What we learn together.....

[geordie]

Ian we as westerners have come to understand the technology behind it all of the beams
(because thats what it is)added in a grid pattern designed to spread the load evenly across the surface of the ground and support evenly the structure we place upon it there has to be a point unfortunately whereby your floating slab becomes a sinking slab (swamp) the aim is that the slab does not sink but if it does it sinks as a whole unit compressing the ground beneath and creating more resistance hopefully you may sink a couple of inches over a few years then stop and the only casualty the drainage but if you leave the house with a vertical drop you merely have to shorten it on the vertical section so no big deal you could in fact make a vertical sliding joint on the pipe to allow for movement
Try explaining that to a Thai And getting him to beleive it

[kerrysum]

Kerry you come a cross as a potential wife
You found somwhere you like (i assume you like it) so now you want to change everything ?
Why interfere with what is their culture? History is full of examples that tell us leave it alone

Forget educating the nephew do you have any idea of how insufferable life would be if he had ambitions and desire,s ? he may have limited aspirations now an education will encourage him to reach way beyond what he could achieve sitting in a field looking at Buffalo
So his days as a buffalo farmer will be over he will see himself as too good for that

By all means hook up to the internet and show them modern standards modern methods but do not expect to change everything or anything you think uncle did not see the dodgy blockwork he saw he knew he accepted it the render will cover it ? so uncle is the corner cutter as much as the block layer we accept a higher standard and insist on it

Now look at a "poor Thai" house which is thrown together with recycled thrown away begged stolen materials the asthetics don.t come into it function is all they expect and that being the mindset You have at the oposite end of the scale the look at me brigade built to a slightly higher standard but dressed to look beautifull The Thais still think at least once maybe twice in their lifetime the house will need replacing so why waste money trying to defy the inevitable

Your challenge is to get uncle to build in a manner totally alien to him he will likely think it going to fall down he will see no advantage to it and unfortunately he is 100% correct the chances of average Thais forking out the prices of superblock are slim although they must be buying them otherwise they would not be available
So why does he need to learn to use them when its likely to be a one off? look for a need in the village comunity and try and help? but expect it to backfire at some point when one person decide,s another has an unfair advantage most villages are like disjointed families
and behave as such with fall outs reconciliations occuring daily weekly monthly you helping out will only add to the mellee

thank you Geo!
I loved your response..... and fully understand what you said !!!!! In fact I agree... Thanks for your advice, I value it!
kerrysum

[kerrysum]

Kerry you come a cross as a potential wife
You found somwhere you like (i assume you like it) so now you want to change everything ?
Why interfere with what is their culture? History is full of examples that tell us leave it alone

Forget educating the nephew do you have any idea of how insufferable life would be if he had ambitions and desire,s ? he may have limited aspirations now an education will encourage him to reach way beyond what he could achieve sitting in a field looking at Buffalo
So his days as a buffalo farmer will be over he will see himself as too good for that

By all means hook up to the internet and show them modern standards modern methods but do not expect to change everything or anything you think uncle did not see the dodgy blockwork he saw he knew he accepted it the render will cover it ? so uncle is the corner cutter as much as the block layer we accept a higher standard and insist on it

Now look at a "poor Thai" house which is thrown together with recycled thrown away begged stolen materials the asthetics don.t come into it function is all they expect and that being the mindset You have at the oposite end of the scale the look at me brigade built to a slightly higher standard but dressed to look beautifull The Thais still think at least once maybe twice in their lifetime the house will need replacing so why waste money trying to defy the inevitable

Your challenge is to get uncle to build in a manner totally alien to him he will likely think it going to fall down he will see no advantage to it and unfortunately he is 100% correct the chances of average Thais forking out the prices of superblock are slim although they must be buying them otherwise they would not be available
So why does he need to learn to use them when its likely to be a one off? look for a need in the village comunity and try and help? but expect it to backfire at some point when one person decide,s another has an unfair advantage most villages are like disjointed families
and behave as such with fall outs reconciliations occuring daily weekly monthly you helping out will only add to the mellee

