Tropical Home Design

[Naam]

While I’ll be striving for perfection, I’ll hopefully have the grace to be able to settle for good enough

that's the only way to keep insanity away! i wanted perfection, i wanted to implement a zillion hi-tech features. now i am happy to have implemented only one tenth of a zillion features because they keep me busy to maintain them.

[Naam]

Is your wife Thai?

i am not that fortunate

[Naam]

As for the electrical system, I’ll make sure it’s properly grounded, of course, and I’ll install ground fault outlets where appropriate. We’ll have lots of outlets (partly due to the inconvenience of adding them later with masonry construction), and place the switches at a good compromise height.

throw overboard the features you were used to in The Greatest Nation on Earth™ Lolare. the outlets you are talking about are not used outside the U.S. (at least i've never seen them). what you need is a main GFCI breaker in your panel through which wetrooms are routed. the use of different GFCI outlets is as archaic as the burning of witches.

[Naam]

I’m with you on liking under mounts for the lavs. Did I imply otherwise? I agree they are the cleanest both appearance-wise and for the maid. Those trendy new sinks mounted like a bowl on top of the counter don’t do much for me, and I’ve never liked having to seal the lip of the bowl to the countertop either.

what's wrong with simple designs like these?

guest bath, "master" bath, "mistress bath" (i hate females messing around in my bathroom).

Edited August 16, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[Naam]

actually these pictures are from our Florida home but our present bathrooms are identical. only difference is that we could not get brass fixtures in Thailand and had to go for chrome.

note something special Lolare? NO tiles on any bathroom wall! i hate the slaughter house look of tiled walls.

[kamalabob2]

Experienced Thai Architect who is also our Builder:

I did an Internet search for Architects, attended the Home Builders Show in Bangkok, even wasted time at a builder with a regional office of "The Mall" in Korat. EVERY Thai area has reasonably priced architects who are licensed. I believe they even must attend a University to become a licensed Architect in Thailand. Who do you think designs the large homes of the Thai Chinese families who own the successful auto dealerships, rice trading firms, successful appliance dealers and building materials stores? We asked at the Buriram Banks, appliance stores, Toyota Dealership and building materials stores. We then met face to face with three Buriram Architects and the first thing I did was ask to see their license. All five architects had a different price per square meter of house to be built which included the pool, garage, pool house and covered terrace area. We then went to look at actual built homes designed by three different Buriram architects, one Phuket architect and one Korat firm that had a home under construction in Buriram. My favorite experience was the dead drunk workers at 2p.m. on a Wednesday at one home under construction in Buriram by a Korat "National" firm based in Bangkok.

I was insistent on obtaining the PHONE number anywhere in the World of a "Farang" client of each architect. I did not phone until I viewed the home by any particular architect. I was very impressed with the quality of building, tasteful design, "fit and finish" of a two bedroom home with a beautiful kitchen and bar area commissioned by a Bangkok based Farang for his Mother in Law in the city of Buriram. His quote to me which I now fully understand was "We received far more value and far more house than we thought we were paying for". I also visited BOOK and BED restaurant in Buriram that had this architects workers busy on a tight budget. I spoke directly with the owner of Book and Bed who speaks English very well due to his College educational years in the United States. I also saw the design and materials used in the remodeling of several bathrooms and kitchens in "shop houses" in Buriram. The beautiful upstairs apartment at Home Mart Max in Buriram which overlook the store are designs of this architect.

I spoke to Khun Phun (similar to Apple, I may not type it correct in English) and she is available for serious architectural clients, but she has her staff full on not only my home but another Farang and another Thai merchant family home in Surin. She is not interested in building a 300,000 baht home, but I have seen an 800,000 home she designed and built with lower end building materials for a Thai family in a village North of Buriram going toward the airport. The house she did for 1.2 million baht in Buriram seemed much nicer and had better materials (and more items including security bars, window screens, good looking kitchen cabinets, fully tiled bathrooms) than a similarly priced home by another local builder.

Khun Phun is now based in Buriram due to the health of her Mother. She previously worked on the staff of a large Architectural firm in Bangkok.

I met at least 20 times with Khun Phun at her office in her husbands Picture Framing shop near Book and Bed and "around the corner" from the bus station. She was able to take us to SEE actual ideas already built in a home so we understood each item.

