First House. All Help Appreciated

[lilleOle]

hello everyone.

been cruising around on this forum, reading and trying to understand

more of how construction is done here in thailand and hoping you guys

maybe can help me out a bit.

what do i need to pay extra attention to now that they are building?

what are the typical "mistakes" made while they build ?

the engineer building my house says he will get the concrete outside to look exactly as the picture attached,

and keep all the green stuff you get in the concrete away by painting on a layer of silicone.

and he says he will be using fine particle concrete and sandpaper to get the smooth and same look.

is there any other/better way to do this?

[snarky66]

I guess by "green stuff" you mean algae. Sorry I can't see what you are going for there.

[lilleOle]

algae, yes. sorry for my english.

question i want to ask is how can i get the support pillar

to look like in the picture?

engineer says he would use fine particle cement i believe and sandpaper

to get the same look as pictured

and use a layer of silicone to keep algae away.

thanks

[snarky66]

Ok so it's a very smooth cement. Normally you get that by increasing the amount of (cement) powder to the mix. I don't doubt they will wet sand it once dry. Since you will not have "pores" there is no way for algae to get a foothold.. I am not familiar with putting silicone on after the sanding or "finishing". Shouldn't really be necessary.

3 years & your first post. Welcome to TV.

Edited August 18, 2011 by snarky66

[lilleOle]

ok, thanks for replying.

i will keep a close look, when it gets near i will follow up with

some pictures and how it was done, if successful.

[surayu]

Why don't you just use some tiles/marble/whatever else on top of it? There is some very nice materials out there for sale to satisfy almost all estetique requirements...

[sezze]

Looks polished concrte or just concrte which is poored in real smooth surface casting ( the same way the poles itself are made ) .

[Rimmer]

In my experience rubbing the cured cement with sandpaper is not the way to get sharp looking concrete.

Make sure he uses steel or plastic formwork and the correct grade of ready mix concrete from a truck. not wooden forms and something from his cement mixer.

He should also vibrate the mix down to settle it and get out any air pockets using an electrical vibrator.

TOA do add mixes to prevent algae forming on the surface, I would think the readymix concrete people can take care of that at the batching plant. I have used this add mix on outside grout on my drive and never had one speck of green or black algae.

[bbradsby]

The finish you're showing what is called 'architectural concrete" by the ACI, Google the terms, and its damned hard work & big money to get it anywhere in the developed world. In Thailand, you're more likely to have a snowman show up onsite. Sorry to burst your bubble.

If your engineer/builder (suspect already) says he can make it happen, make full-size mock-up's to match your photo (Exhibit 'A') of a column and a 1 meter x 1 meter surface a requirement of the contract, with your approval due before any actual job concrete or your money shows up. If he uses metal or MDF forms, perfectly built, and then wet-trowels on a cement paste after the forms are pulled... and all his formwork & finishing workmen are multi- reincarnations of Michaelangelo you stand a chance at success `:] Just saying... be prepared to have a serious haul on your hands if you insist on that level of materials, forming, pouring & finishing.

Also, sharp-edged corners are not recommended for concrete as its very delicate. Concrete is lousy in tension, and any knocks to the corners will chip off good sized divots. Thats why you see 45 degree chamfers on the corners of good concrete work. And getting straight-as an arrow, perfectly razor-sharp corners... ok, I can only say youre dreaming. best do it yourself on a few samples so you come to understand the material that is concrete. I'd suggest you add some clay soil to the mix to get a nice warm hue to the concrete, ease the corners and get comfortable with a more earthy/natural look to your concrete. It's not a material that gives you industrial precision w/o the above-mentioned level of workmanship.

The silicone is just a sealer, no biggie, and is common enough. It will be the least of your worries, as you'll be ready for the rubber ranch before the concrete is ready for it.

[Pib]

Here in my moobaan which pretty much has houses under construction all the time the workers who make concrete walls and sometimes smooth them out to almost glass smoothness is amazing to me. Other walls they leave with a rough texture...all depends on the appearance desired. But its a simple process which uses fine cement with very little to no fine sand, simple smoothing tools while smoothing with water being applied, etc. They have it down to an art. They built a bathroom next to the soccer field about two years ago, just made the inside and outside concrete walls really smooth instead of also painting them, and it's never had algae. Now, if they had also painted the walls I'm sure the paint would have black and green streaking/algae all over the place by now.

[T_Dog]

Here in my moobaan which pretty much has houses under construction all the time the workers who make concrete walls and sometimes smooth them out to almost glass smoothness is amazing to me. Other walls they leave with a rough texture...all depends on the appearance desired. But its a simple process which uses fine cement with very little to no fine sand, simple smoothing tools while smoothing with water being applied, etc. They have it down to an art. They built a bathroom next to the soccer field about two years ago, just made the inside and outside concrete walls really smooth instead of also painting them, and it's never had algae. Now, if they had also painted the walls I'm sure the paint would have black and green streaking/algae all over the place by now.

Pib.... I agree, the pros really know how to do a great job. Hopefully someone that has actually done it can tell us how they do it. I know it involves the right mix and then waiting a certain time before doing the final finish, but the devil is in the details on this one. A lot of modern houses have that look now in Thailand and I like it as well.

[Pib]

Here in my moobaan which pretty much has houses under construction all the time the workers who make concrete walls and sometimes smooth them out to almost glass smoothness is amazing to me. Other walls they leave with a rough texture...all depends on the appearance desired. But its a simple process which uses fine cement with very little to no fine sand, simple smoothing tools while smoothing with water being applied, etc. They have it down to an art. They built a bathroom next to the soccer field about two years ago, just made the inside and outside concrete walls really smooth instead of also painting them, and it's never had algae. Now, if they had also painted the walls I'm sure the paint would have black and green streaking/algae all over the place by now.

Pib.... I agree, the pros really know how to do a great job. Hopefully someone that has actually done it can tell us how they do it. I know it involves the right mix and then waiting a certain time before doing the final finish, but the devil is in the details on this one. A lot of modern houses have that look now in Thailand and I like it as well.

I've was also able to watch them from the beginning-to-end of a wall section along a canal directly behind my house. Nothing magic about the materials; it was all experience from these workers doing it many times and having that manual smoothing process down to an art. That wall section turned out just about as smooth as a piece of glass.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Pib