Building a new house in Isaan

[Encid]

21 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

How deep is the gap going to Be ?

My only concern is that if you can drop something down there, you will... ????

 

The gap will be 2m high on the wall side and 1.6m high on the ring side.

 

As said earlier we plan to plant different coloured bougainvillea in the top of each ring, which will add a ton of colour to the top of the wall and eventually cascade over the side. Being a spiny plant it will also be a good security measure because anyone trying to climb over that wall in the future (from either side) will be bleeding profusely. 

 

So I don't forecast anything getting dropped down there at all. 

[Encid]

17 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Don’t. It will fill up in time anyway, but I can virtually guarantee that if they try to fill it they will damage the slat wall.

That's 2 votes now for leaving the "snake gap" open.

Any others?

[Encid]

And this morning the concrete truck was there to half fill the bottom rings with concrete... so the unpainted rebar will not be rusting now.

 

 

[HighPriority]

1 hour ago, Encid said:

The gap will be 2m high on the wall side and 1.6m high on the ring side.

 

As said earlier we plan to plant different coloured bougainvillea in the top of each ring, which will add a ton of colour to the top of the wall and eventually cascade over the side. Being a spiny plant it will also be a good security measure because anyone trying to climb over that wall in the future (from either side) will be bleeding profusely. 

 

So I don't forecast anything getting dropped down there at all. 

I think you've just guaranteed that EVERYTHING will end up down there !!

????????

[carlyai]

Going well. ????

 

 

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, HighPriority said:

I think you've just guaranteed that EVERYTHING will end up down there !!

????????

Sods Law ????

[Encid]

And today they are back-filling the land... 

 

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, Encid said:

And today they are back-filling the land... 

 

I assume you are going to get it compacted, as if you don’t you are likely to get 50% settlement, if you do it’s likely to be 30% settlement, so there is no point in levelling the fill off, actually you need to over fill to reduce the amount you will need to add later.
 

And while they are compacting you need to have a careful watch on the gap between the rings and the slat wall to make sure the compacting doesn’t shift the rings.

[Encid]

8 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

I assume you are going to get it compacted...

We are only compacting it with the trucks at the moment, as we do not want to put any pressure at all on the concrete rings.

We are happy to leave it to compact naturally over the next year or two, or three, or... then back-fill again when needed.

Only 1 of the piles for the guest house is going to be driven into the back-filled area, and that supports the wrap-around deck.

[sometimewoodworker]

7 minutes ago, Encid said:

We are only compacting it with the trucks at the moment, as we do not want to put any pressure at all on the concrete rings.

We are happy to leave it to compact naturally over the next year or two, or three, or... then back-fill again when needed.

Only 1 of the piles for the guest house is going to be driven into the back-filled area, and that supports the wrap-around deck.

If the trucks are driving over the new fill then you are putting more pressure on the rings, probably not much, but you still need to watch the gap. The fill by itself will be exerting pressure on the rings. 
So keep an eye on the gap for the next week and after the next rain storm.

[Encid]

Well... so much for "snake gaps" and Sod's Law... despite instructions NOT to fill the void between the concrete slat wall and the concrete ring wall, they've gone and filled it anyway!

It would seem that the local that was hired to level out the land and fill the rings decided that he knew best and that nobody would want a gap like that so he just filled it!

It just goes to show how important it is going to be to actually be there on site during the construction phase to catch variations to plan and well-intentioned but misguided actions... otherwise management by remote control is going to result in unwanted variations and possible rework.

 

Anyway... jobs done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Muhendis]

6 minutes ago, Encid said:

It would seem that the local that was hired to level out the land and fill the rings decided that he knew best and that nobody would want a gap like that so he just filled it!

Aah yes.

That'll be Murphy's Law.

[farmerjo]

Looks like he has done a good job though and wall should be ok.

 

 

[carlyai]

Now all you need is the guy who owns the land on the other side of the fence to dig a water way along the boundry. 

[farmerjo]

1 minute ago, carlyai said:

Now all you need is the guy who owns the land on the other side of the fence to dig a water way along the boundry. 

That would be my main concern.

Even though the fence is built back inside the boundary markers.

Maybe not the old lady but the tractor contractor comes in and each year skims a little bit more off the bund wall.It will happen.

 

[Encid]

Well another month has passed and we have finally signed a contract with our builder on 22 Feb for the construction of the Guest House.

