Fill Dirt for Building Site

Post by **stoneman** » October 26, 2006, 3:00 pm

Well, hopefully the rains will be over in a few more weeks...no rain here in Bangkok for almost a week...

And the time has come to start to work on adding dirt to our building site in Bang Wor Sor.

My wife's aunt also lives in the area and is always anxious to help us do anything that needs to be done with the property. But I think she is raking a little commission off on each little job she volunteers to do for us..And I don't really mind that, as long as the amount is reasonable.

But now we are talking about 75 loads of dirt and then the leveling after the hauling. So to make sure I am not being overcharged too much, sure would appreciate some local knowledge about the cost for fill dirt and any reliable sources. And are there different types/qualities or is it all basically the same?

Stoneman

Post by **john2005** » October 26, 2006, 3:22 pm

Usually it is dirt from old rice fields and is about 400 Baht a tipper load making 30,000 for the dirt and then another 1000 Baht for the tractor.

valentine · Post by **valentine** » October 26, 2006, 4:11 pm

Stoneman. The last price I had for infill was 1,000 for 3 tipper loads and for where your garden is going to be you can specify better soil, but not by any means what we would call top soil. this can be had at about 4,000bht a load. The tractor charges 50bht per tipper load. don't know where in Nong Wor Sor you live, but the Tippers come from Nong Or which is a small village within the district of Nong Wor Sor.An enquiry at the local shop should point you in the right direction,. Sorry don't have his phone number.

Post by **stoneman** » October 26, 2006, 5:25 pm

valentine wrote:Stoneman. The last price I had for infill was 1,000 for 3 tipper loads and for where your garden is going to be you can specify better soil, but not by any means what we would call top soil. this can be had at about 4,000bht a load. The tractor charges 50bht per tipper load. don't know where in Nong Wor Sor you live, but the Tippers come from Nong Or which is a small village within the district of Nong Wor Sor.An enquiry at the local shop should point you in the right direction,. Sorry don't have his phone number.

John and Valentine..

Thanks for the prompt response and good info... Will be up there in the next few weeks to get things started...

Stoneman

Post by **jetdoc** » October 26, 2006, 7:16 pm

I know this is irrelevant, but we just did 1/2 rai in Surin 180bt per truck load and 30bt per load for tractor. Took 70 loads about 14800bt total, maybe there was a tip involved not sure.

Post by **BKKSTAN** » October 26, 2006, 7:27 pm

Nong Khai,400 per load +50.

Post by **fdimike** » October 26, 2006, 8:22 pm

We just had about 10 truck loads of pretty decent dirt delivered to our proiperty here in Udon Thani. Cost was 600B/6 wheel truck including the tractor.

Much depends on the type of dirt you are looking for. The dirt we had delivered is fine for planting grass etc.

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » October 26, 2006, 8:31 pm

outside udorn, 15 kms southwest, ban tad, same 400 + 50 for tractor. check your dirt, no decayables, tree trunks and such. had some trucks drive by, city/suburb boy, but i can smell good dirt, nice top soil. stopped him and ordered 5 trucks, just because it was nice. black w/earthy smell. once done, after house done, start buying cow sh#t, i paid 10 baht a bag, a light coat on top of soil, grow anything. my yard is green after 3yrs, and i didn't lay any sod in that area, didn't really start maintaining it until last year or so. grass grew and spread out pretty good by itself. although far from a nice grass lawn, buy free and can almost walk barefoot. looks nice from a distance. laid sod in front porch area, total waste of money.

Post by **Dakoda** » October 26, 2006, 10:36 pm

Dirt, good question. Its seems to come in many forms, and most of it is like concrete. When it rains, you will be up to your ...... (well atleast) knees, and when it has dried for three days, your pick-axe will bounce off it.

It also comes in many colors, from white to red, and yes I have seen the dark brown (black) around, but no price on the latter, yet, I expect higher.

