Building A House? Chiangmai

[ProThaiExpat]

An additional safeguard you might consider when you talk to a lawyer is creating a mortgage on the property in exchange for the money you "loan" your Thai to buy the property in the first place. The mortgage payments are in the same amount as your rent payments, thus a "wash" but potent evidence of mutual benefit and another "cloud on title" which is recorded on the back of the deed, as is your 30 year lease. You pay more in recording fees, but peace of mind is worth a lot when and if your love dies and your in mourning and the relatives decend to remove you.

Some Thais in my "developement" have their rain gutters drain into their water tanks to "save money" on their water bills. I am sure the dirt and dust collecting on the roofs end up in their water tanks as well.

I am sure KevinN has the answer to not "growing mosquitoes" in a water farm, so pay attention to that, as standing water is the ideal breeding ground for "dengue" bearing mosquitos, regardless of the malaria danger.

[KevinN]

Martin said;;;;To start with, he went to the trouble of having the ground level raised, so he is above any possible flood level. And he had the house walls built up so that he has a crawl space below so that all his utilities are accessible. If ever we build from scratch, that is an idea that I will copy."""

Most do have the level raised if they are going to build,especially a farang house,,But the flood level changes as the Thai move the whole ###### country around in dump trucks.When our house was first started by my wife,she had the ground raised over 1 meter,altho her fathers house had never had water inside,then the next year she had over 1 meter inside,and when we get to flood stage now her father already has over a meter inside.

And Thai do not understand Soil Compaction,just dump it and build on top of it,If you gonna do that,bring in a pile driver and drive piles and then put your house foundation on top of the piles.

They even neglect to compact the new road grades,so they have bad spots in the pavements as soon as they are finished with the road,then the repair work starts. Never do a good job of anything,half assed is good enough.

As to Martins idea,I don't think you would ever get me into a crawl space under any house in Thailand,,Just think what would be under there,and sending a Thai under to do anything would be a laugh.

[KevinN]

I forgot, Here is that link to a pic of the tank farm i have,all jars have tight fitting ferro cement lids so no mossies live in the jars,But I would have prefered to have the 11000 liter ferro cement tanks if I could have had them built.

.http://public.fotki.com/KevinN/thailand_pictures/

and an E mail addy to contact about ferro tanks is,,,[email protected],,that is PDA over at Ban Phai.

All you need to do is figure your daily water useage and make storage for 6 months water,then harvest rain from your roof into the tanks,a lot better water than you will ever get from the ground and you can even use for drinking,we don't but the Thai drink it,just be sure that you make sufficent first flush set ups for your system.

[Martin]

I like KevinN's "the Thai move the whole#####country around in dump trucks". Yes, they do. When there is a new water-holding/fish-growing/frog-growing pond being excavated in our area, we can get free soil and have loads of about four tons delivered for around 350 baht. A Brit or Yank trucker wouldn't even climb in his cab for that.

But KevinN is right to warn that you have to look ahead to what the flood level might be in the future. It is better to pay a bit more, and look a bit stuck up oddly-high for a few years than to be swamped later.

I notice around Kum Pa Wha Pi, which seems to receive flood water from some big catchment area, the Thais themselves do this.