New Build in Khon Kaen

[sirineou]

In  My Thread  "cost of build " (link below) you were all very helpful with great advise and help to find a builder.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1002138-coast-of-build-this-home/

As Promised , and to show my appreciation, I will try to document the process.

The good, the bad, and the ugly and hope we can all benefit from it.

The lot is relatively small, about 18m wide and 25m deep so I chose a design that fit the lot,  maximise it;s use,  and fit the environment. 

This is a video of the same house some one else has build, we plan to maintain the same color scheme, with some modifications.

We are not very materialistic, and like functionality and  low maintenance. So with that in mind, we have reversed the plan moving  the balcony to the inside of the property, made the balcony and guest bedroom ,5M bigger, eliminated the Buddha room, eliminated rear stairwell,  balcony and moved the master bedroom bath downstairs, making the master bedroom larger.

Added a door from the master bedroom to the bathroom between bedrooms for easy access.

I am a beer drinker, and I am lazy, and as we all know you don't buy beer you rent it, and running upstairs to the bathroom every five min would be a hassle to say the least , so a bathroom downstairs. have not decided yet, but I might add another room downstairs. I know it is a lot easier now, and less expensive, but I would like to leave a project for me to keep me busy when I retire in a couple of years.

Anyway, if you are all like me, i will try to use less and small words, and more pictures

To start, for those not familiar from the other thread, 

 Let the games begin !

[sirineou]

While away I asked my Fil ( unexpectedly passed away last year a great guy, I miss him terribly RIP) to put some dirt at the rear where it sloped down by a couple of feet, when I came back he had put several trucks of dirt , elevating the whole lot by ,5, and reducing my 1m fence height to half black mark on the fence was where the dirt was up to.

Fil. ment good, but I paid to put in dirt, and then had to pay to take it away. LOL,  no problem small money as wife will say.

and started with driving  6 m Piles.

First challenge,. After driving first 3 piles 2-3 m we hit bedrock, I guess bedrock is a good thing. We did not want to have to trim and throw out so much Pile so we ordered to exchange them for 4m piles.and will continue today.

I am going back to the states tomorrow, and we lill continue with the build after Buddhist lent when they can bless the foundation and kiss my money away. LOL.

Wife will come back to supervise the rest of the build, I know I should be here, and I wish I could but unfortunately work does not allow me. If I have a chance I will pop over for a week. But with 24 hr traveling times , not very viable.

 So let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

 

 

[cheeryble]

If we're overseeing your wife overseeing the builder do we have liability insurance?

[Rdrokit]

Good luck on the build. Would be interested to know once the house is completed the cost of the build not including the land.

[sirineou]

3 hours ago, Rdrokit said:

Good luck on the build. Would be interested to know once the house is completed the cost of the build not including the land.

The price agreed upon is 1.7m Turn key.  Includes aluminum windows and front door. we have to buy kitchen wall  cabinets.We have agreed an allowance for different items, we will pay difference if we wish to upgrade.

I fully expect to exceed the 1,7m budget. 

[sirineou]

4 hours ago, cheeryble said:

If we're overseeing your wife overseeing the builder do we have liability insurance?

Anyone telling my wife what to do would certainly need top self insurance

[rhodie]

Looks great and seems like an interesting project. Good luck.

[ozziedave007]

Good Luck mate, will follow with interest....:)

[Laza 45]

...lovely design.. will make a beautiful home..  are you building with cavity walls?   A bit hard to tell but the display home seems to have walls 1 brick thick.. by exposed posts in corners...  Cavity walls would make the place much easier & cheaper to keep cool.. as does insulation under the roofing and above ceilings..  Good venting on the gable ends to keep good air flow through the roof space would also help to keep it cool...    I used 10 cm thick insulating block on outside and conventional concrete block on the inside for downstairs rooms.. I wish I had done the same upstairs... the downstairs rooms seldom get above 30C even on the hottest days.. those rooms stay comfortable with a fan.. we don't use air con.. Good luck with the project.. I look forward to seeing more..

[4MyEgo]

I hope your wife has some building knowledge moving forward, not wishing to sound negative, because I have heard that some Thai builders try and use thinner steel and short cut where they can, if they can get away with it. In our experience, we dismissed 2 builders, the 3rd is the best builder I have come across having a fair knowledge of building myself, we wanted him initially, but couldn't wait a year for him, suffice to say we have retained him for other work later, and waited 18 months for him the 2nd time around, he built our 80m2 outdoor area, external kitchen and other various smaller jobs.

 

Wish you luck with it, and just make sure they don't try and change the design as to what you want.

 

1.7 sounds a little high in my opinion if its a village build, but not unreasonable if they have to stay in the village, I have heard of blokes paying 6 million baht, leaving the brother in law to do the build while back in their homeland working, always wondered who paid for his brother in laws new Ford Everest and new house 555

[Currumbin]

Nice house on some else's land.

