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  1. #251
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    Nice to see it coming along very good.

  2. #252
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    Happy Songkran everyone!

    Nice bit of rain in the valley right now..my trees and plants could do with it!

  3. #253
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    When I told a few of my friends that I wasn't going to double-skin all of the walls, just around the windows, without exception all of them had the opinion that the house would get too hot, blah blah, that the walls would look really odd (not being flat) and all sorts of other things... I was adamant that my idea was fine, and guess what... the house looks better for having the extra wall features, and the overhanging roof and shorter exterior wall height all help to keep the sun off the exterior walls. The long, thin windows also help to reduce the heat entering the house.
    I like this idea and in fact placed a note on my future plans, thank you

  4. #254
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    I also did a bit of research on how to reduce the effects of sun warming flat walls on houses (without drastically changing methods or materials of construction used) and found this product had been developed in South America:

    https://www.fastcodesign.com/3054574...buildings-cool

    It would have been really nice to include such a thing, perhaps even adding in brick 'troughs' so that succulent plants and ferns could be included in the design but as these bricks are not available here, I would have had to have found a manufacturer to emulate the design, which would have been a whole new can of worms! I therefore decided not to at this time.

  5. #255
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    A drastic reduction of the heat coming inside the room from a wall exposed to an afternoon sunshine is a double wall by cement blocks or red bricks with a distance in-between the 2 claddings. (The single wall as almost everywhere is a real heater up to late night when the outside air is already cool.)

    I had such two techniques for comparison in one room: an older existing single block wall and an extension by double blocks. The touching the two surfaces is with an enormous difference.

    Such building technique is not only beneficial re the heat but also very fast when no need to make the usual skeleton construction - vertical columns ("sau") and horizontal beams with necessity of an extensive wooden formwork. In the same time as such a skeleton construction needs (ca. 2 months), the whole house - sau-less - can be finished with few village bricklayers.

    A reinforcement by steel wires and bars can be made horizontally (laid under the blocks and above the walls as a ring for fixing the roof) and vertically in the corners (similarly as the "sau") connected to the bars in the foundation ring.

    No protruding "sau" at the inside wall disturbing the line of cabinets placing.

    And the space in-between the two claddings can be used for installations.

    For an existing single wall improvement, a polystyrene foam installation outside, covered by by a WPC (Shera) cladding is easy to make - with a good effect.

  6. #256
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    You are correct Klondyke, a tall exposed wall should be double-skinned.

    There are quite a few options with different materials and designs.

    I have chosen to go for shorter walls, have positioned the house according to prevailing conditions (sun & wind etc), also planted trees to help shade the back of the house, and will plant more shading trees and plants in raised beds to help things further.

    After quite a bit of discussion, it was decided to avoid voids in the walls. I agree that this does really help with insulation, but also installation of services, however the issue is that out in the countryside, all manner of critters could (and probably would) take up residence in the spaces.

    I understand the idea of adding on fascia to an existing property as a solution, but I wanted to design my house so that solutions were actually a feature of the design, rather than an afterthought.

    I'm pretty sure that I may have to make some modifications, but so far, I'm happy with the way things are turning out.

  7. #257
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    I have chosen to go for shorter walls,
    Perhaps you can consider to make the outer walls not so high. Once the window openings are overbridged and a reinforcement ring concreted around (height some 220 cm) the roof structure can be erected.

    Then the rooms will get partly the ceiling in a slope (the ceiling properly insulated, fixed to the roof structure). This will result in savings on the walls and on the heat transfer. Faster cooled down when the a/c started. Unlike at the high rooms where the hot air under the ceiling get chased down by the unit installed under the high ceiling.


  8. #258
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    I have chosen to go for shorter walls,
    Perhaps you can consider to make the outer walls not so high. Once the window openings are overbridged and a reinforcement ring concreted around (height some 220 cm) the roof structure can be erected.

    Then the rooms will get partly the ceiling in a slope (the ceiling properly insulated, fixed to the roof structure). This will result in savings on the walls and on the heat transfer. Faster cooled down when the a/c started. Unlike at the high rooms where the hot air under the ceiling get chased down by the unit installed under the high ceiling.
    I'm a bit confused, you are suggesting designs and construction techniques for my house when I have already pretty much built the place, with what I consider nice design features, consideration for airflow and positioning, all to allow for a cool living experience, without the need to use aircon.

    The outside walls are not high, I reduced them in height already.

    The windows already have lintels, roof structure is already constructed, roof is tiled.

    The master bedroom, living area and kitchen all have high ceilings, they will have insulation and be boarded with what looks like tongue and groove, but is actually sheeting, which will show the rake of the roof. The office, spare bedroom and bathrooms will have closed, suspended ceilings with venting above and insulation (for sound and heat).

