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  1. #126
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    Outdoor seating with bar and cooking area, fire pit and sala is the way to go for year-round use. I'm making a kitchen inside for me really, as I miss not having an oven, pan-frying a sunday roast just isn't a jolly good show you know
    Agreed. In fact the inside kitchen has an extremely nice oven where my wife bakes deserts. We discussed moving it to the other kitchen and her response was No as she loves the smell of the house when baking Chocolate Chip cookies. So really the inside kitchen is for baking pastries and such. The downstairs detached kitchen is for all else as we have a dinner table and hutch underneath where we eat.

    Btw. The Roast sounds good.

  2. #127
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    Hope the workers get back from New Years so we can continue seeing your build.

  3. #128
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    Happy new year of the cock to you all!

    Not much going on with the build at the moment, waiting on steel for the roof structure, but not certain if Noarng is pre-welding trusses elsewhere rather than cutting and welding in a damp field. I know he does have a large workshop for such things, so it's possible... weather has been pretty miserable for the past 5 days, not ideal for working with metal.

    Haven't been chasing up really, as I'd have to fork out another payment if things progressed too quickly (and the funds are slow in coming this time of year!).

    The sun came out for a few hours the other day, and a lorry load of bricks turned up, plus discussions have been on-going regarding window placement and the backdoor for kitchen, so the build is not totally forgotten about!


  4. #129
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    OK, so progress this week has also been a bit on the slow side, with only 3 chaps working on the build. Doors and windows have been ordered and are being fabricated in the woodwork shop (or is that a wood workshop?) in Bosang, plus steel has been delivered. The foreman (he of few words) has been spraying undercoat and enamel on steel in readiness for fabrication of the roof.

    Meanwhile, some bricks have been laid, plus a conversation with Noarng about window heights... initially I asked for 170cms window height, but this was reduced to 150cms, but somehow the additional 20 cms was forgotten and should be added on to the brick course at the bottom of the window frames. Without the extra brick height, it would have meant that the windows would have been a bit low in the walls to see the views when standing near to the walls...

    THIS is why it's important to be on site everyday if possible! Not too late to fix thank goodness. All good now though.


    Anyhow, the upshot of this means that now that the tops of the doors and windows will all be aligned.

    There will also be another reinforced concrete beam running across all windows and doors as a lintel, my understanding is that it will be continuous and connect all the upright posts.

    I have also requested that the upright posts be reduced by 40cms from 320cms to 280cms, as I was concerned that the exterior walls will be too high and exposed to the elements (sun and rain) as the eaves will not be large enough to protect them. I realise that reducing the height of the posts runs a slight risk of increasing interior air temperatures, but I think with the vents and the open ceiling heights all will be fine.

    In any case the decision is also an aesthetic one, I want the house to sit right in the landscape and have the correct proportions... being too tall would ruin the effect.



    Photo showing some of the posts (lhs and mid) after being reduced in height (the remaining ones on rhs are being trimmed as I write this).
    Last edited by jonnyenglish; 18-01-2017 at 02:41 PM.

  5. #130
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    HeyJE, thanks for the update. When I built my place in Isaan I received a photo showing the kitchen window height being a bit too low, asked my sister in law who was overseeing the build to get it a bit higher. Now all the kitchen benches are fine for me but too high for typical short Thais, and I had to buy a stool for my little MIL!!

  6. #131
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    hey FatOne, maybe some of these would help?


  7. #132
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    Yeah, very old lady, prob sprain something - anyway you ever see a Thai wearing shoes inside?

  8. #133
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    Sorry FatOne, I was just being flippant.

  9. #134
    Member John Lennon's Avatar
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    FO is a sensitive, new age guy. Buy him food & alcohol & you MIGHT be forgiven.

  10. #135
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    B14,000 per sqm was around the $$$ when our build was done 1.5 years ago ex furniture & electrical appliances. Built-ins?
    Get TOO many electrical points.

