daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:55 pm

Tommie wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 6:48 pm Ratio of sand to cement:

I usually take 1 part cement + 2 parts of sand + 3 parts of gravel when making concrete mixtures. Or 1 part cement + 3 parts of sand when not using gravel in the mix.

Thanks!

Tommie wrote: ↑Sun Aug 22, 2021 12:30 am

daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:55 pm

Tommie wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 6:48 pm Ratio of sand to cement:

I usually take 1 part cement + 2 parts of sand + 3 parts of gravel when making concrete mixtures. Or 1 part cement + 3 parts of sand when not using gravel in the mix.

Thanks!

If it is your own time you spend I would go for making them in concrete myself. Using gravel in the concrete mix will save You some money. Make a few wodden mouldings to pour the concrete into that are easy to disasemble and You can use them over and over again. Do not let the mouldings sit on for more than a day or to and remember to oil the inside of the mouldings good before You put the concrete inside. It makes it easier to get the mouldings of without destroying them each time.

Do not forget to use rebar.
Do not forget to vibrate the concrete when it is in the moulding before it sets.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Sun Aug 22, 2021 2:39 pm I simply cannot understand the people who are suggesting to "make your own". I suspect they have zero experience in construction here, and come with a western mindset of DYI=cheaper. It's not worth it for fencing... Maybe for house columns, but not for fucking posts...

Let's see:
-To make forms for the posts you'll need either cheap wood (plywood, often not available in the provinces, so you'll end up using mango tree or something similar). Or steel...
-Take the time to cut up all the forms to perfect specs
-Forms don't last long, even with oil on their sides to facilitate taking them off, the wood starts to fail after 2-4 forms. So you'll be buying more and more wood or making tons of forms.
-Workers will need to set the thin gauge steel wire/rebar for each one individually...
-Now assuming you need dozens if not hundreds of these, the time needed to let the cement set for each one would require you to spend countless on labour manhours.
Other option: there are literally companies that ONLY make these and other cement forms (drains, culverts) all over the countryside. They have the staff, they have the forms. They mass produce them... That's all they do, so it'll come out cheaper and faster than making your own, and for posts you don't need the perfect ration of cement/sand/gravel or super thick rebar. They even have steel loops sticking out of them for easy installation of barbed wire or anything else you want.

I suspect if you even suggest to your family member that he makes them all for you, he'll tell you in semi-polite terms to fuck off and go do it yourself. I'm actually quite curious: go ahead and ask him today and report back on what his answer is. I'm curious as to what he'll think of the suggestion. It blows my mind that people are telling you to make your own, but whatever. I'd say stop being a cheapo and just fucking buy the posts already. Where's the land? If it isn't near a cement producing province, or way out in the middle of nowhere, it's quite possible the posts are a bit pricier, or perhaps the guy wants to make a bit of money on the side so he's quoting you a slightly higher price. Either way, I'd just do it. It's not like you have much bargaining power anyways from where you are. It's been three months and you still don't have a fence up.

Freightdog wrote: ↑Sun Aug 22, 2021 4:44 am

daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 5:13 pm
We are still trying to do this job remotely. We have been quoted some very high prices for cement posts in Cambodia. The cheapest price we have been told is 15,000 riel each.

Does that sound like the right cost? Supposedly we can get wooden poles for about 3,000 riel each.

How much would it cost if we bought cement and did it ourselves? (cement is about 20,000 per bag but I can't remember the ratio of sand to cement. Plus someone mentioned about using steel bars).

You say you’re doing this remotely? How remotely, if you are able to buy the cement and DIY?

If you’re arranging all this totally remotely, then you’ll be relying on someone to do the job well on your behalf. Is there someone with the ability to do it that you can rely on?
We’ve just been though this with some of our land, getting a fence and gates put up. We had wooden posts. It’s not exactly how I’d have liked, as the posts won’t have been treated (oil dipping.). But it was done, and the photos show its satisfactory, if only a couple of years temporarily. The costs were about what you mentioned, above. It was organised and done in a couple of days.
I can’t imagine organising people and materials, and getting the posts done in concrete or steel, with locals that I don’t know. I’ve seen some of the handiwork done at the house in the province, and it really needs adjusting with a sledge hammer and starting again.


Old oil, though. Maybe that could probably be had (although we didn’t get this done) Find a bus or truck repair shop locally, take a big plastic tub/bin. Have the posts dipped. It’s the portion directly in the ground that needs doing immediately, so you don’t really need to submerge the whole post.

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Sun Aug 22, 2021 6:31 am Would a "living fence" be suitable?
Used extensively all thru this region.

A good mature one will do the full job - you can start with the foundation post/plants - and use wire, wire netting or screening to fill the gaps until the growing plants can do the job by themselves.
A mix of quick growing things like Papaya trees and thorny shrubs works well.