DrAndys Wooden Cottage in the ricefields

[Aquaman]

no chance of flooding there?
Gotta have some sort of water pump handy?

[NickA]

I like the wheel window....anyone remember playschool?

Today, we're going throught the round window

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Reckon your going to get a bit of cracking on the back top right room, blocks aren't really staggered enough.

yes, now you mention it, they do look a little too closely lined up

wait for the next earthquake......

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by Aquaman

no chance of flooding there?
Gotta have some sort of water pump handy?

no, the land around is flat for miles and our land has never flooded. It is about half a metre above the surrounding fields. After heavy rain for some hours it all gets waterlogged then soon vanishes when the rain stops.

the main problem we have with water is that the water table is quite high, so the soakaway and septic tank are fairly full even before using. We will have to put another intermediate tank in and then let the waste out to the canal.

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by NickA

I like the wheel window....anyone remember playschool?

Today, we're going throught the round window

yeah, we just found the wheel and thought it would be fun. The builders kept going on about mosquitos and needing some net over the wheel, but in CM our house has always had an open window for the bathrooms. No real problems with mossies, except if you stand still whilst brushing your teeth

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

Oh dear, you are living amongst the beasties.

yes we are...it is amazing some of the wildlife that abounds!

more pics later of some

besides creepies, we have wunnerful birds, like kingfishers, egrets, that bird that builds the hanging nests, allsorts

[caller]

Looks like its coming along a treat!

How did you find the wooden house for sale? Are they everywhere in your neck of the woods, or did you put the word out via family etc?

How did you know it would be okay for the plans you had an architect draw up - I mean quantity wise, supports, quality? Or did you do it the other way around and buy the wood first?

Sorry for so many questions but as you can tell, I'm not a builder!

[WhiteLotusLane]

Is there no roof overhang on the back (sunny) side? That would mean sunlight would warm up the house through the windows right?

[WhiteLotusLane]

Originally Posted by NickA

I like the wheel window....anyone remember playschool?

Yeaaah.... those were the days.. Since I got married though I don't visit Nana that much.. Oh well, all part of growing up.

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by caller

Looks like its coming along a treat!

How did you find the wooden house for sale? Are they everywhere in your neck of the woods, or did you put the word out via family etc?

How did you know it would be okay for the plans you had an architect draw up - I mean quantity wise, supports, quality? Or did you do it the other way around and buy the wood first?

Sorry for so many questions but as you can tell, I'm not a builder!

well, we just asked around, neighbours, friends, bus drivers anyone

someone always has a relative who wants to sell something!

we bought the house first, then we more or less knew how big we could build. We have had to buy extra wood, as the new house is different in style to the old one.

we bought extra wood from a second hand wood yard nearby, and also the government wood depot (for the tree trunks we will use to support the staircase)

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by WhiteLotusLane

Is there no roof overhang on the back (sunny) side? That would mean sunlight would warm up the house through the windows right?

no, not much. Partly my fault, as the roof does have an overhang on part, but we decided to extend the bathrooms a bit, so lost some overhang

mind you, the back part only has small windows on purpose. The bigger window upstairs does have the overhang protecting it for most of the day

the window downstairs would be very difficult to shade

we will be planting a big tree that side sometime, which should help

[DrAndy]

piss off Marmite, it was not like that before

thanks DD

so many changes, so much to do....

OK it works, back to the thread


so, we drained the pond and took advantage of the fishys left stranded.




we had a little BBQ and feast




then they dug the muddy holes and put in the concrete




so that was nice, now we can go back to the roof and stuff

[DrAndy]

there were a few beasties about, seeing what we were up to

this is a large caterpillar -8cm -which turns into an amazing red butterfly

often seen in souvenir shops in glass boxes, the bastards (the sellers, not the caterpillars)



and a few lizards too



this big beasty was seen swimming across the pond, so they thwacked it with a pole

then they took it home and ate it

[DrAndy]

Here is a view of the house from the rice fields




and this is what the roof looked like from inside the house





and the floor of lovely old planks. Some of them were 40cm wide or more




they will eventually get sanded down to a smooth finish, after all the messy work has been done

[DrAndy]

They started the staircase by ercting the teak wooden posts

we got these from the government wood depot, all confiscated from naughty people



as you can see, we have left the bark on. We may remove it later, we may not. Insects may burrow in a little under the bark, that gives the wood a nice look





so this is what it looks like now




and like this too




I bought some wonderful floor planks from a 2nd hand woodyard, they were over 3m long and 50cm wide, and 4cm thick. They must have come from a palace!! It hurt to cut them up, but we managed to get four stairs from each plank. The stretchers were also from those planks, two from each plank. We will use the others for making a stair seat and for the kitchen worktops

[DrAndy]

we were thinking of building a nice bathroom like this, but we decided against it...well, the wife did

[hillbilly]

Hey I like that bathroom! The home looks like it is coming along. Keep us updated!

[buad hai]

I thought you said "cottage". Looks palatial to me.

[Marmite the Dog]

Excellent pics and a lovely looking gaff.

[Aquaman]

Very cool place.