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  1. #76
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    ^
    Please do.

  2. #77
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    Well, it's less than a month before I head over to Thailand for good. As I mentioned, the first project will be a sala/work shop that is big enough for a pool table and wet room/storage. I hope to begin this shortly after my arrival and will also be having a well drilled and electric run to the plot.
    I am planning a trip to the BlueScope Steel facility in Khon Kaen to check out their roofing solution. I am not a fan of tiles since I had several houses in California with them and was continually repairing and replacing the broken tiles. It should also be cheaper and lighter than tiles so that is the direction I am leaning right now.

  3. #78
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    I would be interested to see what Bluescope have to offer in Thailand. I have never been a fan of loading your roof with rock.

  4. #79
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    Mozz, take a look at their website to give you a rough idea of the roofing solution. Pretty impressive, but I am one who needs to see first hand which is the reason for the visit to the factory in Khon Kean.

  5. #80
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    and electric run to the plot
    How far do you have to bring it to your plot and what sort of cost is it?

  6. #81
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    OhOh, here is a picture of the front of the plot where the entrance will be. The electical poles line the road so the cost will not be that much. The house will set about 25-30 meters back and wont take much wire to run to the house. I am thinking the electric will be much cheaper to do than the well which will cost about 30,000 baht including everything.

  7. #82
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    The house will set about 25-30 meters back and wont take much wire to run to the house.
    you may find it a good idea to put just one of your own poles in, although I am not sure what the regs are

  8. #83
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    Dr. A, do you mean to support the line being run from the street to the hourse, or on the street to have your individual box?

  9. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post


    OhOh, here is a picture of the front of the plot where the entrance will be. The electical poles line the road so the cost will not be that much. The house will set about 25-30 meters back and wont take much wire to run to the house. I am thinking the electric will be much cheaper to do than the well which will cost about 30,000 baht including everything.

    For 30,000 baht i hope they find a source of premium water so that you can bottle it and make some money back! I had to dig a well twice and it didnt cost that much, What are you trying to hit the mekong?

    good luck and good luck!
    im hot its so hot today.......milk was a bad choice!

  10. #85
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    Ben, the 30,000 baht was all in and included the pump and piping needed. I believe the drilling was about 10,000 and the pump that I purchases was the highest capacity one I could find which was not cheap, even in Udon. I considered it very inexpensive since drilling a well in the States cost 10's of thousands of dollars. What did it cost for your well all in?

  11. #86
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    ^
    Dr. A, do you mean to support the line being run from the street to the hourse, or on the street to have your individual box?

    the last pole in the street is the elec. companies property, and that is where your meter goes

    I meant you may need to have another pole within your property to support the line

    that is your responsibility although it depends on the distance and the local regs

    if you do need it, often the same guy who works for the elec co. will do it for a small fee
    I have reported your post

  12. #87
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    Got it, thanks.

  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    Ben, the 30,000 baht was all in and included the pump and piping needed. I believe the drilling was about 10,000 and the pump that I purchases was the highest capacity one I could find which was not cheap, even in Udon. I considered it very inexpensive since drilling a well in the States cost 10's of thousands of dollars. What did it cost for your well all in?
    Yes, that's why it was in a joking manner. 'All in' wasnt as forthcoming as the above, so i thought i'd inquire?

    my well cost was a free pump from the man who i bouht the land from (normal cost 12,500 baht).
    The well was dug at 30 meters over 2 days and 2 bottles of whiskey for 8,000. He was so confident in the water quality he guzzled a good glug of it!

    Hope that helps.

    No offense was meant.

  14. #89
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    No offense taken and nice to have anything "free." The same guy will be coming out to do our well and he has done 80% of them in our area so he definately knows where the water is. This will be one of the first things I do along with running some electric to power tools needed.

  15. #90
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    Well, I have finally made it here and have been in country for a little over 3 weeks. During that time I have managed to find a possible builder and obtain some fill dirt for the garage/sala. The fill dirt was a little hard to find since everyone is starting their build now that the rainly season has ended.

    We had 33 trucks brought in for the garage/sala and the brother-in-law is ordering the cement posts and wood along with the block to build. The corners of the plot have been filled in and a retaining wall will begin soon. I will take some pics, but right now I can not post them since I am running of a slow AIS 3G stick. I will be upgrading to a faster and better system once we move into the house.

  16. #91
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    The cement posts for the garage/shop have been ordered and they are currently drying in the molds for a few days. My brother-in-law has rounded up three other helpers and we negotiated a fee of 12,000 baht for all four of them to do the project. He just completed a similar build, but it did not have a cement floor or any block included and their fee was also 12,000 baht.

    It should take about 10 days to complete the garage/shop and it will give me a place to store needed building supplies for the house build. It will have electricity and plumbed for a Thai toilet, shower and overall wet room. I will post some pics soon now that I have figured out how to do it with the 3G mobile internet stick. No different than high speed except it takes a lot longer and you have to pick a good time of day to dial in.

