Page 1 of 10 123456789 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 246
  1. #1
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742

    Ootais wife builds a house

    The time has arrived and building has started.

    The house is being built by my wife as I am still here in Australia. She is building it using the money she has saved while living and working here for the last 8 and a half years. About 5 years ago we built a cheap house on her land for her Mum and daughter.

    The diagram shows where we are building (sort of) the double lines at the top represent Highway 24 and we are in Burinam.

    A - is where her parents house was /is it is now occupied by her sister.

    B - is where she built the house for her Mum

    C - is where she was originally going to build her new house

    D - the Shed

    F - where the new house is being built

    WT - is the water tower which will show up in later photos

    While allthis may not make a lot of sense at the moment it shoul later when I post more information.


    At this stage we don't plan anything other than a garden at the house even though its on 4 rai.
    The blocks at B & C are each half a rai so the house is on a total of 5 rai and the missus reckons she wants to build a wall around it all. Looks like I'll be busy.

    This next photo is one I just threw in to show some of the "Farm" which is a few kilometres away from the village.



    And here's what she is hoping to have at the end of the build, minus the garden and pond put in by the architect to make it look pretty.



    To be continued....

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat
    DrAndy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    25-03-2014 @ 05:29 PM
    Location
    yes
    Posts
    32,025
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai
    minus the garden and pond put in by the architect to make it look pretty
    I thought those the best bits

    nice land, hope it all goes smoothly

  3. #3
    Member

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 06:58 PM
    Posts
    204
    looking forward to your story, Ootais!

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai
    minus the garden and pond put in by the architect to make it look pretty
    I thought those the best bits

    nice land, hope it all goes smoothly
    So far so good, the building has already started and is progressing well at this stage but so does a marriage on the honeymoon.

    At some stage in the future we will have a garden out the front of the house but we'll never have a pond at least not on this property.

    The garden at the front will be about 1000 sqm so will require some thought and no doubt hard work (or money).

    As for the pond, the missus is against having any water around the place. In the last 6 months her cousin's son (9years old) and a friends child (2 years old) have drowned in the village. The youngest one fell into one of those large urns used for water storage, must have seen someone get some water and tried to reach in.

    Anyway I will have to be content to put up with the pond at the farm.


  5. #5
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    I hope everyone understands that I will eventually get to the actual building of the "new" house. What I am trying to do is give people an insight into how the house build has evolved over time. It has, in most people's opinion come about in a bit of a disorderly way but that I think that that is life in Thailand.

    This post gives more info on the first house she built for her Mum and her daughter. The reasoning for that was to enable them to move away from living witihin 15m of highway 24. I spent many nights at the family house trying to sleep while a never ending stream of trucks and cars roared up the highway.

    The wife first bought the block labeled "C" in the OP which is about half a rai. A year or so later she was offered (and bought) the adjacent block of the same size (labelled "B"). So she then had a bit over 1 rai.

    The current house entrance.


    The front


    The open kitchen



    This photo shows the block "C" looking south from the road.



    Looking south west at block C


    The last photo shows the water tower in the background which should allow people to orientate themselves.

    Once the wife decided she was ready to build "her" house she intended to build it on block C. The timing was mainly governed by when we were ready to move over and live full time in Thailand. Her reasoning was that if she built it any earlier it would be invaded by family and then we wouldn't be able to kick em out when we moved over there.

    Anyway once she told me where she intended to build I objected as I don't like to be crowded by neighbours, I hionestly don't know how people live in the small blocks of 400sqm I hear about. Anyway the next photo shows how close to the back of the current house the boundary is behind it, once again the water tower is there. So I suggested that she buy the land behind which is about 4 rai and she could then build on it giving us plenty of room. That will be the subject of the next post.