She works wiht a licensed Structural Engineer and a draftsman who did the plans on auto cad. Changes were easy.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Khun Phun UNDERSTANDS, can READ, can WRITE and type ENGLISH but she does not speak English as well as my wife. My wife and/or the owners of several building materials suppliers have served as interpretors on several occasions. I did spend 4000 baht to have a law firm in Bangkok go over the building materials list and building contract and give me an English version.

If you are serious about getting a fair price (it was the lowest we were quoted of the six licensed architects) for home or shop plans and you are in the Buriram or Surin area it would be a good experience for you to make an appointment to meet this architect at her husbands frame shop, look at some of her completed or under construction designs and obtain a written price per square meter. On the same day meet another licensed architect in Buriram who has a stunning office around the corner from FUJI and the older KFC on the road between two "round a bouts" near the College that has a Bangkok Bank Branch on school grounds. See both architects, get prices from both qualified professionals and go see projects for yourself.

We paid for the plans in three payments and the final payment was not due until the plans were approved by the building department and I had a building permit in my name. She did that whole process and helped us at the water department and electrical department. I would have been "faranged" in both places, but she knew the real prices for the level of utility connections we needed for a home our size.

Once I had the approved plans in hand (and important items translated into English on the plans) I was able to obtain legitimate bids from recommended local builders. She happened to have the lowest price and I was comfortable signing a contract and have not regretted it for one minute. We paid a 5% deposit at the signing of the contract, and have NINE more progress payments in the building contract. We are still four months away from moving in so in the meantime we live in a 2000 baht a month two bedroom rental house in Satuk.

I've attached a few more photos. It would be better to have someone who speaks Thai make the first call at 081-7604583

Her e-mail is [email protected] I know she can e-mail plans to clients who are not in Buriram, but you should meet her and see her work in person.

I will post photos here from time to time.

[patrickq]

My lot slopes enough that poles are a practical idea for me, so slab on posts was my idea from the beginning. The fellow who was doing the working drawings changed that to slab on fill, but I put a stop to that. Communication is so difficult!! I was planning on side walls of stone to cover with crawl space, but with large screened vents. My thought was to keep local critters from setting up housekeeping under the house. Since the lot slopes as much as it does, I added an office, an exercise area, and a sauna, as well as a mechanical room and extra garage/workshop down there too. I’m hoping that enclosing the space doesn’t negate the benefits you’re talking about.

You need to have airflow through the underside area for maximum benefit, although enclosing partly shouldn't have a serious effect.

We're in the planning stage too, our 1.5 Rai lot is flat and about 2m above high river level, we've filled to be level with the road so when it floods hopefully it won't get higher than our lawn. We're going for 3m poles with a small area downstairs walled for workshop and laundry room. Nothing flash, we're basing around design number 27 on this page http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/ much smaller than yours but with just myself and the missus we don't want to rattle around too much

I'm no builder (electrical engineer) but I reckon you'll need driven piles as a minimum foundation near the sea and on a slope.

How's things going with your planning/building? We live in a house of very similar design and it is fabulous, the upper courtyard has a 2M x 3M Jacuzzi/pool which is great on a hot day, or for lying in and star gazing at night. If you want to ask any questions about the design aspects please do so ... as in how we find it living here, the house was built about 10 years ago, long before we moved in.

[patrickq]

If you’re a perfectionist then make sure all the electrical sockets/switches are installed level, using a spirit-level, I can’t believe the way they are just thrown onto the wall freestyle, even in the multi-million Baht homes. I’d suggest a bonus for each one that measures up true :-)

Hardwood flooring … we have teak in our bedroom, which was previously varnished and peeling when we moved in, I sanded back to bare wood, with a hand sander, which took about a week, but so worth doing. Then oiled with a couple of coats of teak oil, don’t apply too heavily, it dries in after about a week, before then is a bit sticky, it is so nice to walk on and fabulous to look at, I’d never varnish/lacquer the floor, might as well have plastic tiles laid :-)

[Iolare]

Well, here’s the design that has evolved through my research and with the help of ideas submitted here by you folks. I’m still wrestling with the roof and ceiling insulation and the attic ventilation. I’d like to just go with convection venting, but I worry that my design may not allow adequate airflow. The house will have 3 meter ceilings for everything but the LV, DR, and Entry Hall, which will follow the roof lines to a higher height. The idea would be to have the hot air exit from the base of the pyramid at the top of the center of the house. What do you guys think? Should I have exhaust fans or not? By the way, the 3D renderings were produced by Excaliber, a member here.

