Thread: Checking for Flood Risk

I don't know where you are but in issan the ground is usually built up to road level about a year before construction
Not convinced you could be safe in a large city as the drainage infrastructure is not maintained or updated to cope with the construction work

Yes in the cities you must be careful because drainage is a problem and also some places like parts of Bangkok are in flood zones.
I would always build up the property with dirt quite a bit higher then the road.

Most of the time its local information (asking around) and taking the necessary precautions of fill dirt etc...

If there are other houses around you build yours a bit higher than the rest and let gravity take course, creating a land grade that drains towards the road etc...

If you are talking about local records & shit. Nah probably not unless BKK or CM or whatever where there is a bit more infrastructure.

outside the tessaban you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want.

Build high off the ground.
They've been doing this forever, because it's practical and safe - for the obvious reasons, regardless of one's local.

Much more logical than the ugly cement/block grounded structures that most slobber over.
Dangerous all around.

^ Looks nice no doubt but thats gonna be a mosquito infested sweatbox, jeff.

Incompatible with my foreigner habits

Cannot/will suffer

Originally Posted by Slick

^ Looks nice no doubt but thats gonna be a mosquito infested sweatbox, jeff.

Incompatible with my foreigner habits

Cannot/will suffer

Pussies that can't acclimate shouldn't apply. [or live in the tropics]


I'm sure you'd trade the flooding over your pussified Farang angst of the heat and mosquitos.

FFS -

We're still in the states, but planning to move over there in a couple of years, and maybe buy/build after traveling around for a year or so. I'm thinking that if we bought in a city somewhere, we could check out the neighborhood for flood damage.

Where we live in the US, we could get a 100-year deluge and never flood, because our house is built on rock and somewhat elevated. Some of our neighbors further down the street do get their basement flooded once in a while.

Last year we were in Chiang Mai and an over-friendly coffee shop owner lady took us to her neighborhood to try to sell us her son's house. It was way out of town (past the big mall), and right on the shore of a lake. The whole house was mildewed, and the entire street and sidewalks were covered with black algae or something.

^^^^
Not to mention the cost. Wood houses are no longer cheap to build.

I had the luxury of watching our building plot through two rainy seasons. I was able to see first hand what the water drainage around our land was like and added fill dirt where needed. Our house sits higher than road level and rain water drains around our house and winds up in our pond which is well below our house level.

A little research will pay off in the long run.

Originally Posted by thaimeme

Pussies that can't acclimate shouldn't apply. [or live in the tropics]

lol my spot in the states has the same climate for like 8 months of the year and the whole place is climate controlled.

Takin a shit in a climate controlled space > sweaty shits & swatting mosquitos

To each their own. I cant do it.

Originally Posted by LarryGee

We're still in the states, but planning to move over there in a couple of years, and maybe buy/build after traveling around for a year or so. I'm thinking that if we bought in a city somewhere, we could check out the neighborhood for flood damage.

Where we live in the US, we could get a 100-year deluge and never flood, because our house is built on rock and somewhat elevated. Some of our neighbors further down the street do get their basement flooded once in a while.

Last year we were in Chiang Mai and an over-friendly coffee shop owner lady took us to her neighborhood to try to sell us her son's house. It was way out of town (past the big mall), and right on the shore of a lake. The whole house was mildewed, and the entire street and sidewalks were covered with black algae or something.

Have a poke around here:

coolthaihouse.com ? Index page

^^

Thanks for the link; forgot about that site.

Originally Posted by LarryGee

Thanks for the link; forgot about that site.

Dunno if its still got an active group or not but still some decent info on there.

Originally Posted by jimbobs

I built a proper 2,5m high retaining wall with a French drain and weep holes directing the water away.

Yep. This shit is kindergarten but for some reason, when people come to Thailand, they think its another planet where rain & flooding are somehow managed better with the local mentality of cheapest available option + buddha shrine + displeasure of filling their headspace with much.

Originally Posted by jimbobs

Ferang stupid he do too much

Yep. For someone to call you stupid, they have to first think themselves as smarter than you.

Gotta ave a larf.

You might find something thats fine now then the down the track a railway line gets put in or someone builds a dam way down the road and that could change everything to shit.
It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
It was only a couple of years ago in OZ they found that a new rail line flooded a small town because the raised dirt in areas where it should have been on a bridge system to let the water pass.
This is not the one I was thinking of but same deal
Authorities to investigate whether rail line work caused Deception Bay flooding, north of Brisbane - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Check out the area you are interested in the monsoon season after heavy rains.
Its not unusual to see recently developed areas with new house built on it flooded after heavy monsoon rain, they do not have a clue here about installing drainage when doing a development and leave it out to save on costs

Originally Posted by Slick

Originally Posted by LarryGee

We're still in the states, but planning to move over there in a couple of years, and maybe buy/build after traveling around for a year or so. I'm thinking that if we bought in a city somewhere, we could check out the neighborhood for flood damage.

Where we live in the US, we could get a 100-year deluge and never flood, because our house is built on rock and somewhat elevated. Some of our neighbors further down the street do get their basement flooded once in a while.

Last year we were in Chiang Mai and an over-friendly coffee shop owner lady took us to her neighborhood to try to sell us her son's house. It was way out of town (past the big mall), and right on the shore of a lake. The whole house was mildewed, and the entire street and sidewalks were covered with black algae or something.

Have a poke around here:

coolthaihouse.com ? Index page

Used to be much more of an interesting forum, until most lost the plot.

Perhaps, it'll return to it's original form [or not].

Originally Posted by Slick

Most of the time its local information (asking around) and taking the necessary precautions of fill dirt etc...

We asked around and everybody we asked said "no it's never flooded in that area" so went ahead and brought in the dirt and made a nice big pad higher than the road, that was in March, returned in November to find the entire area for miles flooded. the only area showing above water was a couple of inches of our pad.

Originally Posted by Carnwadrick

Originally Posted by Slick

Most of the time its local information (asking around) and taking the necessary precautions of fill dirt etc...

We asked around and everybody we asked said "no it's never flooded in that area" so went ahead and brought in the dirt and made a nice big pad higher than the road, that was in March, returned in November to find the entire area for miles flooded. the only area showing above water was a couple of inches of our pad.

I wonder if you can hire someone to do some simple investigations of the soil in an area you want to build - take a core sample and look for silt layers that would indicate recent flooding. Like a civil engineer or even an archaeologist?

Has more to do with the particular dwelling design/position than locale, as high water/flooding will occur most everywhere - frequently or infrequently.

Per usual, the larger picture is miscalculated.

^ the property has been in the family for generations and nobody could remember it flooding, it was our prefered location to build but can't take any chances so moved to second choice and higher ground. hope to start the build next year