#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Construction in Thailand >  >  > Building in Thailand Famous Threads >  >  Building an extension

## Gerbil

I was just starting my 6th or 7th beer in the local bar when my mobile phone rang:

"Yes, hello?"
"Honey, I'm going to build a new room for the house."
"Uh ok."

Back to drinking...........

Next morning/afternoon I staggered downstairs to find out what all the noise was about, to discover that construction had already started.

The planned "room" is a combined Thai kitchen / Laundry room attached to the rear of the house going up in two stages:

Stage One is just a roof, floor, sink, etc.
Stage Two is the walls, windows and doors.

I forgot about taking any pictures before construction started and got my camera out at the end of day 2:

First 2 views looking from either side of the house:





The observant among you will notice it has been built all the way back to the boundary wall, which of course is illegal  :Smile: 

The concrete base is setting nicely and they say they'll be laying the tiles tomorrow, although I would have thought a few days setting time for the concrete would be better?

After that a new rear wall (right up against the boundary wall!) will be built, initially just coming up to the level of the boundary wall - windows will be installed later.

Here's a view from the first floor balcony:



As you can see I don't think the "neighbours" will be complaining.....  :Smile:

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## Gerbil

I was right about the floor tiles. They're just buying them tomorrow. They wont lay them until the concrete has set properly.

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## daveboy

nice view

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## Gerbil

^ Rice paddys as far as the eye can see in all directions nearly  :Smile:

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## daveboy

Where is it?

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## Gerbil

PathumThani.

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## hillbilly

What do you think this extension is going to cost you? With my experience it is always double what the wife thinks! :Smile:

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## Gerbil

Roof, base, tiles, counter & sink, plumbing, wiring, materials and labour = 40K.

Walls, doors and windows about another 30K.

Just taken some more photos of the counter construction, but I'm off to the pub now, so they'll have to wait  :Smile:

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## Gerbil

Ok, on with the pictures.

These are progress over the last few days. Here' you'll find out how to build your work counters with nothing but bricks, cement, tiles and some rebar.

First you need to build your supports. This as far as they'd got before I went to the pub.




And this is where things were at when I got back from the pub as the sun was rising  :Smile: 





By the end of (their) day, this is where things were:







In the last pic, you'll notice the tiles on the floor which were the old step outside the kitchen until the new base was poured to the same height. They've all been broken to allow the cement to bond for the new tiles which will be laid on top.

There's a gap between the rear of the counter and the boundary wall to allow the new wall to be built later - basically it's really going to be a thickening of the boundary wall up to it's height, then windows all the way across the back.

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## Gerbil

Just realised, I forgot to upload the 'finished' pictures.

Here we are with all of the 'stage 1' work complete:









Total expenditure 43,000 Baht - which includes all materials, labour, fittings (sink, cooker, new gas tank, etc). So just 3,000 baht over budget.  :Smile: 

'Stage 2' will be the side walls & doors, rear wall / windows & suspended ceiling. Budget for that is 30-40K, depending on what sort of windows are fitted. Probably not doing this till next month, or possibly not until nearer the start of the next rainy season (In the mean time a cover gets thrown over the washing machine).

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## daveboy

Good price, good finish to nice when a plan comes together.

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## Gerbil

> Good price, good finish to nice when a plan comes together.


Well, I let my wife handle it. When she gets a quote, she makes sure the supplier sticks to it.  :Smile:

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## daveboy

Yup thats the way to do it.

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## NickA

Just come to this thread via your link - one question - doesn't the kitchen get very wet when it rains as the roof doesn't overhang very much.

We've got a similar thing but with a larger overhang and it still gets wet when then rain really comes down.

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## Gerbil

> Just come to this thread via your link - one question - doesn't the kitchen get very wet when it rains as the roof doesn't overhang very much.
> 
> We've got a similar thing but with a larger overhang and it still gets wet when then rain really comes down.


Yes, but it hasn't been raining much. We're planning on building up the rear wall, but haven't got round it to it yet.

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## WhiteLotusLane

Excellent...  My house already had an extension kitchen built by the previous owner.   He did a stellar job; typically people have a 'Thai' kitchen outside but honestly there's little Thai about it..   It has a granite top surface, wooden cupboards and built in 6 point gas stove & air suction above.  

It looks like this:

These are the maid rooms and maid bathroom. This area was completely outside.  A door was put into the extension that gives the maid access to her room and bathroom, wash area and 'outside' kitchen.




This is the kitchen.  Again this whole area was outside.  



Built in gas thing which actually doesn't work that well for a Thai style wok. :   :Smile: 



Note how many windows went in... Almost un-Thai, you'd expect a bunch of those 40 baht glass blocks..   With all these windows there's actually not that much space left to have kitchen cabinets above.  Guess there are plenty below though.

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## breezer1

> Excellent... My house already had an extension kitchen built by the previous owner. He did a stellar job; typically people have a 'Thai' kitchen outside but honestly there's little Thai about it.. It has a granite top surface, wooden cupboards and built in 6 point gas stove & air suction above. 
> 
> It looks like this:
> 
> These are the maid rooms and maid bathroom. This area was completely outside. A door was put into the extension that gives the maid access to her room and bathroom, wash area and 'outside' kitchen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Nice kitchen lotus any chance of looking at a photo of outside your house and any views ?

Breezer

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## sledge

> Total expenditure 43,000 Baht - which includes all materials, labour, fittings (sink, cooker, new gas tank, etc). So just 3,000 baht over budget. 'Stage 2' will be the side walls & doors, rear wall / windows & suspended ceiling. Budget for that is 30-40K, depending on what sort of windows are fitted. Probably not doing this till next month, or possibly not until nearer the start of the next rainy season (In the mean time a cover gets thrown over the washing machine).


Good effort Gerbil. We're off to visit the inlaws this weekend in Buriram area. They're looking at building a new house. At present they live in a two room typical village house. My wife was speaking to her mother yesterday and are saying that they have a price from a friend builder to build a house at labour only for 90,000 THB. It sounds like it is going to be another two room house. The misus spat the dummy and said this is to much money why don't you stay where you are and why not make bedrooms for her two brothers and sister. The reason that they all sleep in same room is so that the parents can keep an eye on the children.

I had personally thought that they should extend on what they already have. What you misus has done is brilliant and I'll suggest something similar.  Have you completed the walls yet and was it within the budget. Cheers

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## ChalkyDee

Nice, im thinking of doing the same, with an extra room for snooker,

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## Buckaroo Banzai

Very nice Gerbil !! thank you for sharing. 
I plan to do something similar when we return to Thailand (we are covid stuck in the US now) 
we plan to enclose a portion of the open downstairs to create a large room we can use for utile purposes and Gym, and have it available as a private suite for visiting friends and family. All it would require is a few wals since everything else is already there. The one quarter in the back and to the right, so it is nice to see the progress you are making, and excited to also get started. Hopefully there will be a resolution with covid in the next few months and we can come back home.

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