 

[rocketmankabin1]

My experience with these local builders, have to be there to make sure they do what you want. Tell them how you want it done, turn your back and they go back to their own thought processes.  Having built a single story house 12x14m, these are some things I've experienced or had to or will change with further builds. 2 year old home.

 

Roof: Seal everything while roof is easy to access.All roofs in Rural Thailand seam to leak. Don't know why, even told the "contractor" to make sure the roof does NOT leak.  No good. And it's a metal sheet roof. 2 different workers on two occasions have gone up to "fix" the leaks to no avail. Looks like I'll be doing it myself.  Plugged every hole in the acrylic sheet roof building I currently live in for less than 500 baht using stick aqua putty.  Then sprayed with clear rubber spray in a can.  Took a day or two for each room, about 60 holes per room. Yes, a little time consuming but 4 or 5 heavy storms later show not a single drop of water. Had well over 40 leaks b4 and replaced all drop ceiling panels that needed it.  22 baht a panel.

 

1/4" aluminum insulation that can be bought stuck to metal sheet: does pretty much nothing for heat.  Rolled insulation is economical and does the trick. If you can afford it, maybe spray foam at 500sqm is for you. Seal and insulate all in one.

 

Plumbing: At least 5 PVC connections were not glued or loose. One was inside the bathroom wall and had to break open the wall and floor to find it. 

Next time I build all plumbing will be external and I'll probably run and glue it all myself. Easiest way would be to make sure toilets, sinks and showers are on the side of an exterior wall.  There are many ways to facade the plumbing or hide it to look better if outside and can't be buried. If this is not an option at least make sure the toilet is near the wall and keep sink and  shower plumbing exterior for easy access. One way I will ensure this in the future is to cut a cavity in the wall along the floor to fit the 1/2" PVC pipe and cover it with a border. Any leaks, just pull off the border and fix.

 

Paint is peeling off the wall opposite side of bathroom. Assuming condensation/moisture from bathroom is causing this. Will seal concrete wall with a moisture sealant next time for sure. It can be painted over.  Make sure it's an acrylic seal. Hard pressed to get paint to stick to silicone.

 

ceiling: always seem to come down somewhere eventually.  Again, quality of work and materials. I added a room with metal beams and put my ceiling panels on top of metal, nice color plywood, industrial loft style.  Makes for easy access if servicing above needed and no chance of ceiling panels coming down.  6" rolled insulation on top of that. Super easy to lay down and install on a smooth ceiling. No wires hanging down from drop ceiling or beams. Just flat surface above.

 

Exterior walls: A Brit friend of mine used a double-wall build allowing a gap between for air flow. With ceiling insulation-Wow! His house is cool. Air never goes above 25 he says.

 

We added 3 rooms to the exterior of the house. All I-beam and metal framing. Two 4x4m rooms and a 4x9. Exterior walls are Shera wood. Rolled insulation inside. Very cheap to build and solid. Rooms are very cool with air.

 

Land scaping: I'm in desperate need of a good service not costing an arm and a leg. Any one ever use a landscaping company?  Any recommendations?

 

If anyone else has any other good suggestions, sure would like to hear it as building construction is always an on-going thing for us as I am with a foundation that builds homes for at-risk and trafficked children.

 

Thanks.  

 

 

[tandor]

On 9/24/2017 at 9:09 AM, sirineou said:

In  My Thread  "cost of build " (link below) you were all very helpful with great advise and help to find a builder.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1002138-coast-of-build-this-home/

As Promised , and to show my appreciation, I will try to document the process.

The good, the bad, and the ugly and hope we can all benefit from it.

The lot is relatively small, about 18m wide and 25m deep so I chose a design that fit the lot,  maximise it;s use,  and fit the environment. 

This is a video of the same house some one else has build, we plan to maintain the same color scheme, with some modifications.

We are not very materialistic, and like functionality and  low maintenance. So with that in mind, we have reversed the plan moving  the balcony to the inside of the property, made the balcony and guest bedroom ,5M bigger, eliminated the Buddha room, eliminated rear stairwell,  balcony and moved the master bedroom bath downstairs, making the master bedroom larger.

Added a door from the master bedroom to the bathroom between bedrooms for easy access.

I am a beer drinker, and I am lazy, and as we all know you don't buy beer you rent it, and running upstairs to the bathroom every five min would be a hassle to say the least , so a bathroom downstairs. have not decided yet, but I might add another room downstairs. I know it is a lot easier now, and less expensive, but I would like to leave a project for me to keep me busy when I retire in a couple of years.

Anyway, if you are all like me, i will try to use less and small words, and more pictures

To start, for those not familiar from the other thread, 

 Let the games begin !

.. put in an outside urinal with flush in the back corner..ala service stations.

