Encid

As you can see from the photos FIL has laid a few branches down but that isn't going to cut it. It needs planting out the entire slope plus maybe a metre on top as well. The locals know what to plant (after I showed them a few photos from a Google search of Thai hedges) but we are going to wait until after the new fill has been completed.

We have decided to proceed with adding another metre of fill the the land. A local from the same village as my FIL had noticed the new land fill and had asked if we thought it was high enough (he obviously thought not!). This local had a friend who was in the earth moving business and said he would give us a good rate. So we arranged for a time when we could all meet together and look at the land. This new guy was very amenable and understanding of my discussions with him, and gave us a quotation of 180 baht per truck which we were all very happy with. The land will come from my FIL's and his sister's farms so not far to travel. I measured the area to be filled and it comes to about 2070 sq.m. As each truck's capacity is about 8 cubic metres, I reckon it will take about 260 truck loads to get to the required level. To establish the datum for the new level I sprayed some pink paint on one of the fence posts so the contractor can check his progress. This time my BIL (wife's brother) will be the on-site owner's representative... he is not as grieng jai as his father and will make sure things go to plan. The work starts in a few days time.

I'm just back from another visit up-country. The farm has seen some heavy rain over the past week or so, and there is visible subsidence of the land fill. In localised areas there has even been some sinkage.

A little practical demonstration never hurts lol. We were living (renting) in Bangkok many years ago and her SIL was our maid. There was always a severe problem with drainage in the area with flooding and huge rats would come out of the storm drains whenever it rained. One day (closer to a week actually) a council truck turned up, blocked off the road at both ends, took off all the storm water drain covers, and sucked out all the gunk inside. Some workers even had to climb down into the drains and shovel the gunk out manually. The smell was horrendous! My SIL asked one of the workers where all the gunk came from and he explained that the majority was from food vendors who poured their used cooking oils down the drains. I'm sure that the practice still continues in Bangkok, but it was a valuable lesson for my wife and her SIL.

I have heard that anything "non-standard" can be scrutinized for a long time and that approval can be difficult. Apparently there are 3 government agencies related to laws and regulations for on-site treatment facilities... 1) the Ministry of Interior (MOI), 2) the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), and 3) the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).

Actually I have trained my wife and her SIL not to do that too. The used cooking oil (Thai's just love to fry everything except som tum hey?) goes into empty cooking oil containers and they are disposed of with the garbage. Not sure how we're going to dispose of stuff like that when we're up-country though... I would not have thought that the minimal amount of residual grease or oil on frypans, cooking utensils, plates etc. and detergents would be significant enough to contaminate the grey water tank so much that it would be detrimental to plants.

Is that why Thaiwatsadu sells grease traps for? See here.

TCL make a portable 3in1 system that comprises of a fan, air conditioner, and de-humidifier with 8000 BTU cooling capacity. See more here. Thaiwatsadu have a similar TCL 9000 BTU unit for sale for about 7000 THB. See here. One thing to consider is that the hot air needs to be vented to an open window. The condensed water it generates is automatically cascaded back onto the condenser and dissipated via evaporation. If excess water condensation is generated, the appliance will turn itself off and a warning will indicate that it needs to be manually drained. I'm thinking about getting one for myself.

Do any of you use your grey water on your gardens or lawns? With reference to the data in the information from Mahidol University above, the BOD loadings (organic wastewater biological treatment method is characterized in total volumetric BOD loadings) from the kitchen and washing machine are very high, probably due to the amount of detergents used, and is probably not suitable for use on gardens and lawns. But the grey water from bathrooms (and I'm also thinking of collecting the water from the air conditioning condensers) should be OK. Any thoughts?

The reasons for installing both a grey water tank and a soakaway are several. Firstly, our current home was built approximately 15 years ago now, and the moobaan was developed from a previous rice farm. It was filled (approx 500 mm only) compacted, left for a few years, then the developer subdivided the block and planned and built 50 odd houses. We first learned about the water table under the land when we constructed our swimming pool... the hole was about 2 metres deep and it kept filling up by a couple of hundred mm every night. The pool fabricator had quite a task to keep the hole drained until he had the concrete base and sides of the pool poured. And it was the cool dry season when it was built. Anyway, back to septic systems... Because the water table was so high in our area, the grey water ring tank never emptied... the level inside was always about 1 metre below grade level. And as septic systems operate, the overflow from the septic tank flows into the grey water tank which is supposed to allow the water to dissipate into the surrounding soil. But they do not work if you have a high water table and heavy rains for several days. Under those conditions the grey water overflows... onto your garden or wherever it can flow. Consequently we have to empty our septic tank and grey water tank about twice a year. Not much else we can do about it... unless anyone here has some suggestions? The new house we are planning on building is up-country... on a filled parcel of land that is currently being used for rice farming. Finished surface level of the land will be about 500mm above the highest recorded flood level, and the house will be constructed 1 metre above that. It will have 4 bathrooms... 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs. So I am thinking of having 2 septic systems... 1 at each end of the house. I did a little research, and discovered the following information: As you can see (and probably expected), most of the wastewater is grey water... but what I found surprising was the volume. No wonder our current grey water tank is nearly full all the time... one tank is simply not enough for that volume of water. So our new design has both a grey water tank and a soakaway for each septic system... and I am thinking of having a dedicated grey water tank and soakaway just for wastewater from the kitchen(s) and washing machine. Any comments?

