excaliber

HI I WOULD LIKE TO BILD A 2 BEDROOM BUNGALOW FOR MY SON AND GIRLFRIEND IN KORAT, HER MUM HAS ALREADY GIVEN US THE LAND SO WE SAVE MONEY THERE, DO YOU THINK WE COULD BUILD THIS FOR 500 THOUSAND BAHT, I DONT WANT A/C JUST FANS, SMALL BATHROOM ROOM WITH SHOWER (NOT BATHTUB) AND NO NEED FOR CARPORT

CHEERS

JASON

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Do you have plans already? Although your house is small it would be advantageous to have detailed plans in Thai so the contractor and/or workers have a good understanding as well as eliminating a lot of confusion.

If you're outside of the city you probably won't need to run the plans through the government although if you are in or near the city you will need drawings signed by a Thai Engineer & Architect. (some may argue this and sometimes you can get by without them).

Building a small house using red brick has better insulting qualities compared to concrete block. Try not to use tin roof (songkasie) or corrugated panels of cement/asbestos as they don't keep the heat out; instead, if your budget allows use clay or concrete roof tiles, with clay you shouldn't need any insulation in the roof. Make sure to have at least two airways above the ceiling to allow air to pass through the roof area (above the ceiling). these are generally made of wood and can be purchased at most construction material shops.

As mentioned in an earlier reply to your post: most Thai contractor's/workers don't install P-traps under the sinks or shower drains. These are necessary if you don't want the smell/insects from the septic/grey water tanks coming back up through the pipes.

If you need drawings or other input that you can't find in this forum just pm me or post it.

good luck....

Hello everyone,

Fact is that your building plans without concrete beams will not be approved by the piyu-baan (head-village).

And, of course, all village pu yi baan's have advanced civil engineering degrees!

The biggest problem with most, if not all, construction here in Thailand is Cracks! Everything that I have read about masonry and concrete is to use only water that is 'drinkable'. How many farlang's drink the tap water over here? But Thai's do so I guess that qualifies the water as drinkable. What is my point? The water that is mixed with the cement is the basic problem. Of course, I am also aware that Thai construction workers, with their vast knowledge, use too much water at times, they never measure the amount of water, sand, cement. It is 'eyeballed' - Humm!

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Boy, this thread sure brings back memories!!!! I am a licensed professional engineer and water does not have to be drinkable to be used in making concrete. You can actually use sea water to make concrete if you know what you're doing. The thing is that if the water is drinkable then for sure it is good enough. I think that the water is usually not the problem in concrete mixing in Thailand....of course I haven't watched every batch being made so I can't be sure...hahahhahaha.....the problems you will see is TOO MUCH WATER IN THE MIX always alway alway too much. Other problems might include poor quality of aggregate or poor mix of aggregate (aggregate means sand and gravel)....also poor placement..many Thais will use a concrete vibrator and no one has ever taught them how to do it...concrete will be trucked in wheel borrow for long distances and then not remixed.....the list goes on and on.....but....somehow they seem to make it work...usually. Actually, if you're interested (hahahahahahahahaha) the way they make it work is that they use alot of compression steel which isn't even needed in the US where you can get consistently superior quality concrete just about anywhere.

Your posting style reminds me of someone but I just can't quite figure out who.

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I'm not sure who posted the above statement, "Licensed Professional Engineer", but I would like to ask you: how to make a proper concrete mix using sea water?

You said "If you know what you're doing". Could you enlighten us a bit, thanks.

This reminds me of the people in the US who suggested that a way to solve the "black problem" was to send them all back to Africa!!!!!

I don't remember that (send blacks back to Africa?) but I do remember in the sixties when forced busing was innacted forcing white kids to attend black dominated schools and blacks forced to attend white dominated schools. .....of course this didn't work and was soon dropped without any further action, i.e., until the riots in east Los Angeles broke out...

When I first read the original posting from the newspaper article my first thought was, relocation? as in Hitler's relocation camps. When I told my wife and family about the original newspaper article they all laughed and said it could never happen.