For anyone who has experience with House Building in Thailand

 

Question - Any English speaking architects that know Thai building that I can hire to check my drawings?

 

Here are my plans on a few items - let me any thoughts or Thailand specific concerns:

 

1). Septic Tank - planning on doing an actual tank that is pumped out, not a leech field style.

 

2). Ethernet wiring - Planning on wiring to spots on the ceiling for Access Points, then back to a central switch closet. Plus a couple runs - one for an office upstairs and one for the office downstairs.

 

3). Video cameras - I am planning on doing those analog cameras that feed back to a central location (the switch room). That should be internet accessible. Put them up all over the place, record 24/7.

 

Ring - I would like to do a Ring doorbell out front. Not sure that Ring service will work in Thailand, but it would be nice to answer on the iPhone.

 

I'd use CAT 7 ethernet cabling. Might as well give yourself as much bandwidth potential as possible.

Yes, good point - we should always try to future proof. I would need to check if a sharp bend would degrade the performance (and thus why bother with the extra cost), if I remember correctly CAT 7 is more sensitive.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

1) Septic tank that needs to be pumped out….why? Your nuts.

2) ethernet - personal choice -what's wrong with wifi throughout?

3) vidcams and anything else go digital IP enabled. Record on a pc or to the cloud, view on your phone from anywhere in the world. Forget analogue.

1). No room to have a leech field. I see other houses in the area use the pump. A truck comes to the house and pumps it out. Seemed fine.

2). Yes, Wifi throughout the house, but the access points need Ethernet.

3). I am planning on Analog cameras to a digital encode main box since that is the cheapest option. It also does not require my Access Points (WiFi) to be working, and it does not take away my bandwidth. Also, the cameras are powered over the analog connection. The digital encoder/recorder is on the internet and accessible remotely. Seems best, no?

 

17 minutes ago, MisterBKK said:

1). No room to have a leech field. I see other houses in the area use the pump. A truck comes to the house and pumps it out. Seemed fine.

2). Yes, Wifi throughout the house, but the access points need Ethernet.

3). I am planning on Analog cameras to a digital encode main box since that is the cheapest option. It also does not require my Access Points (WiFi) to be working, and it does not take away my bandwidth. Also, the cameras are powered over the analog connection. The digital encoder/recorder is on the internet and accessible remotely. Seems best, no?

 

Your choice re the electronics. I think you are wrong but that is irrelevant.

How big is the block of land? leech field?; Most septics in Thailand don't require a huge amount of space to work. You crap and pee,,,,,they soak away. I'm struggling to understand why you want a pumped sewage system Get expensive very fast I would think. How long have you lived in the area you are going to build in?

 

4 hours ago, emptypockets said:

You crap and pee,,,,,they soak away. I'm struggling to understand why you want a pumped sewage system Get expensive very fast I would think.

Can I ask you - does your house have a toilet like you described? You crap and pee and it soaks away? This is in the backyard? Is the backyard squishy? smelly? How much land is your home built on?

 

The pumped sewage system is just a tank, the pump is on the truck that comes and empties the tank.

It's always better to prewire everything.

You forgot the audio cables for speakers.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

Ethernet cable, even cat 7, is cheap enough. Make a run to every possible TV location. Consider both sides of certain rooms. A double run between any two key locations.

 

For the CCTV you may end up wanting a view towards your front door or a better view of the street. Consider pre-wiring conduit to corners of your property.

 

We have a front wall with a remote-control gate. We ran AC in conduit for the gate motor with a separate circuit on a nighttime sensor for the lamps. I regret not running a circuit for a doorbell but didn't think of it before the driveway was poured. So we're stuck with cheap wireless doorbells that don't hold up well in the heat and rain.

I think you will find that the other houses have a cesspit not a septic tank....usually a number of concrete rings on top of each other. Proper septic tanks are a relatively new addition to Thai plumbing and are completely different from the old cesspits. The outflow into the leach field from a properly sized and working septic tank shouldn’t be smelly. If it is you having probably killed off all the bacteria by pouring chemicals into the system.

On 8/9/2019 at 5:43 PM, MisterBKK said:

1). No room to have a leech field. I see other houses in the area use the pump. A truck comes to the house and pumps it out. Seemed fine.

Homes in Thailand do not have a "leach field" like you are familiar in the west.First you have a septic tank usually plastic, it has two sections with an overflow. In the first section sewage is deposited, solids sink to the bottom , are consumed by bacteria  and are liquified ,

 

liquid flows to the top and is removed by the overflow to a separate section. usually a bunch of perforated concrete rings open to the bottom with gravel where the liquids are  absorbed by the ground/

 

 

Not much room required.

 We build in Khon Kaen,If you need the name of a good builder in your area , PM me and I will give you his info, he was recommended to me by a farang acquaintance  in Kalassin whose house he had build. He did a reasonable good job, since then I have recommended him to others and did not have any complaints yet, he speaks some english, has an engineering background, so he can look at your plans and advise you and was easy to communicate with.

 

sirineou,

 

Thank you!!

 

Yes, I was going on what I know from the West and this is much different. Now it makes sense. I saw that tank in a supply store and wondered why it was so small. 

 

I will PM you

On 8/10/2019 at 4:08 AM, MisterBKK said:

For anyone who has experience with House Building in Thailand

 

Hi MisterBKK I have covered most of your questions in my build blog: https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com/

 

but I will try to summarize 

 

architects: I spoke to several architects before starting my build but they only wanted to design houses that they were familiar with and my ideas were to “crazy” for them. So I had the ground professionally tested to determine foundation requirements and I took my designs to the amphur where I was able to pay an engineer to covert my drawings into the format for approval as well as ensuring that design was structural sound. I paid 15,000 Baht.

 

Septic tank: See the answer by sirineou above

 

Ethernet: I used Cat6 which is good for 10Gig up to 55m. One reason was due to availability or cables and components.  I ended up running over 300m in my house. Remember you have to cat 6 compatible jacks, patch panels and switches. Category 7 is not recognized by either TIA or EIA.

 

Video Cameras: I outsourced the outdoor video cameras to a camera company, they provided their own POE enabled switch which will go in my network rack. I am using Ubiquiti UniFi for my networking, so will be using 3 of their camera inside the house.

 

Ring Video Door Bell. My brother has one in the UK he says that you need to pay a subscription to view stored videos. I have not seen it for sale in Thailand. I saw the Panasonic one at the architect show in Bangkok, that allows you to unlock a door or open your motorized gate from the screen inside your house. It is not cheap, so I might go for The Xiaomi version as I have several Xiaomi smart home products and they work well.

 

 

 

 

Bandersnatch,

 

I just went through your whole website https://ecohousethailand.wordpress.com/

 

So awesome! I really learned a lot and I am going to re-think some things on my build. I am not trying to stay off grid, but I do see a greater level of attention to thermal conductivity and security in your house. I also like the LED lights.

 

I was not planning on being there everyday for the whole build. With your story, I need to re-think that too. I may need to delay. We were planning to start Aug 2020.

 

Thanks again!