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DISASTERS !!!1000 viewsThese are some of the things that W I L L happen if you go away and let the builders get on with it under the expert supervision of your Thai partner, your inlaws, or just with no supervision at all. People with pots of money can just laugh these things off. In the worst case sceneario, the cost of putting it right may be more than what is in your retirement fund .jazzman
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'Waterproof' connections.964 viewsThis is a picture of a swimming pool 'deck box' that provides the connection of the underwater light unit cables to to cables to the transformer. The cables are supposed to be joined with proper waterproof connectors and/or shrink tube. These were just twisted together with normal insulating tape. These deck boxes will inevitably get filled with water...
jazzman
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More neat finishing936 viewsWhat the blanked-off hole was supposed to be is anyone's guess. And of course there should not be an unearthed 2-pin socket here. One wonders if there is even an earth wire in the 3-pin sockets. You can guess...1 commentsjazzman
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Ceiling panel with recessed light917 viewsSheetrock ceilings with fancy recesses are all the rage, but we opted for suspended 60 x 60 cm panels. They have the advantages that they permit immediate access to any part of the roof space, and lighting arrangements and ceiling fans can be added to or changed around at will. It also breathes, allowing warm air to convect upwards and away into the attic. They come in with hundreds of different colours and patterns, are extremely cheap, and if you get fed up with them, you just change them !jazzman
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Curing906 viewsCement mix or concrete mix does not dry - it cures and the process must not be accelerated. These racks just allow any excess water to evaporate slowly, and to prevent the bricks damaging each other.
To build a wall, allowing for mortar, 13.5 bricks are needed for 1 square metre. The method is much stronger, cheaper, far more insulating, and much less labour intensive than using the small traditional red clay bricks still favoured by some constructors.
jazzman
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Neat finishing878 viewsNeatly finished switch unit. Notice the blobs of white paint ion the switches.
jazzman
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The 'jelly mould'776 viewsThis form makes two bricks at a time. The tongues are the bits that create the holes in the bricks. In this installation, two workers can produce about 1,000 bricks per shift.jazzman
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Kitchen view 1741 viewsWe keep adding bits to this kitchen and it's still not complete. A breakfast bar still has to be built from the left hand side near the fridge to halfway across the archway. And the fridge will be replaced with a side-by-side. Cost: there is about 65,000 baht's worth of KITZCHO?® units. The solid granite counter tops cost about 18,000 baht including installation. jazzman
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Day 26 Roof739 viewsThe roof is almost finished with just a few small snags to tidy up. Remember that there are no drawings for this project and it's a question of make-it-up-as-you-go. It's also a training excercise for my workers. We still have a lot to do on the land including a frontage wall with gate and motel gatehouse at one end, and another gate with archway at the other end of the land, a large sala as a dining-room restaurant, a floating sala on the pond, and a meeting room/classroom on the field behind.jazzman
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filling the form732 viewsA measured quantity of mix is drawn into the 2- brick 'jelly mould' which is then mechanically vibrated. It takes about 15 seconds to produce and stack a pair of bricks. Two people working the plant can produce about 3,500 bricks in a day. That's enough for 290 m2 of wall, or about 1.5 houses the size of the Jazzman house. About 1,000 bricks were used for the motel.jazzman
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wall 5732 viewsThen it fell over. One night of rain was enough. This wall will be rebuilt using correct engineering and correct drainage. Another 40 trucks of dirt will be needed to top up the infill that was washed away. Probable total cost: around 250,000 baht.jazzman
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Brixmix731 viewsThe mix of cement and fine aggregate is made in this thing which looks like a commercial baker's dough mixer. These 39 x 19 x 7 concrete blocks, erroneously called breezeblocks or cinderblocks, are the most commonly used, most economical and practical solution for non load-bearing walls, and have excellent insulating properties. Almost every village in the country has a brickworks, our village has two. Here's ours just 600 m from our house. The price of a brick in 2009 was still only 3.50 baht, including free delivery of course.jazzman
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