Thread: Aussie Style House Build

Originally Posted by peciacake

The stuff's made for drinkin not arguing about.

Dat's true.

Originally Posted by peciacake

Time to crack a coldie.

And blow the froth off some.

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one. Who is it who said that the roosters welcome the sun in the morning, the damn birds start cacadudling 4 am

My favourite part of the day!

Originally Posted by peciacake

The intention is to pressure test all pipes before pouring the floor slab. We're also going for the 13.5 thick blue pipe rather than the standard wall thickness. To be sure...to be sure...

I'd just avoid running pipes under concrete full stop. You can run them outside if you plan right and although you have the issue of camouflaging/boxing you will never have the problem of digging up your slab.

Greg,

two points re the piling/footing etc.

1. how many quotes and other surveyor assessments have you had, i'd be concerned if your are going off one.
2. a 60cm slab seems like massive overkill, are you planning on storing 800m2 of lead?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

You can run them outside if you plan right

Good point Mike. Will definitely look at running the pipework externally albeit the kitchen sink is in an island bench.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

1. how many quotes and other surveyor assessments have you had, i'd be concerned if your are going off one.
2. a 60cm slab seems like massive overkill, are you planning on storing 800m2 of lead?

Hi Mike,
1. Have had five quotes ranging from ridiculously low to unrealistically high. Kittysak is in the middle. No surveyor assessments / ground tests done.
2. 60 cm footing thickness. Slab is 15 cm thick.

Originally Posted by peciacake

Strewth, settle down sport. Talk about a short fuse. I'm not lookin to get into a blue with ya Willy. We've only just become acquainted.
No sense bungin on a blue over a difference in opinion over beer. The stuff's made for drinkin not arguing about.
Cheer cobber. Time to crack a coldie.

pffttt ... amateur, fair suck of the sauce bottle

Originally Posted by David48atTD

pffttt ... amateur, fair suck of the sauce bottle

Stone the bloody crows. Is that the best you can come up with? Some pounced up ex RaRa player who pays ghost writers to write his lines.
Cripes, talk about coming down in the last shower. Can't you at least find someone whose fair dinkum and speaks the lingo rather than rehearses his lines for weeks on end while staring at himself in the mirror. Paul Hogan leaves Nick for dead, and never needs a script or a cue card.

Originally Posted by peciacake

Good point Mike. Will definitely look at running the pipework externally albeit the kitchen sink is in an island bench.

You can run the pipe inside a larger pipe to the island from outside, that way if you have to you can cut it and run new pipe, just need to have the ability to access inside the island to the slab.

There is always a trade off between the easy way and investing a little more time and planning to ensure you have future proofed yourself from a maintenance perspective. I would not trust a one off pressure test with buried pipe against being able to easily access and replace it outside.

I always view builds like this. Spend the time and effort on the stuff you don't see but which if you have to revisit at a later date will likely make the upfront build costs look like chicken feed - so really base/footings/structural and roof and here make sure you get a few quotes and professional advice from more than one person/company, especially if you are into an area where there are subsoil or water issues. You only get one go at it so spend the time wisely up front and resist the urge to push on until you are sure.

Originally Posted by peciacake

SWMBO does have concerns about the roof, but only from a noise perspective during heavy rain. She's not worried about the Thai perception that steel is down market.

You have a wise Lassie there.

Traditionally, the further north in Thailand you travel, the steeper the roof pitch.

That is due to the concept that rainfall increases as you head further north.

Your roof insulation is a key to the noise abatement.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

You have a wise Lassie there.

Traditionally, the further north in Thailand you travel, the steeper the roof pitch.

That is due to the concept that rainfall increases as you head further north.

Your roof insulation is a key to the noise abatement.

Amen to that. I used CPAC Concrete roof tiles. Between the tiles and above ceiling insulation we have to go outside to see if raining.

Originally Posted by peciacake

Stone the bloody crows. Is that the best you can come up with? Some pounced up ex RaRa player who pays ghost writers to write his lines.
Cripes, talk about coming down in the last shower. Can't you at least find someone whose fair dinkum and speaks the lingo rather than rehearses his lines for weeks on end while staring at himself in the mirror. Paul Hogan leaves Nick for dead, and never needs a script or a cue card.

Aye, pharken oath!

These blokes are spot On


.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

You can run the pipe inside a larger pipe to the island from outside, that way if you have to you can cut it and run new pipe, just need to have the ability to access inside the island to the slab.

There is always a trade off between the easy way and investing a little more time and planning to ensure you have future proofed yourself from a maintenance perspective. I would not trust a one off pressure test with buried pipe against being able to easily access and replace it outside.

Thanks Mike,
Will incorporate your idea into the water system plan. Will put a small sump under the floor of the island bench so if ever we need to we can access the pipe-within-a-pipe.
Cheers...Greg

Originally Posted by Saint Willy

Aye, pharken oath!

These blokes are spot On

Originally Posted by Norton

Amen to that. I used CPAC Concrete roof tiles. Between the tiles and above ceiling insulation we have to go outside to see if raining.

Same us. We used Prestige ceramic roof tiles with reflective heat insulation underneath. Even in the hardest of rains we do not hear it. Money well spent.

On the kitchen Greg, we initially started with an indoor western set up. Took about 2 years and we built a detached kitchen away from the house. 2 reasons. My wife and I lived in the US and she always cooked indoors with electric. Of course the weather was cooler and the kitchen seldom got hot so no AC on and it had a very well made exhaust hood. The smell never seem to settle in the house.

Here, totally different. Gas stove, high heat, oil crackling Even with a nice exhaust hood the kitchen got smoking hot and when she is whipping up some Kra Pao Moo the house smelled like Chili and everyone starts sneezing. You get 3 burners going and look out. IMHO there are many western creature comforts that you can incorporate into your build but an indoor kitchen isn't one of them.

