John's budget build

[Barney]

John

Reminds me when I owned a concrete agitator truck for a few years in Cairns Qld many years ago. Majority of homes especially builder spec homes were all blocks and we would deliver the wet mix to fill the walls of the house. Same as you have, knocked out block sections so the mix would flow, reo to the roof and tied in. In Cairns all homes had to be cyclone proof so the walls were eventually tied into the roof. Our concrete mix for this was called piss and pebbles, real wet so it would flow. Only 20mpa or less and only had 7 mm rock though, not the usual 10mm and 20mm. Always had a pump.
Looking good mate.

[ajarnudon]

Takes me back too Barney. I worked in Cairns during the eighties as the manager of a finance company specialising in equipment finance. My biggest customer was Ray and Denis Catelan's Trumix operation, which had ten batch plants across FNQ - think they eventually sold out to the Readymix group. I am older than you, so I think the timeframes are a little different. In business circles, the eighties was a party that lasted ten years - if you couldn't make hay then, you weren't even trying. I lived at Holloway's Beach initially, then at Bayview Heights later. Tony Price was another customer - I am sure you know his Bayview Gardens development project (amongst others) very well. Those were days (in Cairns) when millionaires rubbed shoulders with people like me in the pub after work, and I learned so much from them. Tony, the property developer (who had made his initial fortune selling tinnies and motors to croc hunters), specialised in buying up cane farms and getting them rezoned to residential. He drove home to me his philosophy - always leave enough in the deal for your buyer (spec builders) to make a good profit. He did, and had them lining up to buy another, and another).

[ajarnudon]

I'm working in BKK again, but manage to get back on site every second weekend to get some more done. The internal walls 80 cm high will support the pan puen for the raised concrete floor for the living room, main bedroom and the rear deck. Originally this was to be the case for the second bedroom as well, but here I changed my mind. Looking ahead, there may come a time when stairs become an obstacle, so I knocked a hole in the wall here to make a doorway.

I apologise for the poor quality of the pics - they were lifted from my wife's video footage.
We got a lot of materials in, including three pallets of AAC blocks. These will be used as the inner skin for the two bedrooms and the living room - the air-con rooms.

Last weekend we did some concreting for the 2nd BR floor, and the first section of the driveway in front of the garage. We welded up reo mesh in situ for both, at 20 cm centres for the BR, and 15 cm centres for the driveway. The site was levelled using sand, covered with plastic, then the mesh supported with luk bun. Also concreted an internal wall footing, and a landing at the back doorway of the garage/workshop/laundry.
Got some plumbing and electrical wiring in as well.

[ajarnudon]

More of the same recently. More blockwork, electrical and plumbing. Making good progess on the internal walls of the 2nd bedroom. Last weekend we completed the subfloor plumbing for the main bedroom ensuite. Just ordered 360 metres of 3" eucalyptus poles that will go in to support the upper level pan puen concrete planks).

[ajarnudon]

Some pictures to go with yesterday's post.

The doorway we cut into the 2nd bedroom wall, so it became a downstairs bedroom.

The inner AAC skin of the cavity wall going up next to the concrete block garage. Bought a cupboard door and installed it (about head height) in the AAC wall (top left in the picture). This will give the leccie access to the rear of the distribution boards in the garage to run more circuits (as well as access for any maintenance or additions later), and allow us to proceed laying more AAC blocks in his absence.

This room doesn't have any external walls, so natural light will come from this horizontally mounted casement window and a lot of glass blocks borrowing light from other rooms. The window is above a bench/desk which runs the length of the wall (inside) at seated head height, and has a view of the kitchen/dining area and beyond to the front yard. A 2.1m reinforced AAC lintel can be seen above the 1.2m window.

The sub-floor plumbing for the upper level main bedroom ensuite is in place, so we are ready to go for the pan puen. The guy in the pink shirt (my foreman) is laying the last block in the sub-floor support for the above floor walls - I am not relying on a 12.5 cm reinforced concrete floor to support internal walls. The gap in the sub-floor wall to his left is one of several, which have steel lintels above, providing crawl space for future maintenance. These will have light fittings installed - only too late did I think about glass blocks to illuminate these sub-floor areas.
What I love about this last picture is the view of the paddy fields in the background, but it will be so much better from the 4 m wide, full length rear deck at the upper level. A dead end lane in front (no traffic, only one house 100 m beyond us), and the tranquility of the view to the rear, I think will be priceless.

