New House Build - Phitsanulok

[hamiltonlad]

Hi all,

 

Gathered some great insight from all the forums members here on their builds - very helpful community with lots of experience. 

 

Building a large 2 storey European style house, over 600 sq mtr covering both floors, on one rai of land. My wife owns the land we are building on, and her uncle is doing the building (many years expereince as his main job).

 

Started with raising ground level last July during wet season so it compacted well. Foundations all dug out and put in November, hoping to get all finished by July 2021.

 

Raised floor of house to be 1mtr above ground level in case of any flooding (house next to river), but its never flooded in the farm area previously (fingers crossed). Live about 10km out from main town on farm which has main government water supply.

 

Planning to use the following:
Roof - Colorbond (anyone use this?)
Walls - Qcon, double brick external walls (7.5cm ea) with 5mm gap in betweem.  Internal walls will be 20mm Qcon brick
Solar - thinkin of getting a 10kw solar system (anyone give any advice/thoughts on this?)
Hot Water Heaters - we want to get hot running water for showers/bathroom/kitchen (anyone any advice/thoughts on this?) - using green PPR pipes for hot water system.
Windows - double glazed UPVC (any tips on a good supplier?)
Doors - going to go for doors that don't have issues with termites (suggestions welcome!)
Flooring - we are going to have granite tiles on ground floor (different tile in bathroom), and thinking of vinyl flooring for upstairs.
Perimter wall - brick wall with large entrance gates for vehicles, plus two other small gates for use.

 

I will post some pictures of the build so far.

 

Appreciate any advice and comments to help me along ????

[1FinickyOne]

9 minutes ago, hamiltonlad said:

going to go for doors that don't have issues with termites (suggestions welcome!)

teak...

 

10 minutes ago, hamiltonlad said:

we are going to have granite tiles on ground floor

we were dissuaded from marble floors because when wet they are very slippery... would granite have the same issue? 

 

good luck with all... 

 

 

[hamiltonlad]

Our current house has ceramic tiles and no issues with slipping, although I do concede they would be if feet wet.

 

I've yet to visit showroom for granite tiles to ask such questions, maybe another community member has experience.

[GlennSN20U5]

3 hours ago, hamiltonlad said:

Roof - Colorbond (anyone use this?)

Just take note, normally local manufacturer might not have that many color selection for colorbond as they usually for project or factory type. Plus, it can be pricy. On the good note, they warranty for 30 years. 

 

3 hours ago, hamiltonlad said:

Hot Water Heaters - we want to get hot running water for showers/bathroom/kitchen (anyone any advice/thoughts on this?) - using green PPR pipes for hot water system.

Good on you to use hot water for kitchen, hardly seen it here. What type of water heater are you going for? Incoming water supply can use normal blue pvc pipe. From water heater to basin, flexible stainless steel hose. 

[petermik]

A good and helpful guide on Thai house building can be found on here also...https://<URL Automatically Removed>/construction-in-thailand/?s=dc0f7a02ff743310e4ecfd3022002419

[Crossy]

Good luck and enjoy your build!

 

A few thoughts:-

• Wide roof overhangs will shade the walls and reduce cooling needs further.
• Plan for lots of shade plants / trees, they really do work!
• For solar visit the Alternative Energy Forum https://forum.thaivisa.com/forum/319-alternativerenewable-energy-forum/
• Consider solar for your water heating (or at least a pre-heat).
• Check with PEA what size meter they can provide, you may need to go 3-phase.
• Do a prospective load calculation or post your design in the Electrical Forum and we can do it for you 
• https://forum.thaivisa.com/forum/191-the-electrical-forum/
• Think about maintenance access for anything on the roof (put the solar on the car port).

 

[hamiltonlad]

On 1/31/2021 at 4:25 PM, GlennSN20U5 said:

Just take note, normally local manufacturer might not have that many color selection for colorbond as they usually for project or factory type. Plus, it can be pricy. On the good note, they warranty for 30 years. 

 

Good on you to use hot water for kitchen, hardly seen it here. What type of water heater are you going for? Incoming water supply can use normal blue pvc pipe. From water heater to basin, flexible stainless steel hose. 