Now with our detached kitchen away from the house, all the shrimp and fish cooking and smells are there. Deep fried fish stays there as well as boiled Crab. The biggest thing is the oil isn't all over the house and sticking to walls and windows.

Again speaking from experience here.

peciacake

I haven't posted here until now but have been following along.

I agree 100% with putting your pipes on the outside and for your island do as suggested and run a smaller pipe inside a larger one. When we built our house we left a gap underneath where the pipes went however when they bought the pipe into the bathrooms they only made one entry point and then ran the rest around on top of the floor which meant they ended up under the tiles. And they lay tiles using about 2 inches of mortar here. We have had a small leak in one bathroom for a while now and it pisses me of but i just have to put up with it as the missus doesn't want to do the work or spend the money to get it fixed. Also we just used ordinary blue PVC which was a mistake, i think you said you will be using heavier duty pipe which is a good move.

As for you need to use pilons, I don't really think they are necessary unless you land is a wetland. We built up the land and then built the house less than 3 months later. There are some minor tension cracks that have appeared but I'm not sure if they are not just within the render on the walls. What you must do if not using piles is the dig the footing down to below the level of the fill and into the original soil. lay your 60cm thick footing in the original soil, this is what we did. Our house is now 11 years old and still fine, it has fallen down yet anyway.

One other thing is the indoor/outdoor kitchen issue. We have an indoor kitchen which has a beautiful gas cooktop and a big electric oven and neither of them has been used in the 11 years we have been in the house.
I think people have this idea that the Thai's like outdoor kitchens because of the smell but I disagree. I believe they don't like being enclosed cooking when it is so bloody hot here i.e. it just too hot in an enclosed kitchen. Also after watching my missus for years I also think its because they are lazy fukkers and just throw shit out onto the ground e.g. the water used to rinse the wok's. Also if anything gets spilt you just get the hose out and hose it off easy as. If they are cooking with a lot of chilli (which is always) then it can become quite overpowering even outside if you are downwind.

That's enough for now good luck with your build. It sounds like you have the main part right and that is a wife who supports you, believe me no matter how well you get along your relationship will be tested before your finished.

Originally Posted by JPPR2

I am enjoyin the Greg and SW Aussie slang. Good laughs. If I read them out loud I almost sound Aussie. Crikey.

Happy Friday.

I tried using google translate on Australian but the translation was almost as incomprehensible as google translating Thai. It's a shame because Australians seem like interesting people and It would be nice if I could understand a word they say. I wish more of them spoke English

Re the final payment .....it’s fair to hold back the last payment for a period to make sure any defects are fixed, but perhaps 15% is on the high side ? It should be enough to cover the cost of you getting somebody else in to fix anything the builder cannot or won’t fix, if you think 15% is needed that would be quite a lot of repairs. How much confidence do you have in this builder ? Or more to the point, how does it look to him if it seems you think there may be so many defects ? Perhaps 10% would be a fairer figure ?

Originally Posted by JPPR2

On the kitchen Greg, we initially started with an indoor western set up. Took about 2 years and we built a detached kitchen away from the house. 2 reasons. My wife and I lived in the US and she always cooked indoors with electric. Of course the weather was cooler and the kitchen seldom got hot so no AC on and it had a very well made exhaust hood. The smell never seem to settle in the house.

Here, totally different. Gas stove, high heat, oil crackling Even with a nice exhaust hood the kitchen got smoking hot and when she is whipping up some Kra Pao Moo the house smelled like Chili and everyone starts sneezing. You get 3 burners going and look out. IMHO there are many western creature comforts that you can incorporate into your build but an indoor kitchen isn't one of them.

Now with our detached kitchen away from the house, all the shrimp and fish cooking and smells are there. Deep fried fish stays there as well as boiled Crab. The biggest thing is the oil isn't all over the house and sticking to walls and windows.

Again speaking from experience here.

^ THIS

Originally Posted by ootai

One other thing is the indoor/outdoor kitchen issue. We have an indoor kitchen which has a beautiful gas cooktop and a big electric oven and neither of them has been used in the 11 years we have been in the house.
I think people have this idea that the Thai's like outdoor kitchens because of the smell but I disagree. I believe they don't like being enclosed cooking when it is so bloody hot here i.e. it just too hot in an enclosed kitchen.
Also after watching my missus for years I also think its because they are lazy fukkers and just throw shit out onto the ground e.g. the water used to rinse the wok's. Also if anything gets spilt you just get the hose out and hose it off easy as. If they are cooking with a lot of chilli (which is always) then it can become quite overpowering even outside if you are downwind.

That's enough for now good luck with your build. It sounds like you have the main part right and that is a wife who supports you, believe me no matter how well you get along your relationship will be tested before your finished.

Originally Posted by ootai

As for you need to use pilons, I don't really think they are necessary unless you land is a wetland.

G'day Ootai (You wouldn't be a Kiwi by chance would you?)

Appreciate very much your comments on pilons. We're on a strict budget so any extra means something else will be left off. The top soil is pseudo concrete when dry, then about a metre down is a thick layer of red clay so I'm hoping we'll be okay.

It sounds like you have the main part right and that is a wife who supports you, believe me no matter how well you get along your relationship will be tested before your finished.

Yes, it will be tested. A mate who does renovations in Australia says however long the renovation takes, the relationship takes about twice as long to recover. I think the same may apply to building complete houses.

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

I wish more of them spoke English

It's mainly the ones from Melbin that speak different to the rest of us...

Originally Posted by mikenot

Perhaps 10% would be a fairer figure ?

G'day Mike, 10% should be enough to get them back if something needs fixing. What do you think is a fair period to hold it back?