Thread: Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province

Yeah we are going to the site twice a week at the moment. We take energy drinks and snacks, the Thai wife attends to the spirit offerings and I walk and photograph the site. None of the build team speak English and while I can understand some Thai, I cannot speak it. The build team love having their photos taken and towards the end I'll share those with them. So far on our visits we've only spotted and helped avoid one stuff-up, a lot less than I would have expected. Overall the team, Mark the builder and his supervisor know what they are doing. I'm pretty sure they know they have our respect and confidence. Despite this I'm reminded of a variation of an old saying...In God we trust, but everyone we check. Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

It's all looking good.

In a funny way your attention to posting the detail in this thread will assist the build I think.

If you're frequently there snapping pics and whatnot and invested in the goings on that will only have a positive effect on the build.

Thanks juehoe, I originally specified Q-Con blocks as I was interested in the insulation (external walls) and sound reduction (for inside walls) characteristics. Our builder Mark was less keen and admitted neither he nor the build team had experience with them. We had a long discussion about the house design and the orientation and direct sun exposure of the external walls. What we found was that the east wall was largely shaded by teak trees in summer and the 1m eave, there was no direct sunlight on the north and south walls and that the main exposure was the west wall which had no tree cover. So then we looked at the west wall and found the greatest direct heat transfer issue were the large windows in the master and bedroom 3. The wife and I were not prepared to compromise on those. At about our third discussion we agreed to use the red bricks, bump up the aircon BTU capacity by 2,000 BTUs and added the 1m level 2 floor level extensions on the east and west external walls to give a little extra shade to level 1 wall. You can see them on the image below. (I'm sure there is an appropriate name for these extensions, anyone care to let me know.) At the time we were in discussion I thought I read online that Q-Con walls were quite inferior to red brick walls in terms of carrying static loads such as kitchen cabinets, etc and that was in my mind as well. Subsequently I've read they are okay for those types of loads, and again I've read there sh*t at it. Someone must know for real but since I've already made my decision to go for red bricks I've no incentive to delve deeper. And one last point, I never compared the overall material and labour costs between the two options, it was not a cost based decision. Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by juehoe

Very good and informative thread - thank you very much!

I may have missed the subject in one of the many posts: But what was the reason to choose the read bricks instead of Q-Con (or similar). With Q-Con you can build much better walls and even faster and they cost only a litte more than a wall with read bricks.

Above - Along the east external wall.

Below - Looking west along the level 2 covered deck.

Above - More bathroom plumbing going in. This is the team foreman.

Below - One of our lovely ladies today. Hold their own on the cement mixing, bricklaying and cement and brick delivery activities.

Above - Mark the builder and his onsite supervisor. Looking to where the kitchenette will be on level 2 and into the bedroom 4 ensuite.

Below - Level 2 living room view to the north.

Above - Looking the 8m length of the living room towards the north.

Below - Completed roof.

Above - The view along the level 1 covered deck from the master bedroom/retreat desk.

Below - Countryside about a kilometer from our home. This view is to the east northeast. The treeline in the mid-ground on the right is the end of the ridge our house is located.

Hey BiP... how's it going!?

How did you get on in Abu Dhabi?

Hi TD, I went well actually. The pitch was well received. However, four of the folks who were supposed to be involved including the CIO were off sick. Company was literally experiencing a flu epidemic. Unsure of the next step at the moment, or if there is one. But was rather nice to kick back in a comfy seat and knock back some rather decent champagne, and paid for by someone else. So glad I only gave up beer in March. Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp

Hey BiP... how's it going!?

How did you get on in Abu Dhabi?

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

I've already made my decision to go for red bricks

If the wall is fully exposed to sushine (south, west), any extended shade will not help much in spring, autumn months when the sun shines in very low angle and is very bright (see in these days).

A double brick (block) wall with cavity makes a big difference. I had experienced it on an existing wall of a house I have bought and on a double (block) wall I have extended within one room, a difference some 5 deg, heating up the room for many hours after the outside air is already cool (yen).

Then, in order to get rid of this heat source I had added a polystyren foam insulation outside the wall covered by the faux wood planks, it has helped a lot.

Thank you Klondyke, some interesting suggestions. There is no doubt the upper west wall is going to get hot and radiate heat inwards. As to how much of a problem that is going to be and whether it is necessary to take further mitigating actions now, I don't know. I'm going to take a suck and see attitude to this wall, same as for heat radiating down from the roof space. There are a number of options to do something later if there is a problem that needs to be solved. Had the same west wall issue in a house I built in Australia and sorted it with oversized window shades that extended half a meter beyond the windows and a fake window shade. On the south wall the bulk of level 2 wall is for ensuites and I don't care about heat into those. The whole of the lower south wall is under a full width carport that runs across the full width of the house. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by Klondyke

If the wall is fully exposed to sushine (south, west), any extended shade will not help much in spring, autumn months when the sun shines in very low angle and is very bright (see in these days).

