Sixty residents flee for their lives as block of flats leans over backwards in Bangkok

[webfact]

Sixty residents flee for their lives as block of flats leans over backwards in Bangkok

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Almost sixty residents in a 30 room block of flats in Samut Sakhon fled for their lives as their three story building leant over backwards and appeared about to topple. 

 

Residents reported hearing a loud noise and a shaking last night. 

 

Local officials were quickly on the scene sealing off the structure to stop anyone from entering and protecting the property of residents. 

 

It happened at the Pa Yiam building in Phan Thay Norasingh sub-district south west of Bangkok. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Deputy governor of the province Theeraphat Katchamat said that governor Weerasak Wijitsaengsri would be meeting with all concerned at 10 am today to begin the investigation. 

 

Behind the building there is a reservoir. Structural problems and subsidence are initially thought to have caused the leaning.

 

The owner of the property found alternative accommodation for the residents and other plans were put in place to assist them.

 

Source: Daily News

 

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[ezzra]

the can rename the leaning condo of BKK now...

[ChipButty]

Is this why you pay a Sinking Fund?

[colinneil]

Shoddy workmanship, skimping on steel etc.

Look at the pathetic amount of ree bar in the columns.

[Old Croc]

A nice paint job is more important than strong foundations.

[BobBKK]

'structural problems'?  translate that as 20% of the cost was 'diverted'.

[LennyW]

13 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Shoddy workmanship, skimping on steel etc.

Look at the pathetic amount of reeb bar in the columns.

I think the rebar is the only thing stopping it from toppling right now!!

[darksidedog]

And shows the precise reason why I would never buy a property here, especially a tall one.

[Pilotman]

2 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

And shows the precise reason why I would never buy a property here, especially a tall one.

Nothing wrong with property here if you know that it has been constructed to international standards. I watched mine being built and I had a Civil Engineer contracted to oversee the project.  My house is built like a medieval castle, it will out live a few generations of my family that's for sure.  However, I do agree with you about tall buildings, condos etc, where it is impossible to ensure that the build is safe.   

[toofarnorth]

I think it is all about the ground being too wet , the reservoir behind is a clue.  cracks have appeared at the rear of our house and it could be heading off to the rice fields. Today the sun is out  , first night without rain in a month.

[jvs]

I have noticed a few tall very narrow buildings one is Lumpine seaview in cha-am.

It looks like a sailboat,just waiting for a big storm to flip it over.

There must be a massive amount of concrete and steel in the base of it,not my type of building.

[Phuketshrew]

41 minutes ago, ezzra said:

the can rename the leaning condo of BKK now...

Yes, I can see the TAT promo coming shortly ....

[rumak]

advice for building a house :    be sure the ground you are building on is SOLID .   know the history

of the surrounding land , and what is in the near vicinity to where you are building.   flood area ?

rice field ?    If necessary to fill dirt , be sure it is good fill dirt , like they use on dirt roads.  Let it compact for at least one rainy season.    When digging to set foundation posts, go deep enough to enter

the original soil.  Have a decent architect do the plans ...... and YOU should purchase the materials.

Rebar and roof metal especially important as to grade .   Also buying the rock and sand and concrete

will insure they do not skimp.   

and just like in plumbing.... be sure the water from rainfall will be flowing away from the house and downhill   .    don't let your wife or relatives tell you how to do it    55

[spiekerjozef]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Structural problems

Cutting corners it's called...

[ChipButty]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Shoddy workmanship, skimping on steel etc.

Look at the pathetic amount of ree bar in the columns.

I could show you here where the sea wall and the pavement collapsed and no R Bar at all, there was tables placed there from the restaurants across the road 3 people got injured

[steve187]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

And shows the precise reason why I would never buy a property here, especially a tall one.

strange logic, you live in one i assume, that is still built in Thailand,  so as safe as one you can buy

[DaLa]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

Nothing wrong with property here if you know that it has been constructed to international standards. I watched mine being built and I had a Civil Engineer contracted to oversee the project.  My house is built like a medieval castle, it will out live a few generations of my family that's for sure.  However, I do agree with you about tall buildings, condos etc, where it is impossible to ensure that the build is safe.   

