Thai Dhupp and Princess Joy's Thai House Build

[dennis4558]

You're above ground, not is when it looks like you're making progress. Alway looks better when you can see what gets done.

[Thai Dhupp]

I thought the first post ceremony was to appease the land spirits, so it's an animist thing usually conducted by a local elder or mor duu/witchdoctor and not a Buddhist ritual involving monks ? And then monks bless the house when it is finished. Or maybe I'm just used to the pagan rites of deepest darkest Issaan and not the civilization of Chonburi ?

Hey, Mikenot, welcome,

Like you, I'm not the expert in these rituals, but for sure PJ is!! her bro' even more so. She consulted at the temple in BKK and again at the temple near to us, so I'm sure whatever was 'the right thing to do' was done!!

That bit about the monks at the end? yep...shes already told me that this will be taking place too.

Not sure if Chonburi province is more civilized but i am sure its more expensive to build!!

[Thai Dhupp]

You are. We do things differently up here as you stated.
Mor duu to start. Build the house. Walk around the house until the mor duu gives the all clear of bad spirits and allows you entry. Then a gaggle of monks and the entire village go inside and bless the house.

hi Norton, what is Mor Duu? not heard that one before, lol certainly not in Dubai...

[Maanaam]

hi Norton, what is Mor Duu? not heard that one before, lol certainly not in Dubai...

Literally an expert at seeing. Figuratively a forune teller. A shaman.

[Thai Dhupp]

Did you watch the cement being poured on that gold and silver?
I'd be tempted to dig it up and re-skim it

Interesting insight into the ceremony.

Hi there CCC, I tried extending the telescope from downtown Do Buy, but no... could not get it to focus on Chonburi!! Seriously, no but plenty of others were checking that pour.

Incidentally, it was hand- mix only for those 2 ritual cages...the rest will be done with the truck mixer from the local supplier.

Yeah.. that ceremony was interesting for me too, never seen one before. I was there for some of it via Skype.

[Thai Dhupp]

Literally an expert at seeing. Figuratively a forune teller. A shaman.

Ahh... OK thanks Maanaam, didnt know that term...

[Thai Dhupp]

You're above ground, not is when it looks like you're making progress. Alway looks better when you can see what gets done.

Hi Dennis, yesss... I agree!

They are on with all those ground floor columns and the ring beam too, now.

More pictures to follow...

[Norton]

They are on with all those ground floor columns and the ring beam too, now.

Money! The universal incentive.

[Thai Dhupp]

Money! The universal incentive.

lol I think you could be right!

I got it...he wants it... I think we could well be finished before 275 days!!

[Norton]

Could be but 275 days is reasonable for the size and quality you want of the build.

[Thai Dhupp]

Digging out the pile caps

[Thai Dhupp]

Could be but 275 days is reasonable for the size and quality you want of the build.

I think he will push on to complete 20-30 days earlier - he is busy. (i'm hoping that's because he is good and in demand)

Let's see...

[mikenot]

Hey, Mikenot, welcome,

Like you, I'm not the expert in these rituals, but for sure PJ is!! her bro' even more so. She consulted at the temple in BKK and again at the temple near to us, so I'm sure whatever was 'the right thing to do' was done!!

That bit about the monks at the end? yep...shes already told me that this will be taking place too.

Not sure if Chonburi province is more civilized but i am sure its more expensive to build!!

Well I think most of us would agree that this stuff is all in the mind anyway, so whatever makes the missus happy is the right thing to do !
The 2 ceremonies I've seen and others I've heard/read about in Issaan had a village elder or a mor doo for the first post ceremony. Apparently the idea is to apologise to the spirits ("pii") that live on the land for disturbing them, and then later you should build a spirit house for them to live in. The grander your house is, the flashier a house needed for them ! Otherwise the spirits might move into YOUR house, something that would cause all sorts of problems for the average superstitious Thai.
My GF's father was a mor duu, and she is very superstitious, so I am expecting to have the full ceremonies when we build , but if the Princess does n't believe in all that then lucky for you !
Mike.

[Thai Dhupp]

She's a believer, Mike...believe me...

I was not involved in engaging the orange-clad one, i will ask her though why we did not have the witch-doctor doing the gig.

On second thoughts, maybe not. we might have to do a re-run...another slaughtered pig, more gold etc etc....

