When did Thais begin living in concrete houses?

[NorthernRyland]

Does anyone happen to know the history of when Thais starting building and living in concrete houses? I'm assuming their traditional form of housing was the classic wooden design that will still see today and concrete was imported later in their history. I'd also be curious to know if people who have been here for decades used to see more wooden houses in the past.

[Denim]

I think you mean brick rather than concrete.

 

Back in 1979 when I visited rural villages almost every house was made of wood and was on posts. In the big towns though, a lot of the shops and townhouses were already made of brick and rendered.

 

Most rural villages had no electricity and no toilets. You did your ' business ' out in the fields into a hole you would dig out. The idea of septic tanks and toilets near the house came later.

 

When a few years later I had our first little house made the villagers thought I was very eccentric for wanting a toilet and bathroom included in the house. Oh how they laughed. Nonetheless....pretty soon everyone was doing the same.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Denim

[Silent Number]

History has it that a trading ship from India came to the Gulf of Thailand in 1898 and on board was a quantity of concrete blocks which was traded for jewellery and yellow metal. After the trading ship sailed away the village people all took some of the blocks but after boiling and frying them for 4-5 days found they were still too hard to eat with rice so a rogue soldier deserter from the island of Crete named Con said “I can’t eat that you could build a house with that.” And from that day on Con from Crete was appointed official builder the local Thais struggled with pronouncing Con from Crete so they just shortened it to Concrete hope this helps with your research.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Silent Number

[NorthernRyland]

16 minutes ago, Denim said:

Back in 1979 when I visited rural villages almost every house was made of wood and was on posts. In the big towns though, a lot of the shops and townhouses were already made of brick and rendered.

 

Interesting thank you. I'm renting a little wooden house in the mountains as a weekend retreat and this got me thinking. I've seen some photos of Chiang Mai in the 70/80's and I still see wooden houses all throughout the city but also many poured concrete structures and brick.

[baansgr]

When stupid foreigners started buying them????????????

[Dumbastheycome]

Probably around the same time the last big trees worth turning into proper construction materials were cut  down !

[Kwasaki]

20 minutes ago, genericptr said:

Interesting thank you. I'm renting a little wooden house in the mountains as a weekend retreat and this got me thinking. I've seen some photos of Chiang Mai in the 70/80's and I still see wooden houses all throughout the city but also many poured concrete structures and brick.

In Old Sukhothai where Thais tribes came from the north and established their place in the Greater India lands to set up a Buddhist state there are buildings 800 years old or so built by Cambodians in rock and brick. 

[Kwasaki]

30 minutes ago, genericptr said:

I'm renting a little wooden house in the mountains as a weekend retreat and this got me thinking.

There are many houses being built around us built in the traditional Thai way with wood they cost a lot to construct.

 

One recently was just finnished end 2019 is it aesthetically a spectacular beautiful building in my eyes.

I believe it has been made a G/H.

 

[Bob A Kneale]

1 hour ago, genericptr said:

...and concrete was imported later in their history

Imported concrete?  That's a novel idea.

[Denim]

16 hours ago, genericptr said:

Interesting thank you. I'm renting a little wooden house in the mountains as a weekend retreat and this got me thinking. I've seen some photos of Chiang Mai in the 70/80's and I still see wooden houses all throughout the city but also many poured concrete structures and brick.

 

I should add that the poorer house did not have walls made of wooden planks. Instead they had a kind of lattice work made of bamboo strips from floor to joist and big leaves were woven between the lattice work. As far as I remember most houses had roofs of sheeting ( sangasee ) usually brown from rust and dirt and very leaky. For lighting there would be an old can of condensed milk with some oil and a wick in it. To get to the village we took a pony and trap from the main road. I felt sorry for that horse as its neck and back were chaffed raw. I wanted to get out and walk but my distaff partner would have none of it.