Seems to be sold by the cubic meter, small dump truck is 3 cubic meters and can cost between 350 - 700 baht. Depending on the purpose, its best to see it before you order. Watch out, you just might get a truck load of clay.

For a building site there is some red stuff which is the closes I could find to gravel, (again, watch out for the clay) with this stuff, it can rain for days and you can still walk and drive on it! But again watch out for the clay, walking on the clay will increase your height

Now the white fill was used across the soi from me, and the workers at my place, kept saying "no good". That was 8 months ago and the house has been finished for some time, and it looks ok to me, but give it a year and we will see.

Another place also across from me was filled about 2 months ago with a yellowish soil. I have no idea on it, not sure if something else will be added to the top. As of now no building or anything else going on.

good luck.

Post by **izzix** » October 27, 2006, 12:17 am

how high to build up ? old properties are really low lying and get flooded.

Post by **john2005** » October 27, 2006, 12:31 pm

izzix,what i did was visit the village chief and ask him about the worst flood he could remember.He said two foot deep so i got land fill up to height of four feet above surrounding area.

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » October 27, 2006, 1:27 pm

I'm guessing this is rice paddy field already owned by family. or simply low lying land not owned by family or maybe but not paddy land, but low and prone to filling with water.

if so, and you didn't pay anything for it, you may want to forego the whole idea of backfilling and start from scratch. find a lot of land that doesn't need fill, bit higher, with a view maybe. if you do, do not let them again, build up the dirt and build on top, which is the method they use. go western, take highest point or level and scape level and put a proper pad, thick w/steel down and plasic as moisture barrier. don't forget to lay any pipe and seal and test for leaks if holding water, and feel free to lay extra, just in case.

if continuing with your original plan of backfilling, i would wait 2 seasons to build on, so land is settled and again, scrape level and proper pad. or trust me, from experience, you are going to have cracks in foundation and walls. hindsight and ignorance is a bitch.

good thread about building

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/v ... t=building

Post by **cookie** » October 27, 2006, 1:50 pm

La,
I have two questions and they will sound stupid for most of the people probably, but I have no clue about these building skills and I don't know what I have to be prepared for.

1) Where do I put the plastic?
first the plastic, then the steel?
Won't the steel cut the plastic?
Or do I put the plastic on top of the cement floor later before they start building the walls??

2) You wrote that you built your house double block wall on the east and west facing wall.
Why not also on the south facing wall? Is there a reason for this/
(sorry for my stupid questions, but I have no idea.)

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » October 27, 2006, 2:08 pm

the plastic, i'll get back to you, my neighbor built his house properly, i remember it on top of the pad, but will verify.

the steel will be placed in concrete for reinforcement, just noticed you answered plastic question. yes, a barrier between pad and floor. again, will verify and send you a pm, if i don't forget, send me one.

i only built the double block on the one wall, most of that post is suggestions i wish i did. but just the east and west wall, exposed to sun, as block houses store and radiate the heat inside temp up quite a bit. the reason for over extending roof all the way around and double block where ever sun hits wall or all the walls, block is very cheap. and don't let them fill the space of double block wall with cement, luckily they asked first, as they were going to.

no such thing as stupid question, just mistakes, which in thailand, are common place as i have yet to meet a skilled home builder, not that i'm looking that much. but almost all houses/buildings you see are inferior in design and materials used. most just due to ignorance, some laziness, and sadly some, poor workmanship, just because they don't care and want money. luckily, not all for the last reason.

Post by **cookie** » October 27, 2006, 2:23 pm

Thanks LA,
I just called with the misses also because we just bought a piece of land and we want to start building soon.
Our land (5rai) is about 20 cm higher than the street.
My misses told me that they will put some kind of white ground fill only on the space where we are going to built the house.
She told me that they will put lots of water on this white land fill
the next they they will "trill" this land down with a "trilling machine" and one week later they will put the pad on there.
Does this sound good to you?

