Thread: Marty's New Home in the sticks

I wish you and your wife all the best with the house and years of happy, healthy enjoyment together when it is finished.

You planning a family?

Thanks, Loy Toy, I am building a home to retire to, in a couple of years or sooner if I can find a way. Bloody pension in Oz now have to be 65.5 yrs , and no, not on the drawing board for family. I have a very nice nearly 17yo Thai stepson and 2 grown up kids back in Oz, with 2 beautiful grandchildren who love my Thai wife so no need.

Hi All,

I'm back from Thailand, and have a few pics to post, the Thai workers have been digging holes and bending wires and creating formwork. Above they are pouring concrete and because the trucks chute didn't reach the hole they have pulled a bit of corrugated iron from there little shade / lean to thingy to get the concrete into the hole.

Might take me a while to remember how to post pics properly, this one is the hole they are filling in on the first pic I posted. Had a lot of fun in the village the last 3 weeks but have to come back to work to pay for the house and sober up a bit.

Here is the same hole the next day, formwork ready for post

And this is what the site looked like at this time, they seem to be doing every hole individually!!!

Here's a pic of the lean to / sunshade they are using on site. Obviously my guys aren't living on site. I have been taking a bottle of cold red bull for each one every time I visit, so they like seeing me come. It has been around 38 - 40 degrees in Isaan for the 2 weeks I was there.

This is the highly technical nail in wood system they use to create the wire ties for the formwork

Slow progress, but they are at least getting things done, posts are now being filled

They seem to be doing just one hole at a time, here's a two post hole ready to get some cement

They've finally got all the holes filled and posts ready to be extended I assume

Now they are starting to get their act together, looks like they are going to lay the slab before they erect a roof, bit different to most threads on TD, but then again I could be wrong!

Now they are getting there, but notice there is still a hole to be finished! They are using a mixer on site to do all this

Another angle, lots of rebar going up along the little cement paths

Originally Posted by koman

It would leave a pillar in the middle of the room, but I reckon if you made a kitchen island that incorporated the pillar then you wouldn't really notice it. Something a bit like this:



Ahem....notice that this very upscale kitchen has something that looks very much like a Frankie ...on the right hand side of that black part. Islands are for gays.....Frankie's are for men with balls...... I would never dress my Frankie up in black though.....no taste at all some people...

....also, these open plan kitchens are OK for certain Europeans who cook things that produce no fumes or odour, and often no taste.. .....now can you imaging your typical Isaan wife knocking out a big batch of Pad Khrapow Moo in such an environment..??..... I think the rest of the house would empty out pretty quick....

Outdoor kitchen is the only way to go.

Originally Posted by FatOne

I've been trying to post this one but was just shown how to reduce the resolution so it would drop into the gallery!

With that type of roof make sure the flashing under the tile reaches far enough up under the tile. We had to have are flashing replaced twice. You would be surprised how far a strong wind will push the water up under the tile. Our flashing reaches about 4 ft. up on each side.

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

In the rain, the space between the two roofs will be a waterfall, making it impossible
to get in the house with out getting wet.
also the garage at 4 m is a little small,
I took the liberty of doing a crude drawing of what the roof line could look like if you extended the parking space by 1.5 m
These changes can be done on the fly by your builder, and would not cost any more,
in fact you are loosing one column, so you might save some money.

Gutters work well.

Last day in Thailand, the wooden structure in the background is something my next door neighbour is building. We had to get a new electrical post put in to take power to both properties, he organised it and we shared the cost -- 1500b each!!!! Would cost a small fortune in Oz.

Last pic from my hols, I hope my Sister in Law starts sending me some pics soon, we gave her a Lumia smartphone so she could send lots of pics, and I really want to see what they do next! The big heap of dirt in the foreground is the carport. I assume they will lay some floating slabs after the concrete in all that rebar around the little paths they've made.

We started to pick out some colours and tiles and looked around Global world and home pro, plus the local supply shops. I asked the builder to put in double glazing on the windows and he didn't know what I was talking about- have you ever tried to explain 2 panes of glass separated by gas in the one frame? Anyway a local window manufacturer knew what we wanted and it wasn't that much more expensive, so we'll get them to make up the windows with flywire and some nice burglar proof outside.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Originally Posted by koman

It would leave a pillar in the middle of the room, but I reckon if you made a kitchen island that incorporated the pillar then you wouldn't really notice it. Something a bit like this:



Ahem....notice that this very upscale kitchen has something that looks very much like a Frankie ...on the right hand side of that black part. Islands are for gays.....Frankie's are for men with balls...... I would never dress my Frankie up in black though.....no taste at all some people...

....also, these open plan kitchens are OK for certain Europeans who cook things that produce no fumes or odour, and often no taste.. .....now can you imaging your typical Isaan wife knocking out a big batch of Pad Khrapow Moo in such an environment..??..... I think the rest of the house would empty out pretty quick....

Outdoor kitchen is the only way to go.

I have designed the house with a doorway to the outside from the kitchen for future expansion if needed, and of course I'll have a BBQ somewhere handy, probably the front porch.

If you havn't already you would do well to insist on a piping system for distributing bug killing spray under you floor.

Just paid second instalment on the house, it was due when the slab was finished. I'm waiting for some pictures from my SIL, so hopefully I'll see what they've done.

That wooden structure your neighbour is erecting...Looks like a cow shed.
On a good note, it will stifle the aroma of somtam!

^ I thought the wooden structure looked like Bankao Dreamer's new restaurant when I first saw it.

He won't like it being likened to a cow shed Charleyboy, that's not nice...