Final_Floorplan_3.pdf

[JRinger]

That's quite a nice looking house and it appears a lot of thought and planning went into the design. Wished I'd have had 3D renderings before having my house built.

Aside from the builder not visually understanding how things should look, we had to redo many aspects that almost sent me to the funny farm, near separation from my dear and understanding wife, etc. I also wish I would have hired an experienced Project Manager to oversee the build and absorb some of the headaches. You know what they say about hindsight...

Anyway, good luck with your fabulous house. Looking forward to seeing the finished product and maybe some progress shots.

I would definitely extend the hip roof at the ridge making it a gable end with some sort of wood slats & screens to allow air flow and heat escape.

Automatic exhaust fans are a good investment also......happy building...

Edited September 19, 2007 by JRinger

[Iolare]

That's quite a nice looking house and it appears a lot of thought and planning went into the design. Wished I'd have had 3D renderings before having my house built.

Aside from the builder not visually understanding how things should look, we had to redo many aspects that almost sent me to the funny farm, near separation from my dear and understanding wife, etc. I also wish I would have hired an experienced Project Manager to oversee the build and absorb some of the headaches. You know what they say about hindsight...

Anyway, good luck with your fabulous house. Looking forward to seeing the finished product and maybe some progress shots.

I would definitely extend the hip roof at the ridge making it a gable end with some sort of wood slats & screens to allow air flow and heat escape.

Automatic exhaust fans are a good investment also......happy building...

Thanks JRinger,

I’m having fun with the project so far. Sorry to read about the near funny farm and near separation experiences. I know what you mean, though, my wife wasn’t too keen about spending money for the 3D drawings, but I prevailed on her (she liked them when they came), so who knows what I may be in for before this is over. I think the 3D really helps to see what you’re planning. I’ll add a couple of kitchen views here.

I’m thinking about a project manager, but haven’t decided that yet. I thought about the little gable ends for ventilation as you suggest, but I thought that the house was starting to look too busy, so I deleted them. I’ll include a picture of a Sala that uses them effectively in my opinion. I also like the color of that sala roof, and that might be the color I end up with.

As for the mechanical exhaust fans, see the attached drawing. I’m still undecided but leaning that way, and hoping for some good comments here to help me decide.

Attic_Venting_Plan.pdf

[selftaopath]

Man am I glad I found you.

We're wanting to build a house in Isaan. I have an overall plan of a house and want to find a draftsman located somewhere between Chaiyaphum and Khon Kaen. The "plans I have show the overall dimensions i.e. rooms etc but no details. My wife asked a local ??? "draftsman" and he asked for the details. ?????? Well hel_l if I had them I'd have a complete set of drawings right? ?????

I guess I could go to the original site and go through the time consuming task of purchasing/paying for shipment and hope they arrive vie post. LOL And we know the Thai post is 100 % reliable.

So if anyone can suggest someone please do. And thanks in advance. Oh and BTW how does dry wall hold up in Thailand?

If ya know how I can become a fan of TV on my facebook please let me know. I swear I don't know where I would "turn to " if TV and all you active members were not available.

Appreciative Keoki

[trogers]

The "plans I have show the overall dimensions i.e. rooms etc but no details. My wife asked a local ??? "draftsman" and he asked for the details. ?????? Well hel_l if I had them I'd have a complete set of drawings right? ?????

A draftsman only draws. A designer designs and specifies details.

[selftaopath]

My lot slopes enough that poles are a practical idea for me, so slab on posts was my idea from the beginning. The fellow who was doing the working drawings changed that to slab on fill, but I put a stop to that. Communication is so difficult!! I was planning on side walls of stone to cover with crawl space, but with large screened vents. My thought was to keep local critters from setting up housekeeping under the house. Since the lot slopes as much as it does, I added an office, an exercise area, and a sauna, as well as a mechanical room and extra garage/workshop down there too. I'm hoping that enclosing the space doesn't negate the benefits you're talking about.

You need to have airflow through the underside area for maximum benefit, although enclosing partly shouldn't have a serious effect.

