Thread: Our future home

Originally Posted by Schuimpge

Checked TPI Diamond Blocks. Looks like Qcon blocks.
Price for a standard 70mm thick block is 16 Baht at OneStockHome..
Looks to be about the same as Qcon?

Didn't do any serious material pricing yet, so I might be wrong.

The Q-Con 75mm blocks are usually around 25 baht....on "special" at SCG Ubon for 24฿ last week, LOL. Onestockhome usually have a good headline price, but their shipping costs can be horrendous if you are not close to BKK !

Originally Posted by mikenot

The Q-Con 75mm blocks are usually around 25 baht....on "special" at SCG Ubon for 24฿ last week, LOL. Onestockhome usually have a good headline price, but their shipping costs can be horrendous if you are not close to BKK !

And that's why you gotta love forums like this.
Potentially saves me a good deal of money upfront already.
Will keep you posted on this particular item with the pricing.. Savings, some beers to be had..lol

Has anybody here tried 'geothermal' cooling?
Dig a hole, put water-hose in it, backfill and then run a closed loop between the floor in the house and the buried hose.

Originally Posted by Schuimpge

My target for land is about 4 Rai, which would also give me space for some aquaponics farming.

Likely you will need to put in a fair amount of land fill to ensure proper drainage. Most important where you intend to build as it gets more than it's fair share of rain in rainy season.

Originally Posted by Schuimpge

It's always nice to see those large floor to ceiling sliding doors.
But that would cost a tremendous amount of money,

,
Not only that, but maintenance to keep them clean. I was going to put in some for our MB but saw places that had floor to ceiling glass and they looked terrible with dirt and water spots. Good standard sized glazed dual pane is a great way to go

Originally Posted by Norton

An absolute must to have all defined in detail in the build contract or you will likely get stuff you really find substandard. Especially a must if you do not intend to be on build site from day one to completion. Also have progress payments well defined. A percent of total as build progresses. About 4 ot 5 payments from start to finish.

Absolutely Norton, all sound advice. Get some drawings rendered for review. Go over in detail with contractor. Specify materials you want. Then set up payment plan based off walk through buy off acceptance.

Additionally Schuimpge, I recommend screening 2 or 3 contractors. We did before we chose. Request to see finished houses they have built. See if you can speak with the owners on how they felt about their house and the service and quality. This is your money, Don't let people tell you, "well that's not how we do it here in Thailand" Take your time. If one is really low in price, be skeptical.

We set up our payments on walk throughs at various stages,

• After pillars were poured and slab done 25%
• After brick walls and 2nd floor done. 15%
• After plumbing and electrical installed 15%
• After roof installed 15%
• Final walk through checking to make sure everything worked. 30%

Hope this helps

All i will say Schuimpge, is to be careful not to over capitalize on the build, Houses on land are quite cheap to buy compared to building.

Good morning.. Wow, now that's what I call lots of good advice and suggestions.. I've seen or read many of the items listed above before, reading through build-stories over the years, but some easily forgotten, so good to have them in one place.

Land/Location: I'm looking at land somewhere between Hua Hin and Chaam, a bit more land-inwards. Couple of reasons are:
1. It's location means that the land itself sits a bit higher and needs less infill.
2. The main crop in that area is pineapples, not rice. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that means no burning rice-fields after harvesting.
3. It's close enough to both Petchaburi where the family lives, while also having easy access to Hua Hin for a night out or anything.

Infill:
Can't really estimate anything before buying the land of course, but a large natural swimming pool is in the plans. (have a look at this video:
it's way bigger than what I want, but it gives an idea of what a natural pool is.)
That means a lot of soil that can be used as infill, which should reduce the cost somewhat.
And yes indeed, need to check the local rain/flooding/drainage conditions to adjust for that.

The Contractor:
As the saying goes: When the Cat's away,.. the mice play..
There's no doubt that being on-site is an absolute must. On the other hand, I could only do that if I'm fully retired, which I'm not. Hopefully in the next 3-4 years or so.. but not yet.
So what I'm looking at right now is to start with a bedroom-unit. If that unit is done properly and to our satisfaction, we can then start with the next building.
Doing this will also provide us/me with a place to stay during the rest of the construction.

Choosing the contractor:
I do have a good 'stick' behind the door for the architect to provide quality work....lol.
His wife works for me in my company and we are also good friends on the social level.
While I've seen horror stories on a regular basis, I'm reasonably confident that they will deliver quality work.
Too early to say anything definite now, we will get to that after the first quote and BOM comes in.

