canopy

I have been disappointed with the quality of tools offered throughout Thailand. Local hardware stores sell junk and HomePro is considered a cut above, but take for instance they trumpet their wimpy 8" Bosch circular saw with the word professional painted on it as the top of the line that has no worm drive, no electric brake, no handle bar, no nothing (sigh). This thread is not about circular saws but that is just an example as I could go on and on about how inadequate the high end offering is throughout virtually every product offering. Is there somewhere that sticks out as selling good quality power and hand tools in BKK?

I also have one of these using GPRS and have had similar problems day after day, month after month. The speed is normal at times and at other times drops to being worthless. I also find it frustrating to be billed by the hour when I am so called connected yet unable to load a simple web page. Because the speed issues tend to hit at peak times of the day and repeat I feel confident in saying the signal and hardware are just fine, but the AIS infrastructure and servers are inadequate. Even though I see this problem every single day, I have been unsuccessful in getting their support to acknowledge this problem exists. So at the end of the package it's going into the bin.

Too few people ask this question. Short answer: no matter what material you choose, the best two things for a cool house are shade and encourage breeze.

I find generally thai houses to be masonary ovens. They soak up the heat by day and reflect this heat right into the house. Even as the outside cools the inside is still radiating this stored heat for hours on end.

If you don't have perfect shade, then the key thing is to choose a material that does not act like a thermal mass that will absorb heat. Concrete and brick are the absolute worst thermal resistance building choices possible and create a terrible thermal mass. You can't do worse than choosing these from a cooling standpoint. See below table:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)

Orientation plays a crucial role. The west side gets hot sun at the end of the day. The south side gets hot sun throughout the day unless the roof overhang is such that it can be sufficiently shielded. Don't put a large wall area broadside into the sun. Remember shade, and if not provide a high r-value wall system.

Does HomePro have a quality LED lighting available? Are there other places that do?

Good work, much higher specification than usually seen in Thailand. It has sufficient pitch for solid rain protection and the thatch density triple what Thai's would use which should greatly improve longevity. Also like the long overhangs for protection. Very well thought out.

What are those "sky lights" about?

Can you post close ups of the joinery? Most interested in seeing the joint used to connect the plates (beams parallel to the roof) to the posts.

Well if you did want to be autonomous here in LOS regardless of it's cost effectiveness who would you source?

Thaimart has solar solutions on display. I like the fact the panels are much more powerful than what leonics offers and thus would need quite fewer of them, but their systems are much pricier than even leonics.

I have been unable to find a suitable source for off grid solar electricity in Thailand. The weaknesses in with current offerengs are: price, battery longevity, and footprint. To have a modest house with just the essential lights, TV, computer, refigerator, and a few other things can go over 10kWh per day. Due to that and the weakining battery issues it would be more comfortable to get a 20KWh system to have some margin built in the system rather than endlessly fighting insufficient power supply issues. A system for such modest needs is a few million baht and prices seem to be going up, not down and there is no way such a system can ever pay for itself.

The leonics offerings are fairly outdated. They have been pitching the same systems a decade or so and weren't state of the art to begin with and this is in an area that has seen great advances lately. Their panels generate very little electricity. If you put the panels end to end, a modest unairconditioned house would need so many that they would extend all the way across a football field. They also have been raising the price in contrast to the cost of solar in other countries. Still, they are cheaper than other offerings in Thailand.

The biggest problem I see being off grid are the batteries sold in Thailand are designed to last just 1-3 years and this includes leonics. So for maybe a year you get sufficient electricity and then slowly the noose tightens as they get weaker and weaker and you have to start sacrificing your already constrained lifestyle until you can't take it anymore. It is not like batteries are cheap either. A modest house might need to toss a half million baht out the window every few years to keep running.

As far as I can see, there is just no way off grid systems in Thailand can possibly be cheaper or greener than getting power poles put in, no matter how far away you are. It's a very sad state of affairs since solar offers so much more in other countries, and at lower costs.

