I have recently moved from Australia to Thailand. I retired last year and after realizing I don't have to work anymore (could still find something to do in the future) I had a hard think about what to do, stay in Oz or move to a country that stole my heart after a visit 3 years ago. Been to Thailand about 11 times in a 3 year period and this was a place a could live till the end of my days (another 25 years?)
Where to live in Thailand? I have been to many places in the times I've been here and although I'm a "city boy" it's always easier to go and look for "action" rather then being stuck there 24/7. I also intend to be a bit "self supporting", growing vegetables, have a few (edible) animals etc. the country side seemed to be the most logical option.
Found a piece of land with an old shed and an old "house" on it, large enough to plot around on. The size of the land is around 6000 m2 and besides the buildings it also accommodates a small rice field and a pond. The plan is to build my house on that plot of land and when the build is finished, or at least habitable, knock down the old buildings. The shed that is on the land is really a "put together" of old wood and a steel roof, not water tight and enough openings to accommodate half the wildlife of this part of Thailand. the house is in a bit better shape, it's water tight, the roof doesn't leak.
Last year I already installed a normal toilet, don't like the squat toilets and a electric hot water shower, bathing myself from the big water drum with icy cold water made a shower more like a CIA interrogation technique. The water supply to the property was not optimal either, being the last house on the village edge gave me no water pressure and at some times, no water at all. So I asked the locals to build a water tower for me that would pump up the water from a 45 meter well to about 4 meter high and for now gives enough pressure to shower and run the washing machine (when I bought a front loading washing machine it wouldn't work because of the low water pressure). When the "new" house is built I will install another pump to get a higher pressure for a good shower. A few months ago, after some trouble with the high calcium in the water, I had a water purification system installed, works fine and I now have nice drinking water a well!
I have been reading his forum for about 3 years and have taken all tips on board. I would like to build the house myself, but unfortunately I don't have the skills nor the physical ability to build a whole house, I know what I want (and don't want!) so I set out to find a builder that would build what I want, not what he thinks is better or easier or.... I thought I had found a builder when still in Australia, communicated through email a few times and even met him in Thailand. Unfortunately it didn't work out. I have the ideas in my head for the house, how it should look and what kind of materials and made a sketch on my computer using one of the "home architect" programs but I neede a real architect to draw the house. The "architect" of the builder turned out to be Thai and merely a user of a similar program. I would like an architect to have his input in the build and come up with some nice ideas I might not have thought of. The Thai "architect" could only redraw what I had drawn, with numerous mistakes so I had to say goodbye to the builder.
Now I had a bit of a problem, I had hoped to live in my "new" house by the end of this year, but that now seems impossible. I didn't like the idea of waiting around to find a new builder/architect so I decided to let a few local guys build the shed. In the end it is just a shed so how hard can it be...... I had drawn a quick sketch of the shed and discussed what I want and don't want with the local guys. The space between the water tower and the road was the place I wanted the shed to be build on, using as much of the land possible. The dimensions would be about 20 meters X 9 meters and should "house" a little "shop" on the road side, a place for the rice machine that is already in the old shed, don't know how the machine is called but it cleans the harvested rice and spits out rice grains. This part of the shed will also be used to park the tractor I bought, next a place to park my cars (have 2 cars here and 1 still awaiting shipment in Australia) and last but not least a "man shed" to fiddle around in and make stuff. Living in the country is nice, but I don't want to get bored. I like making stuff so the man shed is a must.
The shed will have 3 roller doors, 2 for the rice machine and tractor, and 1 with remote control to park the cars. The shed will also need to be high enough for the rice machine and for me walking around without bumping my head every time, lost count of how many times I have hit my head already. The shop and man shed will have airco installed, and a lowered ceiling, the garage and rice machine shed will have no extra ceiling, just the steel roof. Highest point of he roof will,be about 4.5 meters that will leave enough room for doors and roller doors to be installed. Floor tiles in the man shed and shop, just the concrete in the rice machine area and a coating on the floor in the garage.
Extra advantage of the shed is that it will also be a wall, separating the neighbors property. Around the rest of the property I will build a wall to keep unwanted elements off the property, now I have all kinds of animals invading, cows that eat my plants, stray dogs, chickens and snakes. The "lovely"neigbour also uses the property to dump anything he doesnt need anymore. It will also keep out the villagers who have adjacent rice fields and use my property to drive in and out all day. I have nothing against people but when they just walk/drive in and out of the property without saying anything and just look at me with a face like " crazy falang" or even tell me to move my car because they need to drive in with all kinds of tractors and other machinery, for me that was it. Shed and wall are a priority. Only thing is that I need a lot of wall to enclose the property, don't like barb wire. Wall will be 2 meter high in some sections and a bit lower in other so I don't loose all of the view. It's the last house in the village so my views are just rice fields on the front, back and right side of the property, on the left side, the village starts.
A new adventure about to start, fase 3 of my life. Lived in Europe for about 30 years, Australia for about 10 and hopefully Thailand for another 25 years?
So anybody with good ideas, tips, do's and don'ts, please feel free to comment on this build. I will try and get as many photo's of the build and share them with you.