 

After all the discussion we had in this topic about how to effectively seal a flat roof, we had further discussions with our builder we are now going to be building an alternative roof... one that keeps the same appearance or profile from all sides at grade level up to 4m high, but will actually be a sloping Bluescope steel PU insulated roof behind an AAC block facade on all sides, so for all intents and purposes it will appear like a flat roof (unless you use a cherry-picker or a drone!).

 

The facade will also hide a large gutter to collect the rain water and discharge it out through the facade via 10cm dia downpipes.

 

Our builder revised his BOQ based on this design and was able to achieve an overall 20% cost saving over the original price (based on reduced rebar steel in the roof and supporting columns) as well as an improved construction schedule.

 

We paid a deposit so he could order the piles then went to visit the site to survey the land and decide where the piles were to be driven.

 

 

I wanted to maintain a width of 4m for a road access from the government road onto our property, then maintain that same width road down the middle of our elevated land plot and down a ramp to the farm, so that was one of the governing aspects to locating the building.

 

The second governing aspect was that I wanted both the Main House (future) and the Guest House to be constructed parallel to the existing pond, which runs North-South on the property. The fact that the boundary concrete slat wall is about 8° off the N-S line doesn't really concern us as it will hardly be noticeable in a couple of years time (especially after our perimeter bougainvilleas get established).

 

The third governing aspect was to try to get the Guest House as close as possible to the Northern boundary, in order to get some "separation distance" between it and the Main House. This will provide some privacy for all of us who will be living there (actually a lot more privacy than that which is available in the village at the moment).

 

It was hot out there surveying, and we had to move the pegs a few times so we could achieve the setout criteria listed above, but we finally completed it in about 2 hours and sprayed painted all the pile location pegs with bright pink paint.

 

The piles were due to be delivered on 1 March.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Encid]

And from the air...

 

 

 

 

 

The pegs (or wooden stakes) that are not painted represent the 4m wide access road.

 

[Encid]

Last night (2 March) the piles were finally delivered...

 

 

 

[Encid]

And this morning (3 March) the pile driver arrived and started work...

(Please no disparaging safety related comments... I know... I know... )

 

 

 

 

   

 

All the piles are being driven into the land that has been settling for the past 11 months, and you can see that it is pretty slow work.

 

We opted to go with 26cm x 26cm x 6m long piles rather than 22cm x 22cm, as there was only a cost differential of 100 baht per pile (delivered) and it costs about 1000 baht per pile to drive.

 

There will be 27 piles driven.

 

None are being driven into the freshly filled land that we reclaimed behind the retaining wall (which hasn't moved at all by the way... but fingers are crossed and we're keeping a close eye on it.)

 

[Encid]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:25 AM, farmerjo said:

Looks like he has done a good job though and wall should be ok.

 

 

1 month later and it still looks OK... no rain yet though... 

[Encid]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:37 AM, carlyai said:

Now all you need is the guy who owns the land on the other side of the fence to dig a water way along the boundry. 

Actually we are thinking of renting/leasing it. 

We have heard via the jungle drums that our formerly troublesome neighbour has fallen on hard times, and although her pride is preventing her from selling the property, she is amenable to a rental arrangement.

I would prefer a lease with a fixed term rather than an annual rental, as for sure she'd want to terminate the agreement if we made improvements.

There's no hurry for now... but the seed has been planted and I will just sit back and see if it grows... 

[Encid]

On 3/3/2023 at 6:21 PM, Encid said:

We opted to go with 26cm x 26cm x 6m long piles rather than 22cm x 22cm, as there was only a cost differential of 100 baht per pile (delivered)

Too late to edit... my wife informed me today that the cost differential was actually 50 baht per pile, not 100 baht.

And delivery was free because we bought more than 20 piles.

[Elkski]

I knew it was going to be to hard to leave all those gap holes unfilled but I'm imagining they will sink in 20% because no way were they compacted.   Wasn't there a French drain line put in next to the wall? 

 

Will trucks be able to get up that entrance ramp after a rain?  Surely you would have a plan for some retaining wall safety curb on that ramp area.  How much rise vs run does it have? Don't want a truck slipping off into that fence and blocking all work.  

[Encid]

18 hours ago, Elkski said:

I knew it was going to be to hard to leave all those gap holes unfilled but I'm imagining they will sink in 20% because no way were they compacted. 

If the weather this year is anything like last year (with lots of rain and localized flooding) I'm anticipating at least a 30% settlement.

