Advice on building

[crazy88]

Bladerunner. You clearly have experience and knowledge. However on your point of not believing other posters regarding cool floors without 24/7 aircon you are welcome to come over to my place for a G&T at around 4pm when the sun has been directly on the north south facing house for 10 solid hours with no aircon and one or maybe 2 ceiling fans on low speed. Barefoot you will find the floor pleasingly cool to the touch. In the rainy season I sometimes walk around in socks as the floor is cold enough to make your feet ache. The west facing living room area can get a little warm in the very hottest season at around 10 am and being a smoker it is not practical to turn up the fan. On these rare occasions I simply take my laptop out to the sala and listen to the water features gently bubbling whilst I check my emails. BTW my invitation is 100% genuine.

Crazy 88

[crazy88]

In case anyone gets pedantic the living room takes the morning sun a little from behind. Easily rectified by pulling the blinds over the living room doors.

crazy 88

[Khundon1975]

Why ask for advice then bang your head when it goes against your knowledge of building in Aussie?

PS. Concrete floors will be a lot cooler than timber floors. It's all about Thermal mass.

150mm of concrete floor will keep the house cooler than timber over beams.

We have a teak house on stilts on the beach and a house with concrete/tiled floors, both in HH. Give me the concrete/tiled floor every time. Much cooler.

[chopsticks]

In hot climates the concrete slab floor is fine.
What doesn't work is when you're on the top floor of an apartment block with a concrete slab above you as the flat roof.
It heats up during the day and radiates it's heat downwards through the day and night like a giant storage heater. The silver reflective paints applied on the roof surface don't seem to be effective enough.

[PeteC]

Maybe we're talking apples and oranges? Once I had a house on a concrete slab in Chicago in the 70's. To my memory that slab didn't appear that thick. Maybe 8". I don't have my plans in front of me for this Thai house but just glancing at ground and floor levels, I'd say this slab is 14" or better? I could be wrong about the normal slab thickness in the States, but those in the know here concerning building, what is the slab thickness for a normal 2 story house? Pete

[splitlid]

hi pete, i think your getting confused with beams and slabs, your slab will be about 100mm thick, but your beams around your house (and internal also) will be what ever the engineer has specified for your house.

me thinks

[PeteC]

hi pete, i think your getting confused with beams and slabs, your slab will be about 100mm thick, but your beams around your house (and internal also) will be what ever the engineer has specified for your house.me thinks

It's almost light. I've got the compressor and jackhammer ready. I'll let you know in a few hours. Pete

[PeteC]

Jimmy Greaves, are you here? You put up a photo before of your foundation, specifically of your termite gas hoses I think. What thread is that on? Thanks. Pete

[splitlid]

here you can see the beams, they are areas where loads (blocks) are going to be laid.
the inside of the beams are filled and compacted, and either pre-stressed slabs are used and concreted over, or a wire mesh is laid down and 100mm of concrete on top.

either way, the concrete slab will usually be 100mm give or take.

so you shouldnt have too much digging to do.

[PeteC]

This is getting interesting as I now go back mentally to my cookie-cutter Chicago place. First house, small wood frame one story on a slab and I don't think that slab had any beams at all, just rebar and cement slab. Little weight to support as wood frame/vinyl siding. Anyway, I have a full set of plans for this place and I'll investigate today. Pete

[splitlid]

yep your right pete, different countries have different construction methods, thailand is a little behind, but catching up.
















slowly

[Khundon1975]

Splitlid is spot on, the "ring beam and cross beams" take the weight of the walls and the columns take the weight of the roof and subsequent floors if there are any. The reinforced beam for a single floor building will be about 60 cms deep x 20 cms thick, more than enough to carry the wall loadings. The columns usually extend below the beam and rest on a concrete pad.

10Cm's sound about right for a reinforced concrete floor in Thailand. Usually made like soup. so Pete won't have to work very hard with that Irishman's motorbike.

[hhfarang]

Yep, this cross beam and column construction used here is the same type that always pancakes and kills or traps everyone inside whenever there is a major earthquake...

[crazy88]

And of course those wooden affairs with dry lined interiors stand up really well to hurricanes and tornadoes?

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13530351.html

Crazy 88

[hhfarang]

At least you have advance warning when a hurricane is coming and can vacate the area. I went through four of those (hurricanes) in Florida (in a steel stud) frame house with no damage to anything other than landscaping. To my knowledge there is little or no chance of such a windstorm here but there have been two (granted minor) earthquakes since I've been living here that caused cracks in the cement and sand wash.

I also lived near ground zero in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California in a wood frame house and had zero damage whereas concrete multilevel freeways (using the same piling, slab, and column construction pancaked and caused most of the deaths that occurred.

I believe frame, hollow wall construction would be much better in this climate. I personally don't like living in a concrete bunker and I'll take my chances with moving air over moving earth any day!