[tandor]

38 minutes ago, Currumbin said:

Nice house on some else's land.

 

..how far is the nearest 'forest'.

[Laza 45]

1 hour ago, Currumbin said:

Nice house on some else's land.

 

Haha!!   I lived in a 'heritage town' in Australia..  the 'heritage' houses were nice to look at across the road! I think this could be a good house .. but needs to be built for comfort not just good looks.. the suggestions that I made above could make it a nice home.. and cheap to run... I think! 

[1FinickyOne]

looks terrific - congratulations and enjoy your life in KK... 

 

ps - my FIL is a wonderful guy too, but one day I came home to 2 backhoes moving around dirt - I have no idea what they were doing and nothing was accomplished as my wife had the land filled in a few months later??? Yes, it cost me money but that is how it goes sometimes. 

[uffe123]

good luck with that, there is a fool born every day, wait until the government tells you that you can only use the house, but the property is not yours. 

[zaZa9]

I like it. I rent very similiar. The bedroom balcony would be enclosed into a walk-in-robe if  your place  was  my plan . 

The 'Buddha Room' would be gone and the kitchen wall to. Downstairs a laundry/toilet  and outdoor stainless kitchen would go in. The downstairs slab would be in quality exposed aggregate with tiled borders. Quality insulation in the roof.

Otherwise I'd build the same.

Currently my Thai lady is very agreeable ... maybe part of that is I pay the rent for this nice home  on time.

However Im not  so sure if she'd be the same if I was living in a house she owned.

On land she owned... lol ...

 

But good luck with it all..

[Foozool]

19 hours ago, rocketmankabin1 said:

Exterior walls: A Brit friend of mine used a double-wall build allowing a gap between for air flow. With ceiling insulation-Wow! His house is cool. Air never goes above 25 he says.

It could be even cooler if used " 1inch rigid foam" between walls. Sometimes air is really warm and delivers heat. Air gap only shall not work as an insulator, but of course it works better than one solid wall and there is cost for rigid foam (2"x120"x60" 64b you might be able to get it cheaper).

ridid foam could be used for bathroom walls as well to stop moisture and heat from inside bathroom to bedrooms.

plumbing could be done from outside of house, either sides or under of raised foundation houses with access space. 

[cheeryble]

20 hours ago, rocketmankabin1 said:

 

Exterior walls: A Brit friend of mine used a double-wall build allowing a gap between for air flow. With ceiling insulation-Wow! His house is cool. Air never goes above 25 he says.

 

 

Does anyone know if airflow is necessary and if so how it's normally done? 

Multiple insect proof vents to outside near top and bottom would do but don't recall seeing like that here. A better way?

 

Does it make much difference to heat efficiency rather than just sealed?

(thinking twin wall 3 inch plus 3 inch AAC blocks)

(Recall a friend's architect-qualified husband....strangely an army general.... had twin walls with burned coconut husk between. I actually have the plans to their house somewhere.....maybe I should get back in touch nice people)

 

When i think about it if the cavity is ventilated the outer skin is only helping stop sun heat, as the cavity will be at ambient temperature at least meaning you're only insulating against ambient heat with one single skin of blocks.....probably 3 inch in my case. This kinda means the outer skin is just a sunshade, and may as well be Shera board or bushes.

 

Or does it?

 

ps as I don't see coconut plantations where could I buy or what could one use a an alternative to burnt coconut husk in northern thailand? Rice husk to flimsy and aroy to insects maybe. I guess coconut is ideal.....and suppose it's the coir rather than the hard stuff.

[petermik]

On 9/25/2017 at 7:44 AM, Laza 45 said:

   A bit hard to tell but the display home seems to have walls 1 brick thick.. by exposed posts in corners...  Cavity walls would make the place much easier & cheaper to keep cool..

When I had my (our) house built I used single 10cm AAC blocks,cavities can be a breeding ground for all sorts of critters.....avoid

[Laza 45]

27 minutes ago, petermik said:

When I had my (our) house built I used single 10cm AAC blocks,cavities can be a breeding ground for all sorts of critters.....avoid

...I haven't had any problems with critters in the cavities in my walls...going on 4 years now..  keeps the rooms very cool.. one friend laid his insulating bricks flat.. makes a well insulated wall too.. no cavity.. 

[cheeryble]

7 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

.. one friend laid his insulating bricks flat.. makes a well insulated wall too.. no cavity.. 

 

I bet much cheaper than buying 8 inch AAC blocks......but 33% more than 2 skins of 3 inch blocks which with a cavity might be just about same insulation. Nice idea though.

Hmmm....

Soundproofing comparison would be interesting, for me that's almost more a factor than heat, was woken by howling dog just the other morning.

[Laza 45]

42 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

 

Does anyone know if airflow is necessary and if so how it's normally done? 