  6. #6
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    8,184
    Good luck! This should be an interesting build.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat
    DrAndy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    25-03-2014 @ 05:29 PM
    Location
    yes
    Posts
    32,025
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai
    As for the pond, the missus is against having any water around the place. In the last 6 months her cousin's son (9years old) and a friends child (2 years old) have drowned in the village. The youngest one fell into one of those large urns used for water storage, must have seen someone get some water and tried to reach in.
    I understand that; a kid in my village in Portugal drownded last year in another neighbours pool

    water and kids don't mix too well; I am having to think hard about security for my kid too in my Mae Rim house

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat
    lob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Last Online
    30-09-2023 @ 02:09 PM
    Posts
    2,170
    [/quote]
    very constable, a great pic to my mind. luverly mate.

  9. #9
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 07:05 PM
    Location
    Roiet
    Posts
    34,895
    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy
    I am having to think hard about security for my kid too in my Mae Rim house
    Either a tether on the kid or a nice antique railing around the patio.

  10. #10
    Member
    Gipsy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Last Online
    07-02-2020 @ 08:20 AM
    Location
    NE of Chiang Mai
    Posts
    631
    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy
    I am having to think hard about security for my kid too in my Mae Rim house
    Quote Originally Posted by Norton
    Either a tether on the kid or a nice antique railing around the patio.
    .... or learn the kid to swim. Not that difficult, and a lifetime reward.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    So' because I don't like to be crowded in, I suggested to the wife that she buy the block (4 rai) behind the house she built for her Mum then we (I) would have plenty of room. She agreed, BUT I had to give her the money as I was the one who wanted the extra room. Anyway I agreed that that was probably fair so we went ahead and bought it. I don't know what land title it is but its not "chanote". Several years ago we were offered it and she didn't buy it as she didn't trust the then owners. But in the last couple of years it has had a new owner and she (the wife) obviously felt better about buying it then. If there was a problem with this its that it cost her (me) twice as much as the original asking price. The new owener had done some work in tidying up the block, built a toilet and bathroom and planted some Tagoo (I think that's what they're called) trees.
    For those who like to know what stuff costs it was 405,000 baht. It was expensive but I told her not to haggle and just buy it. I think the not haggling hurt her more than paying such a high price and that hurt a lot.

    So this is the block looking from her Mum's house. It shows the toilet/bathroom and the skeleton of a previous attempt to build a house.



    This one shows the view looking the other way.



    This picture taken less than a year later and shows how much the trees have grown.



    to be continued.....

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat
    DrAndy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    25-03-2014 @ 05:29 PM
    Location
    yes
    Posts
    32,025
    Quote Originally Posted by Gipsy
    or learn the kid to swim. Not that difficult, and a lifetime reward.
    that's the best way but it doesn't happen overnight for a baby

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    back again

    the next photo shows the real reason to pay so much for the block



    While the missus did the right thing, when she built the house for her Mum and put in a "farang" toilet for me, she, at that time thought cheapest was best, so its a kid size dunny. Nearly as hard for a fat old fart like me to use as a squat dunny. In my previous post you can see the path used when I want to sit and ponder.

    The girl is my wife's niece's daughter Oi. She is also my Thai teacher, that is whenever she can stop rolling on the floor laughing at my attempts to speak Thai. If anyone heard me sing they'd instantly know why I can't speak Thai, bloody tone deaf for sure. But as I tell the missus, some money in one hand and waving and pointing with the other seems to work most of the time.

    Anyway I am going to digress a little here and ask if anyone can tell me what type of tree this is (at the front left, near the road) it had to come out and has since been cut up into some nice timber.



    Ended up here.



    tune in again tomorrow for some more.

  14. #14
    Member

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Last Online
    Today @ 06:58 PM
    Posts
    204
    looks like this will be a fun thread!

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    8,184
    Hard to tell from the photos (not very clear) but it does look like a Teak tree to me.

  16. #16
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    8,184
    On second thought probably not what I thought. The leaves are to small.

