Exterior Wall Bricklaying

[freedomnow]

Is this pretty much standard the way developers get workers to lay bricks here ?

 

Tall with no depth

vs

'the western way' - short and deeper laid bricks.

 

Nice little trick to save on material costs that is not too obvious once the walls are plastered and they frame the window exterior with a trim to make it look thick when looking from the inside to outside of a room.

 

The heat resistance must be woeful...or does it not much of a difference ?

 

Just had a look at a house nearby being made when the guys have their day off.

 

Maybe that laying method would be OK if there were an additional air-gapped wall on top of this...aka cavity walling

for cooling purposes.

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by freedomnow

[Bday Prang]

Why use bricks at all ?   the larger grey blocks are much quicker  ( and just as bad ) non of them are used as structural components anyway as the house is a concrete frame.    Some form of industrial type cladding with integral insulation would be much much better, It doesn't have to be grey any colour or pattern  would be possible.

[sometimewoodworker]

59 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

Nice little trick to save on material costs that is not too obvious once the walls are plastered and they frame the window exterior with a trim to make it look thick when looking from the inside to outside of a room.

 

The heat resistance must be woeful...or does it not much of a difference ?

 

Just had a look at a house nearby being made when the guys have their day off.

 

Maybe that laying method would be OK if there were an additional air-gapped wall on top of this...aka cavity walling

for cooling purposes.

Thai Red bricks have little insulation value, thin AAC blocks are 2.5 times better. Cavity construction  will improve things but not by that much.

 

from a 2019 post of mine 

If you are going for a single skin then AAC (Q-Con is one brand) is hands down the best and also fastest, so saving on labour, to put up. As the walls are flat you don't need a thick render so saving on materials and labour again.

The only time that cinder blocks can do as well as AAC is if you have a double skin wall and add insulation it then is at least as good and less expensive 

The R value for a 7cm thick AAC block is 3.25, the grey block has an R value of only 1. Red brick has an R value of 0.4. Lastly 20cm AAC has an R value of 8.7

To break down the pricing per square meter the cost of an R value of 1

AAC 7.5cm 87 Baht per sm - r value 1
AAC 20cm 84 Baht per sm - r value 1 [old price]
Red brick 505 Baht per sm - r value 1 [old price]
Cinder block 179 Baht per sm - r value 1 [old price]

Of course the actual R number for AAC is 3.25 so the cost per square meter is divided by 3.25 and for red bricks you need to multiply the price by 2.5 

This is from a posting from 2012 that is where the [old price] comes from and as I remember it was on another website that refers to teak and doors.

I have broken down the calculation to give as cost equivalent of the R value as 1 because just giving a cost per square metre is deceptive. If you don't care about insulation and just want a wall then cinder blocks are the cheapest.

If you want insulation and to be able to hang anything anywhere on the walls then AAC is an easy choice.

I have a room with cinder blocks and hate fitting things to it, in contrast to the AAC blocks in the workshop where I just drill and put in a wall plug anywhere, after I learned to get the hole size correct rather than allowing for the plug to expand, I've not had a plug come out and have some significant heavy stuff on just a couple of screws.

Edited August 28, 2022 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

3 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

 .

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by sometimewoodworker

[proton]

Q con blocks are the best, those red brick walls often look like they have as much morter as brick, sometimes you can see daylight coming through! Cinder blocks are OK for garden walls, unfortunately ours was built with them internally between the house next door- no sound insulation at all.

[freedomnow]

Just now, proton said:

Q con blocks are the best, those red brick walls often look like they have as much morter as brick, sometimes you can see daylight coming through! Cinder blocks are OK for garden walls, unfortunately ours was built with them internally between the house next door- no sound insulation at all.

So the Q-con in addition to great heat resistance, have the best sound blocking as well ?

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Nice little trick to save on material costs that is not too obvious once the walls are plastered and they frame the window exterior with a trim to make it look thick when looking from the inside to outside of a room.

It all hinges on your choice of builder.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by sandyf

[recom273]

25 minutes ago, sandyf said:

It all hinges on your choice of builder.

 

 

Did you render over them? they look nice.

[OneMoreFarang]

One problem with narrow walls like this is if you want to hang anything on such a wall.

If it's only a few cm thick and half of that is a hole, then wall plugs don't have much to told on.

 

 

 

[proton]

2 hours ago, freedomnow said:

So the Q-con in addition to great heat resistance, have the best sound blocking as well ?

So I believe

[freedomnow]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

It all hinges on your choice of builder.

 

 

Is that Q-Con 20cm thickness on interior wall ?

[unheard]

@freedomnow

Yes, it's the standard and cheapest method of wall construction in Thailand.

Any deviation from this default will add to the price.

The pictured brick walls will be covered in thick render, on both sides.

There's nothing awful about that - most Thai houses are built that way.

[unheard]

3 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

Is that Q-Con 20cm thickness on interior wall ?