Materials to use and other contract agreements:
I've provided the architect with pretty much the same info as given here to make a first rough drawing and cost-estimate. (and of course he has the model at his desk too)
First step agreed is that based on the model, the draft he made and our talks on rough specs (q-con/colorbond/etc) he will put a rough cost-estimate together.
That will include a list of materials used, sqmt calculations, etc.
With that step done, I can then get to work (well, plan for me is: you guys get to work... lol).. and then start asking questions, negotiate, etc.
Once we agree with the estimated price per unit, he will then start working out the full set of architect drawings, engineering drawings and 3-D models.

The walls:
Two main walls are 1 meter thick. then there's the main divider wall in the middle, and to accommodate electricity and other cabling there, I'm thinking to use a thicker Qcon (or Diamond Block) block.
Or it could simply be 2x7.5cm thick walls with a small space in between for cables. Something to discuss with the contractor. Grey cement-blocks (Klondyke's favorite) could also be used.
All about cost.. using the best option available at the lowest price.

General construction: I've mentioned the idea to the architect of not using concrete columns. Instead, after completing the concrete base for the house, using a steel frame that supports the roof and building the walls around that frame. Fast, lower cost, less time spend on construction.
He's checking on that idea.. not sure if it's possible or not.

Payment terms:
Thanks for the suggestions. That's good to have when we start setting up the contract.

Thanks all for the input..
Cheers,
Luc

Originally Posted by havnfun

All i will say Schuimpge, is to be careful not to over capitalize on the build, Houses on land are quite cheap to buy compared to building.

I agree to a point Deeks, but you have no idea of the build quality, materials and what the land looked like prior. If renting no problem but a place you plan on calling home for the long haul, I would have my own built to my specs.

Originally Posted by Schuimpge

have a look at this video

Don't let Mendip see that imposing jetty.

Well looks like you have everything fully figured out, except the walls, they could get a little prone to cavitation, maybe go 1200,
Looking forward to the thread updates.

Schuimpge

I enjoyed watching the video of the pond construction so thanks for that.
My only comment would be hopefully you plan better than they did regarding being able to exit the pond onto the jetty.
Seems like they forgot to incorporate a set of steps at the end of the jetty and then thought 'aw shit" and stuck an extendable ladder in there.

Also somewhere in this sub forum there is/was a build done by nigelandjan in which he used cement "blocks to build his walls which meant they could be or were load bearing.
I think that may be a better option than using a steel frame to support the roof. You could also easily run the ultilies through them.

Cheers

Originally Posted by havnfun

All i will say Schuimpge, is to be careful not to over capitalize on the build, Houses on land are quite cheap to buy compared to building.

Same as with JPPR2, yes, sure it's cheap to buy some nice pool villa in a gated community. Move in and be done with it.
But that's not the point of building your dream house is it? I've seen great examples of houses built here on Teakdoor and on CTH. And seen the horror stories of some others.
To me, the positive results far outnumber the horror-stories, and then still, most horror stories are part of an eventual successful outcome.

Also, I'm living in a shophouse now, with an overall 'reasonable' quality of construction. I bought the second one next door (both are end of row larger units, with a small garden-space in between), and we bought another smaller unit for my brother who worked with me (he sadly passed away last year, house will go on sale next year). All of them are typical 90's Thai style construction. Electric.. horror.. The mains coming in under a roof-tile, 2 lines freely hanging above the master bedroom ceiling. An aircon was 'professionally' installed at some time..lol..which means someone crawled up, scraped some wire mantle away, winded the aircon cable around it and then taped the whole stuff.. And that's just one example.. To do any serious electrical work, I had to disconnect cables at the meter!!
Under the roof, the walls with the neighbors stopped just above the ceilings.. I could look from my house all the way to the other end of the block! Guess that's some kind of ventilation feature..not sure though.

Knowing that kind of things, for me, there's no buying an existing property..Better build to my specs, my design, my liking..

Cheers,
Luc

Originally Posted by Shutree

Don't let Mendip see that imposing jetty.

Originally Posted by ootai

Schuimpge

I enjoyed watching the video of the pond construction so thanks for that.
My only comment would be hopefully you plan better than they did regarding being able to exit the pond onto the jetty.
Seems like they forgot to incorporate a set of steps at the end of the jetty and then thought 'aw shit" and stuck an extendable ladder in there.

Also somewhere in this sub forum there is/was a build done by nigelandjan in which he used cement "blocks to build his walls which meant they could be or were load bearing.
I think that may be a better option than using a steel frame to support the roof. You could also easily run the ultilies through them.

Cheers

That ladder..lol.. yep..

