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  1. #1
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    DrAndys Concrete Box in the City

    We bought a small piece of land in Chiang Mai old city centre about three years ago. It is only about a quarter of a rai. there was an old wooden house in situ, with poor foundations.




    We designed a house, essentially a U shape, which would take up most of the land space. The centre of the U was intended to be a courtyard.

    We got planning permission for 3 stories, and a 3 metre front wall. This latter was intended to reinforce the enclosed courtyard feel.

    After a couple of years, and renewing the planning permissions, we started building the wall




    My SD card failed, unfortunately, so there are no more pics of the building of the wall until this next stage




    we will increase the side fences later

    This is the Soi that the land is in, quite small connecting two of the main roads in the old city inside the moat. Very quiet but very close to lots of bars and restaurants etc etc




    more wall building pics




    I don't like the knobs on top, they will go. The lower inset decoration is good though. Both of these features were put in by my wife when I was away!

    There is a large back-set gateway and a small pedestrian gate; both these will have wooden gates made eventually.

    The left hand side wall




    and the inside view of the right side





    well, that is the wall. We did not do any more building for a while. We let the wooden house to parents of a friend and did other things (like building our house in the ricefields)

    When we returned to CM last year, in September, we thought it was about time we built the place.

    so we demolished the wooden house and started in earnest
    Last edited by DrAndy; 15-02-2009 at 12:02 PM.
    I have reported your post

  2. #2
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    The house gone and high sidings to protect the neighbours







    The teak trunks we had stored in the house. They will be used for supporting the rebuilt wooden house which will form one wing of the new house (i.e. the right hand wing of the U shape)

    At this time we also decided that a three storey house was a bit too large for our uses, so we cut off the top storey. We now are building a two storey house with a flat roof terrace.


    another view of the land









    we dug up all the good plants and took them away


    the workers built themselves a nice toilet, connected to the old septic tank




    so, the land was totally cleared and work started


  3. #3
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    wow cant wait for this beauty, i have high expectations looking at those trunks you got, im sure as to your other threads you surely wont dissapoint!

    Any inclination into price and how about you came by the land, if one might be so forward?

  4. #4
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    I didn't even get a guided tour over New Year. Very upsetting.

  5. #5
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    I trust you replace that nice old wooden Thai structure with something similiar. Instead of these homogenous and dismal looking cement/brick abodes.

  6. #6
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    Nice to read this and see the pics. Wish u all the best during your construction, looking forward to seeing more pics as it progresses.

  7. #7
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    thanks folks

    building can be stressful but if you find the right architect (to translate your ideas), the right builder (flexible and energetic) and the right project manager (wife who can call up and complain, congratulate or just chat), then the stress will be within fun levels


    Marmite, why should you? it was just a building site, no drinks or food

    Ben, my wife found the land just asking around. Price, don't remember, but more than ricefilelds!

    RS, no, not similar, but better! That old house was not very pretty, just functional. The wood, however, was all teak, so will be reused.

    more pics soon!

    Now we are on the subject, as was said, the house will have a courtyard as centre stage

    The high wall will reinforce that feeling. As the land is quite small, we could only get a courtyard about 4m wide, hardly sufficient for what we want (yes Marmite, parties and lots of food). So we are keeping the ground floor of both wings of the U open. The courtyard will then extend under the house on both sides.

    Should be fun.... the building continues

  8. #8
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    Good to see that your reusing that teak! At today's prices...that is if you can't find it blackmarket. Outside of retaining heat {a big drawback} - I love tropical hardwoods.

  9. #9
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    Actually, the trunks are reasonably new, confiscated by the government from illegal loggers. They were also reasonably priced and delivered. It took five or six guys to move them!!

    They should be fun to erect, prob need some builders Viagra

  10. #10
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    Marmite the Dog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy
    Marmite, why should you? it was just a building site, no drinks or food
    Fair enough.

    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy
    (yes Marmite, parties and lots of food)
    Jolly good. When is the moving in party?

  11. #11
    I am in Jail
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
    Jolly good. When is the moving in party?
    Yep, how long?