    The master bedroom is also the only room that has double-skinned walls, mostly for reduction of sound.

    Your ideas are great though... if I wanted to modify a moo baan, double-glazed, 24 hr aircon-ed, concrete box house, with little or no consideration of prevailing climate and weather here in Thailand.. the whole reason why I didn't just buy an existing place and attempt to modify it into something bearable.

  9. #259
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    Seems there's no much foliage cover there, so if you can get through hot season without a/c and find it bearable then you'll have done well.

  10. #260
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    Seems there's no much foliage cover there, so if you can get through hot season without a/c and find it bearable then you'll have done well.
    I'll get a better idea of how I'm doing once the windows and doors are installed, house is painted white, plus the additional trees planted. At the moment there is a HUGE difference between the surrounding air temperature at the back of the house compared to the front, and cool air is pulled in through the place. There is also cool air flowing under the house too, even when it's 40 degrees in the shade.

    Fingers crossed.

  11. #261
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    Progress this week after Songkran has been finishing off the exterior rendering details (mostly rendering and finishing off the pillars that the house is raised up on). Using Shera board for boxing in the eaves vents, plus putting in the steel frame joists and a floor for the storage area above the walk-in wardrobe. Photos to follow another day.

    Went over to SCB to have a look at ceiling materials... flippin' 'eck they are a bit pricey! 8000+ baht per Shera tongue and groove style board.. finally settled on the right one, and also agreed on how we are going to join the boards.

    Even in the showroom, the displays had boards butted up to one another, the join was then skimmed to try and hide it. This looked terrible as you can see the change in surface texture, plus any small movement later will crack the join again, so not a solution in my opinion.

    The alternative would be to purposefully leave a gap and then fill that, but this would then make the ceiling obviously made from boards trying to be lengths of timber. Also not ideal. This solution whilst tidier also reminds me of office ceilings.

    After much discussion, it was decided that we'll just butt the boards up to each other, and run a baton of Shera strip straight down the join, screw the baton through the boards and into the metal supports, then skim the holes and sand just the filler in the holes. As the whole thing will be painted white anyhow, this will be easier, cleaner and will give the ceiling (which is quite high) a bit of structural detail, so should work just fine.

    I had originally planned this as a solution, but for some reason the idea hadn't been embraced (or understood as a concept) by anyone else..

    Gyprock boards will be used in bathrooms, office and guest bedroom, so these aren't an issue.

    Off on Monday to choose bathroom and kitchen tiles, toilets and sinks... slowly getting there!

    Noarng the builder estimates the house build will be 'completed' end of May, but I am guessing end of June.

  12. #262
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    Went off yesterday with Noarng the build and the missus over to HomeSukkapan in San Sai to choose bathroom tiles, toilets and sinks etc.

    Great to see the ranges of products available these days, but the selection process is something of a roulette, as there are many factors which may prevent the actual purchase:

    Found a nice bathroom wall tile, but not available in white (only cream), found an alternative, but tile was wrong shape, found another alternative with right shape and also white, but matt finish, another one ticked all the boxes.. but was informed that the white varies a lot from tile to tile with this one.. got there in the end with some perseverance!

    Similar deal with the floor tiles, finally found one we liked on display, right size, colour and warm stone finish with good variation in pattern so no repeating.. great! oh, wait.. nope, not in stock.

    Same kind of deal with the kitchen sinks, the right price, but wrong finish, another one was right price, 2 basins and drainer, but horrible visible plug that fits over the opening for the tap (as it's reversible), after much faffing about, finally found the right one, although with a slight compromise (the unit has rounded corners).

    Also had a look at ovens, hobs and extractor hoods when I was there, found a nice combo from one manufacturer, even was offered a great discount as I was buying the whole set.. oh, no, wait a minute.. hob has been discontinued! offered 5% discount on hob for ex-display, complete with deep scratches.. errm, no thanks, although I would have taken it at 50% discount.

    Now, forget the inconvenience to the customer (me), if I was working at this place and the showroom had displays of stock that was not available, one would have thought that perhaps some sort of 'out of stock' sign/sticker might be beneficial to all!

    oh well, in an ideal world and all that.

    Still, managed to get bogs, sinks, and tiles sorted!