 

Ive seen the 150ltr roof ones in that would be ideal using PPR green pipe - powered by my solar system.

[hamiltonlad]

On 2/1/2021 at 2:51 AM, Crossy said:

Good luck and enjoy your build!

 

A few thoughts:-

• Wide roof overhangs will shade the walls and reduce cooling needs further.
• Plan for lots of shade plants / trees, they really do work!
• For solar visit the Alternative Energy Forum https://forum.thaivisa.com/forum/319-alternativerenewable-energy-forum/
• Consider solar for your water heating (or at least a pre-heat).
• Check with PEA what size meter they can provide, you may need to go 3-phase.
• Do a prospective load calculation or post your design in the Electrical Forum and we can do it for you 
• https://forum.thaivisa.com/forum/191-the-electrical-forum/
• Think about maintenance access for anything on the roof (put the solar on the car port).

 

Thanks Crossy for the tips, I'l read up on those other forums.

 

I'm hoping the solar system will cover most of my electric use, and I've already asked the PEA for a 3-phase supply - waiting on them coming back to me as the nearest point for 3P is 2.6km away. Its' going to be pricey for this 3P I think.  Yeah the solar cells will be located on my car port which is south facing.

 

Meter, I'm thinking they can supply a 45a one - is that what you mean?

 

Roof will overhang 1mtr all around. Downstairs is shaded with a car porton the south side and rear has shading downstairs.

 

Overall, the downstairs living area should be really cool at all times. We have a balcony all around the first floor that will shade the downstairs walls.

 

Yeah I always try to have the least amount of maintenance as possible, and always think about access points, especially for waste/water issues.

[malathione]

On 1/31/2021 at 8:18 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

teak...

 

we were dissuaded from marble floors because when wet they are very slippery... would granite have the same issue? 

 

good luck with all... 

 

 

It depends on the finish. Polished tiles, be they marble or granite can be slippery. On the other hand, honed or hammered or any of the myriad textured finishes are not. That said, they might not feel as nice underfoot if you walk around with bare feet.

[Crossy]

A few other electric related thoughts.

 

2,600m is a pretty long way to run at 220V but it would still likely be cheaper than running HV and having a local transformer.

 

You're looking at at least 240mm² THW-A (aluminium) cable, copper will be just $$$ and have a nasty tendency to wander off in the night. For an idea of scale, each cable is about an inch in diameter (you need 4 for 3-phase).

 

Is single-phase mains available closer? To convert to 3-phase (assuming the transformer is suitable) would need only 2 more cables.

 

Definitely worth discussing your options with PEA.

 

It's also worth talking to PEA about installing your poles and running the cable, they have the kit and the expertise. You may be able to get a crew "moonlighting" to do the job. Our poles were installed by a crew of guys wearing PEA uniforms, driving a PEA truck, the poles say "PEA 2553". Payment in cash to the supervisor

 

I would avoid having any actual 3-phase appliances, loss of one phase is a very common failure and 3-phase kit really doesn't like that.

 

Also ensure you have under/over voltage cut offs and lightning surge protection.

 

It also may be worth looking at automatic phase-selection relays which allow you to connect "essential" equipment (lights, TV, PCs etc.) to a "good" phase automatically.

 

Are you likely to include a genset later, organise for your ATS (automatic transfer switch).

 

All of the above are far easier to design-in now rather than retro-fit later even if it's just a case of leaving a space for whatever.

[Daffy D]

If you have kids or thinking of having any make sure you have an ensuite bathroom as well as family bathroom or you'll never get in to use it.

 

Especially if you have teenage  girls.   

[hamiltonlad]

8 hours ago, Daffy D said:

If you have kids or thinking of having any make sure you have an ensuite bathroom as well as family bathroom or you'll never get in to use it.

 

Especially if you have teenage  girls.   

All planned in lol ????

 

2x ensuite bathrooms and 2 family bathroms

[Surelynot]

15 hours ago, malathione said:

It depends on the finish. Polished tiles, be they marble or granite can be slippery. On the other hand, honed or hammered or any of the myriad textured finishes are not. That said, they might not feel as nice underfoot if you walk around with bare feet.

