Bangkok: Expat shocked by 'foam-filled' condominium wall

[sms747]

On our estate the standards are much higher. When they lay the bricks in the outer walls they thoughtfully leave many gaps in the mortar, you can see the light coming through. This then gets rendered over, after that they remove some of the render to make a nice pattern on the wall. This often results is rain penetration and the builders having to go over the rendering again when the new owner starts to complain about the unexpected indoor shower. This company has been around for over 25 years and their houses get snapped up. Why can't they do a job properly?

[masuk]

Polystyrene can be used in wall cavities if constructed correctly. However in this case they probably should have used brick.

Polystyrene is banned by the UK and most other fire authorities, due to its flammability.

Polystyrene ceiling tiles were used for a while until a kitchen oil fire caused the flames to race across the ceiling of the entire ground floor.

In Papua New Guinea, our campus houses were insulated in the roof cavity with 15cm polystyrene slabs, laid over plywood ceilings. A curtain fire due to a misplaced candle caused the whole house to erupt in flames, trapping children inside who were locked in and had security bars over all the windows.

Only quick thinking on the part of a UK expat saved the kids, when he threw a chain around the bars and onto his Landrover towbar, and pulled out the bars, and a large chunk of the wall.

Believe me, polystyrene is as much use in a house as they were in lifejackets (when the contents melted on contact with oil on the water!)

[Bkungbank]

They will be minor eathquake in Oct from Myanmar which termor shook some building in Bangkok, this cannot withstand even 5 richter scale..

[Spare]

Foam is used in Thailand to insulate heat, and keep your air-con bill low. It is suppose to save the Earth from global warming.

You should praise the contractor for thinking green.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Ya, I'm sure the contractor was thinking green...green as in MONEY GREEN!!!!

[connda]

Fifteen years ago, I worked as a lead foreman for a large Dallas construction company. We hired many sub-contractors and watched them like hawks. We tested every truckload of concrete for proper slump before a pour. No work was done unsupervised by the general contractor because we were the ones responsible if someone were hurt or something was constructed improperly.

I find it difficult to believe that Sansiri, a supposedly reputable builder, was unaware of the shoddy work being done. Possible their staff were corrupt in colluding with the sub-contractor in substandard building practices. I have stayed in apartments in Bangkok where the 'p' trap in the shower drain was left out and sewer gas would come up from the drain and stink up the room; all to save less than a hundred baht. Very large monetary fines and large compensation to the buyers would go a long way to curb this bad behavior.

We're obviously not in Dallas anymore Toto.

[fish fingers]

Anyone have an update on what happened to this property/ Mr Houston? I noticed just after he dropped the bombshell that he suddenly stopped complaining and said everything was fine..