A double brick (block) wall with cavity makes a big difference. I had experienced it on an existing wall of a house I have bought and on a double (block) wall I have extended within one room, a difference some 5 deg, heating up the room for many hours after the outside air is already cool (yen).

Then, in order to get rid of this heat source I had added a polystyren foam insulation outside the wall covered by the faux wood planks, it has helped a lot.

^ I'm sure they are colour blind,everything is green,pink & purple.

Hi David48atTD (that rolls off the tongue quickly), I may have had a breakthrough with the wife on interior colour. Provided between now and painting none of 'up to you', 'you decide', 'no problem' or 'fine' pass her lips, then we are set for a cream interior. I'm over the moon. Will exactly match the ambiance I'm trying to create with loose cheese cloth clothes, bean bags, lava lamps, bead curtains and a waves on beach with whale f*rts soundscape.

I know what you mean about lucky numbers and days. As a consequence of the MIL consulting monks we had to get married on a Thursday and I had to take a job in Dubai rather than Dallas. (Mind you, they may have been right about that one.) The wife was born on a Monday.

Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by David48atTD

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It never ceases to amaze me that Thai's can build some stunning Temples, beautifull complementary colours etc
but when it comes to choosing paints and tiles for the average home ...






1/ Develop a colour/texture palette.

2/ Start with the item of which there are the least choices. Usually the Curtains/drapes or the floor coverings.

3/ Leave the paint till last ... there are a gazillion paint colours.

Start with this ... https://www.dulux.com.au/ and experiment.
Greens ... https://www.dulux.com.au/colour/greens/popular ... *sigh*

Remember, colours will darken when used in large areas. What it looks like on a colour chart will look slightly darker when painted on a wall.

Grab a tile you like, some fabric and then match a wall colour.

IMHO, those multi coloured/patterned tiles so popular on Thai Flooring look

Stuff like this ...

---

Back to your wife. Was she born on a Wednesday?
'Green' is the Wednesday colour and some/many Thais believe that is their house colour matches their birth colour,
they will lead a better/richer life.*

Assuming you don't wish for a green house, compromise on this. Allow her to choose the colour for the Spirit House or
spirit room ... that's more important to Thai's (generally).

All, of course IMHO






* Our kids Thai names (middle names) were picked from the list of names available for that particular day

Hi bobo746, I'd have to agree. Frankly I gave up on expecting any sophistication from Thais when I discovered they put strawberry yogurt on salad. There is a house in our soi here in Nan that has just been repainted from bright pink to a fluorescent green. Mind you one should applaud them for actually maintaining it. Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by bobo746

^ I'm sure they are colour blind,everything is green,pink & purple.

Originally Posted by bobo746

I'm sure they are colour blind,everything is green,pink & purple

That has started to creep into the moo baan we live in.

Started by a farang guy though oddly enough. He painted his house pink ( ) and then next thing you know couple of his immediate neighbors got onto the act with a yellow house and a green house. Bloody eyesore!

^ Jesus mate you need too wear sunglasses just to walk down the street.

We did ours in light grey rendered brick,polished floors and everything else white.

Thankfully it's down and around the corner a bit so not in direct line of sight but yeah, she's a bit bright down that street!

Not sure what color you'd call our place... A sort of off-white / eggshell color I think.

Bit more traditional than pink though.

I surrender Club Soda, we are but amateurs. - BiP

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

There is no doubt the upper west wall is going to get hot and radiate heat inwards.

A bit late for you now, but I have often mused that when we get to build I'll be incorporating a concrete water tank into the south/west wall. Ideally I'd commission a stainless tank, rectangular, and have one stainless surface as an uncovered inner wall, a heat sink of sorts, and brick-up the 3 external faces of the tank, but that may be expensive, so a simple concrete tank would do wonders for deflecting heat and warming the shower water slightly at the same time.
Would look a lot like a brick chimney rising from ground to roof.

The Kitchen

As mentioned in a previous post we are installing a western style kitchen from a company that works out of HomePro in Phrae. There will be no outside kitchen, neither the wife nor I are interested in cooking outside unless it is a BBQ. According to Mark our builder yesterday, it is time to alert the kitchen folks that they can install in the next several weeks. The kitchen will include an electric oven, three burner gas cooktop, a hob and hot water delivered to the sink faucet.


Above, this is an early plan view. Since this was prepared we moved the kitchen entry door to the left and the island bench towards the sink. There is a wall cutout between the kitchen and dining room that will incorporate a 20-30cm wooden shelf, sort of a servery.


Above - View of the kitchen east wall. Electric oven lower right, gas cooktop in the middle with a reasonably powerful hob above it. We've put two low windows either side of the cooktop for ventilation. Since there obviously can't be any curtains there the glass will be frosted.


Above - View of the kitchen north wall. Sink on the left. We've put another low window with frosted glass on the right near the corner. There is a higher placed window on the left above where the refrigerator will be.


Above - Another early plan view. Again the kitchen door and island bench positions were subsequently changed.

More kitchen views....