SenorTashi

Why does it have to be on stilts and how would you do that? I've always like stilt houses and wouldn't mind building with wooden stilts but if wood's out of the question, then it would have to be concrete, which is what I'm trying to avoid doing actually. I had a look through that link I posted and they've built adobe houses in a few countries which get heavy rains. That was my first thought with building a clay house too. Clay is water resistant but it would need constant repairs i think. I built some stone walls in France using clay instead of mortar and it either dries up or it washes out. Those sack houses get covered in some kind of mortar though which would make it waterproof. Maybe add a bit of lime to stop it cracking?

They were doing that in one of my hotel rooms. I sprayed bug spray into the hole a couple of times but it didn't deter them

Vous etes francais? Yeah I've seen the damage they do. Termites seem a bit mad to me. We're moving into a concrete structure very soon and the termites have been living all over it. Makes me wonder why

I see. I've got a lot going on at the moment but I need to get some plants growing asap. Do you give them any protection from bugs outdoors? I've seen thrips and various other beasties on plants here. I was thinking a net around them with possibly a fan on steamy windless days. Did you mean a grow tent indoors with 16-18 hours light?

Are they sativa dominant? Did you use lights?

Just found one myself in two seconds https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe

Do you have any links or pics you could share? I'm probably moving out to the land very soon and just trying to make the most of being online with my laptop right now.

Green bus refused to take my city bike to Chaing Mai recently saying it was too big.

I'm thinking of building a bungalow structure, which won't weigh much. I also read that there's a layer of clay under the soil near Chiang Rai. So presumably I could lay a concrete slab right on top of the clay? The land has already been raised and there are trenches dug. Do we think this would work?

The problem is one that I've just realised for myself. I just bought two small clones which i was thinking about planting out, then my friend reminded me that it's 12/12 sunlight here so the plants will start flowering as soon as they're mature enough, which will give a very low yield.

They're not money rich but they do own a lot of stuff and they recycle and use almost everything from what I can see. Which is right up my street really.

They don't use rebar with bricks do they. Or do they? I just thought that somebody in the family has built a small house with clay and that's something else I was experimenting with in France. It's what's held the pyramids up for so long apparently.

Good to know. It's miles from anywhere and from what I was told, they have permission to build there. They already have a substantial building there, so they must know a bit about it.

A quick shower thought to add to that; are there any good wood treatments which keep the termites out? Even though I had a hell of a lot of beasties to deal with in France, the bugs are on a different level here.

I just spent a couple of hours reading threads here. So I made an account to discuss some things. I've built a log cabin in France, which I lived in for 5 years. I also built a few other cabins, which cost next to nothing. Two of them were made from recovered doors and windows. I lived in all of them rent free for years. I had solar heated water, solar panels for power and filtered spring water to drink. I did all that mainly because I wanted to see how easy it would be and I learned quite a few lessons from it all. My future wife has a beautiful piece of land near Chiang Rai, which we're allowed to build on. Her dad dug trenches all over it years ago and the locals said he was mad apparently, but having read the threads here it seems like he did the right thing. I've been to visit the land twice during all this flooding and the land has been mostly dry. I'm not that keen on building a conventional house with concrete, mainly because I don't enjoy working with those materials. I wouldn't mind a concrete slab on the ground to start with but I don't know whether I need to dig down to clay or to put it on stilts. I keep asking her dad what he did when he built his concrete buildings but he doesn't answer. I built my log cabin by digging down to the clay, then laid some large flat stones on top of that, then put the first layer of logs on them. I've considered building with bamboo but after a load of research that seems like a load of hassle. So I'm wondering what other inexpensive, natural options there are. I'm thinking of doing a longish bungalow, which will be shaded from the sun by the mature trees. I know bricklaying, basic plumbing and electrics and I used to be a roofer so none of that bothers me but I just don't want to spend a fortune on materials and would like to find a compromise which she'll like and I'll enjoy doing. Also, do we need planning permission and an architect of can I just get on with it? Any thoughts are welcome.