  11. #136
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    Quote Originally Posted by adam03 View Post
    B14,000 per sqm was around the $$$ when our build was done 1.5 years ago ex furniture & electrical appliances. Built-ins?
    Get TOO many electrical points.
    With a bit of haggling and careful planning/design solutions, managed to get the build cost down to about the same, shelving in walk-in wardrobe, shelving in study/office, plus kitchen will all be built in, but there are some things which I know are going to cost at a later date such as:

    Boxing in exposed steel frame roof beams using reclaimed hardwood

    Granite worksurface in kitchen

    Decking and sala next to house

    Covered parking and laundry utility room

    Studio/workshop

    Basically, I'm going to be living off frogs from the fields for the next couple of years!
    Last edited by jonnyenglish; 20-01-2017 at 08:16 PM.

  12. #137
    Member John Lennon's Avatar
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    My number was definitely a guide only. An expat stated that ours was the best in the district.
    Rurally, you do not buy to sell. My guess is that you would be waiting years.
    Family, proximity to family & her friends are the overriding factors.

    I will be very happy to live here until the locals dispose of me.

    Rural living is superb - a big family.

  13. #138
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    I'm not easily offended, buy me a beer and all is forgiven! My house is still waiting for fitting out in wardrobe and kitchen 2 years later. As you can see from new posts to my thread (martys new home in the sticks) we are just doing the fence.

  14. #139
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    Steel work and interior walls going up.

    Slight changes to the roof design, as the original design had gable end vents placed centre mid way of the main house area, left-to-right and front-to-back to allow for hot air to rise and flow out.

    Walls and metal supporting posts are also placed in the same position, so they intersect vertically and could obstruct the vents, so have kept the left-to-right in the same place as this follows the central ridge line of the roof, but decided to offset the front-to-back gable so that it runs from above the front door/dining area and through to the back of the house above the kitchen without obstruction by any wall/metalwork.

    I think this will make the overall structure more appealing by being asymmetrical..












  15. #140
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    Love this build thread ! Especially like how the garden was designed first �� Makes total sense . Outside living is what Thailand is all about . Do you mind me asking what is the price for land up there ? I'm currently looking and your land has every box ticked that I was looking for (except being too far north but that may change) love mountain views far more then sea views . Keep up the good work mate I will be reading ��Ohhh one last thing where I live we tend to under engineer for dealing with earthquakes, like building houses like a garden shed . Is a stronger structure more suited to the area ?

  16. #141
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    Quote Originally Posted by Overherewa View Post
    Love this build thread ! Especially like how the garden was designed first �� Makes total sense . Outside living is what Thailand is all about . Do you mind me asking what is the price for land up there ? I'm currently looking and your land has every box ticked that I was looking for (except being too far north but that may change) love mountain views far more then sea views . Keep up the good work mate I will be reading ��Ohhh one last thing where I live we tend to under engineer for dealing with earthquakes, like building houses like a garden shed . Is a stronger structure more suited to the area ?
    Hi there Overherewa matey. Many thanks for the positive comments...

    Regarding land prices and available plots, there are quite a few places nearby, I have sent you a PM.

    As to earthquake proofing builds, not all builds incorporate these measures, but there are companies here who advise on build quality and inspections to ascertain the level of quake proofing. Not that I would use such a service, but the fact that they exist at all is an insight into how building practices are changing.

    My builder does know what he is doing, and the costs for making something stronger from the outset is not really noticeable compared to the cost of patching up/rebuilding a quake-damaged house!

    I have felt a couple of quakes here, but nothing really major, and definitely nothing that would damage a property. That said, they have happened, so I tend to prepare for the worst that nature can offer (rain, hail, lightening, wind, fire, earthquakes, drought, lack of 7-11's)... all can be overcome with a small bit of planning.
    Last edited by jonnyenglish; 25-01-2017 at 03:07 PM.

  17. #142
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    Coming along in leaps and bounds J/E and looking very good, love those views.

    My MIL passed away unfortunately, the old Thai teak house is now the wife's, up on stilts type house. When I move out to Thai in 2 years time I will strip it to its framework and rebuild. Thai outside and European inside.

    Have you been given a price for the electrical work ?

    Too old to Rock 'N' Roll :

    Too young to Die !

  18. #143
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    Hi DM,

    Sorry to hear about your MIL, wooden house will come in handy for sure.

    The electrical work was included in the all-in price, and the few changes here and there have all been answered with a "no problem Jon, no extra cost" response...