  13. #263
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    Progress on the build;

    Supports and struts for suspended ceilings in guest bedroom, office and bathrooms are in:



    Kill coat going up on all internal walls:





    Rendering support posts on covered veranda:



    Also on bases of support posts. Originally I had planned the post bases to have chamfered sides, (imagine an elongated pyramid with the top truncated/lopped off), this was on the plans and was actually discussed, but I think that it's not something the building team had done before and so they promptly ignored it and just made the bases square as seen. I deliberated and was going to ask them to change them, but I am not certain they could get the angles consistent throughout, so decided that a slight deviation from design was better than a possible pig's ear. Seeing as though they are purely decorative, and my designs are only referencing small influences of Lanna style, I'm not fussed really, besides which, they will be mostly hidden by plants anyhow:



    A couple of new guys turned up, I think they are separate contractors from SCG, they started putting up the metal structures to hang the Shera ceiling boards from around the exterior eaves (after making an offering to the land spirits for protection on the site that is):



    One thing I really like when I'm on site is the fact that there is nearly always a radio on, it's permanently tuned to one radio station that doesn't have too many adverts or waffle, and plays a mix of traditional folk and old songs, which vary from what sounds like 1950's, 60's and 70's Thai rock and roll to ethnic rural songs... here is a photo of the builder's radio. This is a new one, the last one gave up the ghost a while ago. By the looks of it, this replacement has received some alteration already:

    Last edited by jonnyenglish; 25-04-2017 at 11:33 AM.

  14. #264
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    Looking real good Jonnyenglish.I really like your long low eves for keeping the sun off the walls.We will be building in Korat district in the next few years and your style of house is just what I had in mind for the Isaan climate.Thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of the build.

  15. #265
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    Quote Originally Posted by diverken View Post
    Looking real good Jonnyenglish.I really like your long low eves for keeping the sun off the walls.We will be building in Korat district in the next few years and your style of house is just what I had in mind for the Isaan climate.Thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of the build.
    Cheers Diverken, I'm glad that my small contributions are an aid in some way.

    If I had more cash to play with at the start, I would have added even wider eaves and a veranda on 3 sides, instead of just the one we have now, plus a change of pitch on the roof to accommodate the extra reach.

    Just had a meeting with Noarng the builder about building a covered car port, a little way from the house, big enough for 2 cars and a couple of motorbikes with combined laundry room. The two water tanks for the house can then sit at the back and be hidden from view, and the pump can then go in the same room as the washing machine.

    The site visit today revealed a surprise, the team have started to paint the outside of the house as well. Fantastic! However, the wife of one of the builders also thought she'd have a go at painting and slopped a gloppy smear of thick white paint all around one of the window frames, not bothering to even try to avoid the nice and not-so-cheap hard wood, it looked as if she had used a mop instead of a brush, and instead of a ladder had balanced on a unicycle... 'cutting-in' is not even a recognised term it seems.

    FFS!!

    I was suitably unimpressed, pointed out the shitehawk attempt and the wife owned up, the team were unaware of what she had done as they were busy working elsewhere, they could tell by my tone of voice and general demeanor that this needed instant attention. 20 minutes later, all traces of paint had been removed from the wooden frame.

    The mind boggles at such random acts, and I can't help but think "WHY?!!!", even though I know this is futile

    Yet again, this highlights the need for daily site visits if possible.

  16. #266
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    This is one greeaat thread, JE... even more so now the pics are back! I have actually read yours from start to finish twice now, it's a great motivation for me.

    Nice one!

  17. #267
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp View Post
    This is one greeaat thread, JE... even more so now the pics are back! I have actually read yours from start to finish twice now, it's a great motivation for me.

    Nice one!
    Cheers TD , mine is a somewhat humble attempt at building a house, still, with care and consideration, I think it will be a nice place to live.

    The house, for obvious reasons, has taken the spotlight for the time being, but I haven't forgotten what I set out to achieve, and that is make a garden oasis with a small house in it... still a way to go yet, but at least I'm back on track.

    Thanks to you and everyone else for your support and interest, it's much appreciated!

    Chok dee all! Jonny

  18. #268
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    Love that antenna, must have been special ordered lol

  19. #269
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    Not sure what is going on with the order of progress on the build right now, everything seems to be happening in a really haphazard and piecemeal way over the past few days.

    The SCB contractors (if that's who they were) put up some metal batons under the eaves on one side of the house then disappeared and haven't been seen since.

    One portion of the outside of the house has had one coat of paint, but then the painting stopped (perhaps there was some paint that needed using up).

    The building team didn't finish off the detailing on the outside posts and pillars, and were not at work yesterday.

    The suspended ceiling metalwork is only 90% done.

    The brickwork above the lintel on the wall for the storage space above the walk-in wardrobe has yet to be laid.

    Perhaps the team are a bit burnt out and needed to have a day off.

    BUT, the electrician and his sidekick were in yesterday and fed wires through most of the conduits:



    Now, I realise that the colour coding for wiring differs around the world, and I know that here in Thailand the (usual) code = black is live, white is neutral, and green and yellow is earth, but I have no idea what the thicker core red is for.

