New Home Build "LET THE HEADACHES BEGIN"

[Baht Man]

Hi Baht Man,

Good to see the progress in pictures.
Just out of interest did you use any outside help with your plans or as you mentioned or just finalised yourself and spoke and reviewed to the builder. Meaning did you have any architect or building consultant check the finer details ie: roof, walls, electrics, plumbing, drainage etc etc.

You may remember me from when i went to your land and looking to purchase.
When i finally get to Udon i will drop out to have a look and a chat if that's ok. I will be building through next year and I am sure you will have some good ideas. Most likely beginning of March now as I have a new job to go to in a not to far off land and my practicing for retirement period is over.Good while it lasted. Just confirming my fly in out roster.

Barney

Hey Barney, good to hear from you again.
I really didn't have any professional help here.
I sifted thru some plans online, found the "elevation" look I was after and laid out the floor plans to suit the existing site.
I've got an Arch. Eng. background and have done a lot of space planning in the past as well as design work.

It's all in my head with a built in eraser.

[Baht Man]

Now day 17 found the folks adding dirt into the voids.
With a proper soaking and a day on the vibrator, things were taking shape for the pour in two days time.

Two to three inches of sand was brought in, something I never expected here but SOP in the US.

Due to the 7m wide room they put grade stakes in to pour to, but when I told the Ms. this would termite highway she made them take them all out. Had the used some old pieces of rebar, they could have left them in and saved themselves a lot of work.

A visqueen vapor barrier was laid and 5mm bar was used (glad it was not wwm).
They also used the shims here.

Day 23 The pour went fine, C-Pac to the rescue again with 30 cubes

A final troweling and sponge bath for the carpark where there will be no tile. Sure made a difference in the finish.

[Baht Man]

good to see it coming along Baht Man, and interesting to see the stages, just in case I find myself doing the same in the years ahead...keep the photos coming...

Well, if your going to build anywhere near Udon I might recommend this guy if he keeps going like he is.

[Baht Man]

Day 24-25.
Just as soon as the floor was the floor finished, up comes the truck with the post shuttering.
One day for the assembly and the next day they were filled and wrapped in plastic (for the slow cure).

[Baht Man]

Day 26-27
They formed the upper beam at the front of the house to support the wall above as below the wall will consist of a lot of windows and doors.

[maaka]

Rodger that...
yes it seems like they know what they are doing, and are keen.
at least they will have had your house to practice on, before they get to me...hahahaha..

for ten years after I was thrown out of high school, I did nothing but pour concrete..everything from a city resevoir to shopping mall's..that guy in your pics trowelling off the slab, brings back memories..

anyway good to see your dream unfolding Bahtman

[Baht Man]

Day 28-29 Front post extended upwards for the roof support.

Time for the second payment.
I'm hoping my sister will come thru if she wants a place to stay when she visits.

Just as that was being finished… here comes the truck from Global House with 100,000 Baht of steel for the roof and trusses.

[Baht Man]

for ten years after I was thrown out of high school, I did nothing but pour concrete.. brings back memories..

Ya know Maaka, the bossman did mention he was looking for "A few good men"
Maybe, speaking english and all, I can get you on.
There will be a finders fee of course.

[kopkei]

what are the precautions about rising groundwater ?, (as this can happen up to 60 cm high of the floor) ..
i did not see any plastic under the poured concrete? , so you will get wet walls as you mostly see in any thai build home ..the paint coming off the lower part of the wall .....
and what about termite protection ?...

[Baht Man]

Good questions.
I had the piece of land I'm building on filled about 2 years ago and it's been compacted over that time by dirt trucks as well as cement trucks and macros. I'm not worried about further compaction, especially with the footers used.
In digging down for the footers they hit the orig. dirt right at 150cm.
The beams were poured directly on the ground (over a thin layer of concrete) as I didn't want to have it built up with 3 steps into the house.

I have a 1 rai pond behind the site with overflows into a nearby (currently dry) creekbed and good drainage on the rest of the land. All thought out well in advance of the build.

If your talking about capillary action up the walls, well I'm really not sure how that could be addressed no matter how it's constructed. Maybe someone should address that here.

Prior to the beams being poured, the builder sprayed a concetration of Chaindrite on the beams, even though I've not seen any evidence of termites, nor have my expat neighbors. I know that's not a final soulition against further invasion, but what other options did I have, being on the ground?

Obviously termites are more easily controlled if the house is built up and I've noticed it's becoming a more common practice to have the tubing installed to deal with that, but as I don't have a crawl space........

After the 2-3 inch sand bed was put on the compacted fill, sheets of visqueen (plastic) was put down under the reinforcing steel prior to the pour.

All I can do at this point is move forward and keep the proverable fingers crossed. [-o<

[kopkei]

what we did with the new build home ,we did close up our floor beams ( whom are on the floor too)with concrete slabs , not filled in , so we could put the termite lines there , and before we put the concrete slabs on the ground beams , we double coated the beams with a sort of roof sealer to protect for capillary action of the groundwater...future will tell us too if this will help...
and as you put plastic , ( i did not see this on the pictures ) why not leave it come out over your ground beams so you would have been protected completely.. ,but so many things one must think about when building ...
good luck with further building ...