Yes...our floors are marble, but the living room and the bathroom surfaces are very different.

[hamiltonlad]

10 hours ago, Crossy said:

A few other electric related thoughts.

 

2,600m is a pretty long way to run at 220V but it would still likely be cheaper than running HV and having a local transformer.

 

You're looking at at least 240mm² THW-A (aluminium) cable, copper will be just $$$ and have a nasty tendency to wander off in the night. For an idea of scale, each cable is about an inch in diameter (you need 4 for 3-phase).

 

Is single-phase mains available closer? To convert to 3-phase (assuming the transformer is suitable) would need only 2 more cables.

 

Definitely worth discussing your options with PEA.

 

It's also worth talking to PEA about installing your poles and running the cable, they have the kit and the expertise. You may be able to get a crew "moonlighting" to do the job. Our poles were installed by a crew of guys wearing PEA uniforms, driving a PEA truck, the poles say "PEA 2553". Payment in cash to the supervisor

 

I would avoid having any actual 3-phase appliances, loss of one phase is a very common failure and 3-phase kit really doesn't like that.

 

Also ensure you have under/over voltage cut offs and lightning surge protection.

 

It also may be worth looking at automatic phase-selection relays which allow you to connect "essential" equipment (lights, TV, PCs etc.) to a "good" phase automatically.

 

Are you likely to include a genset later, organise for your ATS (automatic transfer switch).

 

All of the above are far easier to design-in now rather than retro-fit later even if it's just a case of leaving a space for whatever.

You seem very knowledgable in electrics ????

 

Funnily enough we just had a visit from the PEA office to discuss our 3 phase enquiry. Now waiting on a price but they estimated over 300,000 THB for a 50KVA, 210a system, sole supply to our house. They would pay for the cabling run 2.6km and we would pay the rest (new higher pole, cable to house, transformer etc).

 

We already got a local PEA fella to run single phase over 4x new poles to the house back last year.  Current max supply in local transfomer is 30kva (only a handful of houses in area).

 

We went over the electrical items we will have the in the new house:-

13x a/c units Mitsu invertors......30,000 BTU x5......24,000 BTU x3........18,000 BTU x3.........12,000 BTU x2

3x water pumps at 400w

4x electric showers 4500w (used as back up if hot water system failure)

2x hot water cylinders in roof,  2000w

2x hobs

2x cookers

2x microwave

2x fridge/freezer

2x washing/dryers

 

 

I've no idea what genset or ATS is, but it sounds useful if you could explain in general terms ???? 

[sirineou]

Very exciting to be building. Good luck

As far as front door is concerned, I would  not recommend wood. They have some beautiful wood doors in Thailand,  and we all want one, I did but so far had nothing but problems with it, (shrinking, gaps opening up, not closing ell)  ,some  Thais have a habit of not seasoning the wood well, so it's a roll of the dies, you could get a a good one, or.... When we change ours , I will replace it with an aluminum one. 

Lot's of nice tiles in all the big home improvement , that's what we used and we are very happy with them.

Double Qcone with a cavity is the way to go, we did and the house is always cool. You will be happy you did it, Just make sure the plug the gap (see picture below)

If you want to check out the tread of our build about three years ago you can take a look here: 

Plenty of pictures and small words please, many of as, me included ,  are not very  bright . LOL

Best of luck, and I look forward reading your building thread.

 

[Crossy]

8 hours ago, hamiltonlad said:

You seem very knowledgable in electrics ????

 

Funnily enough we just had a visit from the PEA office to discuss our 3 phase enquiry. Now waiting on a price but they estimated over 300,000 THB for a 50KVA, 210a system, sole supply to our house. They would pay for the cabling run 2.6km and we would pay the rest (new higher pole, cable to house, transformer etc).

 

We already got a local PEA fella to run single phase over 4x new poles to the house back last year.  Current max supply in local transfomer is 30kva (only a handful of houses in area).

 

We went over the electrical items we will have the in the new house:-

13x a/c units Mitsu invertors......30,000 BTU x5......24,000 BTU x3........18,000 BTU x3.........12,000 BTU x2

3x water pumps at 400w

4x electric showers 4500w (used as back up if hot water system failure)

2x hot water cylinders in roof,  2000w

2x hobs

2x cookers

2x microwave

2x fridge/freezer

2x washing/dryers

 

 

I've no idea what genset or ATS is, but it sounds useful if you could explain in general terms ???? 