I have an AIS 3G air card that plugs into a USB port that I use in Phetchabun where there is no land line. The reliability is spotty. Sometimes it gets GPRS speed which would be ok with me and that's what I thought I would get. But the problem is frequently each day it gets little or no speed at all; web pages simply time out waiting to connect (both domestic and international), pop3 does not work, just no data comes in at all. 7:30pm can about guarantee there won't be any possibility of loading a simple web page. So it seems the signal is fine, but the AIS infrastructure is inadequate. Having this consistent experience every month I can only conclude AIS will do nothing about it as I have contacted them numerous times and all they do is run all sorts of diagnostic tests but never fix anything. So I am giving up on AIS.

I am wondering if I can use the CAT device mentioned here and if they might be found somewhere outside Bangkok?

A Thai person will directly lose a substantial income due to a foreigner doing the work himself. If this isn't a clearcut case of where a work permit must be obtained, then what is? I do not agree with the law nor being forced to get ripped off like this case, but there is no denying the cold hard facts.

If Phetchabun is any indication, the phenomenon extends well into the villages and working classes. It would be rare to go to Tesco and not run acrosss a tom or two. They seem more common than katoeys. Picking out tom's is not trivial so there may be more than it seems. Some are easy with the hair being a tell tale sign, others are more subtle.

Google Sketchup! Google has hit another home run with this software. It's free and 3D with excellent ease of use. The video tutorials are great to learn the ropes.

I don't know the correct term for the bamboo fasteners so can't point you to an image. But if you have ever seen a sticky rice basket, that's what you want. Thin strips of bamboo. Just about any rural Thai should be able to show you how to make these strips as they are used for many, many purposes. The process is like this and can be done with just a machete:

1. get a desired length of bamboo with no culm that is still green

2. split it half over and over until you have about a half centimeter piece

3. strip off the inner and outer surface

4. continue splitting in half again until you have thin pieces. The right thickness is what you see in the rice baskets. Too thin can be too weak, too thick can be too inflexible. Now you have the straps.

5. fasten by grasping the ends with thumb and finger, twisting, then tuck the end. This takes some trial and error to learn how to crank it good and tight with a circular twisting motion.

If the straps should dry before use, wet them to make them flexible.

Bamboo joinery is different from normal wood. Nails should not be used as they will split bamboo. Bamboo pegs are useful, but the holes should be pre-drilled. Look also at the birds mouth joint.

Teak is a decorative furniture wood. It is not used for framing studs

Thailand as well as SE Asia in general have a rich history in homes built of teak. I have seen houses where teak is about the only material used from floor to roof and of course framing studs too.

Just curious, why not use bamboo straps to tie the joints? I've built several 100% bamboo structures and find them to be durable, attractive, readily available, and free. No real drawbacks, just need a few minutes to learn how to make them. The strapping you are looking at appear to rely on a few threads of steel which could rust away quickly.

Or better still CPVC as used in western hot water installations.

PVC is not suitable for solar. The reason is that PVC breaks down when exposed to sunlight. This process leaches toxins into the water. You don't want to take showers in poison. In the US it is a code violation for PVC to be exposed to sun. Also note if you want a sound design that even CPVC cannot take the temperatures you get with solar. There are other alternatives to PVC, but they are more expensive and harder to find.

I hear what people say about simply heating water up by leaving a black tank out in the sun, and this works for sure in Thailand, but useless for storing hot water for use in the morning.

This is called a batch heater. To have hot water in the morning the tank needs to be enclosed in an insulated box with a glass panel. There are countless DIY plans for these. Simple and effective.

that is an incorrect assumption. as the "long" sides have to take a big heat load from in the mornings and late afternoons when the sun is for a long time "low" whereas the heat load from the south is less due to the sun standing "high" in tropical and subtropical countries.

I have yet to see a source mention this factor, but it is a tantalizing counter argument to ponder. It would be nice if someone made a calcultor for this like they have for solar panel pitch and such that takes into account all the various factors that could influence making this call.

Speaking of rust, just a quick warning. I bought a Trek mountain bike from probike. It became rusty within months. Just about everything attached to the frame became more and more rusty as time went on. I am not talking about the sprocket and chain, but everything else. The screws to adjust the derailers are so small and rusty they were ruined in about a year. Other components just look very bad. I followed the user manual for caring for and cleaning the bike, kept it out of the rain and never used it near the beach. At the price they are selling these bikes outfitted at about 20,000 baht, I found all the cheap steel components attached to an otherwise decent, light aluminum frame a great disappointment. I can only assume the reason probike did not warn me about the rusty parts issues is they feared I might look elsewhere. Sorry as I know some people recommend probike, but they failed to meet my simplest quality expectations. If I were to buy a bike again, I would elsewhere that puts a higher emphasis on quality components.

