Building a new house in Isaan

Muhendis · March 5, 2023

1 hour ago, Encid said:

I'm anticipating at least a 30% settlement.

Are you taking bets on 50%?

Elkski · March 5, 2023

Sounds like you have thought of many of the details. Geotextile on the driveway sloped surface is a great idea but it will need reinforced side walls to be effective. Nice CADD drawing of the rebar.

As far as the hydrostatic pressure on a Wall and your wall is concerned. If the voids near the wall fill with water the pressure on the wall will move it!!!.

It will be the same force as if it was a dam of a lake of water. No difference. Filling it with gravel and a drain pipe on the bottom would have been best. Just make sure water doesn't drain towards the wall. It must be very exciting.

Encid · March 5, 2023

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was waiting for some brave soul to post the obvious on this thread to agree with.

I often wonder when reading threads like this how many Thais are living in houses that were built by farangs that were "removed" from the scene after it was completed.

I probably made every mistake it's possible to make in LOS, but I never built a house for my now divorced ex wife.

What a bitter and negative viewpoint.

Did you read my reply to Karen on 20 Feb 2022?

It was as follows:

On 2/20/2022 at 11:40 AM, Encid said:

My wife and I have been married for more than 16 years, and we regularly make trips to the village to stay with the in-laws. They also make regular trips down to stay with us in Najomtien, particularly during school holidays when the kids can come visit and play in our pool too. We are friends, and we respect each other.

I know that there will be frustrations from time to time (mainly due to language and cultural differences), but I see this as an investment for my retirement... lots of exciting projects to do and plenty of land to do it on!

I am not considering a future sale of the house at all... it will be inherited when we're gone by my wife's niece as we do not have any children of our own.

That was a year ago.

Nothing has changed (except the design of the house).

So now we have been happily married for more than 17 years.

I have already built a house in Najomtien for my wife... it was built 15 years ago and we have been happily living there since it was built, so this house will be number two.

Your bitter views are probably a result of your own self-admission... you "probably made every mistake it's possible to make in LOS" including marrying a Thai girl for the wrong reasons.

Me?

I was lucky.

I chose a diamond... although she often reminds me that she chose me first! :cool:

Encid · March 5, 2023

And as of 5pm this afternoon (5 March), all pile driving has been completed.

KhaoYai · March 5, 2023

14 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Depends on the construction. If house is built with wood it has to be lined on inside with something. In NZ drywall is called Gib board, and I think every house I ever went in was constructed with wood and lined with Gib board.

We are talking about building a house in Isaan, Thailand.

Muhendis · March 6, 2023

13 hours ago, Encid said:

And as of 5pm this afternoon (5 March), all pile driving has been completed.

Looks like a grave yard

Elkski · March 6, 2023

I'm wondering what is the oldest age Western man that should begin a project like this? Your obviously 2-3 years into the land acquisition, planning , builder selection, fill, walls,

Muhendis · March 6, 2023

1 hour ago, Elkski said:

I'm wondering what is the oldest age Western man that should begin a project like this? Your obviously 2-3 years into the land acquisition, planning , builder selection, fill, walls,

Age is of no consequence when you want to enjoy yourself doing what you want with your life.

All that is needed is the will and the money and the inclination by those around to let you get on with it without criticism.

Encid · March 6, 2023

3 hours ago, Elkski said:

I'm wondering what is the oldest age Western man that should begin a project like this? Your obviously 2-3 years into the land acquisition, planning , builder selection, fill, walls,

I will ignore the first part of your post, as I think that @Muhendis has responded perfectly already... thanks @Muhendis :wai:

In response to the second part of your post, did you read my OP that started this topic?

There was no land acquisition... the farm belonged to my wife's father, and he donated part of it to his daughter, my wife.

In actual fact we are only 1 year into the project and it was very busy in the early stages... building up the site with fill, building it up further when we thought it was still too low, drilling a bore down to the water table and installing a solar powered pump and overland pipeline to the existing pond on the property, connecting to the PEA domestic power supply and running cables and poles across the family-owned farm land to our building site, dealing with COVID, the family self isolating from the rest of the village by relocating to the farm, building them a temporary shelter, a toilet, a water tank and pump for washing and showering and cleaning... it's all been detailed in this thread.

The highs and the lows... the mistakes and the dramas... the setbacks caused by nature vs corner-cutting... the journey is all here for anyone to read.

Most of the year has been waiting for the land to settle so we could build on it, and of course planning and designing for the future... Guest House first so we can live there whilst the Main House is constructed, then a perimeter wall/fence and some gates, then the concrete access road, then a solar array for the Guest House carport roof and an ESS, then the Main House and pool, then another solar array and some more ESS, then we will start planning for the farm... alternative crops (to rice), perhaps fish and/or crustacean farming, fruit trees and vegetables and salad etc.