With all due respect Geo,
My family knows many of these things, that you discussed, I have been dealing with Thais/Issan since 1972..... They are a very smart people, But please don't get your panties in a bunch.... I have read your posts on building experiences, and reposted it to you.... Look what you said....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm They are resourceful, and when they love you, they love you, especially in Issan.... But I have found that when they know you are up to their game? They respect you ! So while you try to educate me, I treat you with respect.... I never put his in your face
I think the ideal of my original post was "what we learn together..." Not your self serving attitude of what you are about...
And perhaps what you are schooling me about..... So I submit to you to read your own posts, as in, building experiences, before you get on my ass, with all due respect.... You see? I never created the problems, that you posted when you built...
Yet mine is to keep this from happening in the future.....
I know this forum is not for this purpose, that is why it was not created.....
kerrysum

[geordie]

posts, as in, building experiences,"""""""""" before you get on my ass, with all due respect.... You see? I never created the problems, that you posted when you built...
Yet mine is to keep this from happening in the future.....
I know this forum is not for this purpose, that is why it was not created.....
kerrysum

strangely Enough kerry i did not think i was getting on your ass ? The "WE LEARN TOGETHER"
is the bit i was responding too WE all have different atitude,s towards Thais the Thais all have different atitude,s towards us But istead of accepting them for who and what they are we go there because "we love it" we love them" then we set about changing the very things we moved there for we teach them about western life something they could never enjoy or afford Educating your nephew ! great other than it will likely cause family problems There are time,s when you have no option but to help(interfere) i do it regularly through this forum I have done it with my Thai family adopting a neice for 7 years she is currently a very independant minded youg girl studying at university But its plain to see she is not Thai anymore when questioned the first 13 years of her life are forgotton ??She loves me and auntie she disobeys and argues with her mother Am i proud yes did i do right no what i should have done instead of taking her into my family and raising her with my children is given her mother more support and helped her achieve what she could there Going to a village in Issan you could do a lot of good but just as easily inadvertantly a lot of damage
you are obviously aware of this you have already a long relationship with the people of your village by all means help where you can educate and teach what you can but let the progression be sustainable let the lessons be acheivable rather than leading to a disatisfied life
Your uncle who you will be teaching new tecniques to as well as teaching him those tecniques try and teach him that he should joint the blocks properly put rebar instead of bamboo in the floor but be aware he has to build to a price not a standard his neighhbours have not the resources we have My build i used farmers and i was not unhappy with the results i built a bungalow in five weeks i was able to do it because of their efforts and their support i had full co operation
my mother in law love,s the new house the only thing i was dissapointed about was paying two useless brother in laws to fanny about and the fact that 75000bht of the build money sent for preperation work disapeared minor problems and lessons learnt but by putting those lessons on here it maybe just maybe will save some one making the same mistake But that is what the forum is about is it not !! sharing your experiences good and bad you claim to know already what i am talking about so why be upset and alledge i am on your ass more people will read this than us and most of them will have no experience at all so it has to be warts and all it has to be based on your own experience when i do quote the experience of others i state that it is the experience of others
Some thing to consider is the situation in somalia !! as bad as it gets a few million somaliens have been living in refugee camps for so long receiving handouts from across the world they will die in those camps!! that have now become townships with there own shops and infrastructure when a news team questioned them they said in the camps they do sometimes have shortages of food but they would not be prepared to go back to their own country to try and how would they survive who would give them food they have become institutionalised to refugee camps children have grown up there and never seen their country so you retun them where ??or are they going to stay there forever living at the worlds expense on handouts This is the way we help people

[kerrysum]

With regards to using slab, floating slab or piles and beams, be guided by the local "experienced" builders - not the rice-farmer come builder in the off-session. The ground conditions in parts of Thailand dictate that load-bearing piles are prefered. For my own build I was keen (read wanted) slab but the couple of professional building companies I approached would not even consider discuss slab over load-bearing piles - if I was to insist on slab they didn't want the job - and it wasn't about money - it was about what they were happy to put their name to.
I know that floating slab would have been Ok coming from an area in Sydney Aus. where a whole suburb is built on reclaimed swamp where every house including 2 story are on floating slab.

