How to PROPERLY build with cinder block and concrete posts

[KHONDAHM]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. TIT. It still boggles my mind why the build order here is posts, roof, walls, floor. The exact opposite of the "civilized world". I'm having a 2-car garage with storage space in the attic built and I remain baffled why they insist on putting up posts, attaching roof framing, then piling on tons of concrete tiles BEFORE the walls go up for additional support. Of course, it will sag between posts and they will merrily put up the walls and fill in the gap between the top of the wall and the steel beams supporting the tiled roof with red brick.

I am trying hard to not intervene with the more common sense approach to at least put the walls up after the roof framing but BEFORE the concrete tiles go on, but I think I won't be able to help myself. It's my garage, after all; and I've got to live with it...

How building with cinder block and concrete posts is SUPPOSED to be done:

[jackspratt]

With your last few posts, I gotta say you are starting to sound like SFG.

[fatbob]

Why will the beam sag, if its the right size it will not, if it doe's then you have serious problems. Post beam construction, great method, all bricks or concrete blocks are non load bearing in Thailand.

[Galee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. TIT. It still boggles my mind why the build order here is posts, roof, walls, floor.

Are you sure?

From my experience it's been posts, floor, walls, roof?

[parrot]

Our house was built columns, cross beams, floor, roof and walls pretty much went in at the same time.
The house is still standing after 15 years.

[KHONDAHM]

I'm not saying the Thai method doesn't work. Obviously, it does, but the method shown in the video is a hella lot better and stronger. When the floor is poured, per the Thai method, doesn't matter much. After the beams or after the walls isn't going to affect how the concrete roof is supported. My concern has always been the inferior torsional strength of the Thai method. When building in heat, steel expands. When you pile on tons of concrete tiles in the heat, steel will warp across the unsupported portion of a span - especially in winds this time of year. Sure, one can add more columns, but that would be unnecessary if the walls are made load-bearing and/or the columns are braced by walls before the roof goes up.

My garage being built is 8m x 7m. The roof is pitched at 45 degrees. The steel is 2x4 and thickness is 2mm and 3mm. The columns are 7" pre-fab. The roof framing and weld work is superb. Still, with some 650 or so tiles going on it, I worry about the torsional strength of the beams and column tops when the tiles are on it and the wind is blowing. If the walls were in, I wouldn't have much concern at all.

I made the suggestion to the builder that I have no problem going with I-beams for the horizontal spans across the front and mid-sections (no columns there), but he thinks it's not necessary. There are 7 columns. 3 on either side and 1 in the center of the back wall. The front, center, and rear beams further supported by the roof beams (pitched at 45) connected at .50m intervals. There's a perpendicular beam connecting the cross beams down the middle of the garage. It looks pretty dang strong.

Still, I prefer the video method to the Thai method.

[kopkei]

well if the soil is properly filled up a few years , i would poor a floating floor plate ,we build a frame1center block high , re-enforce it with a 2 layer of steel and poor it full of concrete ( 20cm ) ,and on this floor plate you start build with concrete blocks , without the use of any post...we have build our daughters home like this , and after 6 years no problem at all , we are building our new small home and for gods sake it has 23 posts ..., maybe because we use concrete slabs as ceiling ( 1 floor home, a lot cooler ) and not the gypsum board rubbish, if they would have build it without posts i would be a lot nicer .... , even every home can be build without posts if they use a proper foundation ....
anyone all ready noticed where the walls mostly crack...next to the post....

[Brian Davis]

This may be a completely naive question and off topic but.....

Appreciating that most buildings here use blocks anyway, but why aren't bigger BRICKS available - or are they? All I've ever seen used, particularly for wet rooms, are those what? 4x2x1 inch red ones. If and when larger bricks were used, construction should presumably progress quicker.

[Bonanza]

These small red bricks - like the 10cm blocks - only serve to fill in the space between the posts. They have negligible load bearing capacity, unlike bricks in the UK (and elsewhere) that have an inherent strength. The weight of the roof etc is taken by the vertical posts down to the foundations. Most Thais put the roof on first so that they can work in the shade or out of the rain!!

[KHONDAHM]

...Most Thais put the roof on first so that they can work in the shade or out of the rain!!

That is precisely the reason. No sun = less dark skin and they can work in the shade without covering themselves up with ski masks, sweaters, and other nonsense clothing when it's 35+ Celsius out.

[KHONDAHM]

Correction: The garage opening span is 6.28 m. No column there or inside center, so just to be overly redundant, I had my guy stack another 2 x 4, 3mm beam under both for extra support. I'm now thinking I should have insisted on I-beams. Ah, well...