Extending our Existing Terrace and Balcony
Hi, We are Neil and Meechai and this is our first posting here. We met each other in December 2001 and have lived together ever since in a very nice house in the city center of Amsterdam in Holland.
Chonburi - Thailand Chonburi was the birthplace of Meechai and the place that we decided to build our second house in Thailand. Our new house is on the outskirts of the city of Chonburi and only a few kilometres from his Mums house in the city centre.
Amsterdam - Holland Where we both live and work most of the year, although we have just suffered a very cold and snowy winter, which makes Neil think he would rather be in our house in Chonburi than our apartment in Amsterdam. Meechai is manager of a large jewellry and accessories store on the prestigious Rokin in the centre of Amsterdam, and Neil is Rayon Manager for a large shop concern with 16 top locations throughout the centre of Amsterdam. Our house in Amsterdam in in the very centre of the city, on the third and fourth floors of an old Dutch house just opposite the royal palace and for both of us within walking distance of our work.
I don't understand where the "Pattaya" comes from under our name? Never even been there! ... Can anyone help how I can change this? .. Thanks in advance.
This could (Possibly?) be a picture !!
That is what Forums are all about I suppose ...
It took a while, but with everyone's help I seem to be "getting there"! Now I hope that I can begin with the content. Anyway, the previous picture is our house.
Now a bit of background info ...
Chonburi - Thailand was the birthplace of Meechai and the place that we decided to build our house in Thailand. Our new house is on the outskirts of the city of Chonburi and only a few kilometres from his Mums house in the city centre.
Amsterdam - Holland Where we both live and work most of the year, although we have just suffered a very cold and snowy winter, which makes Neil think he would rather be in our house in Chonburi than our apartment in Amsterdam. Meechai is manager of a large jewellry and accessories store on the prestigious Rokin in the centre of Amsterdam, and Neil is Rayon Manager for a large shop concern with 16 top locations throughout the centre of Amsterdam. Our house in Amsterdam in in the very centre of the city, on the third and fourth floors of an old Dutch house just opposite the royal palace and for both of us within walking distance of our work.
Our house is the "Last House in the Village"
We decided to choose the "Last House in the Village" for a very special reason. Firstly we would have no traffic passing our house, although there are very few cars most of the day after everyone leaves for work.
Our house is also one of the few free standing houses with no neighbours opposite.
Shade and Sunshine and the Solution
Two important things we needed were a large shaded area for Meechai to relax in and listen to his music as he doesn't like too much sunshine (Typical Thai!), and just the opposite for Neil who loves to be able relax in the sun (Typical European!).
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...thumb_0193.jpg
The Solution
The solution was to extend our first floor balcony which would give us a large semi private sun trap and at the same time the new balcony would provide us with lots of extra shade on the ground floor with a huge extension to our existing front porch.
Our Existing First Floor Balcony
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...2007_-_223.jpg
Although it was very nice for our new house to have a balcony with double sliding doors leading off our master bedroom we very soon realized that it was just too small to lay and relax on, measuring only 3.25m x 1.30m.
The Planned Extension
Our new extension will extend the original balcony with an extra 4.75m and at the same time transform our original front porch into a beautiful terrace large enough for the whole family to enjoy dinner in the cool of the early evening.
We chatted with the neighbours before we started.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DrAndy
I suppose that being at the front of the house is no problem as you are the "last house in the village"
True, but we also didn't want to block anyone's view or build something that altered the whole flow of what is a very beautiful village. Although our nearest neighbour did at one time think we were building another floor on the front of the house! .... and when they saw the foundations being sunk they thought it was some kind of skyscraper that we were building!
First we had to dig up a lot of the initial planting that had just started to find it's roots
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_CIMG0824.JPG
The big dig started on June 29th 2009
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...terrace_16.jpgAt the moment we are not at our house all the year round but we are very lucky that Meechai's familly are close by. His sister Lek and her husband Kob are in the house many times a week and look after the general upkeep when we are not there. Also his brother Yut and his wife Ough with their son (and our nephew) "Anfield" who is only 2 years visit the house most days.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...terrace_20.jpgThe big dig started on June 29th 2009 and we were very peased to receive these photo's virtually every day, which kept us up-to-date with everything.
If anyone has any questions on any part of the build (or anything else!) I am at my PC most days and would love to hear from you.
They came across a huge rock