 

Are you sure that's a house, more like a palace ????

 

Most of us manage with a 10kVA (15/45 single-phase meter) ???? 

 

I think you're about right on your 50kVA supply (75A per phase). All that aircon if run together at full chat will suck up 30kVA or so (unlikely unless you're keeping penguins and/or polar bears).

 

Have you considered gas hobs?

 

A project of this magnitude needs careful planning and possibly zoning of supplies locally. Maybe local distibution boards for the kitchen, upstairs, utility, granny flat, man-cave/shed etc. etc. If nothing else it reduces the number of circuits crossing the house down to a few, but bigger, wires.

 

Adding a generator (genset) and ATS (automatic transfer switch) would provide backup power in the event that the mains fails. They range in size from a couple of kVA (TV and a few lights) to something that would power the village and more. A 50kVA diesel would run your home easily without compromising on comfort. At least leave a space for a 100A ATS in your planning, no need to install anything until you've have an all night power failure and decided that sitting in the dark (and hot) isn't for you. We have a baby 6.5kVA petrol unit which we bought during the Great Flood which runs our home except the big water pumps, water heaters and aircon (it does supply our bedroom A/C but don't tell our guests), full auto-start/stop, we often don't notice the power failures (TVs, PCs etc have UPSs).

 

Our outdoor lighting is now all solar, which saves somewhat on power but is also easier to install than mains lighting (no wires to run).

[CharlieH]

@Crossy this has to be the remark of the decade ! And made me spit my Coffee everywhere..........OP stated " You seem very knowledgable in electrics "

 

????????????????????????  like telling Neil Armstrong he knows a ittle about space travel.....55555

[hamiltonlad]

On 2/4/2021 at 4:41 PM, sirineou said:

Very exciting to be building. Good luck

As far as front door is concerned, I would  not recommend wood. They have some beautiful wood doors in Thailand,  and we all want one, I did but so far had nothing but problems with it, (shrinking, gaps opening up, not closing ell)  ,some  Thais have a habit of not seasoning the wood well, so it's a roll of the dies, you could get a a good one, or.... When we change ours , I will replace it with an aluminum one. 

Lot's of nice tiles in all the big home improvement , that's what we used and we are very happy with them.

Double Qcone with a cavity is the way to go, we did and the house is always cool. You will be happy you did it, Just make sure the plug the gap (see picture below)

If you want to check out the tread of our build about three years ago you can take a look here: 

Plenty of pictures and small words please, many of as, me included ,  are not very  bright . LOL

Best of luck, and I look forward reading your building thread.

 

Many thanks for your kind input and suggestions - I will certainly review your house build thread for and other advice, thanks ????

 

Double wall cavity - you plug the gaps to stop and bugs/critters making homes?

[hamiltonlad]

On 2/5/2021 at 12:44 AM, CharlieH said:

@Crossy this has to be the remark of the decade ! And made me spit my Coffee everywhere..........OP stated " You seem very knowledgable in electrics "

 

????????????????????????  like telling Neil Armstrong he knows a ittle about space travel.....55555

I guess I put my foot in that one with the electric guru Crossy....doh! ????

 

[hamiltonlad]

On 2/5/2021 at 12:24 AM, Crossy said:

 

Are you sure that's a house, more like a palace ????

 

Most of us manage with a 10kVA (15/45 single-phase meter) ???? 

 

I think you're about right on your 50kVA supply (75A per phase). All that aircon if run together at full chat will suck up 30kVA or so (unlikely unless you're keeping penguins and/or polar bears).

 

Have you considered gas hobs?

 

A project of this magnitude needs careful planning and possibly zoning of supplies locally. Maybe local distibution boards for the kitchen, upstairs, utility, granny flat, man-cave/shed etc. etc. If nothing else it reduces the number of circuits crossing the house down to a few, but bigger, wires.