This is the type of system I am considering installing: (the photo was copied from a previous topic now archived) This is a schematic of the proposed system:

I was searching the forum for information on septic systems, and the only topic I could find (which did have some good information in it) had been archived so I am unable to reply in it. I am curious how you guys have set up your septic systems for both black water and grey water. Any feedback would be most appreciated. And just for laughs, if you are going to get an off-the-shelf septic tank, make sure it has features like this one!

You could always make a larger hole for the drainage pit and pack it with sand. That way the clay can expand and contract without affecting your pit. How were you planning to drain your pit? I am imagining a line of pits along the length of your retaining wall, all connected by 2" HDPE pipe, with the final (or lowest) pit draining into another drain or klong or something? I say HDPE pipe because you can bury it in the reactive clay (although a sand filled trench would be better) and it won't crack or break like PVC.

Pre-cast concrete pits and covers are usually available at most hardware stores. I found these on the onestockhome.com website here.

They do work as a static vent but they work so much better with wind assistance. Soffit vents (or air intakes) are just as important to facilitate extraction. The following video provides a good demonstration.

If it's too late to put insulation under the tiles then perhaps lay this over the top of the ceiling insulation batts? The roof cavity would definitely need to be ventilated and a whirly-bird (or two) could be fitted. Rodent/bird proof vents would provide air intakes so the whirly=bird(s) can extract the hot air.

I see ceiling insulation not so much as a feature to keep the heat out, as the reflective sheets under the roof do a much better job. I see ceiling insulation as feature to keep your cooler air-conditioned air from escaping into the roof cavity.

I too am going to be building a rice farm shack as you call it Jeff. Here is my plan for the local builder to fabricate from. No need for an architect or draftsman. Nothing fancy... just 20cm sq columns in a 5m x 4m pattern. 20x20x600 Q-CON block walls. Electrical conduits will be surface mounted. The circles you see outside the structure represent a water storage tank and underground grey water and sewer tanks. We are planning to live in it whilst our main house is being built. After our house is built it will revert to a rice storage area and a rest retreat for the farm workers. And, back on-topic, I used AutoSketch software.

Q-CON do make lintels in various sizes now... perhaps they weren't available when sometimewoodworker built his house?

That looks to me to be pouring a concrete lintel, typically under and over a window frame and over doors.

This is typical for architectural drawing produced all over the world, not just in Thailand. All the structural columns (or vertical support posts or uprights) are identified in one plane alphabetically (A, B, C...) and in the other plane numerically (1, 2, 3...). Therefore each individual column can be identified (B2, C4 etc.). All minor setout dimensions reference the main column spacing dimensions. The SketchUp drawing produced by bluejets has the columns spaced at irregular dimensions and would give your typical Thai builder some head-scratching moments lol. Better to stick to regular dimensions.

You could give them ratings perhaps? On a scale of 1 star to 5 stars. That way you don't have to be too specific and incur the potential wrath of the defamation police.

1m is the current height of the rice fields bund walls. During flood conditions the water can rise over (just) the top of those walls. Our plan is for the filled land area to be at least 500mm above the highest recorded flood level (hence the 1.5m high fill), and our house ground floor level will be 1m higher than that. Our land is just outside Phon, about an hour's drive south of Khon Kaen. Technically it is in Korat, but Khon Kaen is closer. Yes the price is dependent on the distance that the trucks have to travel. In our case it was our next door neighbour's land so not far at all, therefore the 280 baht per truck load. We also had the option to use "sticky land" or topsoil. I would have preferred to get the first metre filled (and rolled) with clay and the last 500mm filled with topsoil. Clay has better load bearing characteristics than topsoil. However as it turned out, all our fill ended up being topsoil. That is an excellent idea. Thank you! That is also a good idea. Any recommendations for what types of plants would make a good hedge?

So @Crossy, what do you think/recommend?