[kopkei]

wow john, you don't worry about all the spaghetti connection pipes with so many strange corners ? ,
all our drain pipes in the floor are minimum 3" pipes , avoiding as many corners as possible ... only an observation...

[ajarnudon]

Hi Kopkei
I am comfortable with the 2 inch drains. Just make sure I stop the wife's hair getting in
I have never seen a domestic drain blockage that caustic soda couldn't fix quickly. And if there ever was an ongoing problem, I'd just knock a hole in the outside wall and change it.
Of course, the septic line is all 4 inch with minimum bends. Only 45 deg in horizontal pipes - 90 deg should only ever be used for vertical drops.
Thanks for the input,
John.

[ajarnudon]

Bought one of these glass vanity units last weekend for the downstairs bathroom. Liked them when I first saw one about a year ago - all moulded thick glass basin, with a matching mirror, towel rail, and shelves both above and below the basin. This one for the downstairs bathroom was just a tad over 2,000 baht. They come in around ten different colour schemes, and I will likely get a different coloured one later for the upstairs ensuite.
My leccie Chris spent the day with us on Saturday and finished off the subfloor wiring, installing three light fittings in the crawl space, amongst other things. Got a lot more blocks laid, and had 360 metres of 3" eucalypt poles delivered. As shown in the next photo, these are temporary supports for the pan puen and the reinforced concrete floor to be poured on top. The pan puen have been ordered and will be delivered in 1 1/2 weeks, coinciding with an 11 day break I have from work.

[Barney]

Hi John looking good mate and progressing at a nice stable pace.

It was mentioned about your drainage lines and many bends, I don't think it will b a worry. You could always plug one end and fill using a hose, leave it for a day to precheck any leaks and when you unplug you will see the flow works. All prior to the floor being laid. As you have seen at my place I had a clear space under my house and I laid a 50mm thick blinding slab. Will you have crawling access to each space?

If I have missed it fill me in on what you are doing under the floor in that space.
How will you get the timber out after the floor goes in.

Looking forward to seeing the future progress.

[parrot]

"How will you get the timber out after the floor goes in."

Most definitely don't want to have any lumber underneath the house......an invitation to termites.

[saint]

Soil pipes should have a fall of 1 in 40 .
Any higher and the liquids flow too fast and leave the solids in the pipe.
Any lower and the solids just sit in the pipe and are not flushed with the liquids.
All junctions should be joined with a y coupling in the direction of flow , and not a tee junction , as this can cause possible backflow.

[AlexO]

Soil pipes should have a fall of 1 in 40 .
Any higher and the liquids flow too fast and leave the solids in the pipe.
Any lower and the solids just sit in the pipe and are not flushed with the liquids.
All junctions should be joined with a y coupling in the direction of flow , and not a tee junction , as this can cause possible backflow.

The Y junction against the Tee junction is a perennial problem in SEA. They will not admit they are wrong and a few Baht more will save blockage problems in the future. Major arguments with our builder on this one. "Never hab problem Boss" yeah you not here 2 years after finish build.

[ajarnudon]

Hi Saint and Alex. Thanks for the input. I had already identified the problem with the vertical fall junction and it will be changed before long. Again, really appreciate the input. Hi Barney and Parrot. Crawl space is 80 cms high. In the last picture, you can see a gap in the stub wall behind the plumbing, and there are three similar gaps in the rear wall accessible from under the open rear deck. The timber will go out through these access gaps. Have installed light fittings in each crawl space to check it out for snakes etc. before entering. The only subfloor area without access is in the front left of the picture. This is below a double walkin robe with no electricals/plumbing below. A small number of eucalypt poles have been entombed forever in this space. And I don't have any termite issues. With 100% concrete and steel construction (not one stick of timber) not only is it termite proof, but fireproof and I'll warrant earthquake proof.