Multiple insect proof vents to outside near top and bottom would do but don't recall seeing like that here. A better way?

 

Does it make much difference to heat efficiency rather than just sealed?

(thinking twin wall 3 inch plus 3 inch AAC blocks)

(Recall a friend's architect-qualified husband....strangely an army general.... had twin walls with burned coconut husk between. I actually have the plans to their house somewhere.....maybe I should get back in touch nice people)

 

When i think about it if the cavity is ventilated the outer skin is only helping stop sun heat, as the cavity will be at ambient temperature at least meaning you're only insulating against ambient heat with one single skin of blocks.....probably 3 inch in my case. This kinda means the outer skin is just a sunshade, and may as well be Shera board or bushes.

 

Or does it?

 

ps as I don't see coconut plantations where could I buy or what could one use a an alternative to burnt coconut husk in northern thailand? Rice husk to flimsy and aroy to insects maybe. I guess coconut is ideal.....and suppose it's the coir rather than the hard stuff.

I'm sure I will be told that I have done it all wrong but this is what I have done and it works well.. even on the hottest days the inside walls are cool to touch..  temp inside is normally 27.. after some very hot days it can get up to 30 but still comfortable with a fan..  outside skin 10 cm insulating block.. inside wall conventional concrete block  8 cm.. more or less.. rendered inside and out .. aprox 8 cm cavity.. these walls are sealed.. no air vents inside or out.. completed  coming on 4 years now.. no problems with critters or moisture or cracking.. the basic structure is Thai conventional concrete post & beam.. 

[cheeryble]

3 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

I'm sure I will be told that I have done it all wrong but this is what I have done and it works well.. even on the hottest days the inside walls are cool to touch..  temp inside is normally 27.. after some very hot days it can get up to 30 but still comfortable with a fan..  outside skin 10 cm insulating block.. inside wall conventional concrete block  8 cm.. more or less.. rendered inside and out .. aprox 8 cm cavity.. these walls are sealed.. no air vents inside or out.. completed  coming on 4 years now.. no problems with critters or moisture or cracking.. the basic structure is Thai conventional concrete post & beam.. 

 

Sounds good enough sure.

Dare say twin skin 3 inch AAC would be about the same (previsouly worked out this is very economical).

[Laza 45]

5 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

 

I bet much cheaper than buying 8 inch AAC blocks......but 33% more than 2 skins of 3 inch blocks which with a cavity might be just about same insulation. Nice idea though.

Hmmm....

Soundproofing comparison would be interesting, for me that's almost more a factor than heat, was woken by howling dog just the other morning.

Good point.. insulating block is excellent for soundproofing.. even better is you used double glazing.. I built a place in Australia using 20 cm solid insulating block.. it was near a busy street.. quiet as could be inside.. and stayed very cool in the hot summers we get there... up to high 30s and even low 40s... and easy to heat in the winter too.. 

[cheeryble]

 

2 hours ago, Laza 45 said:

Good point.. insulating block is excellent for soundproofing.. even better is you used double glazing.

With 8inch total walls one could single glaze then in the event of problems add another sliding frame inside the first.....I believe a wider gap is better for noise too.

[Foozool]

23 hours ago, rocketmankabin1 said:

Plumbing: At least 5 PVC connections were not glued or loose. One was inside the bathroom wall and had to break open the wall and floor to find it. 

Some contractors or plumbers hesitate to use glue or just apply glue to female side only. Of course the male side will get a cold glue and connection eventually will fail. 

[Foozool]

For walls: 

Use AAC blocks as external layer then 2 inches of rigid foam from inside. Then cover the rigid foam by over 1/2 inch Gipson boards (drywall). A single wall only (no double walls needed).

Technicly you will build a secured icebox by rigid foam (8b per sqf) that is supported by AAC block walls (great sound and heat insulator). 

Muse R-19 fiberglass insulation that is covered by aluminum sleeve top of ceiling. 

Use fiber cement boards for roof and paint them white (white only) weather shield. 

[Laza 45]

13 hours ago, Foozool said:

For walls: 

Use AAC blocks as external layer then 2 inches of rigid foam from inside. Then cover the rigid foam by over 1/2 inch Gipson boards (drywall). A single wall only (no double walls needed).

Technicly you will build a secured icebox by rigid foam (8b per sqf) that is supported by AAC block walls (great sound and heat insulator). 

Muse R-19 fiberglass insulation that is covered by aluminum sleeve top of ceiling. 

Use fiber cement boards for roof and paint them white (white only) weather shield. 

I take it that AAC blocks are the white aerated concrete blocks ...  do you attach the rigid foam and drywall with adhesive?..   What do you use?  Is this used as infill for concrete post & beam construction?  It is awhile since I did any building.. is the rigid foam commonly available... brand name?  Sounds easy to build.. and easy to keep cool.. Thanks for the tips..