I am not concerned because there will be no building constructed on that land, and we can further back-fill it in the future.

 

18 hours ago, Elkski said:

Wasn't there a French drain line put in next to the wall? 

No... the original plan was to leave it unfilled as there was already a 20cm dia PVC drain at the end of the wall leading to the rice field.

That drain is now probably blocked, but I do not anticipate a lot of rain water is going to cause a problem for that small volume of land between the concrete rings retaining wall and the concrete slat wall.

We are only talking about a total surface area of 12 cu.m. over a 60m length after all.

 

18 hours ago, Elkski said:

Will trucks be able to get up that entrance ramp after a rain?

Did you see the size of the truck (18-wheeler) that delivered our piles a few nights ago? See the photos above.

They don't come much larger than that in our area due to the small rambling country concrete roads.

After the construction of the Guest House is complete, our plan is to survey the land for the location of the Main House, and drive in pegs for the pile locations.

The 4m wide access road will also be located and pegged.

Then we will do some localized soil preparation, lay down some geotextile, and prepare some boxing for a steel mesh reinforced concrete road from the front entrance at the government road through our building site then down to the farm.

I do not anticipate that trucks or other farm harvesting machinery will have any problems accessing the property after rain.

 

18 hours ago, Elkski said:

Surely you would have a plan for some retaining wall safety curb on that ramp area.

Not required.

There will be a drain under the ramp, and geotextile laid over the top of the prepared soil, then the whole thing will be concreted (with steel mesh to reinforce the concrete on the road section.

We will then build a formal gate and some decorative columns to flank the road entrance.

We are considering a remote controlled electric bifold gate (similar to the image below) as it will be on a slope and these types of folding gates are the only gates that work on a slope.

 

Other suggestions are welcome...

 

 

18 hours ago, Elkski said:

How much rise vs run does it have?

Currently it is a 1.6m rise over a 10m run, which works out at an angle of 9°, so hardly difficult for any vehicle to climb but slightly more than 7° which is the maximum parking slope permitted in the International Building Code (IBC)... but, this is not a car park and neither is it Koh Chang or Phuket, both of which locations I have personally driven on many occasions and both locations have public roads with slope angles far in excess of 9°.

 

And of course the site access ramp will have transition slopes so our Ferrari-driving friends will not scrape their cars on the concrete.

We won't bother transitioning the ramp down to the farm... no Ferraris will be going there.   

 

[Encid]

Meanwhile our builder has been busy dismantling protection/storage sheds at another building site and relocating and erecting them at our building site.

The will give the workers some shade and protection and somewhere to eat their food and drinks and rest during the day.

The actual camp for the workers will be located down on the farm, so their personal effects, washing, etc. will be about 80m from the work site.

 

 

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/20/2022 at 12:53 AM, KarenBravo said:

Build a house using construction methods the contractor knows.

Nothing wrong with post and beam with rendered brick walls.

 

Frankly, building on your wife's land, close to her family, is in my opinion a mistake. If (God forbid) things don't work out, the house is unsalable.

I was waiting for some brave soul to post the obvious on this thread to agree with.

I often wonder when reading threads like this how many Thais are living in houses that were built by farangs that were "removed" from the scene after it was completed.

 

I probably made every mistake it's possible to make in LOS, but I never built a house for my now divorced ex wife.

[Encid]

Our builder has also been busy off-site at his Khon Kaen workshop with workers bending and cutting and tying the rebar for the footings which will be welded to the reinforcing steel inside the piles.

These guys are strong!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/20/2022 at 2:18 AM, KhaoYai said:

Really?  They eat the board?

 

Drywall systems are just cheap rubbish - designed to increase developer's profits.  Long term they can be very problematic.

Depends on the construction. If house is built with wood it has to be lined on inside with something. In NZ drywall is called Gib board, and I think every house I ever went in was constructed with wood and lined with Gib board.

[Encid]

40 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

In NZ drywall is called Gib board, and I think every house I ever went in was constructed with wood and lined with Gib board.

Don't you mean "gyp board" as in gypsum board?

Due to its inherent fire resistance, gypsum board, commonly known as drywall is the premier building material for wall, ceiling, and partition systems in residential, institutional, and commercial structures in both Australia and New Zealand.

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, Encid said:

small rambling country concrete roads

You make it sound desirably quaint.

 

1 hour ago, Encid said:

Ferrari-driving friends

That'll be the local constabulary.