 

The first village I went to was in Kalasin and they had never seen a white man in the flesh before. Half the women in the village turned out to prod me and have a feel of my hair. At night they went home and the men came for more of the same. The resident linguist asked me my name and where I came from about a thousand times ( the only English he knew ) until my bird got bored and kicked them all out. It was so cold during the night that in the morning there was a hoar frost for an hour after sunrise and frozen puddles. I nigh on froze to death ..................in Thailand of all places since I only had flimsy clothes with me. Like everyone else I was soon huddled around a fire drinking a chipped cup of hot water.

 

Never forget that trip. A real eye opener.

[checkered flag]

34 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

I should add that the poorer house did not have walls made of wooden planks. Instead they had a kind of lattice work made of bamboo strips from floor to joist and big leaves were woven between the lattice work. As far as I remember most houses had roofs of sheeting ( sangasee ) usually brown from rust and dirt and very leaky. For lighting there would be an old can of condensed milk with some oil and a wick in it. To get to the village we took a pony and trap from the main road. I felt sorry for that horse as its neck and back were chaffed raw. I wanted to get out and walk but my distaff partner would have none of it.

 

The first village I went to was in Kalasin and they had never seen a white man in the flesh before. Half the women in the village turned out to prod me and have a feel of my hair. At night they went home and the men came for more of the same. The resident linguist asked me my name and where I came from about a thousand times ( the only English he knew ) until my bird got bored and kicked them all out. It was so cold during the night that in the morning there was a hoar frost for an hour after sunrise and frozen puddles. I nigh on froze to death ..................in Thailand of all places since I only had flimsy clothes with me. Like everyone else I was soon huddled around a fire drinking a chipped cup of hot water.

 

Never forget that trip. A real eye opener.

I have a large teakwood home build by the kumnan for himself. He was in the lumber business and only used recycled wood. The bottom floor is open but finished and tiled. Upstair is all double walled and air conditioned throughout. The only problem is that electric wire are sometimes bad and cause fires. We had our electrician rewire everything with  proper grounding last year. He told me that the main cause for fires is faulty wiring. 

 

[Oxx]

Apart from grand residences, I suspect that such houses started with traditional shop house architecture.  It started as a Sino-Portuguese thing in the early- to mid-1800s.  Phuket in particular is noted for such constructions.

[Damrongsak]

The three different houses I rented from 1977-1980 were all wooden.  One was on stilts.  Two had the bathroom outside the house.

 

I think this is the noodle shop I used to eat at back then.  Still there as far as I know.  There are many other wooden buildings still around.

 

[Denim]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

The three different houses I rented from 1977-1980 were all wooden.  One was on stilts.  Two had the bathroom outside the house.

 

I think this is the noodle shop I used to eat at back then.  Still there as far as I know.  There are many other wooden buildings still around.

 

 

The high street in Wichien Buri still looks exactly like that.

[easydoor]

Here, in the South, most along the coast, wooden houses were replaced by brick:

-first after the Tropical Storm HARRIET in 1962.

-second after the Typhoon GAY in 1989

Most all wooden houses along the cost, even several km inside the country had been destroyed and were rebuild in brick build houses.

 

[Andycoops]

Many new houses are still constructed using wood, it's considered a sign of wealth as they cost much more to build than brick and steel.

Many old wooden houses on stilts have the ground floor filled with brick as and when it can be afforded.

[Pedrogaz]

Probably when they chopped all the teak down.

[ChipButty]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:56 PM, Denim said:

 

I should add that the poorer house did not have walls made of wooden planks. Instead they had a kind of lattice work made of bamboo strips from floor to joist and big leaves were woven between the lattice work. As far as I remember most houses had roofs of sheeting ( sangasee ) usually brown from rust and dirt and very leaky. For lighting there would be an old can of condensed milk with some oil and a wick in it. To get to the village we took a pony and trap from the main road. I felt sorry for that horse as its neck and back were chaffed raw. I wanted to get out and walk but my distaff partner would have none of it.

 

The first village I went to was in Kalasin and they had never seen a white man in the flesh before. Half the women in the village turned out to prod me and have a feel of my hair. At night they went home and the men came for more of the same. The resident linguist asked me my name and where I came from about a thousand times ( the only English he knew ) until my bird got bored and kicked them all out. It was so cold during the night that in the morning there was a hoar frost for an hour after sunrise and frozen puddles. I nigh on froze to death ..................in Thailand of all places since I only had flimsy clothes with me. Like everyone else I was soon huddled around a fire drinking a chipped cup of hot water.