The after-show party for the monks has already been mentioned and last year she was checking out gigantic spirit houses...I think we can use it as guest accommodation after we move in, so i'm sure she's got that covered.

I did tell her we would have to run her plans past Bank TD International, which kinda slowed her down (momentarily)

[Norton]

I did tell her we would have to run her plans past Bank TD International, which kinda slowed her down (momentarily)

Up to you darling is usual reply I get. Translation - you know who will be blamed when evil spirits move in, the house catches fire when a mazzive thunder bolt hits it and then is washed completely away by the worst tsunami in recorded history.

[Thai Dhupp]

Up to you darling is usual reply I get. Translation - you know who will be blamed when evil spirits move in, the house catches fire when a mazzive thunder bolt hits it and then is washed completely away by the worst tsunami in recorded history.

I didn't know you knew her Norton, but ..yeah.. she says exactly the same to me.

Its a sure fire discussion-ender - the pressure to justify my position in the face of overwhelming failure potential is just too much.

[Thai Dhupp]

Morning all... looks like no work today as its pi... raining a lot on the building site.

This might give me a chance to catch up with the photos - so busy on the day job, I have no time for anything.

[Thai Dhupp]

Anyway... Stage one is completed...


Its the quick stage of course - site set up, accommodation, drilling, pile cage fab, placement, concreting, digging out for pile cap, fitting pile cap cages.

Still, he was ahead of schedule by 3 days, including negotiations with the neighbour to 'get those mango trees felled' sooner rather than later!

He's already started Stage 2.....

[Thai Dhupp]

Water supply

I forgot to detail this earlier.

The small property behind already has a mains supply so rather than go through the system, we have just Tee'ed off without telling him. Boy, is he getting a shock when the bill drops....

lol...not really (you can tell i am bored at work today).. we came to an agreement with him, and have Tee'ed off so we can get the supply straight away.

This is the feed pipe into the camp and water containers...






If we had been really stuck, K.Pot has...a water tanker in his fleet

We already covered the electricity supply earlier

[Thai Dhupp]

Stage 2 undewrway...

Upright cage fitment


Cages made and waiting to be fitted


Confirmation that the cage construction has followed the approved design



Here is the arrangement with the pile coming out into the pile cap cage (cap below) and the column cage connected to the pile and cage, which is then concreted in, to form a solid column through the construction


This concrete is direct from the batching plant via the mixer truck


This is one of the thicker columns required under the master bedroom, as the dining room below has large spans over two walls that are basically all folding doors


What I am heartened to see here is the use of the vibrator (K.Pot owns it, of course) to make sure the concrete has flowed all round all of the cage


and again...


The column cage crop was coming along nicely...


More deliveries were arriving nicely, too...


it will soon get used

[dennis4558]

Now it's looking like a construction site lol and like you said good to see those vibrators in use, don't need any honeycombs in the concrete.

[Thai Dhupp]

I think we really stuck lucky with the builder, Dennis... we whittled it down from the initial candidates to just 2. K.Pot won out as his price was very slightly less than the other guy and he told be he had his own piling equipment. What he didn't tell me was that in fact he has got a (very large) shed-load of equipment!

...and, as we have seen (so far anyway).. he uses it. He is filling me with confidence in his ability, and confirming that we made the right call with him.

I will try to upload the ring beam steel construction today...

[Norton]

I think we really stuck lucky with the builder

Luck not a factor. You did your homework before jumping to a builder selectIon.

[Thai Dhupp]

Luck not a factor. You did your homework before jumping to a builder selectIon.

Thats true Norton...we did seem to take a very long time to get to the builder choice, but its definitely worth spending that time to be absolutely sure.

We were finally sure based on interviews, past work, his qualifications and experience (hes a qualified Engineer) and that 'gut feeling' that he was the one.

I will have to look back and see how long it took us from asking the question 'did anyone know a good builder...?' to signing the contracts with him.

What I meant was...he has surpassed even all that with the equipment he has available, and which is actually helping us even more on the 'job'

Good plans - good contract - good builder - good communications ... if you have all that, the rest should fall into place.

[Norton]

Good plans - good contract - good builder - good communications ... if you have all that, the rest should fall into place.

Plus the all important "gut feeling".