[ajarnudon]

Saturday 13 Oct. Pan puen delivered. Luckily, the high roof gave (just) enough clearance for the truck to operate its crane inside, saving a lot of backbreaking work.

For the benefit of anyone who hasn't come across pan puen before, this is what they look like:

They are 35 cms (14 inches) wide, and 5 cms (2 inches) thick, and are reinforced with steel wire about the thickness of a 3 inch nail. Because of the 4 m span, these have 7 wires rather than the more usual 5. Those in the photo are 4.1 m long and are for the rear deck.

[ajarnudon]

Sunday:trimmed some of the pan puen and cut holes for plumbing to come through.

Monday: Put a course of blocks around the perimeter walls to retain the concrete, and fabricated steel mesh insitu. Placed luk bun under the mesh, and we are ready for the pour on Tuesday.

Tuesday 10 am: Start of the 6 cu metre pour.

Second truckload arrives.

All finished before lunch.

[Barney]

Well done John, now you can appreciate the size of the floor space and the next phase of internal house fit out.

Take a breath, reasses, review and plan what steps you will take next. All coming together well.

[ajarnudon]

Wednesday 17 Oct

A strange sight in our neck of the woods.

Progress on the 2BR walls.

Framing the stairwell for the rear deck.
Thursday 18 Oct

Poured the concrete for the open storage area under the rear deck - ordered 3.5 cu m, which meant the guys had to mix one tub by hand to make up the shortfall.

[ajarnudon]

Friday 19 Oct

A pleasant surprise. The neighbours have hacked down the jungle next to our house so that it is now visible as you approach.

Fixing the first ceiling battens. These will support the insulation as well as the plasterboard ceiling.

The temporary timber supports for the rear deck.

Carrying the pan puean to place them on the rear deck. The delivery truck with the crane couldn't put these in place as we still had to pour the slab under the deck - and we couldn't pour the slab on ground first as both the pan puean truck and the 12+ tonne loaded concrete truck would have destroyed the slab. Carrying these planks was back-breaking work in the blazing western afternoon sun. After an hour I relented, and found them inside jobs; we would return to the pan puean in the cool of the morning in the shade.

[ajarnudon]

Saturday 20 Oct

Pan puean in place on the rear deck, and getting ready to weld the reo in situ and place the luk bun supports.

Chris the leccie spent the weekend with us and ran a lot of lighting cable, as well as cutting in some boxes for power outlets. We now have live power from two outlets in the house proper, and won't have to use long extensions from the garage/workshop any more. After a rat chewed the insulation off the cord of my circular saw one night, I made the decision that all cable would be run inside conduit.

Installing the 3" glass wool insulation. Bought enough for about a third of the house initially - reckon the insulation bill will be around 30-33k.

[ajarnudon]

Sun/Mon/Tue 21-23 Oct.
I calculated that we would need 3.75 cu m for the rear deck. As the batch plant only deals with orders in multiples of 0.5 cu m, I ordered 4 cu m and boxed up an area of pathway to take the extra. Ordered it for 10 am Sunday; finally arrived at 11.30, which meant the guys had a late lunch. Got the pour done, but before it was dry enough to trowel (steel floats, not tiled), the heavens opened up. It rained for three hours all up, and 1 1/2 hours of that was the heaviest rain I have ever seen - and I have been thru a few cyclones back in Oz. We put up some black plastic over the pathway and two guys struggled through the trowelling. The wind blew rain onto the back deck resulting in dimpling, but after it stopped and dried a little, the guys did a great job with the steel floats - really pleased with the result.

This picture I took on Monday after I had wet the concrete to slow the curing process, and fortunately we had some cool weather as well. If you click on the picture you should see a depressed drain that runs the length of the deck, just in front of the posts. My Thai workforce dropped back from five to three, as two guys moved on to other jobs. Monday and Tuesday were taken up with some steel work, block laying (2nd bedroom walls now finished) and some plumbing.

Finally got around to putting a downpipe on the garage guttering.
I am writing this in BKK Tuesday evening, back for work tomorrow, but I am coming back to Udon again for more building this weekend.