  12. #12
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    well, the basic building will take until the end of April, that is, no decoration, tiles or anbathroom or kitchen fittings. So there will be a building, weather proof but unfinished at that time. Then we go away for a few months and hope to finish it towards the end of the year

    party time

  13. #13
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    however, before we have that party, we have to do the building

    This is the single men workers house, nice bicycle eh?

    the married couples are staying down the road




    The site laid out and the metalwork begins



    The first hole gets dug by hand




    The women knitting the iron; the site office on the right




    more iron delivered, safely! The guy in the orange shirt is the foreman




    The first hole hits water at about 1.5m. This means every hole will have to be pumped out and drained before concrete can be poured




    anyway, we have the first hole ceremony, to propitiate the spirits



    they should be happy now; we also threw loads of gold coins in the hole (well, 25 and 50 satang pieces)




    they found an old well in one of the holes



    so we reclaimed the nicely curved bricks


  14. #14
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    next, they started the proper digging

    some of the foundation holes were very large and deep



    you may ask why

    they decided to knock down part of the wall....

    the neighbours had complained that the trucks blocked the road, so they had to get them inside the site. never mind




    cement delivery; the truck managed to get inside enough



    The building continues, the ground beams in place, ready to pour




    As you can see, the site is very cramped so they took the wooden house to storage, except the tree trunks

    the windows and doors I am sourcing from reclaim woodyards are also stored in the same place...as are some ancient bricks I found which will be great for the courtyard. They came from a demolished tobacco factory.

    Pics later of that

    this is more beams and posts



    and then those being poured

    they use the cement truck to deliver into an old bath, which they then shovel into buckets for delivery to each beam

    I don't think the trucks have pumps!

    Anyway, they then vibrate each pour to settle the cement betweem the iron


  15. #15
    Thailand Expat jandajoy's Avatar
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    good to see they're using a riddler (vibrator) doesn't seem common in LOS.

    Are this crew available for hire, outside CM ?

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy
    . Then we go away for a few months and hope to finish it towards the end of the year party time
    Good one! I should be just about ready by then for a trip to Thailand!

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat Texpat's Avatar
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    Back at it again Andy...

    At least you've been down this well worn road before...

  18. #18
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    courtyard is a pretty sweet idea...................here's mine................well the one i would like to have:

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat Airportwo's Avatar
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    Great stuff! be following this with interest as house sounds some what like the next project! a house yes, but with flat roof as Dr Andy's planning, also planning building as U with courtyard, though as land bigger will include pool or pool on flat roof.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by jandajoy View Post
    good to see they're using a riddler (vibrator) doesn't seem common in LOS.

    Are this crew available for hire, outside CM ?

    depends on how far, I would think

    I doubt they would want to locate to another province

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Airportwo View Post
    Great stuff! be following this with interest as house sounds some what like the next project! a house yes, but with flat roof as Dr Andy's planning, also planning building as U with courtyard, though as land bigger will include pool or pool on flat roof.
    I did mention that some of the foundation holes were very large (nobody asked)

    that is because we intend to have a small pool on the roof

  22. #22
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    looking good

  23. #23
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    thanks

    so, they have continued with the construction, pouring the columns and getting the second floor flooring ready too

    they tried to do a couple of the columns too fast, without vibrating enough, so there were some quite bad holes visible when the shuttering was removed. They filled them in with cement but not very well! We made them cut out the whole of the columns and repour




    once the shuttering is taken off, it is important to wrap the cement in plastic to stop it drying out too quickly


    it is like a jungle in there




    this pic shows the layout of the house: you can see the concrete part now, the wooden bit has not yet been started. The part on the left will be open to the courtyard, as will the wooden house








    work is continuing and going well

  24. #24
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    Where abouts in town are you north east west south(you must be near a temple or two)?

    could you please describe the land size again and also the house size and outside areas as you seem to have made something that seemed in my mind as being quite small look rather big (and thats with what looks like quite a big house on it as well)?

    Was there any problems in getting your planning permission or are they quite easy going in Chiangmai?
    cheers
    im hot its so hot today.......milk was a bad choice!

  25. #25
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    Good to see something different to the big country side house.

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