Thanks Ian... Kerrysum

[kerrysum]

posts, as in, building experiences,"""""""""" before you get on my ass, with all due respect.... You see? I never created the problems, that you posted when you built...
Yet mine is to keep this from happening in the future.....
I know this forum is not for this purpose, that is why it was not created.....
kerrysum

strangely Enough kerry i did not think i was getting on your ass ? The "WE LEARN TOGETHER"
is the bit i was responding too WE all have different atitude,s towards Thais the Thais all have different atitude,s towards us But istead of accepting them for who and what they are we go there because "we love it" we love them" then we set about changing the very things we moved there for we teach them about western life something they could never enjoy or afford Educating your nephew ! great other than it will likely cause family problems There are time,s when you have no option but to help(interfere) i do it regularly through this forum I have done it with my Thai family adopting a neice for 7 years she is currently a very independant minded youg girl studying at university But its plain to see she is not Thai anymore when questioned the first 13 years of her life are forgotton ??She loves me and auntie she disobeys and argues with her mother Am i proud yes did i do right no what i should have done instead of taking her into my family and raising her with my children is given her mother more support and helped her achieve what she could there Going to a village in Issan you could do a lot of good but just as easily inadvertantly a lot of damage
you are obviously aware of this you have already a long relationship with the people of your village by all means help where you can educate and teach what you can but let the progression be sustainable let the lessons be acheivable rather than leading to a disatisfied life
Your uncle who you will be teaching new tecniques to as well as teaching him those tecniques try and teach him that he should joint the blocks properly put rebar instead of bamboo in the floor but be aware he has to build to a price not a standard his neighhbours have not the resources we have My build i used farmers and i was not unhappy with the results i built a bungalow in five weeks i was able to do it because of their efforts and their support i had full co operation
my mother in law love,s the new house the only thing i was dissapointed about was paying two useless brother in laws to fanny about and the fact that 75000bht of the build money sent for preperation work disapeared minor problems and lessons learnt but by putting those lessons on here it maybe just maybe will save some one making the same mistake But that is what the forum is about is it not !! sharing your experiences good and bad you claim to know already what i am talking about so why be upset and alledge i am on your ass more people will read this than us and most of them will have no experience at all so it has to be warts and all it has to be based on your own experience when i do quote the experience of others i state that it is the experience of others
Some thing to consider is the situation in somalia !! as bad as it gets a few million somaliens have been living in refugee camps for so long receiving handouts from across the world they will die in those camps!! that have now become townships with there own shops and infrastructure when a news team questioned them they said in the camps they do sometimes have shortages of food but they would not be prepared to go back to their own country to try and how would they survive who would give them food they have become institutionalised to refugee camps children have grown up there and never seen their country so you retun them where ??or are they going to stay there forever living at the worlds expense on handouts This is the way we help people

You hit it right on the head Geo, your points are well taken..... I don't know about you, but I love my Issan family.. If it wasn't then we would never do what we do.... Sometimes it is all about the frustration.... As for my nephew? I guess he loves these kinds of things, so he has been pushing us to move ahead.... I call this the spirit of Issan... You are so right about other Nations as you explained! But maybe we find that? It is where we came from, and how we help.... It is a spirit brother, one that has never left my heart..... I don't want to be your wife, I want to be your friend.... There is a freedom that I love about Thailand, and I love it..... Life is never easy, when we all come to an understanding, that is what makes me happy! Family is family, we learn, we know, and we trust, ok? Personally I watched you grow, we have all been through this... There are many things that we find in such dealings....
As for me and my wife, we grow all thai vegetables, yes right here in Las Vegas, Nevada... What does my wife tell me? Honey this is a test of what we will do, when we arrive..... Back Home...... So brother Geo, enjoy, love, and carry on....
Best wishes to you and your family....
kilosierra

[fredlk]

With all due respect, I find it increasingly difficult to discover what you are on about.
I pride myself on being well-read, quite well educated, but what you write is beyond my comprehension and for money or love I cannot find the connection between what you write and either building a house or feedback about the website.

[kerrysum]

With all due respect, I find it increasingly difficult to discover what you are on about.
I pride myself on being well-read, quite well educated, but what you write is beyond my comprehension and for money or love I cannot find the connection between what you write and either building a house or feedback about the website.

OK, Kerry