Encid

There is no harm in fertilizing it now... it will just break down into the soil. The grass will start to grow again soon... as soon as this cold spell is finished and night time temperatures climb. The plants tend to go into a dormant phase when the temperature drops below 20 degrees at night. We buy our chicken poo in pellet form in large bags at Global House. Just 1 handful per plant is sufficient to last 30 days before the next application. 6 months of good feeding and watering will ensure that you have good healthy plants that will then be pretty self-sufficient with strong deep roots.

Thanks to that tip... I will check it out next time we visit the farm. I just got back so the next trip is likely to be another week or two away.

Perhaps I should be more clear... the pipeline was first flushed with new bore water into the pond while we emptied the water tank. We then filled the tank with new bore water and let it overflow for 5 minutes before taking the sample. We tried to avoid any possibility of sampling "old" water.

If you go back to April 10 2022 in this topic you will see. We found plenty of good clear water at only 27 metres depth, but we went down a few metres more just for good measure. A 750 watt submersible pump was installed, along with PV solar panels, and a 180 metre long pipeline was run to the pond behind our building site. The piping is 1 1/2" PVC at the pump, then 65mm LDPE overland in a trench. Control cables were attached to the pipeline and a switch in a weatherproof housing installed on the power pole at the corner of the pond. This enables us to turn on the solar powered pump at the pole instead of walking across to the panels/pump. In mid-May 2022 there was a COVID-19 outbreak in the village and our in-laws decided to isolated themselves from the village and live on the farm, so we added a bypass line and a couple of isolation valves to the LDPE pipeline so we could divert the bore water to a new 2000L water storage tank, installed a water pump, and ran some basic PVC piping and valves so the family could use the water for bathing and cleaning. We also built a basic toilet. When the water tank was full, the overflow pipe directed the excess water to the pond until someone turned off the switch to stop the submersible pump and change the valves back to fill the pond. So the bore has been complete and operational for 9 months now. The sample collection technique was simply to run the submersible pump for as long as it took to fill the water tank, then wait about 5 minutes, then collect the samples from the overflow pipe. The sample bottles were new, just-emptied 1.5L mineral water bottles bought from the local Lotus's - 3 in total.

A week later and the workers returned to hang the cables. One of the holes in one pole had become a home for some local wasps so they needed to be encouraged to leave before the cables could be attached. I'm told that several people got stung! It was a long day and as they had driven some 80km to our farm for the job they decided to finish it in the dark rather than come back the following day. Anyway, power has been finally restored.

We drilled our well at the end of the dry season (early April 2022) and found plenty of good clear water at only 27 metres depth, but we went down a few metres more just for good measure. It hadn't rained for months so we wanted to be sure that we got down to the water table. Location: near Phon in Isaan. We then installed a 750 watt submersible pump along with some PV solar panels, and a 180 metre long 65mm LDPE pipeline to the pond on our building site. The piping is 1 1/2" PVC at the pump, then 65mm HDPE overland in a trench. Control cables were attached to the pipeline and a switch in a weatherproof housing installed on the power pole at the corner of our pond so we can turn on the solar powered pump at the pole instead of walking across to the panels/pump. Total installed cost was just over 60,000 baht.

I just received a LINE message from TestTech... our water analysis report is available. I just paid via Internet banking (just over 6K baht) and received the report. Here it is... It would appear from the date on the report and the dates on the signatures that the report has been sitting in TestTech's sausage machine for a while before finally grinding it out today...

To be honest I don't know the wattage rating of the panels... it came as a set together with the pump and control cables. I do know that the pump is rated at 750 watt, and it pumps water overland about 180 metres to our pond via a 65mm LDPE pipeline. I will check the panels wattage next time I visit the farm.

Currently no. But if safety fences became compulsory for home pools in the future, it wouldn't be too difficult to add one with a child-proof gate. Here is our pool at our current house in Najomtien... as you can see it's a great entertaining area.

Thanks for that tip. I found their web page and it certainly does look like they would be able to do the testing. I will add a visit to them to the agenda for our next visit to the farm. I'd be interested in what kind of filtration they would recommend one we get our analysis report back.

I expect ours to be similar. We delivered some samples to TestTech in Bangkok but we are waiting on the analysis results. The samples were taken at about 9am (when there was enough sunlight to power up the pump) and delivered to them at about 4:30pm the same day. We were told that to correctly determine the bacterial levels in the water the tests had to be performed within 24 hours of the samples being taken. What a horrendous drive that was... so much mayhem on the roads around Bangkok due to never-ending roadworks. And of course, the lab had to be on the West side of the city over the river, not the East side which would have been much closer to our home. I have heard that there is a water testing lab somewhere in Khon Kaen, but have not been able to find it. If anyone knows where it is or has their contact details I would much appreciate it.

Already drilled the bore, sank the submersible pump (solar powered), but no filters yet. https://assets.aseannow.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2022_04/20220406_160758.mp4.a24a9748adc530fcf7dc5bdbf8289ebb.mp4

We are building in Isaan... growing grass there is not a problem. See the photo below. The local couch grass grows incredibly quickly so I am not planning to introduce a non-native grass variety that may or may not survive and need long hours of maintenance. Watering the grassed areas and future garden will initially be by movable sprinkler connected to a hose, until our more permanent garden and fruit trees are established. We plan on having many different gardens... herbs, salads, vegetables, fruits etc... but it is way too early to plan irrigation piping now.