    Either my faith in humanity is horribly tainted, or I am still going to learn a valuable lesson, now't much I can do either way, so I'll just have to wait and see!
    Last edited by jonnyenglish; 26-01-2017 at 08:11 PM.

  19. #144
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    An all in price...wow....didn't you do well.

  20. #145
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    The electrical work was included in the all-in price, and the few changes here and there have all been answered with a "no problem Jon, no extra cost" response...
    Mine was all in the cost of the build and I even added more outlets and where I wanted them. I did a bit of an overkill on it but better to have them in place now rather than saying "Man I should have put an outlet here" later. All of ours are in the walls and I watched them cut the paths, drop the conduit and set the outlets. I also have 3 earth grounds and a clearly labeled Saf-T panel. Have had zero issues.

  21. #146
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    [/QUOTE]

    Mine was all in the cost of the build and I even added more outlets and where I wanted them. I did a bit of an overkill on it but better to have them in place now rather than saying "Man I should have put an outlet here" later. All of ours are in the walls and I watched them cut the paths, drop the conduit and set the outlets. I also have 3 earth grounds and a clearly labeled Saf-T panel. Have had zero issues.[/QUOTE]

    Agreed, I have lived in so many houses in Thailand where the sockets and light switches are all in the wrong places,or not enough, or the wiring was so dodgy you had to be careful of what you plugged in and used.

    I once lived in a house in Koh Samui where when it rained, water used to come down the conduits and out of the plug sockets in the kitchen, and another house in Chiang Mai where all the light switches were in the middle of the rooms, so you had to walk through a dark room stumbling over things before being able to switch the lights on (result being 3 broken toes when I converted a footstool )!

  22. #147
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    Agreed, I have lived in so many houses in Thailand where the sockets and light switches are all in the wrong places,or not enough, or the wiring was so dodgy you had to be careful of what you plugged in and used.

    I once lived in a house in Koh Samui where when it rained, water used to come down the conduits and out of the plug sockets in the kitchen, and another house in Chiang Mai where all the light switches were in the middle of the rooms, so you had to walk through a dark room stumbling over things before being able to switch the lights on (result being 3 broken toes when I converted a footstool )!
    I just had that problem in my Condo here in Korat. Turns out the shower water line started leaking in the wall and found a path out in a wall socket in the bedroom. They had to come in and basically tear out an entire wall to fix.

    But to your point as well, many seem to be simply in the wrong places or the wrong height. Now in fairness I know we tend to think like westerners and think ahead on our furnishings and then we see a plug 3 feet up in the middle of a wall and wonder Huh?

    I laid out all our furnishings plans as they got closer to the electrical part of the build. I had outlets put in the wall where I know I will mount the TV's, I also knew where I would put the water purifier under the sink and had an outlet with GFCI installed there. I also had power brought in for where the AC's would go. I have power out in my Sala upstairs. The power downstairs is up higher so I can wash out underneath and not worry about electrocution.

    I did a bunch of tricks in the attic as well to avoid any water coming down the conduit in the event our roof should leak during one of the huge side way rain storms that occasionally blow through the area. So far all has been perfect and zero issues

  23. #148
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    Wow, the weather is starting to get hot again and very quickly, what happened to the winter season?! I have a feeling we are heading for another record-breaking summer...

    I say this because I feel sorry for the chaps on the build at the moment, up on the roof welding steel all day in the sun



    And of course, by the time the day cools down a bit, they knock off work!



    Other than the steel work, the brickie has been laying more internal walls, also the window surrounds and widening the posts (stilts or whatever the heck they are called) from ground level to the floor, for aesthetic reasons only.

    Only a few more days of it left though and then the roof tiles should make an appearance... some samples arrived and they are exactly the ones that I wanted, which is another gold star for Noarng the build, despite my terrible Thai, he does seem to know what I want.



    These tiles have a nice variation in colour and texture, which should break up the roof shape nicely. I am acutely aware that the house is very visible from across the valley, so will be doing my best to make what is visible a decent feature in the landscape (instead of being a monstrous carbuncle), lots of planting of more palms around the house will help to add more shade, but also embed the house in the landscape more... first things first though.

  24. #149
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    The lake looks as though it's shrinking away to nothing! Bring on the wet season.

  25. #150
    Member John Lennon's Avatar
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    The reddish earth tone will blend well with anything. #148.

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