DrAndys Wooden Cottage in the ricefields

[siam]

Ok I am done reading,
nice reading, thank you Doc, beautiful and cosy house you have built, Doc, Bravo!
regret to not see the comparison of MR and MRS bathroom(or I have missed them?)
and I like the idea of your round concrete pillars, nice touch.
Nice to see that you like eating all those stuffs like the local,
But sneak...!! Anyone know of any ecologic method to guard the off the sneaks?
Thanks

[DrAndy]

thanks, Siam, very kind of you

no comparisons of the bathrooms, sorry - they are fairly similar except the Mrs like her tiles diagonal!

as for sneaks, I presume you mean thieves, a couple of dogs seem to work quite well as we have had no problems

[TizMe]

I thought he meant like cobra sneaks..

[isanmick]

great thread Andy,
this is the same sort of thing that we would like to do on our land in udon
in a few years time.
thanks cause its given us some good ideas.

[Loy Toy]

Lovely property Doc (congrats to you and your missus) and I have a pond as well on my land and do quite a bit of fishing to ease my mind.

Are there any fish of any size in yours?

[DrAndy]

I thought he meant like cobra sneaks..

oh dear....

snakes have been a problem, we had one dog die from a bite

we have seen a few but they tend to run away

we have water snakes which are beautiful as they glide/wriggle over the pond

I do tend to watch where I put my feet if walking around areas that are not often used

[DrAndy]

and thanks Mick and LT

when we first bought the land, the pond was drained once a year and the fish caught; sometimes you could get a few over a kilo

but we wanted something ecologically sound, so we let it develop by itself (after remodelling the slopes and edges) and planted the edges

there are some quite big fish in there but we haven't bothered to catch them; we can get as many fish as we want from the adjacent canals with traps when the water comes in

[siam]

thanks, Siam, very kind of you

no comparisons of the bathrooms, sorry - they are fairly similar except the Mrs like her tiles diagonal!

as for sneaks, I presume you mean thieves, a couple of dogs seem to work quite well as we have had no problems

..thank you for taking time to reply DrAndy,
my...my...I don't even know how to spell "SNAKE",
and yes by the way...burglar problem as well...I don't notice you put the "prison bars" in any of your house? Isn't that a problem in anywhere in Thailand, including CNX?,
Just some dogs, so that means you have someone live in permanently ? If not who feed the poor dogs? Or they do fishing by themselves ?

[The Fresh Prince]

I really enjoyed the thread Dr A. great looking house. Do you have any updated photo's of how its 'settled in'?

Like many others, I don't know how I missed this thread.

[Isaanben]

Great thread! I am going to build a wooden (mai daeng) house here in Kalasin soon and I would like to have those bamboo sheets on the walls in the living room too. I have been looking around here in Kalasin town but only found those thin rolls. Can I please have the name of the factory that makes them (and where it is situated) and maybe a phone no or web address?

Ben

[DrAndy]

and yes by the way...burglar problem as well...I don't notice you put the "prison bars" in any of your house? Isn't that a problem in anywhere in Thailand, including CNX?, Just some dogs, so that means you have someone live in permanently ? If not who feed the poor dogs? Or they do fishing by themselves ?

well, there are burglars around but they will not normally come near the farm because of the dogs and our resident farmer (who looks after the place and dogs)

in the city, we have bars on the downstairs windows which are vulnerable; we also have little worth stealing!

[DrAndy]

Do you have any updated photo's of how its 'settled in'?

well, post #264 was last year so I could add a few from this year...maybe I will do that later

[DrAndy]

I have been looking around here in Kalasin town but only found those thin rolls. Can I please have the name of the factory that makes them (and where it is situated) and maybe a phone no or web address?

