It seems like more and more shoddy, incompetent, and sometimes criminal poor quality construction has been happening. There is always news about roads being torn up for installation of flood control tubes and road resurfacing. It seems like it's the same roads torn up every year. The only difference I notice in flood control is the same areas still flood, but the waters drain off a little quicker.
Where road construction goes on there are always accidents due to poor barriers and lack of sufficient lighting at night - sometimes no lighting at all. It nearly happened to me a few years ago. I was driving, on my way back to Pattaya on Rte 7 Expressway when I nearly crashed into a road construction site that was in no way adequately lit. I was just about on top of it before seeing it and just barely was able to swerve into the next lane in time to avoid it. One more second or if another vehicle was in the lane I swerved into, there definitely would have been a serious accident. It was sheer luck that an accident was avoided.
And when roads are resurfaced, how long does it usually take before there are potholes?
Overpass and building collapses seem to happen more and more often. That building under construction collapse in Bangkok during the earthquake was due to incompetent engineering and shoddy building materials. A day or so ago another building under construction in Bangkok collapsed - and it already has been determined that low quality, cheap steel was used.
I'm afraid to drive under Bangkok's overpasses. I've seen too many news items about sudden collapses happening.
"It did occur to me that I'm about to be launched into space on a rocket with all its parts built by whoever was the lowest bidder."
- Alan Shepard - first American in space
Quality of construction
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Gaybutton
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Re: Quality of construction
Does anyone know anything about what happened at Unixx Condo on Pratumnak road? There was some kind of collapse on the outside of the building. Some people were injured.
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Gaybutton
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Re: Quality of construction
Another example of the finest in architecture, materials, and skilled construction . . .
Also, I didn't mention anything about fires. There have been too many fires breaking out, many due to shoddy electrical work and maintenance. Sometimes the results have been tragic. There have been times when fire exits were locked and blocked because the owners wanted to prevent people from being able to sneak in. When it has been shown that tea money was involved, the involved BiB, when they were punished at all, received what didn't even really amount to a slap on the wrist. And from what I understand, compensation actually paid out to victims by venue owners either hardly ever actually happens or the victims receive only a paltry sum.
Also, I didn't mention anything about fires. There have been too many fires breaking out, many due to shoddy electrical work and maintenance. Sometimes the results have been tragic. There have been times when fire exits were locked and blocked because the owners wanted to prevent people from being able to sneak in. When it has been shown that tea money was involved, the involved BiB, when they were punished at all, received what didn't even really amount to a slap on the wrist. And from what I understand, compensation actually paid out to victims by venue owners either hardly ever actually happens or the victims receive only a paltry sum.
Re: Quality of construction
In the video above provided by Jun, that is my condo. My unit is about five floors below where the decorative part fell. Lucky for me I’m on the very end of the building. And the part that fell ends right where my unit begins.
They asked my permission to inspect my unit for damage. Haven’t heard back so I’m sure it’s ok. I’m 31 floors up and do get a little bit nervous when I open my window and look down. Some times I imagine jumping out and falling, which I understand is normal to think about sometimes. But the boy who stayed with me there would open the window and pretend he was going to jump. I hope he was pretending, I never let him. Maybe my condo has ghosts.
They asked my permission to inspect my unit for damage. Haven’t heard back so I’m sure it’s ok. I’m 31 floors up and do get a little bit nervous when I open my window and look down. Some times I imagine jumping out and falling, which I understand is normal to think about sometimes. But the boy who stayed with me there would open the window and pretend he was going to jump. I hope he was pretending, I never let him. Maybe my condo has ghosts.
Re: Quality of construction
And best of all, the one near your unit has already collapsed. So you only need to wear a hard hat when under any of the others outside...
Re: Quality of construction
I think I try to be rational.
However, on balconies up to the 5th or 6th floor I'm quite happy.
When it gets to about 10 or more floors, I avoid going anywhere near the edge of the balcony. Also, if the top rail is below my centre of gravity, I don't like it either.
Yet, even falling off the 6th floor would make quite a mess.
As for Unixx, lets hope the engineering of the main structure is better than that of the trim. Maybe they let the trainee design the add ons.
Also, when it comes to public sector work on pavements, drainage etc, the work is persistently shoddy & stands no chance of lasting a reasonable time. I've already described some of it on this forum.
It also seems reasonably common for heavy parts to fall off skytrain lines, monorails and elevated roads.
So we have to hope that a much better standard of workmanship is applied to the private sector construction of apartments & other buildings we use.
Fortunately, there is some evidence:
(i) Buildings collapsing seem rare
(ii) Even the basics like pavements on private sector buildings such as apartments, shopping centres etc seem to be much better & more durable than that done by the Thai public sector. So hopefully that attitude might extend to the construction standards of the building. In most cases.
However, on balconies up to the 5th or 6th floor I'm quite happy.
When it gets to about 10 or more floors, I avoid going anywhere near the edge of the balcony. Also, if the top rail is below my centre of gravity, I don't like it either.
Yet, even falling off the 6th floor would make quite a mess.
As for Unixx, lets hope the engineering of the main structure is better than that of the trim. Maybe they let the trainee design the add ons.
Also, when it comes to public sector work on pavements, drainage etc, the work is persistently shoddy & stands no chance of lasting a reasonable time. I've already described some of it on this forum.
It also seems reasonably common for heavy parts to fall off skytrain lines, monorails and elevated roads.
So we have to hope that a much better standard of workmanship is applied to the private sector construction of apartments & other buildings we use.
Fortunately, there is some evidence:
(i) Buildings collapsing seem rare
(ii) Even the basics like pavements on private sector buildings such as apartments, shopping centres etc seem to be much better & more durable than that done by the Thai public sector. So hopefully that attitude might extend to the construction standards of the building. In most cases.