It is just an infill wall.

 

It seems that you don't understand Thai building systems at all.

[Dionigi]

On 6/2/2019 at 6:51 AM, grollies said:

Never mind the brickwork, I'd be more concerned about the wiring. Looks like blue and black wires, don't look to be big enough and where is the green earth wire as you have metal back boxes. Please put me right if I'm misinterpreting your photos, not hard to tell.

Depending on the specs you are used to blue and back are standards for wiring in some countries and the conduit being metal acts as the earth so long as it is all joined back to the circuit breaker box and earthed there.

[Dumbastheycome]

9 minutes ago, petermik said:

That was the case when my house was built 4 years ago.....but no inspections were done as to check if I had complied or not....PEA called round to connect into the meter only

lol. ok. They did come  check mine. At promised time as well! I was impressed !

[Bassosa]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It isn't a load bearing wall. Like the overwhelming majority of walls in Thailand it is not load bearing. The posts and beams are the load bearing structures. It is just an infill wall.

 

It seems that you don't understand Thai building systems at all.

Correct, the (double) wall does nothing more than separate two rooms. Infill, not structural.

 

However, soundproofing is important to me so have a meeting set with builder & electrician to address the fact that holes have been made in the brickwork. 

 

Btw, the brickwork has indeed been tied into the sides and there will be more reinforced concrete work on the top to "set" the top row of bricks.

 

I will look at the electrical work closely to see if there's an earth wire.

 

Thanks everyone for chiming in.

 

 

 

[DJ54]

It’s a cavity wall and looks like the interior wall... should be ok

[Nanaplaza666]

On 6/2/2019 at 2:46 AM, Naam said:

i guess you need reading glasses.

1. my comment pertained to the assumption of not being soundproof because of the shoddy job.

 

2. your assumption "bricks will start to crack away and separate" is baseless.

Its not baseless mate , sooner or later it will start to shift and crack because of rain , soft ground , hard wind , so then the plasterwork will crack 100% . He says you won't see anything of the bad brick when it's plastered , thats treu . Untill your plasterwork starts to crack and that will be very soon after it's done you can count on that more then you can count on these unlisenced crap workers . 

[Bassosa]

I should also point out the my builder is going to use some sort of mesh, much like chicken mesh to cover the concrete in some areas, I believe around the power points, door frames etc

 

Is this to prevent cracking? Normal procedure?

[Macthehat]

Looks like you got the same builder I got ... Frank Spencer ????

[Macthehat]

19 minutes ago, Bassosa said:

I should also point out the my builder is going to use some sort of mesh, much like chicken mesh to cover the concrete in some areas, I believe around the power points, door frames etc

 

Is this to prevent cracking? Normal procedure?

Yes this prevents cracking ... in the U.K. they use "scrimp cloth" for joints etc. To prevent cracking 

[gunderhill]

On 6/1/2019 at 6:30 PM, Odysseus123 said:

Yes.

 

The ancient Romans tried to tell them how to do it..but,of course,they were 'farangs" and knew nothing.

 

Try to think of your shoddy and illogical brick work as a lesson in ancient cultural anthropology.

And  don't  let any bad falangs  graffiti on it.

These are the worst  building material you can buy here as  far as I'm concerned, even the concrete blocks (5 baht) are  pretty  thin, the  aerated ones are  better but the "standard" size at 7.5cm is  still way too  thin, best lay them on their sides to get a decent thickness or  buy the thicker ones.

[gunderhill]

36 minutes ago, Macthehat said:

Yes this prevents cracking ... in the U.K. they use "scrimp cloth" for joints etc. To prevent cracking 

You can buy the  stuff  plasterers use in the Uk here , self adhesive scrim tape.

[gunderhill]

20 hours ago, grollies said:

Absolutely correct. This is the (white) earth our 'qualified' electrician hooked-up for the hot water heater. Note, the chain is for locking up our gas bottle.

 

 

Does  it  double as  doorbell  wire  also?

[gunderhill]

On 6/2/2019 at 12:05 AM, bwpage3 said:

That wall has no strength whatsoever.

The mortar is all porous and was not mixed correctly.

Nah  20 parts  sand to 1  part cement is "just  fine", and don't forget to  keep adding water as you go especially after the 1  hour  lunch break, good as  new.