If you mean Amphur Kuchinarai in the Province of Kalasin our farm location is about a 3 hour drive away. With the Main House facing East and the elevated roofline over the living/dining area the pool should be fully shaded by mid-to late afternoon in the hot season, so the water temperature should be comfortable, and we won't be in the sun at the shallow end. If it is too hot on the decking and we need some more shading in the future we can always extend the SCI wood slat roof towards the pool some more. Icy cold beers in the pool on a hot afternoon is definitely on the agenda.

That is a very good point... using fans to push the insects away and using lighting to attract them somewhere else. We current do have a small external deck on the Main House facing West that we were thinking of extending later on... towards the pond, and perhaps building a sala that overhangs the pond. Those sunset bubbles ideas have not completely been quashed yet.

That is a very good idea, however I think I need to be careful about making it too long as it would extend into the access roadway to the farm, which is probably better kept straight. Already planned... 1m deep at the shallow end, and 1.6m deep at the deep end. This is exactly what we currently have in our house in Najomtien and we love it. The depths are also great for water-based aerobic activity for both my wife and myself. I haven't considered any water features yet, apart from the overflow aspect and the infinity edges... maybe something to think about. Now I know you are taking the pi55...

An earlier version of our house did comprise 2 levels and some big railed verandas on the rooftop... we were even planning on installing a jacuzzi on the West facing veranda so we could enjoy a glass of bubbly in the hot tub at sunset in total privacy. ???? However the reality is that being out in a rural environment where there are no street lights or other houses for at least 2km in any direction, if you turn on a light after dark every insect within a 1km radius is attracted so outdoor living after dark is impractical.

Would you believe that I have not used CAD for over 30 years now... I had to go back and re-learn the basics... 555 I do have an engineering background, so the concepts of spatial surrounds, access, functionality etc. are not unfamiliar to me. So I located a version of AutoCAD that was compatible with my aging computer, and started using layers and colours to set out the house(s) design on a grid line that was compatible with most Thai building practices. I wanted to use CAD to get something that was 90% what we wanted... not be offered a menu of pre-designed houses that would hold little appeal. Don't forget... most Thai designed houses might look big, but in reality they have tiny bathrooms, and the images they present are simply not to scale. For example the size of the furniture shown in living rooms is probably only big enough for 2 adults plus a cat... not a whole family! And the cars shown in the carport are likely to be smaller than a Good Cat... even though they look like a Benz! Once you check out the design in real units of measurement using CAD, you can see very quickly the "architectural license" that has been applied to make the house plans look good.

Yes, but I'd like to keep that discussion to a detailed topic (yet to start) in the Alternative Energy Forum, which I have been following with great interest for a while now. For the moment, I am planning to have the 4 strings of 10 PV panels each connected in parallel to 4 x 5kW inverters supplying domestic 220vAC power and also a 27kWh ESS. For the purposes of this topic I just wanted to demonstrate that we have plenty of space to position and maintain PV panels.

We plan on using SCI Wood for all external decking... Link It is tough and durable, non-slip, UV resistant, termite proof, non-flammable, easy to clean, and (we think) more beautiful than tiles.

I have just OK'd the 3D views and the general shape(s) of the structures and paid the progress payment for him to start working on the detailed construction drawings and BOQ which will serve for local authorities building planning approval, as well as enable us to go out for bidding by building contractors. Most of his plans are modern, flat roofed, houses... and he has had them built all over Thailand... from Phuket in the South to Udon Thani in the NE to Chiang Mai in the North. He has a good reputation. I will ask him what his waterproofing plans are (and let you know of course).

We have access to an additional 17-19 rai if we want...

And of course I have worked up a plan for locating PV solar panels on the roof of the Main House. I was thinking about installing 40 x 540W panels as per the sketch below. Panels 1-10 and panels 27-36 facing South (total 20 panels. Panels 11-14, 21-26, and 37-40 facing East (total 14 panels). Panels 15-20 facing West (total 6 panels). This would preserve the appearance of the house (which faces East) and enable us to extend the working collection day of the panels by collecting more solar energy earlier in the day from the East facing panels, and again later in the day from the West facing panels, and also avoiding the midday peak in production that is associated with panels that all face South. Future additional panels could be mounted on top of the carport if required. I will be most interested in feedback from members who have their own solar installations on this proposed arrangement.

Yes you are correct... the normal point of entry after parking the car would be via the ramp and the Thai kitchen... all under cover so no sun and no rain. And that is acceptable to us rather than adding a new door into the western kitchen and steps down (approx 80cm). The large sliding doors at the front of the living/dining area would normally only be used by visitors, or when moving large items of furniture or appliances into (or out of) the building (same with the sliding doors on the bedroom wings). Of course, all the sliding doors and windows will be used when we want to freshen the place up with fresh air.

The architect also showed the relationship of both the Guest House and the Main House on the proposed building site: As you can see it's a large area, and the houses will be spaced far enough apart to provide us all with our own privacy, but close enough for family communication and interaction. The access road I have allowed for is currently 4m wide, which is more than adequate for private vehicular access and turning, as well as for agricultural equipment that will need access to the farm.