Bricks and Tiles for your Next Building Project

[cmjc]

The ubiquitous machine-extruded bricks flake, crack and crumble in a year or two, but these handmade bricks I used to make an outdoor bread oven, and rocket stove, are in daily use and good as new! 

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kkeRb7nMLAvRro8g7

 

I bought them from here, a few pennies each. It's a family run business, so support your local artisans.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kkeRb7nMLAvRro8g7

[spidermike007]

Fantastic idea, anything to avoid standard Thai bricks is a great thing, they are an absolutely horrific building material, with no insulation properties whatsoever, difficulties with running wiring and plumbing through them, and a very impractical material. 

 

I'm going to be building a house soon and I'm going to be using super adobe brick I've already purchased all the equipment required and these bricks are a minimum of 200 cm in depth with tremendous insulation qualities in addition to a gorgeous aesthetic as shown in these images. 

 

 

[IsaanT]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

these bricks are a minimum of 200 cm in depth with tremendous insulation qualities

In terms of insulation properties in isolation, did you consider AAC bricks?  If so, I'd be interested to know how they stacked up against adobe bricks (pun intended).

 

[spidermike007]

51 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

In terms of insulation properties in isolation, did you consider AAC bricks?  If so, I'd be interested to know how they stacked up against adobe bricks (pun intended).

 

Are those similar to Q con bricks? Those would be my first choice but they're quite costly. 

[IsaanT]

33 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Are those similar to Q con bricks? Those would be my first choice but they're quite costly. 

Yep.  Autoclaved Aerated Concrete - lots of air bubbles, which makes it good for heat and sound insulation.

I currently live in an attractive looking rented house but the heat insulation is non-existent so I'm determined not to have the same issues in my house build.  Starting at the top of the house, we have heavy roof tiles but there is no foil backing to reflect heat, and no insulation above the ceilings.  I measure temperatures with my handheld IR thermometer and the ceilings can reach 38-40C when the sun's out.  The walls are made of normal thin Thai clay bricks and they can reach similar temperatures when the sun shines on them.  Thus the interior is uncomfortably hot all day and I retreat to the bedrooms where we have aircon.

I started my build last month.  I'll be using 15cm AAC blocks.  I've been in a nearly-built house near me that is using 10cm thick AAC blocks, which seems to be the norm for AAC builds in Thailand, and it was very cool.  Prestige builds use 20cm thick blocks.

I'm also using SCG heat-resistant roof tiles, and the lovely thick silver foil backing that apparently blocks 95% of radiant heat.  Then I'll be putting 6" of insulation above the ceiling.  The house is 1m above the ground which insulates it from the ground but also because my other half dislikes snakes even more than me.  Lastly, the house walls will be painted in heat-reflecting paint (it really makes a difference).

I appreciate you are taking a different direction to me but most expats desire comfortable temperatures so you may be interested.

The photos show progress to date.  The view is our pond, taken from the house - it's 73m long and 30m wide so very tranquil (apart from adding some banana trees along the fence, we haven't done much landscaping yet so there's lots of potential to improve the view).

 

[Hummin]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Fantastic idea, anything to avoid standard Thai bricks is a great thing, they are an absolutely horrific building material, with no insulation properties whatsoever, difficulties with running wiring and plumbing through them, and a very impractical material. 

 

I'm going to be building a house soon and I'm going to be using super adobe brick I've already purchased all the equipment required and these bricks are a minimum of 200 cm in depth with tremendous insulation qualities in addition to a gorgeous aesthetic as shown in these images. 

 

 

Have you considered double brick walls? And if with or without insulation between? 

[IsaanT]

p.s. Our rented house (picture taken just before we moved in, hence no signs of life 😉).

It looks OK but absolutely no attempt was made in the design and construction to keep it cool.  Still, we only took it for a year and we're past April now so the worst has already occurred.