Choosing the orientation of a house is an extremely important factor that is often overlooked. Thailand is hot all year round in the daytime which simplifies passive solar considerations. Correct orientation will allow a house to be cooler. To minimize heat, face the house north. If the house is rectangular rather than square, face the narrow side on the south face to minimize the heat profile. The nice things about optimizing house orientation is that it makes a big difference, is free, requires no maintenance, and lasts forever.

Enters the IT mainstream eh? The topic seems a tad optimistic. The article says this is just a trial with no commercial value. For me the critical question is how many more years will I be stuck in the GPRS dark ages? The current answer seems to be indefinitely. Maybe I am missing something because I don't see a bright picture or even much of a glimmer of light here.

In my limited observations, in practice this land title is a step along the path to chanote. Chanote will come years after development occurs. These titles are bought, sold, and built on. One can talk about the historical data blah blah blah, but I would be interested in hearing about any real world, modern examples where problems occurred with this title.

Obviously, chanote is the best land title and always preferred. But like the OP, I have noted the really good pieces of land off the beaten path don't have chanote. So the decision is do you buy something perfect without chanote or do you buy something you don't really like with the stability of chanote? That's a decision that will vary person to person.

One more footnote on what Thailand's air quality index (AQI) means from the above chart:

0-50 Healthy

50+ Moderate Quality

100+ Affects health

200+ Significant health impact

300+ Dangerous

400+ OFF THE SCALE

Folks, 400 is being exceeded as we speak.

BANGKOK: -- Fog blanketed some parts of Bangkok yesterday morning partly owing to the fires being lit by farmers

Fog, an interesting word choice to describe smoke.

Wildfires, the main source of the smog

Wildfires, another interesting word choice to describe fires intentionally set like clock work every single year.

A meeting of local administration officials and the Pollution Control Department is being held today in Mae Hong Son to discuss health problems and immediate solutions for local residents.

So I guess this means the practice will continue to be accepted and nothing is going to change in the future.

The smog density in Mae Hong Son and the rest of the North has increased way beyond a critical level with local residents advised not to exercise and to stay indoors to avoid respiratory problems.

What's next, evacuation? I have never, ever heard of such hazardous air as Mae Hong Song is getting right now. The air quality index is 400 an a scale of 1-100. Unbelievable. Look at this reading:

Yea but the oakies don't know no better. Still it would be far better then the bamboo.

Nope. Nuts and bolts are essentially a coarse aggregate that increases the compressive strength of concrete. But cement is already strong in compression to begin with. Reinforcement such as steel or bamboo rebar on the other hand increases the tensile strength of concrete which resists cracking. Cement has a weak tensile strength so this is critical in the soundness of a structure. How rebar is placed and joined is also critical as has been mentioned.

1) The air quality index in european cities is many times better than the Thai countryside now. And sadly enough, Bangkok air is not as good as europe or clean asian cities yet is also several times better than the countryside. The unhealthy air situation goes for several months of each year. I found it interesting among various things they are burning in Phetchabun are mountain forests owned by the king that are being burned down systematically one day at a time, section by section. I asked why they are doing this and everyone knows who and why and are totally indifferent: a hunter is flushing out game to shoot. Links to requested air qualities are below:

2) Back more on topic with this thread. It seems the chief need for ventilating a house is due to the thermal mass of the walls. The brick and concrete walls they make here soak up the heat of the sun and reflect it inside the building for hours even after it cools off. A greener wall system or shading the walls would be a favorable solution.

I hear what you say about the dust. I'm in the country so hopefully this would be less of an anoyance than in a town or city.

Careful about this assumption if you are not there right now. The countryside in many parts of Thailand this time of year is ablaze. There are unbelievable amounts of smoke and dust in the air limiting visibility. And it isn't just ashes, but all those poisons they spray on the fields going airborne. Below is what the air quality is like today in some places. It's mainly unhealthy and today is a pretty good day. Over 100,000 people from the countryside have already gone to the hospital for treatment this year.