 

Adding a generator (genset) and ATS (automatic transfer switch) would provide backup power in the event that the mains fails. They range in size from a couple of kVA (TV and a few lights) to something that would power the village and more. A 50kVA diesel would run your home easily without compromising on comfort. At least leave a space for a 100A ATS in your planning, no need to install anything until you've have an all night power failure and decided that sitting in the dark (and hot) isn't for you. We have a baby 6.5kVA petrol unit which we bought during the Great Flood which runs our home except the big water pumps, water heaters and aircon (it does supply our bedroom A/C but don't tell our guests), full auto-start/stop, we often don't notice the power failures (TVs, PCs etc have UPSs).

 

Our outdoor lighting is now all solar, which saves somewhat on power but is also easier to install than mains lighting (no wires to run).

Yeah its a big place - I''ll try add some photos of the plans and some up to date pics.

 

Yep the PEA said we would need that supply after he calculated all the equipment.

 

We are hoping to install a 10kw solar system with battery back up, hence no gas and no genset or ATS. Originally I was thinking of the genset back up, but the noise factor crossed my mind and I would prefer the solar.

 

I was thinking of different boards - one for downstairs and one for upstairs, and maybe one for air/con units. I will also plan for the back up system to pick up certain circuits. From past experience here, there has been very little power outage, maybe for 1hr or so during storms, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

 

Solar lights external - do you use day/night auto mode and PIR?

[sirineou]

2 hours ago, hamiltonlad said:

Many thanks for your kind input and suggestions - I will certainly review your house build thread for and other advice, thanks ????

 

Double wall cavity - you plug the gaps to stop and bugs/critters making homes?

Yes indeed,  but more so to keep the horizontal beams  and window side vertical columns from pouring into the cavity , because most of the covity openings will be covered by the horizontal beams and vertical columns. As you will see in the picture below. 

  If you notice at my build they put the center  plugs flush  with the outside and inside wall , I did not catch it at the time, I was traveling. If I was to do it again , I would had put those plugs an inch or two in, leaving a small space for the beam concrete to flow in creating a key between the beam and wall. Still not a problem because  they put rebar pieces sticking out to tie the wall in to the beams, but a key makes for a stronger joint, and it does not cost anything to do. 

Notice all the way on the top there is no horizontal beam. That's where I will make sure there are cups. 

 

 

[hamiltonlad]

2 hours ago, sirineou said:

Yes indeed,  but more so to keep the horizontal beams  and window side vertical columns from pouring into the cavity , because most of the covity openings will be covered by the horizontal beams and vertical columns. As you will see in the picture below. 

  If you notice at my build they put the center  plugs flush  with the outside and inside wall , I did not catch it at the time, I was traveling. If I was to do it again , I would had put those plugs an inch or two in, leaving a small space for the beam concrete to flow in creating a key between the beam and wall. Still not a problem because  they put rebar pieces sticking out to tie the wall in to the beams, but a key makes for a stronger joint, and it does not cost anything to do. 

Notice all the way on the top there is no horizontal beam. That's where I will make sure there are cups. 

 

 

Gotcha.....great point that I will introduce for more strength.

[Morch]

Sounds like a big project, good luck with it.

 

Several things come to mind -

 

Gutters - check what the roof can bear, and go with the largest you can (or willing to put up with, they're kinda ugly). Connecting downward pipes needs to take into consideration footpath (if there's any) around the house.

 

Footpath around the house - unless got it's own foundations/piles, don't tie to house, as it will damage the walls.

 

Trees - plant away. Take time to grow (or set, if buying a grown one). Nice to have when moving in. Also makes it easier to plan garden, garden lights etc.

 

Left over construction garbage - make clear with builder if it gets buried in the plot, taken away or whatever. if the former, set the place for it yourself, don't let others choose.

 

Driveway - could have missed this one in your post, but a must (especially in rainy season). We dropped the first plans to go with concrete slab or tiles, and made do with dirt/pebbles. Easy, cheap and can always replace/upgrade later on.

 

Access - OP said house raised 1 meter. So is ours, but closed around. If open no issues, otherwise, leave at least a couple of opening for someone to crawl in there when needed. Mind that footpath height beforehand or it will clash with opening size/height.

 

Jai Yen Yen....