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    So now I had enough "room to move" we needed to start thinking about what to do with the concrete skeleton. It was decided that it should be turned into a shed which could then be used to secure any materials we bought on site for the house build. Having the bathroom and toilet meant that the builders wouldn't need to come to the house at all. At that stage she wasn't sure who the builder would be and they might have needed to live on site which they could do by living in the shed.

    Here's the skeleton she started with.




    The wife, her sisters and brothers in law turned it into this.



    I thought it was a reasonable job but I was told my opinion didn't count as she who mattered was very happy. The main issue I had was that I had suggested building a door into the back panel on the northern side so someone could walk in and out of the shed to the dunny without having to open the main doors. Anyway the final solution (after they had forgotten about the door) was to split the rear rolladoor, see the second photo. The consensus among the locals was that it was too flash for a shed and that the slope of the roof was to shallow. It seems they all like a steep pitched roof.





    to be continued......

  18. #18
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    Hopefully someone can identify what type of tree this is. Here's another photo which shows it more clearly. Thanks


  19. #19
    Thailand Expat
    DrAndy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    25-03-2014 @ 05:29 PM
    Location
    yes
    Posts
    32,025
    it is a blurred one, or it was

  20. #20
    Newbie

    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    22
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai View Post
    Hopefully someone can identify what type of tree this is. Here's another photo which shows it more clearly. Thanks

    This seems to be the Yung Naa. It is a protected species and cannot be cut down without permission.

  21. #21
    Newbie

    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    22
    ยางนา = "yang na"

  22. #22
    Pronce. PH said so AGAIN!
    slackula's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Behind a slipping mask of sanity in Phuket.
    Posts
    9,088
    Quote Originally Posted by ootai
    to be continued....
    That's a rather posh shed! It bodes well for the house construction

    Nice thread, thanks and I'm looking forward to following it.

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    Quote Originally Posted by DrAndy View Post
    it is a blurred one, or it was
    Yeah I suppose I should have been a little clearer in how I used the word "clearly".
    What I meant was that the photo shows the whole tree more clearly not that the photo is more clear. Its blurred because I had to crop a photo and then blow it up ( the photo not the tree) so the whole tree could be more clearly seen in its entirety.

    I hope that has cleared things up.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat
    DrAndy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    25-03-2014 @ 05:29 PM
    Location
    yes
    Posts
    32,025
    yes it did

    that was the tree that fell down in the storm?

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    1,742
    From about September last year we started trying to come up with a design that she was happy with. So first we needed to decide what we (she) wanted.
    Firstly 3 bedrooms, when I asked why not more she reckoned that one for us, one for Mum and one for her daughter, anymore and we could have family moving in. I was happy with that idea except I then asked who would move into Mum's current house? The answer was "Don't worry about that"
    The main bedroom had to have an ensuite and a walk in robe and be airconditioned.
    The second inside toilet would be a squat version.
    A living area and a kitchen with a laundry area outside somewhere.

    So I put my idea on paper and come up with this.
    Blue line is the slab outline and walls
    Red line is lower roof
    Black line the "cap" roof



    Basically a row of bedrooms on one side and a livving room on the other with an open kitchen at one end with a wide verandah. There would be a roof with an open rectangle in the middle that would have a second "cap" roof on top. My idea was that everything I had seen so far lead me to think that if we didn't have an open kitchen one would be built later anyway. The split roof system would allow the area to be open to he atmosphere but shaded.
    In the end her was opinion was, no way its f**king ugly.

    So back to the drawing board and this time I come up with this.



    end view


    This time everything under one roof. The living spaces all enclosed by walls.
    The 2 shaded spaces in the kitchen are inside/ outside benches which would have bi-fold windows so that they could be opened right up to give a pseudo open kitchen.

    Her opinion this time was, "better but still a f**king box".

    I should point out that during this stage she was back here in Aussie, so I gave up and said for her that when she went back home, to find an architect and to get them to work up a design and to then get them to do the structural engineering calculations to produce the final construction plans. So that's what she did and the result will be in the next post.

Page 1 of 10 123456789 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •