Brickwork disaster - is this normal?

[LivinLOS]

On 6/1/2019 at 5:48 PM, eyecatcher said:

Its a no brainer, I am convinced they use bricks and piles of sand and cement to overcharge customers and pan the labour out for twice as long.

Also because the average farmer turned off season bricklayer hasnt seen the rocket science that Q cons are !! 

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours 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 it's like this, it can be stapled if you use AAC.

 

[Rimmer]

This is a picture of my cavity wall when our house was built in 2006 it looked like this, if you want sound and heat insulation your wall should look the same or very similar. Those Q Con blocks at the time were 14 baht each I think now they are around 20 baht

[The Theory]

28 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

This is a picture of my cavity wall when our house was built in 2006 it looked like this, if you want sound and heat insulation your wall should look the same or very similar. Those Q Con blocks at the time were 14 baht each I think now they are around 20 baht

Did you leave the top open ?

If no, did you arrange any breathing hole from space between to out side (exterior wall) at upper part of the wall ? 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

37 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

This is a picture of my cavity wall when our house was built in 2006 it looked like this, if you want sound and heat insulation your wall should look the same or very similar. Those Q Con blocks at the time were 14 baht each I think now they are around 20 baht

When I built the cost was about 14.5 Baht per block, we have a bit wider gap due to the post size. 

[xylophone]

7 hours ago, grollies said:

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

You obviously haven't seen the construction going on here in Patong.........all hotels etc constructed the way shown in the pic.

[grollies]

9 minutes ago, xylophone said:

You obviously haven't seen the construction going on here in Patong.........all hotels etc constructed the way shown in the pic.

That's bad. Saves on bricks I suppose.....single-skin? Double-skin? Lean on one it'd go over.

[grollies]

5 hours ago, Dionigi said:

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.

So metal conduit connecting to a metal SafetyCut consumer unit is ok as an earth? Any fault needing an earth route would make the consumer unit live. Nah, I don't think so.

[Naam]

4 hours ago, Nanaplaza666 said:

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 .

i completely forgot that you tested the ground and found it soft. i also did not consider that an inside non-bearing wall will start to shift because of rain and hard wind and fall down after the plasterwork cracks.

 

am i right in assuming you lectured construction science at a famous university during your professional career?

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Naam

[grollies]

3 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Does  it  double as  doorbell  wire  also?

Hey, it could do! Mind you my sparky would put 220 thru it.

[Fruit Trader]

24 minutes ago, grollies said:

So metal conduit connecting to a metal SafetyCut consumer unit is ok as an earth? Any fault needing an earth route would make the consumer unit live. Nah, I don't think so.

Metal conduit connected to a grounded metal consumer unit. The conduit connects the service ground at consumer unit to the distribution point at end of conduit.

Edited June 3, 2019 by Fruit Trader

[eyecatcher]

52 minutes ago, The Theory said:

Did you leave the top open ?

If no, did you arrange any breathing hole from space between to out side (exterior wall) at upper part of the wall ? 

 

Can you elaborate on a "breathing hole"

All cavity walls should be closed off at the top for prevention of fire spread. Fire needs oxygen to burn so why would you ventilate a cavity.

Its a no no mate, it never happens, even sub floor air bricks are sleeved

[grollies]

2 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Metal conduit connected to a grounded metal consumer unit. The conduit connects the service ground at consumer unit to the distribution point at end of conduit.

Ok.

 

Thais do make bricks. My stepson's Dad makes these.

 

 

[Fruit Trader]

3 minutes ago, grollies said:

Thais do make bricks. My stepson's Dad makes these.

 

 

 

Thats almost like a double red brick which I believe are square at the end.

[grollies]

11 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

 

Thats almost like a double red brick which I believe are square at the end.

Yep, and they are not hollow.

[The Theory]

42 minutes ago, eyecatcher said:

Its a no no mate, it never happens, even sub floor air bricks are sleeved

Im sure you are a knowledgeable man and forgive me, perhaps I’m wrong, 

But I’m just wondering where the fire comes from !!! From inside the wall !!! 

Perhaps by electrical wires ?!!! Correct wiring technic has own discussion. 

Those cavity walls need to breath since temperature goes up and down. And internal layer will become cool by AC, especially if brick used. Moisture will build up behind the cool wall. 

 

 

[ballpoint]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 4:48 PM, Naam said:

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

They do when you get a leakage.  Stops all those screams when someone touches something metal.

[KhaoYai]

On 6/1/2019 at 6:05 PM, bwpage3 said:

That wall has no strength whatsoever.

The mortar is all porous and was not mixed correctly.

Glad someone else picked up on that.

[Just Weird]

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.

"...where is the green earth wire as you have metal back boxes..."

Perhaps the green wire that can be seen in the photo is the green earth?

[grollies]

53 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

"...where is the green earth wire as you have metal back boxes..."