Post by **kevh** » October 27, 2006, 2:36 pm

I hate to stick my oar in but the face of a house that is exposed to the most sun is south faceing.

East and west are sun rise and sun set.

But the theory of increasing the thermal mass of the face is correct.

You may also want to consider shading to this face.

Kev

Post by **john2005** » October 27, 2006, 2:52 pm

The South side of my home is covered by the roof overhang as by the time the sun would hit it,it is high in the sky.East and West exposure is at more acute angles and thus overhang will not work,hence double block.

Post by **cookie** » October 27, 2006, 3:03 pm

Our house will face the west because there is the street.
But we will have the same like LA: we will have a big roof overhang all around the house:
2 meter roof overhang on the sides of the house and 4 meter roof overhang on the front and backside of the house.
Even more, the land we bought is on the top of a hill, great view and a nice breeze, but this also means that we will be open for the sun.
We are already planting trees around but don't know how long it will take before they are big enough to keep the sun away and have some shade around the house.

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » October 27, 2006, 3:26 pm

overextend to the point someone will think you're building a carport next to house

and double block the exposed walls. of course make use of that over extended roof, sitting areas on different times of day, maybe screen in one section, for those buggy days. work area for tinkering or potting area. the pic below shows my southern exposure, the sun room was a second thought, that was going to be just a roof over extension and not a room, but as always, i like to keep the builder scratching his head and thinking the farang is nuts. so take out the windows, knock out part of wall for step down doorway and now we have a computer/dining/sun/tv room. the block is doubled and the sun doesn't hit the shaded glass till 3 ish. shade fans inside take care of 75 % of sunlight for those 3 hrs till sunset. the rest of the day and night is nice with very open feel to it. best idea i had with the house. with a down side, before this, i could open windows on both sides of house and the breeze would be nice, as interior is fairly open plan and bedroom doors open allowed a nice breeze. along with noise and dust and moisture, depending on season and time of day. sometimes i wish it was open aired, but i prefer the quiet and cleaner air, of course the ac bill is a bit more, but worth it. have plenty of outside areas to sit, screened and open. which i strongely suggest, give yourself a couple options as the weather and bugs change.

laphanphon · Post by **laphanphon** » October 28, 2006, 9:52 am

face of a house that is exposed to the most sun is south

northern hemisphere, of course, but living in udorn at 17 degrees as opposed to 52 in the UK, where most come from, is bit of a difference, and the exposure to sun can be controlled lot easier. most of that exposure is duobled on my house, and it's an amazing difference, especially before i made the one wall half glass, which allows quite a bit in. the rear section of house, with single wall and sun exposure majority of the day is 5-10 degrees hotter, but partitioned from the rest of house.

face the west because there is the street

this won't float with the wife and family, but don't place your house on land based on street. everything with original design of house was done backwards for my house, as i wasn't here full time to supervise. the house was to be built completely turned around. so bath and kitchen faced the street and porch away from street toward what 'view' i have. it was to run east/west, which would be diaginal on land, but i didn't care. actually, since adding glass room, glad it wasn't, but i made some changes to compensate all the things that weren't done the way i originally planned.

oh, that white fill, haven't got a clue, unless it's just crushed stone. just make sure they don't build any part up with dirt, take dirt away from high end to make level, not add to low end. good luck.

best advice is RENT, sorry, but best advice, for at least a year or 2. most basic and important reason. see if the relationship remains intact, i know nothing of anyones relationship, but, unless married already and living together for a few years, then you know it's a safe financial investment. if that is already so, then rent to see if you want to live in udorn area, not for everyone. try to rent where you plan on building, then see if country or city living is for you. i personally, in the states always lived as far away from wifes family as possible. here, they were right around the corner, which re-enforces my original thinking. unless you love them dearly and want to live with them/see them everyday, move at least 5 kms away from them, or another province. mute subject now, since ex is gone and rarely in area.