Thread: Isaan House Repair Rec's Requested

My wife recently bought our "new" home in The Village, from an uncle. I need some advice on how to handle the under-roof/top floor ceiling area.

The house was hit by a small tornado around 2002 and never fully repaired. You can see by the images that two sides of the upper structure need their windows reset. I figure I'll do this to match the other windows (traditional windows with screen insets) and then paint the upper story wood so that it all looks the same color.

But, I don't know enough about construction to figure out what to do with the area below the roof, that gap between the roof and upper story ceiling. It does not appear to be built right, originally. I do not plan to air-condition it, so completely enclosing the ceiling won't be required.

I want to do the repairs as cheaply as possible. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, along with your estimate of the cost.

My first question to you is, are you going to live there full-time or just a few weeks each year?

If you are going to be living there all the time, then it appears some major work needs to be done. If your time there will be brief each year then I suppose you could do some patchwork that would suffice.

Try to find a local builder to give you a quote. Good luck and let us know how things work out.

Thanks, Hillbilly. That's a good question. My residence in the house will be about 2 months/year... BTW, I've long admired that house you built which is now your avatar. Way to go!

Thanks for your kind words!

Now in regards to your home this is what I would do to make it more liveable and keep costs down. My belief is that by hiring a trusted local builder you should be able to make your house somewhat more comfortable. Right now, I see way to many places for critters to crawl in and make themselves at home.

The cheapest way would be for the workers to use any local obtained hard wood at the nearest lumber supply. This along with sheeting (can not remember what it is called) for eaves and such should work. Windows can also be bought at the lumber/hardware store.

Additionally, you could buy some cheap screens for the windows.

Please keep in mind that I recommend that you are on site while this work is going on. It does not make any difference if you are an expert or not, but you should know what looks good or not.

I will go out on a limb and say the cost for the cheapest option will be about B150,000. Once again, remember that this project is for you to live somewhat comfortably for a couple of months per year.

To totally, redo the home of course, well the sky is limit as far as costs...

Have you got any pics of the ceilings, mate?

This might give you some ideas;


https://teakdoor.com/construction-in-...hai-house.html

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Have you got any pics of the ceilings, mate?

If I was only to use this home for a short period each year, I personally would forget about the ceilings. A lot of homes that I have seen like this do not even have ceilings.

I should have mentioned that my estimate was for only for enclosing the house to keep the critters out and having a window or two. It does not include any electricity or plumbing needs.

Originally Posted by hillbilly

I personally would forget about the ceilings. A lot of homes that I have seen like this do not even have ceilings.

Agreed, but I wasn't clear as to whether he has ceilings in place or not.

Personally I'd probably be looking for another wooden house that I could buy and use to improve this one.

150,000 seems a lot for patching it up. I suppose it depends on where it is.

I'd want to pull off the steel and replace it with wood.

I was assuming that the steel siding was going to be replaced by wood.

Maybe a new shower/toilet down below.

Thanks for the feedback, guys... I haven't seen this house in real time; I'll ask my wife about the ceilings. I'm assuming, based on how they did the eaves (or redid the eaves), that they have ceilings attempted. I guess I'd opt for ceilings for some semblance of mosquito control and the possibility of air-conditioning a room at some later date. How will that affect hot air rising out of the house? ... Yeah, the corrugated patchwork is definitely gonna go, with wood repair and windows to match the rest of the house... Don't even want to think what the bathroom looks like, but, yeah, a shower is a must. No Western toilets (gonna hafta fight my wife about that); Khon Thai just don't understand how to maintain them; low flow better for the septic tank, anyway.

If you had the same building skills as me I would suggest investing in an insurance policy, can of petrol and a match!

Is the house owned by you or your wife, whose name is on the title?

The upstairs does not have an enclosed ceiling. You look up and you see the bottom of the corrugated tin roof... All our properties are in my wife's name.