There's going to be plenty of opportunities in the future, and we are both really excited and looking forward to it.

I have drawn and discarded many ideas for both the Guest House and the Main House, and have now settled on designs that we both like and are practical for the environment there and our future lifestyle. I have even incorporated a ramp into the design for the Main House for future wheelchair access should it ever become necessary in the coming decades.

I have also asked for (and received) many ideas and comments from the members of this forum in various topics, and my ideas have evolved and become consolidated over this past year as a result.

Our build may not be typical for the Isaan region or to other people's taste or liking... but it is our build and I'm sharing it here primarily to get opinions and ideas, but also to show our families and friends from across the world (as well as locally) what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Encid · March 6, 2023

7 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Looks like a grave yard

I was thinking the same thing... :cheesy:

We will be conducting the blessing ceremony for the first footing/columns on Thursday 9th March at 9am.

Hopefully that will dispel all the negative ghosts and leave us with only friendly and supportive ghosts. :cool:

sometimewoodworker · March 6, 2023

25 minutes ago, Encid said:

I have even incorporated a ramp into the design for the Main House for future wheelchair access should it ever become necessary in the coming decades.

Don’t forget to incorporate steps designed for those with mobility issues. We have done that (along with a ramp that gets used often) and get frequent compliments from those older folks who visit. You will use about twice the normal length for them. FWIW nobody has ever said anything bad about them.

Edited March 6, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

Encid · March 6, 2023

1 minute ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Don’t forget to incorporate steps designed for those with mobility issues. We have done that and get frequent compliments from those older folks who visit. You will use about twice the normal length for them. FWIW nobody has ever said anything bad about them.

Good idea... I will incorporate that into the Guest House access steps too. :thumbsup:

sandyf · March 6, 2023

On 2/19/2022 at 8:27 PM, KhaoYai said:

Can't be bothered, if you don't know now, you never will. Brick or stone external, 100mm insulated cavity 100 - 150mm concrete block internal. Obvioulsy that is designed for UK weather but I would still (and have) go for a variation of that in Thailand.

I built 2 houses last year yes.

Thai houses move a lot - even the block and render cracks. How much do you think a drywall will crack due to movement and how would you repair the frame if its a large crack?

When I buil my house in 2009 I went for cavity wall construction and it has been a real bonus. During the really hot weather the concrete floor and internal walls provide enough heatsink from the AC during the night to keep the internal ambient lower than outside till the following evening. Not much heatsink in drywall.

You are quite right, my son bought a new build about 3 years ago near Sheffield and that is drywall, absolute rubbish.

sandyf · March 6, 2023

21 hours ago, Encid said:

And as of 5pm this afternoon (5 March), all pile driving has been completed.

Different area, different construction. No pile driving for mine. The piller steelwork sits on a 1m square concrete pad a metre deep. The land was raised about half a metre and sat for 6 months before construction. Started end of Oct as the rain came to an end and completed end of Feb.

sometimewoodworker · March 6, 2023

41 minutes ago, Encid said:

Good idea... I will incorporate that into the Guest House access steps too.

I used the spacing from one of my Tokyo universities, I’ll get the measurements later today

Muhendis · March 6, 2023

57 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Don’t forget to incorporate steps designed for those with mobility issues. We have done that (along with a ramp that gets used often) and get frequent compliments from those older folks who visit. You will use about twice the normal length for them. FWIW nobody has ever said anything bad about them.

Yeah I first came across this in my local village. The risers were half height and the treads more than double width. Brilliant idea.

sometimewoodworker · March 6, 2023

14 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Yeah I first came across this in my local village. The risers were half height and the treads more than double width. Brilliant idea.

That is likely to be much steeper than mine

tread hight 100mm tread depth 360mm

rise 1 meter run 3.3 metres

you could decrease the tread to about 310mm without much problem

I suspect that even my brother who has a very unfortunate condition of his long musculature would have been able to get up their stairs easily for several more years. Regrettably his condition, one of the muscular dystrophies, is progressive and though it won’t kill him is making his life more and more inconvenient.

Edited March 6, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

Muhendis · March 6, 2023

1 minute ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That is likely to be much steeper than mine

Well no I think it's about the same.

I am from the UK where the standard riser height is 8" and the tread 10". So the half height would be the same as your 100mm.

It took a bit of getting used to but the amount of knee joint movement to get up and down was very small.

Encid · March 6, 2023

1 hour ago, Muhendis said:

Well no I think it's about the same.

