Thai Coconut Tree House - It's Cheap

[dirtydog]

Now I have a nice little pond on my land which is chocker block full of Thai fish, and a couple of afternoons per week fishing sounds quite good, the only trouble is a couple of afternoons fishing sitting on the dirt under the shade of a tree with all the insects and without any amenities doesn't sound good, so the land needs a shack built on it to store stuff and all that sort of thing, and can also be used at a later date for something usefull.

Something like this I think would be ideal, cheap as it is mainly coconut wood and can easily be made to look quite attractive.



Now the coconut wood is the outside or the offcuts of the tree, in the UK the outside cuts from trees they used to give away for free, in Pattaya and Jomtien they charge around 30baht per meter length, you need 2.5 to 3 meter lengths so lets call it 90baht a piece, each piece varies in width between 20 and 30cm, so lets say 5 pieces per meter length of room, 3 meter by 3 meter room is 60 pieces, ie you get change from 6,000baht.

Now thats a pretty cheap start to building a house or guesthouse or whatever it maybe used as in the future, ok you need a door and frame, with locks and that lets call it 3,000baht, 2 windows is more than enough for something so small so thats another 1,500baht, aint sounding so bad so far.



Of course it still needs a base of sorts, a floor, framework and a roof, so it is getting more expensive, but lets say we form our own footings and posts using concrete and take them a meter high, we need 6 of these so it's probably best to do 3 at a time to save on form work wood, cost for that probably around 2,500baht.

Now comes the expensive bits, I have to admit I haven't given this enough thought as how to do this real cheap, I have been thinking about pine for supports, it comes from Laem Chabang port and is from the packing cases of stuff brought into Thailand, biggest is 4x4 but only about 1.5 meters length, so lots of joins and overlaps and wastage, floor can be 15mm ply wood as thats cheap enough, don't think there is a real cheap way to do the framework but that isn't too much wood.



Of course the best thing with this idea is that most of the house could be fabricated from the comfort of my own home, ie nice and cool, with all the power tools that maybe needed, and no working under the midday sun, need to put some more thought into this as it maybe an idea to use some of the land eventually to prefabricate wooden houses for resale, just got to find a website to advertise them on

[Scandinavian]

Don't make it too nice, or the hut will be burglarized on a regular basis.

[dirtydog]

This is basically out in the country at the end of a small Soi, about 4km from Jomtien Beach, maybe 50 houses in the whole community and only 2 in my soi so not likely to get burgled, although all that would be kept there is a crap fishing rod or 2 and a couple of chairs and stuff.

[pompeybloke]

That looks mighty fine, earthy and a cracking idea in general! Top effort!

I don't creep here cos it's DD and that; just think that's jubbly!

[Norton]

no working under the midday sun

Dirty Dogs and Englishmen. You'll be fine.

Bunch like this in Canada. Use the coconut wood. Simple and cheap.

[dirtydog]

Ok this one I am not building over the pond, probably just over a meter away from it as i don't want to give it that much prominence, although your one does look nice norton.

Now the main problem with coconut wood in Thailand is that it isn't seasoned, you hammer a nail into it and your going to get sap spurting out, so it does need a couple of months or more of seasoning, been thinking about protecting the wood from termites etc, going to need to build a dip tank,creosote is cheap but arsenic is available, tempting, in Australia they dip the wood in arsenic, aint allowed into Thailand though, but they sell arsenic here, an arsenic dip would sort out any insect problems for just about any wood

[Norton]

probably just over a meter away from it as i don't want to give it that much prominence

Scale it down but a wee covered veranda fishing pier would be nice.

You're right coconut must be old. Found some nice old coconut wood. Cut it in 2" planks and used it as counter top. Never gave it much thought but the stuff was strong as hell and could be used as flooring without much support.

Arsenic as with most "illegal" substances easily found up here in the Isaan jungles.

Cement columns probably best but rest of the place could be all coconut and bamboo. Put a thatched roof on and you're good to go.

[blauton]

Solar Wood Drying
http://www.finnforest.at/produkte/th...d_Brochure.pdf

Thermowood is a product which is produced using
a patented thermal modification process. Thermo
treatment has a lasting effect on the technical
properties of the material. In short Thermowood
means that the durability and stability of light Nordic
timber is increased by heating the timber up to an extremely high temperature using
only heat and steam. In the process several of the chemical and physical properties of the
wood permanently change, mainly caused by thermic degrading of hemicelluloses.

in the last thousends of years, they used a controlled burning/coaling process.

good luck
bt

[Bower]

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10004/Thai_coconut_wood_house_3.JPG[/IMG]

.

Where will i get the best rate, direct from you or through Agoda, Asia rooms etc.
Also will you do airport pick-ups ? I would of course need room service and wifi.

[bkkrunner]

I think you could do it cheaper with breeze block and plaster. Much more secure too as well as much sturdier and weather/element resistant.

[pet coon]

We located a house in the village that was to be removed for building a business. Wife brought the wooden house for 8,000 baht. we hired workers to tear it down and reused what we salvaged to build a shack on the farm (6 met by 9 met) Had to buy concrete piling for frame work, salvaged wood enclosed the entire thing and floor and enclosed 2 rooms inside for sleeping and secure storage. The remainder is dirt floor for irrigation pipe, chemical, fertilizer etc. Even she asbestos roof was reused. Took 1 days to remove and 6 days to rebuild. We found teak wood under the floor covering in the old house (2 inch in varying width and lengths) so that is floor and pation for rooms. Even some of the wall studs and siding were teak. It may be worth a look in local area for something similar.

[Nawty]

Make sure you get some nicer plastic sheets to hang....some singha adverts or kasikorn bank is a nice colour.

[dirtydog]

^ I was thinking of something more traditional to give shade to the sides of the house, ie plants and trees.

[Norton]

Make sure you get some nicer plastic sheets to hang....some singha adverts or kasikorn bank is a nice colour.

And don't forget the must have framed pictures.

[hazz]

Ok this one I am not building over the pond, probably just over a meter away from it as i don't want to give it that much prominence, although your one does look nice norton.

Now the main problem with coconut wood in Thailand is that it isn't seasoned, you hammer a nail into it and your going to get sap spurting out, so it does need a couple of months or more of seasoning, been thinking about protecting the wood from termites etc, going to need to build a dip tank,creosote is cheap but arsenic is available, tempting, in Australia they dip the wood in arsenic, aint allowed into Thailand though, but they sell arsenic here, an arsenic dip would sort out any insect problems for just about any wood

The problem with arsenic and other heavy metals is that there a number of resistant bacteria and fungi which survive by converting arsenic into various volatile organic compounds. good for them but very bad for you if you are breathing it day in day out

[Mrwizard]

Real nice....mother in law is staying forever now ??