Perhaps the green wire that can be seen in the photo is the green earth?

you may want to get an eye test, looks blue to me but then again it could be me who is colour-blind........ which is why I asked the OP (not you) to clarify.

[Bassosa]

4 minutes ago, grollies said:

you may want to get an eye test, looks blue to me but then again it could be me who is colour-blind........ which is why I asked the OP (not you) to clarify.

I'll post a pic tomorrow. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't an earth wire...

[eyecatcher]

1 hour ago, The Theory said:

Im sure you are a knowledgeable man and forgive me, perhaps I’m wrong, 

But I’m just wondering where the fire comes from !!! From inside the wall !!! 

Perhaps by electrical wires ?!!! Correct wiring technic has own discussion. 

Those cavity walls need to breath since temperature goes up and down. And internal layer will become cool by AC, especially if brick used. Moisture will build up behind the cool wall. 

 

 

Of course I am referring to Uk build standards but priciples are the same.

Fires start generally inside and main route for fire in cavities would be plastic window frames, extractor sleeves, wc soil pipes. 

With timber roofs in the uk the ideas is not to allow fire into the roof space.

Moisture in a cavity via condensation is only an issue when cavities were fully filled, so boards and batts became the norm.

Here cavities are not filled generally so moisture and condenation are not really issues.

On timber frame construction it is a potential problem so all frames are covered with a vapour barrier.

Closing cavities tho keeps those birds and rats out, they can be a real nuisance

[canopy]

19 hours 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

It sounds like you still have a temporary meter then. With a temporary meter your power bills will be double the normal price. When you request a permanent meter (which is normally done when the house is finished) they should at that time perform an inspection, switch the meter, and the power bills will be half price.

 

[Just Weird]

17 hours ago, grollies said:

you may want to get an eye test, looks blue to me but then again it could be me who is colour-blind........ which is why I asked the OP (not you) to clarify.

Maybe I do, maybe you do, who knows, but it's green on my computer, that's why I commented.  And I was not clarifying anything, I asked a question...

 

17 hours ago, grollies said:

Perhaps the green wire that can be seen in the photo is the green earth?  

 

 

By the way, you posted on a public forum, by definition that invites responses, if you don't like that arrangement perhaps you should have just PM-ed him.

[grollies]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Maybe I do, maybe you do, who knows, but it's green on my computer, that's why I commented.  And I was not clarifying anything, I asked a question...

 

 

 

By the way, you posted on a public forum, by definition that invites responses, if you don't like that arrangement perhaps you should have just PM-ed him.

Whatever mate.

[Bassosa]

OK, so now we have a situation that we have back-to-back junction boxes. It seems obvious to me that sound will travel through these junction boxes from one room to the other.

 

When brainstorming a solution, my electrician recommended bakelite sheet cut to the size of the junction boxes which are then pushed into the back of the junction boxes and sealed into place. This then supposedly blocks any noise.

 

My thoughts were to use an expanding PU foam and spray it inbetween the two junction boxes and around. Basically creating a foam barrier within the (damaged) cavity wall.

 

I know some of you are very knowledgeable so my question is, what would you do to prevent sound traveling between back-to-back junction boxes in a cavity wall that has been partially destroyed by a careless electrician chasing channels for conduits?

Edited June 5, 2019 by Bassosa

[bankruatsteve]

It seems trivial to me, but yeah - spray some foam after one box in.

[sometimewoodworker]

39 minutes ago, Bassosa said:

I know some of you are very knowledgeable so my question is, what would you do to prevent sound traveling between back-to-back junction boxes in a cavity wall that has been partially destroyed by a careless electrician chasing channels for conduits?

Regrettably that isn't really the question. The real question is "is my thin double wall built with cheap hollow blocks going to do much to stop noise." The answer to that is not much and cutting holes in it will do even less. So you can improve the sound reduction from very little to not much by putting foam behind the junction boxes.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, Bassosa said:

I know some of you are very knowledgeable so my question is, what would you do to prevent sound traveling between back-to-back junction boxes in a cavity wall that has been partially destroyed by a careless electrician chasing channels for conduits?

Maybe you missed my post back on page 1 where I explained why none of what you have done so far will help much with sound insulation.

 

 

For the particular issue with the junction boxes - and assuming that you do nothing more on the lines I suggested - then uPVC foam will probably be the simplest and cheapest solution. Mass loaded vinyl would be better but rather pointless unless you do the whole wall, which is what you should be doing.

[Orton Rd]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Regrettably that isn't really the question. The real question is "is my thin double wall built with cheap hollow blocks going to do much to stop noise." The answer to that is not much and cutting holes in it will do even less. So you can improve the sound reduction from very little to not much by putting foam behind the junction boxes.

I had a double wall built when our house was being constructed as between  (twin house) walls it was not even q con but those crappy grey hollow blocks. I insisted on a gap but that did not happen, and they only did downstairs not up. The difference in noise insulation between up and down is only slight, I wish I had asked them for a price with q con.