Agree entirely, just completed a 5000 sq. foot shop and 6 bed house. The specification ran to over 120 pages and was overseen by an architect. I found it difficult to comprehend the type of construction here, especially the foundations. I had a construction company in the UK and rarely went deeper than 1 metre on a concrete strip. Here we went 16 metres. All the beams had various levels of re-bar calculated for each span. 

 

I was impressed by the workmanship. I was certainly impressed by the hard work put in by the labourers, half of whom were just young women. Wasn't impressed by them working 30 foot up with hardly any scaffold boards.

[Grumpy one]

4 hours ago, Old Croc said:

A nice paint job is more important than strong foundations.

Guess this failed on both counts

[Pilotman]

2 hours ago, DaLa said:

Agree entirely, just completed a 5000 sq. foot shop and 6 bed house. The specification ran to over 120 pages and was overseen by an architect. I found it difficult to comprehend the type of construction here, especially the foundations. I had a construction company in the UK and rarely went deeper than 1 metre on a concrete strip. Here we went 16 metres. All the beams had various levels of re-bar calculated for each span. 

 

I was impressed by the workmanship. I was certainly impressed by the hard work put in by the labourers, half of whom were just young women. Wasn't impressed by them working 30 foot up with hardly any scaffold boards.

Some of it is built into the DNA of the workers and their supervisors  here.  On my house, the Civil Engineer had them take down the whole roof of the veranda because the gauge of the steel supports wasn't up to spec. They didn't seem to understand what all the fuss was about, but they sure got the message when the work ran over time and they were docked 40,000  Baht in compensation payment.   That sharpened them up somewhat. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

hope they are only renting

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, colinneil said:

Shoddy workmanship, skimping on steel etc.

Look at the pathetic amount of ree bar in the columns.

If you can see the rebar there really is a problem????

 

[ebean001]

it is not always the construction of the building. bangkok is sinking. i assume newer construction knows this.

[PGSan]

Some locations have a simpler method: build good foundations down as far as necessary.  Then you can ‘float’ the building even in very wet subsoil (as we do on the Thames river clay in London).

 

But plesse do not forget  to use the appropriate ‘earthquake proof’ standards when in Japan/California etc!

[xerostar]

In the area where I live the ground is very soft.  Recently they were building a new Tesco Lotus store nearby.

I saw them sink an 18 foot concrete column down to ground level in about 20 seconds (about 5 hits)

I have no idea why because they did not build on that section near the road, but further back.

The building was completed in about 2 weeks, complete with a coat of paint.

My apartment is over 100 Metres from the highway. Standing in the car park, every time a heavy truck thunders through you can feel the ground rise and fall like you're standing on a wave, and that was in the dry season.  I think this apartment must be built like a ship that's floating. No cracks visible.

[metisdead]

Some off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Crusader]

At least the owner did the decent thing...rather than just disappear.

[Crusader]

...Unless of course, he was also the builder...

[Sydebolle]

The Alien Business Law clearly stipulates that architecture is a reserved profession of Thais only. 

For once they cannot stick this onto the dirty farangs back ???? 

[laocowboy2]

5 hours ago, DaLa said:

Agree entirely, just completed a 5000 sq. foot shop and 6 bed house. The specification ran to over 120 pages and was overseen by an architect. I found it difficult to comprehend the type of construction here, especially the foundations. I had a construction company in the UK and rarely went deeper than 1 metre on a concrete strip. Here we went 16 metres. All the beams had various levels of re-bar calculated for each span. 

 

I was impressed by the workmanship. I was certainly impressed by the hard work put in by the labourers, half of whom were just young women. Wasn't impressed by them working 30 foot up with hardly any scaffold boards.

And looks very nice indeed.

[elektrified]

Nobody has posted the video? It was like a bomb exploding!