Will check on Nigelandjan.. But indeed with the wall in the middle of the house, and the thick outer walls, the maximum span is 4 meters..it may be far easier build them load-bearing, especially with the lightweight colorbond roof.
Of course, don't forget Klondyke's construction. His house is the perfect example of doing exactly that.

Cheers,
Luc

Originally Posted by havnfun

Well looks like you have everything fully figured out, except the walls, they could get a little prone to cavitation, maybe go 1200,
Looking forward to the thread updates.

I have indeed been thinking to fill them up with concrete for added strength...

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

I would recement a double wall of the 7.5 Qcon or similar for all outside walls. Be careful with it foe interior walls , they will cut the heck out of it for electric , and it is not that thick.

Before I built my place I visited someone who had built his walls as two-skin, 75mm Q-Con with a 100mm gap. That gives a total depth of 250mm, which matches the standard column size. I liked that because I didn't want to end up with 'W' corners where skinny walls meet fat columns. He ran all his services inside the gap so there was no chasing of the internal walls, just drilling a few holes to bring your water and electricity in. I was a bit uncertain about creating the voids, which seem like great wildlife habitats, although he told me he hadn't had any problem.

I had rented a fairly modern small house in the village for a year. Standard cement block walls and tiled roof. It was a perfectly designed pizza oven. It heated up incredibly in the daytime and radiated heat inside all night. I wasn't going to do that again, it was definitely going to be AAC blocks and Q-Con was the most readily available then. I have since seen at least one competing brand of block which is being used more and more in local construction, so it must be cheaper.

I have engineering drawings for a decent sized house and then I changed my mind and built the smallest house I could imagine being habitable.

Since my house is tiny I could afford to play with materials and in the end I went with the 250mm Q-Con blocks partly because the pricing for one 250 block was a marginal cost over two 75s and it saved labour because it was one wall, not two. On the downside it did mean chasing the internal walls for the electric cables and then plastering over.

Q-Con have their own brand of lintels to go over doorways and windows, the 250 thickness can have quite a long span. More expensive than the builder's proposed DIY reinforced concrete beams of course. However, those concrete lintels become their own little heat sinks and they have different thermal properties from the surrounding blockwork, which I didn't want.

In the end there is zero heat transfer through any of the walls, even the west-facing wall which gets the late sun at this time of year despite the long overhang of the roof. This helps keep aircon running costs down.

The advantage of building your own place is that you can do it your own way. If I ever get around to building the larger house then I'll probably stick with the AAC blocks.

Good luck with your build, I look forward to watching this thread.

Originally Posted by baldrick

it is missing the workshop / mancave

Yes, I had to add a shed to my plan. I don't really need a workshop but I definitely need a lot more space than I had thought for storage. There are brooms and brushes and kitchen hardware and similar items that remain a mystery to me, all of which need to be stored out of sight. And shoes, maybe I'll build a shoe cupboard next.

If you make the walls by double blocks you do not need the columns. And instead of columns in corners and long walls you create a vertical reinforcement inside the cavity.

The columns - as Thai cannot think without - they always had made first the teak columns (sau) for having the roof - the walls are not so important, can make next year or not at all.

So when no teak for "sau" then take the concrete "sau", co cheap in Thailand. Also the formwork for that, it only takes additional 2 - 3 months more and a lot of wood and bamboo sticks. You can design any layout not bound by the columns.

It's only to recheck whether the Q-Con and/or AAC are load bearing blocks. If not, then the usual cinder blocks, they are so cheap, available in the next village brought 300 pcs by pickup whenever you call them. And the sand and cement is cheap as well. The heat from outside will stay in the outer blocks, will not be transferred onto the inner block. Every village brick-layer will be happy to work with it, you just tell them and control them to follow your layout. The only initial problem with them you will have is to dissuade them from the "sau" thinking...

Found the other person here who did a natural pool. That was Old Monkey, up north, huge pool up in the mountains.
Only don't know if he got the problems sorted with his filtration. Very different approach as to what I'm planning to do.
Will be a bit of a gamble, given the hot and sunny climate here, but using a white liner to reflect sun, light colored stones and water covering plants, it should be doable..

What I like most about it is that there's no pumps or other electric equipment used that could cause accidents. It's all driven by air pumps.. Low energy use and no chemicals.

Originally Posted by Schuimpge

Low energy use and no chemicals.

I'm sure the crocodiles will be grateful for that.

Originally Posted by Shutree

I'm sure the crocodiles will be grateful for that.

Well, the good thing is that it would keep the locals out of the pool.
And crocodile leather is a good business it seems...