Cracks in land

[chiang mai]

10 hours ago, fruitman said:

 

At our house they told us we had 10cm sand on top of the clay soil, but that's only at some small pieces, mostly it's all clay and grass doesn't like it.

 

Clay can also sit on the surface, especially at new elevated land. Just make it wet and try to scoop it, that won't go easy so it's not sand and i call it clay..

 

Clay can even be waterproof, it doesn't drain at all sometimes.

 

The nature of clay is that it is not porous and it doesn't allow water to drain, it's used extensively to raise the level of land before construction starts because it forms a hard compact base on which to build. Typically that sort of infill is then covered with better quality cover which is invariably a sand mix. So it's the sand mix on the surface which doesn't retain water and when it dries it cracks, if you're lucky the clay content of the underlying ground or infill is sufficient to prevent total draining of all water and to prevent foundation pilings from sinking - it's the same all over the country.

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

because it forms a hard compact base on which to build

 

Nope, because sand (real sand, riversand) is very hard to find and expensive. Real sand is a much better base to build on than clay . Buildings on sand don't even need any pilings. Clay will stay soft so isn't a good base to build on.

[chiang mai]

8 minutes ago, fruitman said:

 

Nope, because sand (real sand, riversand) is very hard to find and expensive. Real sand is a much better base to build on than clay . Buildings on sand don't even need any pilings. Clay will stay soft so isn't a good base to build on.

 

I challenge you to find more than a handful of houses built anywhere in Thailand that don't use piles in the base and foundation, either short or long, they don't exist.

[fruitman]

2 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

I challenge you to find more than a handful of houses built anywhere in Thailand that don't use piles in the base and foundation, either short or long, they don't exist.

 

Yup and that's because the soil all over Thailand is clay....sand is hard to find but a much better base to build on.

 

Maybe close to the sea there's sandy soil so those houses might be there.

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, fruitman said:

 

Yup and that's because the soil all over Thailand is clay....sand is hard to find but a much better base to build on.

 

Maybe close to the sea there's sandy soil so those houses might be there.

 

I live on rice paddy land on the flats north of CM, millions of years ago it was underwater or so we're led to believe. The local land owner builds houses for a living and routinely excavates new building plots to remove the sand and replace it with infill, mostly clay infill - the sand they take out is piled several metres hight and gets sold off, there's a huge amount gets taken out of only a small area..

[Savilesghost]

On 29/12/2016 at 10:26 AM, mikiea said:

because your home has no foundation , apparently was built on a thin slab on sandy soil mix . cracks in ground are the least of your worries , check wall's and interior support walls for movement . cracks and ceiling sag or slope .

How do you know there is no foundation ? Have you visted the property ? Have you dug a test trench, are you a stuctural engineer ?

[mogandave]

If a home were built on the "thin slab" would not the "thin slab" be the foundation?

 

 

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

 

I live on rice paddy land on the flats north of CM, millions of years ago it was underwater or so we're led to believe. The local land owner builds houses for a living and routinely excavates new building plots to remove the sand and replace it with infill, mostly clay infill - the sand they take out is piled several metres hight and gets sold off, there's a huge amount gets taken out of only a small area..

 

Here in BKK sandbags with course riversand cost 30-35 baht for one...and soil (read clay) is very expensive as well since we all want to raise our land against floodings but there isn't any....nobody will sell their soil unless they want a big pond or pool.

 

If a house is on clay soil and a heavy 20 ton truck drives by the whole house is shaking/moving like being on sea. That's how solid clay is, even with piling.

 

On the beach you'll never see cracks in the sand cause that's real sand and not clay.

 

Funny that last year i had to explain to several people what sand is, they call everything sand these days. In thai language sand is saai...they have saai yai and saai lek...course and fine.

 

 

[sandemara]

Does anyone remember the SF movie a few years back about a group of US marines in Afghanistan who get attacked by giant snakes who live underground? Same warning signs as in the OP's pics. Run away now.