1St Step In Building A House Villa?

[ilikethai]

What's the correct way to measure when starting to build a villa? Can I just grab a measure tape and measure away? let's say I want to build a simple 8mx14m rectangle house. How do i determine where to dig the post hole for the foundation.

I've noticed builders are building like a wooden box around the area of the house to be measured. this seems very expensive.

[necronx99]

Check your boundary with the land office.

Check if there are any local rules about building offsets or if their are any underground pipes.

Pick spot for the corner.

Wooden boxes you see are probably formwork for slabs.

[cardholder]

i don't think you are quite ready to start building a house.

[Naam]

i don't think you are quite ready to start building a house.

with wooden boxes?

[Kwasaki]

What's the correct way to measure when starting to build a villa?.

A Villa, Do some reading first would be a good idea.

Can I just grab a measure tape and measure away?

No !! not really as easy as that.

let's say I want to build a simple 8mx14m rectangle house. ?

You said Villa, That was quick change.

How do i determine where to dig the post hole for the foundation.?

If you have done as " necronx99 " has said.

Tell us what sort of foundation you want from the plans.

Here's a bit of a start :- http://www.oas.org/pgdm/document/codedraw/sectna1.htm

Seriously though do other stuff before digging holes.

[sirineou]

First you need to know where your property survey lines are, and find how far your building needs to be from the property lines.

Then establish an X and a Y axis line by measuring from your property side lines, ( your property side lines could be your axis lines , but they might be too far from your build to measure from them every time you need to know where a building component is located), so establishing axis lines near your building is very helpful.

This could be established by driving wooden stakes or reed bar in the ground and connecting them with a string.

Ones you have your axis lines you need to check if they are square to each other, you can do this by using the 3,4,5, rule.

(if X axis is 3 meters,or what ever measurement unit you want to use, , and Y axis is 4 meters then the a diagonal line from X to Y must be 5 meters. (any combination of these numbers will work)

When you establish a building outline square, you can also check for square by measuring diagonally from one corner to the diagonally opposite corner, and then measuring the other diagonally opposed corners, both diagonall measurements must be exactly the same.

It might sound a little complicated, (or maybe i did not explain it well) but it is a very simple process.

I hope this explanation helped.

[canuckamuck]

Do you have a plan drawn up?

Did you get it made or did you do it yourself?

Do you want 8x14 to be the measurement of the outside of the house or the inside?

[topher]

The builders here will start by constructing a wood frame staked 1m out around the perimeter. Then they measure and set nails in the frame that they use to pull strings. Where the strings intersect is where they dig and lay up the footings. They re-use the wood frame on sites (I believe) so they don't worry about the small amount of wood. Likewise when they make forms for cement - the boards will get cleaned up and taken away to the next site.

When I watched them doing mine they pulled all the strings and you could see all the footing locations at once, so they could eye ball it and double check everything. Theyhammered in stakes, took down the string and started digging about 1.5-2 meters deep, about 1-1.5 meters wide. Meanwhile the women bent rebar and ties and started laying up the columns and bases. When they were ready they started erecting them in location with the string up again. They aren't exactly fussy but they do get them pretty close. Anyway, you want the footing to go down to ground that is hard and not prone to subsiding.

Oh, and when they put the posts up they do a ceremony and have the village elders come and do some prayers etc. I took photos and they were all happy and ate and drank - good luck for the footings = good luck for the house, and makes the spirits happy (or is it to make the bad ones go away? Not sure).

Edited April 1, 2012 by topher

[overherebc]

Do you have a plan drawn up?

Did you get it made or did you do it yourself?

Do you want 8x14 to be the measurement of the outside of the house or the inside?

On that point , one of the biggest problems I had with the builders was convincing them to build the walls on the inside edge of the pillars so I didn't need to cut work surfaces etc to fit against the walls.

The foreman even tried to tell me it was illegal and that's why I couldn't do it. After a lot of discussion he finally relented but was not very happy to do so. The other difficult one was getting the electric cables inside a conduit in the wall instead of just running them down the inside walls to be seen in all their glory.

[canuckamuck]

Do you have a plan drawn up?

Did you get it made or did you do it yourself?

Do you want 8x14 to be the measurement of the outside of the house or the inside?

On that point , one of the biggest problems I had with the builders was convincing them to build the walls on the inside edge of the pillars so I didn't need to cut work surfaces etc to fit against the walls.