  17. #92
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    ^ Looking forward to it Rick were here waiting

  18. #93
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    Well, I have been here for a little over 5 weeks now and things have changed with the build. My first challenge was finding someone to do the foundation and posts for the two story plan I had, but this turned out to be harder than I thought. I spoke with several builders and they wanted to do the entire build and not just the foundation. When I asked for an estimate, they all came in above 2 million baht which is not my budget.

    After much thought, I have decided to go with a one story sturcture. It will be similar to the floor plan of the second floor I posted earlier, but a little bigger and I plan to make the house in phases. The first phase will include the four 5m x 5m teak panels I ordered before leaving the states. All four have two windows apiece and I will make these the side walls of the first phase.

    After sketching some rough plans, I will take them to Udon to have some proper plans drawn up and then use these as my blueprint for the house. The first phase would be a simple rectangular structure up off the ground one meter and I do not plan to partition any rooms at this time. This should be very easy to build with some help from the locals.

    The second phase would be Superblock or Q-con and would consist of 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is planned for outside and would be a Thai kitchen with some western grilling capabilities. My hope is to have plenty of covered area for the kitchen and outside sitting areas.

    I have learned a good lesson about the local builders here and how not to expect too much from them. One of the bulders was the brother of a good friend and he quoted 500,000 baht in labor costs for my original plan which I though was very high. He said that right now the builders are receiving 1800 baht per square meter for just labor and I have no way to check this. I do know the actaul laborers are only receiving 250-300 baht per day. This is what I am willing to pay on a daily basis but some say they have more knowledge and want 500 baht per day. I am not willing to pay the 500 unless the person is a superbuilder. It seems construction labor costs have changed around here since I checked last. In any event, I will keep you posted on my progress. The teak panels will arrive in December at which time I will check dimensions and start on drawing some plans.

  19. #94
    On a walkabout Loy Toy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Ben, the 30,000 baht was all in and included the pump and piping needed. I believe the drilling was about 10,000 and the pump that I purchases was the highest capacity one I could find which was not cheap, even in Udon. I considered it very inexpensive since drilling a well in the States cost 10's of thousands of dollars. What did it cost for your well all in?
    Rick, you do realize to sink a well in Thailand you legally have to apply for a licence.

    Most don't but if you have a falling out with someone they can give you headaches.

  20. #95
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    Thanks LT, I did not know about thatdetail. The last well we sunk was in the deceased parent's house where we are now staying and nobody mentioned that little piece of information. The housed has been here for about 40 years and was plumbed to the local water line that was regularly interrupted.

    How is it enforced? I have never heard of anyone being cited for drilling a well without first obtaining a permit. Do you know of anyone who has?
    Last edited by rickschoppers; 23-11-2011 at 07:39 PM.

  21. #96
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    Sorry to everyone for the long break in information, but I have now been in Thailand a little over 5 months and now have high speed internet set up in the carport/storage so that I can document my progress.

    To start, the carport location was relocated from next to the pond and now sets next to the house. It just seemed to make more sense. I will post some pictures soon that will show its size which sound up to be 12 metes by 8 meters. It will serve as living quarters for our caretaker and has worked well as a staging area for most of the building materials and a place to sit out of the sun.

    I think I mentioned that my brother-in-law in now the forman and I am the project planner of the house build. He has put together a good team of five local craftsmen. Two are exceptional at steel work and the other three for the concrete. To date, the steel is almost done for the roof and the foundation between the columns is 80% complete. Not bad for starting on March 5th. Pictures to follow.

  22. #97
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    Looking forward to seeing some piccies.

  23. #98
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    Here are the posts and some land that was brought in for the carport/storage.



    Some land for the main house.


  24. #99
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    OK, flash forward about 3 months and the carport has been finished, the retaining wall around the land for the house is complete and it is now time to start digging the holes for the house columns. Paid 200 baht for each hole in hard ground which seemed a deal since they were all done by hand. It took about a week since they were all 1 meter deep.




    Living in Thailand, there needed to be a conference with the local elders and monks to decide a "good" day to start the house build. March 5 was chosen, for whatever reason and I needed to rent a truck with a crane since the columns were 6 meters long and 7 cm thick.


    The ceremonial raising of the first post. The completed carport/storage can be seen in the background.



    A second traditional post goes up.



    The traditional meal follows.


  25. #100
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    The posts for the back of the house facing the land go in.



    A couple of the center posts are set.



    Note the three small posts steadying the columns tied with motorbike intertubes. This method cost me two colums since we had a wind come up at topple one of the back columns into another one. I watched in silence since there is nothing I can say or do to chage their Thai methods of constuction. This has been the only mishap to date, so I consider myself lucky.

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