Looks to be 7.5 cm

[unheard]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

It all hinges on your choice of builder.

Rather on the amount of money you want to spend building your house, all other things being equal.

Edited August 28, 2022 by unheard

[unheard]

2 hours ago, freedomnow said:

So the Q-con in addition to great heat resistance, have the best sound blocking as well ?

I'd say it depends on the thickness of the Q-con brick.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, unheard said:

@freedomnow

Yes, it's the standard and cheapest method of wall construction in Thailand.

Any deviation from this default will add to the price.

The pictured brick walls will be covered in thick render, on both sides.

There's nothing awful about that - most Thai houses are built that way.

While it certainly is extremely common it is being slowly displaced by better methods. It very much depends in the target, if it is low price only then either cinder blocks or red bricks work. But if you need sound & heat insulation and intend AC use then AAC is tough to beat

[Mac Mickmanus]

Bricks laid upright are to save on the cost of buying bricks and mortar  an its also quicker to lay those bricks , so cheaper there as well .

   This is the builder cutting corners to make more profit as its cheaper and quicker to lay upright

[Regyai]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

One problem with narrow walls like this is if you want to hang anything on such a wall.

If it's only a few cm thick and half of that is a hole, then wall plugs don't have much to told on.

 

 

 

Another issue is security,. as I pointed out to an acquaintance with just such a build after the multi lock point doors and widow grills etc were fitted.

 

He was bemused when I told him anyone with a lump hammer can walk up & come in through the wall of his choosing.

 

[unheard]

13 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

This is the builder cutting corners to make more profit as its cheaper and quicker to lay upright

Again, there's nothing in the pictures to suggest that the builder has been cutting any corners.

The builder has been contracted to erect Thai standard walls.

This is exactly what the builder has done!

[transam]

The bricks in the OP photos are laid the wrong way I reckon to save money................????

[unheard]

10 minutes ago, transam said:

The bricks in the OP photos are laid the wrong way I reckon to save money................????

And what is the right way?

The pictures show the standard way for Thailand.

Edited August 29, 2022 by unheard

[transam]

1 minute ago, unheard said:

And what is the right way?

Flat, gives the wall adequate width for drilling, rawlplugging etc....

Same as farangland brick laying..

With those bricks laid sideways a break-in would be easy, a couple of whacks, your in...????

[unheard]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Flat, gives the wall adequate width for drilling, rawlplugging etc....

Same as farangland brick laying..

With those bricks laid sideways a break-in would be easy, a couple of whacks, your in...????

Sure, but here's not farangland.

Walls in faranglands are normally of the load bearing structural design, as opposed to frame bearing in Thailand.

That's the main reason for the differences in wall construction.

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Is that Q-Con 20cm thickness on interior wall ?

No, I think about 70mm. Overall wall thickness is 225mm, bricks rebated to 25mm over 200mm pillars. Q-Con flush with pillars internally with approx 60mm airgap.

Only indication of pillars internally is in one corner of the 2 bedrooms.

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, unheard said:

Rather on the amount of money you want to spend building your house, all other things being equal.

Not always the case, I have seen some very expensive houses with problems.

It is all about the builder rather than price, mine was 900K.

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, unheard said:

I'd say it depends on the thickness of the Q-con brick.

It is about the density of the insulating material, the higher the density the better the performance relative to thickness. It is all about the amount of air contained within the product.

[unheard]

53 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Not always the case, I have seen some very expensive houses with problems.

It is all about the builder rather than price, mine was 900K.

You can always find exceptions to the rule.

But as with everything else, you get what you pay for.

Besides, 900K would buy a lot more of a house in 2009, compared to today.

[unheard]

50 minutes ago, sandyf said:

It is about the density of the insulating material, the higher the density the better the performance relative to thickness. It is all about the amount of air contained within the product.

It's much more complex than that.

Here's a good site to check:

https://soundproofcentral.com/sound-deadening-materials/

[Mac Mickmanus]

4 hours ago, unheard said:

Sure, but here's not farangland.

Walls in faranglands are normally of the load bearing structural design, as opposed to frame bearing in Thailand.

That's the main reason for the differences in wall construction.

Loadbaring walls in the West are usually made out of concrete walls/ Blocks .

   Bricks aren't used often for load baring walls

[sometimewoodworker]

9 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Loadbaring walls in the West are usually made out of concrete walls/ Blocks .

   Bricks aren't used often for load baring walls

That depends on the country you are talking about. The vast majority of house’s in London and many other U.K. areas are made of load bearing brick walls, though economics has meant that blocks are preferred in lower cost new buildings, but as the vast majority of houses are not new but old that doesn’t matter that much.

 

My parents house, both of my houses, my younger brothers house, my older brothers first house. All of these were in areas where all the older houses were of load bearing brick. The only houses that were not were 2 houses that were rather older that were half timber construction.