Keeping It All Together

[Crossy]

We Don't Need No Education ......

But we need a wall to stop our expensive landfill washing into the Kings Khlong.

During the process of granting planning permission for our palace the chaps from the Tambon office (Town Hall) came round to re-mark the extremities of the property, to ensure we didn't "accidentally" build on next-doors land.

Part of the process was to insert new marker posts to define our property, several of these posts ended up some metres outside what we thought were our limits, two posts were placed in the khlong (canal).

Khun Id (that's the Missus) worked out that we could gain 150 - 200m² of flat, usable land by building a retaining wall rather than sloping down at the edges, since that's about 2/3 the area covered by the planned house it's not to be sneezed at.

The proposed structure consists of 5m H piles driven at 2m intervals with 2m concrete planks slipped between, every 2nd pile will have an angled brace as support to prevent the lot moving under the pressure of the fill behind it. A cast-in-place concrete cap will form a base for the decorative wall that will eventually top the structure and provide privacy.

Details and construction pictures here :- http://www.crossy.co.uk/HouseBuilding/Reta...ainingWall.html

Updates as things progress.

[Rimmer]

That's very interesting, keep the pictures coming. Any idea what it will all cost?

[teacup]

Wow just amazing with all those primitive tools, look what you can achieve!!!

Thanks for sharing and keep us up to date

How about giving them a hardhat and boots?…..(complying with OSHA?….haha)

[Crossy]

Cost is quoted at 3300 Baht per metre finished to the cap, decco wall on top will be extra. I've seen some of Khun Contractors other work, seems pretty competent.

Fill to bring our new bit up to level is 1700 Baht per 10 wheel truck (about 8m³ IIRC), from a different source but Khun Contractor said he'll install it in the price.

PSE??? I wear my 'tectors but no hat, the Missus goes Thai style, we do however keep well out of the way. I'll have to get her instructed in the use of hard hat when we start the house and there is significant danger of a Thai falling on her.

I'm off to India again on sunday, but the Missus will keep taking piccies, just may take a while to get them on the site.

EDIT. Forgot to mention, we are in Amphoe Sam Khok, Pathum Thani, next door to Wat Thua Thong.

[Crossy]

Back from India

So, as promised, more pictures. Taken by my lovely lady.

The Wall Part II http://www.crossy.co.uk/HouseBuilding/Reta...iningWall2.html

[PeaceBlondie]

Great pics, Crossy. Our crude fence collapsed into the rice field at the season's first rain, right after the workers finished the new house. It was not unexpected, but earlier than we had planned. We are only 1 meter above the rice paddy. The workers came in, cleared out the rubble, set concrete piles into the ground, made a base, etc, all along the north side.

They were all males, and other than the delivery truck and a saw to cut rebar, it was done by hand. The guy set up a workbench and bent the rebar using a wrench (spanner?). They cast new concrete poles onto the top, laced with four strands of barbed wire. Next month they will do the same on the south and east.

My observation, from watching local Thais build our house, is that they know what they are doing, and do it well. Your mileage may vary.

[Crossy]

Our wall is considerably more robust than I thought it would be from the contractor's description. Only (minor) issue is the amount of busted formwork he failed to remove from the site, obviously left for when he starts the house construction.

Part III of the continuing story is here http://www.crossy.co.uk/HouseBuilding/Reta...iningWall3.html

[tjo o tjim]

Crossy--

Did your contractor provide drainage behind the retaining wall? Was any type of soil stabilization done behind the wall, or does it rely entirely on the tie-backs?

Idle curiosity.

[Crossy]

Did your contractor provide drainage behind the retaining wall? Was any type of soil stabilization done behind the wall, or does it rely entirely on the tie-backs?

Tim, curiosity from someone who knows what he's doing is never idle

Point taken about drainage. Nothing provided yet but since it's not been backfilled yet it's not too late to install something to stop the whole lot filling with water in the big rain. My biggest worry would be backflow when the river floods (it gets to within about 50cm of the top of the wall when it's really full). Bright ideas?

No soil stabilisation so we're reliant upon the 4m of pile in the ground and the fully buried 5m tiebacks. That said there's no traffic load except where the drive enters at which point the tiebacks and piles are doubled up. The filled ground has been pretty stable this far (2 years) with a 45^o sloped edge so we're really only supporting a triangle of earth about 1.5 - 2 m high.

There are other examples of this construction locally that are at least 4-5 years old and showing no visible signs of movement.

[Crossy]

The final lot of wall pictures http://www.crossy.co.uk/HouseBuilding/Reta...iningWall4.html

Next, (when funds allow) a house gets built

Already after only a month or so the pla-chon in the khlong are breeding well so hopefully the locals will have some easily caught fish, and we won't have a smelly khlong

[Macx]

Thanks for sharing the nice pics.

Using a digger/excavator to drive the pile into the soil is very interesting. Was it very difficult to do? How far down could they have gone (beyond your 4m)?

Also, have you ever heard/seen them using this method to put in piles for house columns? (A builder mentioned this method, but his reputation is a bit shaky so I'm curious if anyone has seen or used this method.)

[Crossy]

The digger was struggling to get the piles in up by the road where the ground is dryer (tipping back on the tracks), but I reckon he could have relatively easily pushed them underground at the water's edge.

I actually asked Khun Contractor (via the Missus) if that is how they would put the house piles in. The look of abject horror on his face required no translation, house piles will be driven with one of the weight-on-a-string pile drivers

[Macx]

Thanks, much appreciated. That bit of info is great. Can't wait to see your house get built!

Best of luck!