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  1. #1
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    DrAndys Wooden Cottage in the ricefields

    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.
    Last edited by DrAndy; 28-05-2007 at 02:56 PM.
    I have reported your post

  2. #2
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    anyway, this was a nice pic


    the view of the Buddha is a bit surreal
    Last edited by friscofrankie; 28-05-2007 at 12:32 AM.

  3. #3
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    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

    Last edited by friscofrankie; 28-05-2007 at 12:40 AM.

  4. #4
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    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
    Last edited by friscofrankie; 28-05-2007 at 12:42 AM.

  5. #5
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    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

  6. #6
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    The environment looks great! I am jealous of the mountains. Keep us posted on how things are coming along.
    Last edited by hillbilly; 28-05-2007 at 05:43 AM.

  7. #7
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    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.

  8. #8
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    Quote 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

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by greenthaiway View Post
    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.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by hillbilly View Post
    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.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by jumbo View Post
    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

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by friscofrankie View Post
    Quote 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

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

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    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




  14. #14
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    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

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by greenthaiway View Post
    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.
    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

  16. #16
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    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.

  17. #17
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    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

  18. #18
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    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


  19. #19
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    ChiangMai noon's Avatar
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    Oh dear, you are living amongst the beasties.

  20. #20

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


  21. #21
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    no chance of flooding there?
    Gotta have some sort of water pump handy?

  22. #22
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    I like the wheel window....anyone remember playschool?

    Today, we're going throught the round window

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirtydog View Post
    Reckon your going to get a bit of cracking on the back top right room, blocks aren't really staggered enough.

    yes, now you mention it, they do look a little too closely lined up

    wait for the next earthquake......

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aquaman View Post
    no chance of flooding there?
    Gotta have some sort of water pump handy?
    no, the land around is flat for miles and our land has never flooded. It is about half a metre above the surrounding fields. After heavy rain for some hours it all gets waterlogged then soon vanishes when the rain stops.

    the main problem we have with water is that the water table is quite high, so the soakaway and septic tank are fairly full even before using. We will have to put another intermediate tank in and then let the waste out to the canal.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by NickA View Post
    I like the wheel window....anyone remember playschool?

    Today, we're going throught the round window
    yeah, we just found the wheel and thought it would be fun. The builders kept going on about mosquitos and needing some net over the wheel, but in CM our house has always had an open window for the bathrooms. No real problems with mossies, except if you stand still whilst brushing your teeth

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