DrAndys Wooden Cottage in the ricefields

[DrAndy]

well, after several requests and threats, I have managed to upload a few pics and shall share my experience of building a small wooden house

the location is near Mai Rim, about 20km north of Chiang Mai

the land to build on is about 1.5rai, with an extra 2 or 3 rai of rice fields and two ponds

This is the land:













anyway, in order, they are the big pond, the place the house will go, the old farmhouse, the small pond and toilet, view of the surrounding rice fields and hills, the worker contemplating a heap of sand at the entrance.

more later.

[DrAndy]

anyway, this was a nice pic


the view of the Buddha is a bit surreal

[DrAndy]

so, having bought the land, which luckily had a lot of hard work already done on it

we needed some wood. So we went up into the hills and found a nice wooden house for sale




very crude, but lots of good wood

[DrAndy]

We had to buy it, get permission to move it then take it down




oh what fun we had




then they loaded it onto a lorry and took it to our farm

[greenthaiway]

Hello Andy,

May I be so free to ask what you pay for the old wooden house?
Did you pay for the surrounded land too?
I suppose that there was some land around it...

I like those old wooden houses.

Have rent myself a house nearby the Mehkong River but planning to buy a house in the future, an wooden one, somewhere in the sticks.

Enjoy building your new house, a lot of work ahead :-]

Bye,
Norman

[hillbilly]

The environment looks great! I am jealous of the mountains. Keep us posted on how things are coming along.

[jumbo]

Beautiful location DrAndy, its a shame you have to loose the pond. I remember the first time that I spent any sort of time looking at the different shades of green on the paddy fields, it was facinating and so relaxing, the budda in the background is a bonus. Good luck with the re-construction.

[friscofrankie]

Originally Posted by jumbo

its a shame you have to loose the pond.

Pond's back last time I was there it had aga-zillion tadpole. I imagine once they get growed they'll make good snake food

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by greenthaiway

Hello Andy,

May I be so free to ask what you pay for the old wooden house?
Did you pay for the surrounded land too?
I suppose that there was some land around it...

I like those old wooden houses.

Have rent myself a house nearby the Mehkong River but planning to buy a house in the future, an wooden one, somewhere in the sticks.

Enjoy building your new house, a lot of work ahead :-]

Bye,
Norman

Hi greent... (that is a long nik) Norman

what you pay for a wooden house is usually directly proportional to the amount and quality of the wood (ie if lots of thick wood, if teak or not etc etc). We paid B300k including demolishing and transport for that one.
Only the house, the land stayed where it was; the owner wanted to build a nice new concrete one instead.

whilst those old wooden houses are charming, they are not very modern, so living in them is a bit like camping. I like camping but I prefer to have a kitchen and toilet in good and clean condition.

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by hillbilly

The environment looks great! I am jealous of the mountains. Keep us posted on how things are coming along.

yes, we love the views.

Actually, the house is in a fairly advanced state now, more pics coming! It is just I have been lazy posting them and a bit busy

We can now go up on the veranda and see the views across the ponds and over the trees. A whole new perspective.

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by jumbo

Beautiful location DrAndy, its a shame you have to loose the pond. I remember the first time that I spent any sort of time looking at the different shades of green on the paddy fields, it was facinating and so relaxing, the budda in the background is a bonus. Good luck with the re-construction.

no, I am not losing the pond! why do you think I would?

I am building the house partly out over the pond edge, so I can fish off the lower deck. This year there are so many fish, even the Kingfisher cannot eat them all.

The nice thing about the area is that it is always changing, from the new green of the paddies, to the old gold when ripe, and lots of water

[DrAndy]

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

Pond's back last time I was there it had aga-zillion tadpole. I imagine once they get growed they'll make good snake food

that is weird FF, the tadpoles almost vanished overnight, from millions to none, not even any small froggies. I suppose the fish got them.

[DrAndy]

anyway, this chap came with the house, free




he was in the thread before but got cleaned off

next, the start of building, digging the first post hole




the hammock will come in useful

oh no, not necessary after all

[DrAndy]

Of course, we had to have a small ceremony to appease the ground spirits and ask them permission to build




then we were allowed to get on with the work




The work progressed very fast, lots of holes appearing with iron in them



these were our three main builders, intelligent, charming and superstitious

[greenthaiway]

Originally Posted by DrAndy

Hi greent... (that is a long nik) Norman

what you pay for a wooden house is usually directly proportional to the amount and quality of the wood (ie if lots of thick wood, if teak or not etc etc). We paid B300k including demolishing and transport for that one.
Only the house, the land stayed where it was; the owner wanted to build a nice new concrete one instead.

whilst those old wooden houses are charming, they are not very modern, so living in them is a bit like camping. I like camping but I prefer to have a kitchen and toilet in good and clean condition.

Thanks for the useful info DrAndy :-]
I keep it in mind.
The nick is a dutch familyname translated in English and after that putting "thai" somewhere in the middle.

Realize you dream!
Greetings out of The Lowelands, {The Netherlands},
Norman

[DrAndy]

So, after digging the holes, they filled them in again

then they put up some shuttering and made a nice foundation




then it was the rice harvest time, so they all disappeared for a few days



then they came back and put up some more shuttering and made some nice poles



after some thought and discussion, it was thought that the centre poles were not really necessary, so they cut them down. This left a nice big area under the house to have parties without poles in your face

The span was increased to 7 metres though, so much heavier beams were needed to be safe from earthquakes where the poles had been removed.

[DrAndy]

Once the beams had all been poured and set properly, the wooden poles and beams and roof structure were erected



you can see the heavier concrete beams in the centre area. They kept the side beams at 50cm too, but that was not really necessary

another view



more roof structure going up, nearly complete



you can see that they have started the walls, and have fitted some of the windows

we got all our doors and windows at an architectural reclaim yard so they will need some renovation. The big windows are the same size as doors, but have two sets of shutters and a pane of green glass above, very traditional

[DrAndy]

This is the back view of the house, showing the modern bits, like kitchen and bathrooms




They had to dig three very big holes for the waste water and septic tank
This was done by two girls!!



even digging up snake eggs did not faze them

[ChiangMai noon]

Oh dear, you are living amongst the beasties.

[dirtydog]

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