The foreman even tried to tell me it was illegal and that's why I couldn't do it. After a lot of discussion he finally relented but was not very happy to do so. The other difficult one was getting the electric cables inside a conduit in the wall instead of just running them down the inside walls to be seen in all their glory.

Part of your problem is your builder. They can be arrogant sods. Just keep pushing for what you want and you will get it eventually. Don't worry about pissing him off, he doesn't respect other opinions anyhow. And when you show him how to do something new, instead of appreciating it, he will scoff. So what, it is a sign of limited vision.

[overherebc]

In the end I had to pay the first sparky for work done and get rid of him. The guy who came after had worked on a large construction site for two years with farang engineers and ended up doing a very good job. He is again working on a large job so off the housing work market for a while but still comes if I have something that needs to be done quickly.

Not too many of them around unfortuately

[bbradsby]

Not sure what the wooden boxes are about. But first you need a scaled, dimensioned plan that sets out your foundation grid. what is your choice of building materials for the superstructure?

[bbradsby]

To the OP, First Thing: you need a scaled, dimensioned plan that sets out your walls, roof lines, foundation & column grid, as well as a foundation strategy. what is your choice of building materials for the superstructure? if lightweight (bamboo, wood) or limited to one story construction, and you're not on landfill, basic spread footings should do fine for your simple rectangle. If these don't apply, you'll hire the local 'pile driver.'

Look for signs of landfill on your site, then look at nearby construction sites & ask around the neighborhood whether driven piers were used or spread footings. The bearing capacity of soil strata in LoS varies hugely from 'non-existent' at filled swamp/rice fields to more than you'll ever need in mountain regions. Its completely site specific, and you need to know what youre looking at, or hire someone who does.

[JimShortz]

This could be established by driving wooden stakes or reed bar in the ground and connecting them with a string.

Now, I may be wrong, but I would suggest avoiding river vegetation and use something stronger such as "rebar"!

[sirineou]

This could be established by driving wooden stakes or reed bar in the ground and connecting them with a string.

Now, I may be wrong, but I would suggest avoiding river vegetation and use something stronger such as "rebar"!

55555

Not wrong , river vegetation has many uses but this is not one of them Thanks for the typo correction, spelling was never my strong point.

I might add to my axis line suggestion that if you are building a two story house, once you have finished the first floor deck( concrete floor) you can transfer your axis line inside the structure using an indelible chalk line, (if indelible is not available , drive a cut nail at each end of your line so that you will not loose it if it get's erased when walked on) and use it as a starting point to locate components, in your build.

then when you start your upstairs deck you can transfer you axis point upstairs, by dropping a plumb bob from upstairs . Of courser make sure your plumb bob is connected to a string 5555 , and yell "look out below before you do.

[David006]

Do you have a plan drawn up?

Did you get it made or did you do it yourself?

Do you want 8x14 to be the measurement of the outside of the house or the inside?

On that point , one of the biggest problems I had with the builders was convincing them to build the walls on the inside edge of the pillars so I didn't need to cut work surfaces etc to fit against the walls.

The foreman even tried to tell me it was illegal and that's why I couldn't do it. After a lot of discussion he finally relented but was not very happy to do so. The other difficult one was getting the electric cables inside a conduit in the wall instead of just running them down the inside walls to be seen in all their glory.

So you have a house with the pillars showing on the outside corners ,having lost up to 20cm of interior space, how does that look...or is it a feature you don't notice?...or did you build cavity walls ie second wall?

Edited April 7, 2012 by David006

[necronx99]

Do you have a plan drawn up?

Did you get it made or did you do it yourself?

Do you want 8x14 to be the measurement of the outside of the house or the inside?

On that point , one of the biggest problems I had with the builders was convincing them to build the walls on the inside edge of the pillars so I didn't need to cut work surfaces etc to fit against the walls.

The foreman even tried to tell me it was illegal and that's why I couldn't do it. After a lot of discussion he finally relented but was not very happy to do so. The other difficult one was getting the electric cables inside a conduit in the wall instead of just running them down the inside walls to be seen in all their glory.

So you have a house with the pillars showing on the outside corners ,having lost up to 20cm of interior space, how does that look...or is it a feature you don't notice?...or did you build cavity walls ie second wall?

He doesn't lose anything, it's just a measuring convention. The room is always as big as you want it to be.