I am from the UK where the standard riser height is 8" and the tread 10". So the half height would be the same as your 100mm.

It took a bit of getting used to but the amount of knee joint movement to get up and down was very small.

The table below is from the Australian Standard AS-1657 - Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways, and ladders - Design, construction, and installation, which is not so different from the UK version.

Encid · March 6, 2023

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

tread hight 100mm tread depth 360mm

Thanks for that... minimizing the hip and knee movement for elderly or muscular dystrophic people will be important for us in the coming decades.

My wife's parents are not getting any younger, and with the onset of diabetes and heart conditions we want to make their lives as comfortable as possible.

I will incorporate that design into the Guest House access steps and also provide a suitable handrail for support, as they will be living there once we have built and fitted out our Main House.

Encid · March 6, 2023

I just checked the drawings and only a minor adjustment is required to the front access steps to the main house, and as previously mentioned, we will have a ramp from the carport to the Thai kitchen for every-day access.

I might keep the 60cm tread length the same, and evenly adjust the riser height to bring them close to 10cm.

One thing I am very conscious of is the importance of maintaining equal riser heights over the whole length of a stairway... how many times have you found stairways with different tread heights here in Thailand?

I was planning on using the 10cm tread nosings to install LED strip lighting to make them easy to see in the dark... also to add some visual appeal.

sometimewoodworker · March 6, 2023

3 hours ago, Encid said:

I just checked the drawings and only a minor adjustment is required to the front access steps to the main house, and as previously mentioned, we will have a ramp from the carport to the Thai kitchen for every-day access.

I might keep the 60cm tread length the same, and evenly adjust the riser height to bring them close to 10cm.

One thing I am very conscious of is the importance of maintaining equal riser heights over the whole length of a stairway... how many times have you found stairways with different tread heights here in Thailand?

I was planning on using the 10cm tread nosings to install LED strip lighting to make them easy to see in the dark... also to add some visual appeal.

Something is amiss in the state of Denmark.

Your drawing is not of a staircase but a series of landings.

as I mentioned my steps have a tread depth of 360mm (310mm would probably be better). Your suggested 600mm is short for a landing a ridiculously long for a staircase. That you seem to have one “step” at 500mm would be a tripping hazard or poor drafting.

lighting under the step noses could be a good idea. You can only achieve that if you intend to use thick slabs, likely stone, as the treads, however the design has a 100mm unsupported section, meaning the tread slabs have to be rather thick to achieve that, I wouldn’t think that the design would work with a low rise and shortening the overhang would probably look similar and allow for a slightly thinner slab while still allowing for lighting

You are completely (as am I) outside the chart you quoted. However the chart is, in my personal opinion, just a general guide and isn’t OAP friendly.

Edited March 6, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

Encid · March 17, 2023

So a couple of weeks later and a lot has happened.

First the area around the piles was excavated for foundations and the tops of the piles cut off to allow for the foundation reinforcing steel to be fitted.

A dumpy level was used to determine the height that the piles were to be cut, so they were all at the same level.

Then a small concrete bed was poured around each pile.

This is to ensure that all the foundation reinforcing is set at the same level.

Encid · March 17, 2023

In the meantime other workers were busy cutting and bending various rebar sections and tying them together with wire to form the reinforcement for the house columns.

Encid · March 17, 2023

And on Wednesday 8 March this is how the site looked from the air...

Encid · March 17, 2023

I noticed that the electricity had been hooked up (more or less) to a pole just outside the shelter to provide power for tools and lighting etc.

No sign of any cover though... and no sign of any earthing either, so I reminded our builder to make the site safe.

Exposed copper wiring (and terminals) exposed to the open atmosphere gives me the heebie-jeebies... and I told him that we didn't want any of his people getting electrocuted and dying on our future home site... we had enough ghosts there already!

Encid · March 17, 2023

The following day at 9 minutes past 9 am on the 9th day of March we held our house blessing ceremony.

It was a surprising (and humbling) turnout by the village... over 100 people came to wish us good luck and to throw a few coins into the house footings before the concrete gets poured... a truly happy day for the entire family.

We have been honoured... :wai:

MrJ2U · March 17, 2023

On 2/19/2022 at 6:21 PM, Lacessit said:

aircon bills will skyrocket.

Definitely.

Great idea for solar as he has posted. It'll really help out with the monthly electricity bills.

Encid · March 17, 2023

A few more photos...

We dropped about 2,200 baht into the footings (we know because we counted it the night before) and the locals would have dropped in a couple more hundred baht so it would have been quite a tidy sum.

We knew that it would be collected before the concrete gets poured by the workers, as a form of compensation for them only being able to work half a day due to the party.

That seems fair to me... it's the symbolism that matters.