I don't have the info but I have seen them at lots of builders merchants; if they sell boards they usually sell the bamboo ones too

maybe you could start a new thread in the construction forum asking if anyone knows in your area

[siam]

I thought he meant like cobra sneaks..

oh dear....

snakes have been a problem, we had one dog die from a bite

we have seen a few but they tend to run away

we have water snakes which are beautiful as they glide/wriggle over the pond

I do tend to watch where I put my feet if walking around areas that are not often used

I was told by Chief Gardener in a resort at Krabi which is right in the forest, and he told me that he spring the sulfate powder all around the proximity of the land once every two months and the snakes don't get in...any opinion, or anyone have try that method? But what about the hazardous to the environment ?

[DrAndy]

I suppose you mean Sulphur rather than sulphate?

some people say snakes don't like it but why bother, most snakes are fine and not harmful, even do good

[TizMe]

Just some dogs, so that means you have someone live in permanently ? If not who feed the poor dogs? Or they do fishing by themselves ?

[siam]

Just some dogs, so that means you have someone live in permanently ? If not who feed the poor dogs? Or they do fishing by themselves ?

That's cute, thanks Tizzy for taking time to get that right!

[siam]

I suppose you mean Sulphur rather than sulphate?

some people say snakes don't like it but why bother, most snakes are fine and not harmful, even do good

Well, I don't know how I could pass the chemistry exam!
How do you know if one is a nice snake? Do they smile? Or said Sawasdee?
I know ecologically correct, they are good deed in them, but...I just am not fond of them!!

[DrAndy]

agreed, they can be scary until either you have identified them as harmless, or they have fled

[rickschoppers]

I have read this entire thread and want to congratulate you on a beautiful build. It is the closest house to what I am looking to build in the Udon area on 4 rai in the country. Any suggestions on how you got started other than finding an architect? How hard was it finding competent wood carpenters? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[DrAndy]

thanks Rick

hmmm, I got started by finding an old wooden house for sale; that, more or less, dictated the size of the new one to build. If you build a similar size, then you can use all the beams and columns easily

I then designed the type of house, taking into account the pond and land available. I then found an architect to draw up the basic plans to get planning permission

I was lucky to find a couple of good carpenter builders in the local village (they had built my neighbours place), so discussed the design and cost with them

all very easy

[rickschoppers]

Thanks Andy,
My next trip to Udon is in January and my timeline to retire is 1-2 years, so I have some time to look for a good donor house. I have seen several out where I am and I will put my lady and family on it by spreading the word. Where and how did you store your wood while you were waiting to build? I stay in my lady's house and her parents are both deceased and currently there are four siblings living there and my son, so things are starting to get crowded. I have been researching this for quite some time now and have finally decided it makes the most sense to build my own with reclaimed wood. You have lived it and I have seen many of your posts that give resonable and good advice. I hope you don't mind my picking your brain from time to time. Eventually, I will start a thread with my own experiences so that other members can hopefully benefit. I know I have gained a lot of valuable knowledge reading your story as well as other. I will keep you posted.

[DrAndy]

Where and how did you store your wood while you were waiting to build?

we just stored it on our land; it was only going to be there a couple of months

I suppose if we had bought it and then needed to keep it, it would have had to be laid down more carefully, with airflow gaps, and off the ground

I hope you don't mind my picking your brain from time to time

nope, I still have some left

[rickschoppers]

Thanks again Andy...........I will keep you posted on my progress.

[rickschoppers]

thanks Rick

hmmm, I got started by finding an old wooden house for sale; that, more or less, dictated the size of the new one to build. If you build a similar size, then you can use all the beams and columns easily

I then designed the type of house, taking into account the pond and land available. I then found an architect to draw up the basic plans to get planning permission

I was lucky to find a couple of good carpenter builders in the local village (they had built my neighbours place), so discussed the design and cost with them

all very easy

Thanks Dr Andy........Will be looking for a builder and donor house in January. I may take a quick trip over to Phrae from Udon. Heard that might be a good place to find such a donor house and then it would be a matter of getting the wood over to Udon. Back roads at night and missing the police checkpoints???