 

Never forget that trip. A real eye opener.

Was it that far back when all the women walked around half naked?

[Denim]

Unfortunately it was a long time before I got here. Which half would you have prefered ?

[George Aylesham]

On 5/31/2020 at 7:41 PM, Oxx said:

Apart from grand residences, I suspect that such houses started with traditional shop house architecture.  It started as a Sino-Portuguese thing in the early- to mid-1800s.  Phuket in particular is noted for such constructions.

In some countries stone or brick was reserved for religious structures and wood was for the people -'though pretty soon masonry was extended to kings etc.

[LawrenceN]

My first year in the Peace Corps in Maha Sarakham in 1977-78, I lived in a wooden house on concrete stilts on the campus of the Teachers College. It was what most faculty lived in at the time. 

 

My second year 1978-79, I lived off-campus in a house made of concrete block. I think it had wooden floor joists. So concrete block construction has been around that long, at least. 

[NCC1701A]

On 5/30/2020 at 2:19 PM, Silent Number said:

Con from Crete so they just shortened it to Concrete

have you heard the story about Con Do?

[transam]

Think they got fed up with Termites having lunch on their houses, so cheap cement frame/brick alternative came to the fore..???? 

[johng]

On 5/31/2020 at 10:54 PM, Denim said:

 

The high street in Wichien Buri still looks exactly like that.

Sattahip   "same same  but different"

 

[CGW]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

Probably when they chopped all the teak down.

Massive deforestation in Thailand late seventies, by the early eighties people were buying old Thai teak houses, disassembling and rebuilding on their own land, simply put, it was cheaper!

[Max69xl]

On 5/30/2020 at 2:24 PM, genericptr said:

Interesting thank you. I'm renting a little wooden house in the mountains as a weekend retreat and this got me thinking. I've seen some photos of Chiang Mai in the 70/80's and I still see wooden houses all throughout the city but also many poured concrete structures and brick.

Wood was almost free in the early days and people even cut down trees themselves. Now wood is VERY expensive. If you have been inside a house made of wood daytime you will understand why they prefer brick houses now. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Max69xl

[khunPer]

I would think it changed in villages when hardwood like teak became restricted, and concrete blocks and cement cheaper to use. I remember from my first visit to Thailand in 1987 that village houses I saw were mainly wooden on posts, while city house were a mix between concrete buildings and wooden old-style houses, and some wooden houses with concrete on the ground floor.

 

My next visit in 2001-2002 I noticed plenty of one level brick houses in rural villages.

 

But it's only speculation.

[jak2002003]

About 20 years ago in our village most of the houses were teak. 

 

Now there are hardly any wooden houses left

 It's a shame because they looked to pretty. I think many people did it to keep up with the neighbours...as concrete and brick seemed more modern. 

[LomSak27]

No not a history, but ..

Traditionally Thai houses were impermanent. Meant to be taken down and rebuilt, after termites, sun, elements took their toll. That was the old wood structures. The idea of permanence was not the same as western or north asian peoples, mostly due to material and climate. Thai towns also had a problem with fires. They were always burning down. Wood structures combined with Thai pyromaniac tendencies, made that inevitable. After WWII (some will say before) lots of towns started to get rebuilt more in cement. They were cutting down the forests too, wood became more expensive and less available. Secondly cement and steel just last longer, don't burn down as easily, so a better investment. Now towns villages and mooban are following suit. Bangkok of course started this before any other cities, its styles and designs were copied up country.

 

Five years back the sister in law put up a house in the old family plot in Chiang Rai. Original houses were wood on poles and straw, I saw the pics from early 80’s. Now cement wood, two story, with roofed open sided car park. Looks nice. The fruits of her 'pleadings to the pussywhipped'. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by LomSak27

[digger70]

On 5/30/2020 at 1:57 PM, genericptr said:

when Thais starting building and living in concrete houses?

When the termites eat the wood I think.  ????