    I suspect it's something to do with the electric oven I am proposing to install in the kitchen, but this socket is not located anywhere near the location of the oven...

    I guess I'll have to ask some questions... not a task to be taken lightly when in LOS

    Bathroom tiles also turned up:



    These are just the white wall tiles, the floor tiles and decorative glass strip tiles are also on-site, along with bags of appropriately coloured grout, but a box is a box is a box, so you are saved from having to look at another boring picture!

  20. #270
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    This is a fantastic thread. Well done JE. Keep going your nearly there. We looked at buying land in this area but eventually got some over in Nan. We won't be building for about another 8 years however. Lots of ideas and good info in this thread for when we do.

  21. #271
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jardine View Post
    This is a fantastic thread. Well done JE. Keep going your nearly there. We looked at buying land in this area but eventually got some over in Nan. We won't be building for about another 8 years however. Lots of ideas and good info in this thread for when we do.
    Many thanks Jardine, yes nearly there.

    Progress on the site over the past couple of days has been mostly finishing off bits and bobs like rendering, and adding in additional wiring and conduit for kitchen and bathroom and guest bedroom & office overhead lighting.

    I originally asked for 4 down-lights in the suspended ceilings for the guest bedroom and office, plus 2 down-lights for the bathrooms, but for some reason only one central ceiling wire was installed. I'm guessing that it was expected that the usual circular fluorescent etched glass, butterfly and flowers pattern, retina-stripping nightmares would be installed!

    Added in additional wiring for 3 lights to hang from beam to go over central kitchen island, bought the lighting 2 days ago.. but will have to spray the inside surface of the shades white to make a bit brighter:



    Also went shopping for kitchen sink, glass shower wall and door, gas hob, electric oven and extractor hood, all bought with excellent discounts from 'Baan and beyond' at the airport plaza (a place I was told not to bother with as it was expensive).. managed to get nearly 30% discount on the items... which basically meant that I got the fan-assisted oven for free! Staff were very helpful, professional and seemed to know their stuff for a change.

    I headed over to Global House before, as I was told that's the cheapest place, turns out that they are not cheaper, plus have VERY limited stock, lots of things are ex-display or have sold out, and the staff seemed to be half asleep and as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. The place is OK for things like pumps, plumbing, pre-made doors, supplies etc, but not really the place for purchasing larger (matching) items. just my opinion mind you, I'm sure they tick all the boxes for other people.

    I was measuring up the kitchen for the construction of counters and units this morning. Going for a concrete carcass, with soft grey painted wood exterior, doors and drawers and grey granite counter tops that will look like this:



    Main reason for painted wood is that if the units get damaged/worn or start to look outdated, they can quickly and cheaply be repainted and the handles swapped out for something different if it starts to get boring/tatty after a few years.

    Will draw up a 3d design in a bit.

    Getting a bed made for the master bedroom, will look like this:



    All very exciting thinking about lighting and kitchens and things for a change instead of bricks and concrete, I guess that's where a house starts to become a home.

    I also worked out a rough design for the covered car port/utility room that needs to be constructed:



    I'll have to install an additional finer plastic mesh inside the chain-link fencing portions to stop cheeky sparrows/geckos and the like from nesting and pooping etc. It's cheap enough and will allow for airflow through, so laundry can be hung up without getting wet or sun-bleached. I'll probably resort to wearing disposable banana-leaf loincloths, so personally I'm not too concerned about laundry areas, but have to cater for the missus.

  22. #272
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    Getting a bed made for the master bedroom, will look like this:
    Hi Jonny, Hi Jonny,
    seeing the bed idea in your thread, looks similarly I made for our house by teak, attaching picture.





    And we make some other models, also by teak or by white oak (US).





  23. #273
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    [QUOTE=Klondyke;3522704]
    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    Getting a bed made for the master bedroom, will look like this:
    Hi Jonny, Hi Jonny,
    seeing the bed idea in your thread, looks similarly I made for our house by teak, attaching picture.




    Hi Klondyke,

    I have sent you a PM.

    Cheers J

  24. #274
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    Seeing your great garden pix has made me think... I should really make a few plans on my plot too before we embark on the build, since we know where the house is going.

    I feel some date palms coming on, courtesy of my current residence's prolific plantings. Just a case of fitting those pups in the case.

    Date pups, before anyone gets the wrong idea...

  25. #275
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonnyenglish
    I suspect it's something to do with the electric oven
    Suspect you suspectation is correct. Red secondary hot line. Used on some ovens and dryers.

    Wiring A Range Power Cord - Connecting An Electric Stove

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