[Baht Man]

I couldn't drape the beams as the floor had to tie into the exposed steel from the beams.

Not sure why the precast slabs were not used,maybe he cut a corner here, but it would have made the lines easy to install if I would wanted to.

Pic of the the plastic sheeting under the steel and over compacted sand base.

But what good is a coating if it's not on the base of the beam as well?

Guess it can always be applied now if I thought it was needed. Something to think about.
Gotta be a bitch to paint over though.

Guess if you never have a problem, it worked.

Thanks

[Baht Man]

I don't think those critters will eat thru 4-5" of concrete.
I'll just keep on eye on the perimeter

[Sakhonnick]

Oh yes they will the wood termite "pluak" will eat your home from you, pipe your floor so chemical can get pumped in, my house in pattaya was ruined by those bastard things

[maaka]

a job Bahtman oyiiiiiii..would have to be better than the concreting job I did in Udon..hand mixing the concrete for a bungalow, and then bucketing along a line of guys and up ladders two floors..all for 150 baht a day wages..it was good body building, but thats about all..I dont think I could even lift a bucket of concrete now, so I will sit this one out matey..haha

[Baht Man]

Oh yes they will the wood termite "pluak" will eat your home from you, pipe your floor so chemical can get pumped in, my house in pattaya was ruined by those bastard things

Some info in the termites from past studies. My floor is poured and to late to pipe.
Guess I'll play defence.

Termites will put a lot of effort into breaking through something that stands between them and food or water, just so long as the prize justifies the effort required. Plaster (drywall etc.) is no barrier. Mortars slow them down, but lime mortars are readily penetrable while mortars with a high cement content may not be excavated. Good quality concrete cannot be excavated BUT cracks in poor concrete may be opened with ease. Autoclaved aerated concrete (those lightweight bubbly blocks) were readily penetrated in my field tests. Concrete (cinder) blocks sometimes have gaps in them big enough to interest termites. Masonry is often built with lots of continuous gaps that termites can simply walk through, especially with extruded, hollow-core bricks.

Mud-brick (adobe) can be penetrated but is more at risk between the blocks and at cracks.

In general, termites won't damage concrete if they can't pull the sand (and small aggregate) particles out. If the cement has been properly proportioned and the mix allowed to cure, then the particles tend to be well bound and termites are deterred.

Termites can walk through cracks in concrete. The cracks need to be uniformly about 10% wider than the termites' head. Concrete that is properly placed, cured and is reinfocred (rebar) generally won't crack wide enough to be at risk.

Sometimes concrete has big pockets of air (not properly settled), has wooden levelling pegs left in (highways) or has been damaged by expanding bolts. Floor slabs often have cutouts or pipes passing through and this can create useful termite paths.

[Baht Man]

what we did with the new build home ,we did close up our floor beams ( whom are on the floor too)with concrete slabs , not filled in , so we could put the termite lines there , and before we put the concrete slabs on the ground beams , we double coated the beams with a sort of roof sealer to protect for capillary action of the groundwater...future will tell us too if this will help...
and as you put plastic , ( i did not see this on the pictures ) why not leave it come out over your ground beams so you would have been protected completely.. ,but so many things one must think about when building ...
good luck with further building ...

Upon further reading and seeeing the houses and perimeter walls around here, I can agree with your methodogy in using the sealer on the beams, and piping for the termites. Like you say "so many things one must think about when building".
Hopefully, future defensive measures will limit major problems.

Maybe I'll eliminate the food source and make my furnature out of concrete.

[kopkei]

hi baht man , it all looks good , also the plastic i did not noticed first..
and indeed poak (termites) can not eat them self true concrete , but only need a small crack ....
in our former home i also never did any precautions about termites , we even had a termite hill ( 1.2m high) next to our wall on the other side ...in 12 years we have lived there , no problem , maybe because i did not disturb ( destroy) their habitat they also did not attack ( relocate ) mine.. , even now having these lines under the home , no injection of poison is not yet made ...
the idea about coating the beams is , if they get wet from rising ground water , the coating will keep it from getting the concrete slabs (and walls on it ) wet....was only my idea , time will tell it works or not...
as of wood , in our home now i did try to avoid the use of wood , a lot furniture in teak wood and only 2 wooden doors
(2 bedrooms ) all others are pvc or uvpc ( pvc windows/doors...)..

[bluejets]

Arrangement used down under pre-support for mesh and pre-termite wrap on plumbing and electrical pipes that punch through the slab.
Leaves nowhere for the nasties to sneak in.
Also known as floating slab. So if the slab moves at all, everything moves as a unit.
Oh, also, trench mesh yet to be added.

[Baht Man]

Nice to know about the pipe wrap, even though I'm already poured.
Another dose of Chaindrite is in the stars.