Encid

It depends on the size that you want. All major hardware stores carry them, and will deliver as well. They are heavy, so if buying more than a couple forget using a pickup truck.

Our builder arranged it all.

It was magic! Not a phone in sight either... despite our freely available AIS wifi. Just lots of laughter, smiles, and conversations... an awesome day!

I called them "access steps" not a "staircase". You want to call them "landings" - up to you... in my mind they are still access steps. And you seem to have problems reading the drawing... every step (or landing as you call them) has a projected tread length of 600mm... take another look... the drafting is not poor, your eyesight is! Have another look... perhaps you are getting confused by the 10cm overhang (or nosing) on every tread? Can you find one tread (or step or landing) that has a length of 500mm? And using the term "ridiculously" is rather subjective rather than objective isn't it? Thank you for your input.

And this morning (17 March) the foundation concrete was poured.

A few days later and the boxing or formwork for the foundation cages is nearly complete. Rather than using plywood, our builder has opted to use cement cinder bricks, which he said was easier to work with and did not deform when the concrete gets poured. He doesn't bother trying to recover and re-use them.

And from the air...

Then the eating and drinking began...

A few more photos... We dropped about 2,200 baht into the footings (we know because we counted it the night before) and the locals would have dropped in a couple more hundred baht so it would have been quite a tidy sum. We knew that it would be collected before the concrete gets poured by the workers, as a form of compensation for them only being able to work half a day due to the party. That seems fair to me... it's the symbolism that matters.

The following day at 9 minutes past 9 am on the 9th day of March we held our house blessing ceremony. It was a surprising (and humbling) turnout by the village... over 100 people came to wish us good luck and to throw a few coins into the house footings before the concrete gets poured... a truly happy day for the entire family. We have been honoured...

I noticed that the electricity had been hooked up (more or less) to a pole just outside the shelter to provide power for tools and lighting etc. No sign of any cover though... and no sign of any earthing either, so I reminded our builder to make the site safe. Exposed copper wiring (and terminals) exposed to the open atmosphere gives me the heebie-jeebies... and I told him that we didn't want any of his people getting electrocuted and dying on our future home site... we had enough ghosts there already!

And on Wednesday 8 March this is how the site looked from the air...

In the meantime other workers were busy cutting and bending various rebar sections and tying them together with wire to form the reinforcement for the house columns.

So a couple of weeks later and a lot has happened. First the area around the piles was excavated for foundations and the tops of the piles cut off to allow for the foundation reinforcing steel to be fitted. A dumpy level was used to determine the height that the piles were to be cut, so they were all at the same level. Then a small concrete bed was poured around each pile. This is to ensure that all the foundation reinforcing is set at the same level.

I am currently seeking quotations from companies dealing in uPVC framed sliding windows and doors, and I agree with you... ARC is much easier to deal with than Deku, and they are quite happy to explain down to the tiniest detail what you want to know. I give them a big thumbsup

How long have you had it operational Will?

I just came back from staying with the in-laws in their house in a village in Isaan which has no filtration either, and all their pressurized water outlets (shower heads, bum guns, kitchen and bathroom taps etc.) were heavily scaled up. I took them all off, scraped as much scale as I could off them with a small screwdriver, then soaked them in a mix of white vinegar and baking soda... left them for a few hours then rinsed them clean before reinstalling them. The difference was remarkable, and they were all most impressed. I do intend to install a filter for them one day, then replace all their pressure outlets... the only thing I worry about is how badly the pipes are already scaled up... and will I have to replace that as well...

The Mex units are significantly cheaper than the Mazuma or Pentair products... see here for example. Look for a product that has an accompanying Salt Brine tank to regenerate the resin beads.

Option 2 would probably be the best location for a resin filter that would soften your water before filling your house storage tank. Your holding tanks (21 of them IIRC) also act like sediment filters so if it's only softening (removal of calcium) that you want to do, then you need a resin filter. If you want to remove other organic matter and chemicals then you might want to consider an activated charcoal filter too. It all really depends on your water test results. You can get automatic systems too, like this Mazuma product which are available at most hardware stores (Global House, Thaiwatsadu, Homepro etc.) But they are not cheap...

Ruben Van Beek from H2O Water Systems in Buriram should be able to advise you. I'm talking to him about a similar filtration system for our place... domestic usage only, NOT for drinking. Check out his FB page. /Edit - your water softener should only be on the discharge side of your house water supply pump, so it is working on demand and not softening ALL your well water.

I just checked the drawings and only a minor adjustment is required to the front access steps to the main house, and as previously mentioned, we will have a ramp from the carport to the Thai kitchen for every-day access. I might keep the 60cm tread length the same, and evenly adjust the riser height to bring them close to 10cm. One thing I am very conscious of is the importance of maintaining equal riser heights over the whole length of a stairway... how many times have you found stairways with different tread heights here in Thailand? I was planning on using the 10cm tread nosings to install LED strip lighting to make them easy to see in the dark... also to add some visual appeal.

Thanks for that... minimizing the hip and knee movement for elderly or muscular dystrophic people will be important for us in the coming decades. My wife's parents are not getting any younger, and with the onset of diabetes and heart conditions we want to make their lives as comfortable as possible. I will incorporate that design into the Guest House access steps and also provide a suitable handrail for support, as they will be living there once we have built and fitted out our Main House.

The table below is from the Australian Standard AS-1657 - Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways, and ladders - Design, construction, and installation, which is not so different from the UK version.

That is just being pedantic and deflective... the point I was trying to make (which you seem intent on derailing) is in support of @TigerandDog's comment where he said "Also make sure that after rendering and BEFORE painting that the builder applies a protective plastic skin" to the wall blocks, regardless of type ie. an acrylic based primer before the topcoat(s) (of paint)... a viewpoint well supported by the website I referenced.