We're in the planning stage too, our 1.5 Rai lot is flat and about 2m above high river level, we've filled to be level with the road so when it floods hopefully it won't get higher than our lawn. We're going for 3m poles with a small area downstairs walled for workshop and laundry room. Nothing flash, we're basing around design number 27 on this page http://www.crossy.co...ai_House_Plans/ much smaller than yours but with just myself and the missus we don't want to rattle around too much

I'm no builder (electrical engineer) but I reckon you'll need driven piles as a minimum foundation near the sea and on a slope.

I went to your link and got a look at the pictures of the house you're going to build. Did you retain the central courtyard idea? Looks like a nice house, and you'll get the additional benefit of exercise going up and down those stairs every day. Interesting that the government supplies free plans. And I'm impressed at the estimated cost of building that house. Looks like it works out to be about 5500 baht per square meter. i would be turning cartwheels if I could get mine done for that.

By the way, I think I'll make the vents in my crawl space bigger to insure good airflow under the house. Thanks for your input and good luck with the project.

[selftaopath]

Looks like it works out to be about 5500 baht per square meter. i would be turning cartwheels if I could get mine done for that.

Hi, isn't there a formula for estimating construction costs e.g. BT/USD per cubic foot/meter???? This would be helpful.

Thanks,

K

[David006]

Impressive house ideas and plans for some beauties...

Nice o know everybody has/had all the same dam issues with builders..don't think its just Thailand though.

Here are a few things that may be of interest or good for a laugh ..from when we built our very simple modest about (13 meters by 8 meters under the roof)house on the side of our mountain on our farm.

..first off we had to move the house site as the cut out dug out of the hillside for the original decided to migrate downhill in the wet during excavation of the pole footings...lucky the builders were "no show" every time it rained...The ground under the topsoil was compact clay and sandstone ... so made a beautiful 'slide" for any loose stuff.

- well then we changed the whole design of the house from a "book" version to my fag packet version which I gave to a design engineer to draw up plans on CAD, I then put in my overbuild paranoia specs.... we moved the site across the hill a hundred meters and decided not to cut any land just sink 2x2x2 meter pole/footings holes. I had the builders install a concrete retaining wall immediately behind and abutting the house..footings for the wall were also 2x2x2 joined to each other with a base 1m x 250ml holding the rebar up-rite frame. All footing "pads" were about a foot thick with qty 12 15 meter high vertical rebars in the box section..attached to the rebar frame inside the footing.

- my fag packet original plans were for just a 1 bed pole home but after I saw how massive and high the construction was I decided to utilize the underside to add laundry/ bathroom and another bedroom with a large open tiled area for future whatever. ( at present a great workshop/junk magnet area with a view)

Apart from what seemed the thousands of bags of cement and and sand /rock I purchased and hauled we had 17 half full concrete mixer trucks for the house footings poles and frames/floors etc...had to hand to those drivers getting up a steep hill of yet to be concreted road...bloody amazing. Had a couple of small delivery trucks run away backwards and run into the rubber trees on the way up! Never saw 'em again...so had to haul everything myself in my little 2WD pick up.

- upper floor was planked with concrete planks across 300x100 concrete beams before overlaying with rebar mesh and more bloody concrete...

...I see this is going on a bit so will write more later maybe about steps, plumbing, electrics, ceilings,tiles,doors, windows etc...if anyone is still awake..lol...time for a beer.

cheers

[selftaopath]

The "plans I have show the overall dimensions i.e. rooms etc but no details. My wife asked a local ??? "draftsman" and he asked for the details. ?????? Well hel_l if I had them I'd have a complete set of drawings right? ?????

A draftsman only draws. A designer designs and specifies details.

I suppose you are correct Trogers, but I wonder about google's definitions (as shown below) and where I might have gotten my idea of professions.

Definitions:

• · draftsman - 1. One who draws in detail using drawing tools, making plans of structures or machinery, etc. 2. One who draws up legal documents, speeches, etc.

www.yourwebassistant.net/glossary/d10.htm

• · a skilled worker who draws plans of buildings or machines

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• architect

• A person who designs buildings and in many cases also supervises their construction

de·sign·er Noun /dəˈzīnər/

de·sign·er Noun /dəˈzīnər/

Synonyms:

• noun: draftsman, planner, schemer, draughtsman, projector

• designers plural

• A person who plans the form, look, or workings of something before its being made or built, typically by drawing it in detail
  • he's one of the world's leading car designers

Please help me understand. Thanks

Edited September 12, 2010 by selftaopath

[trogers]

The "plans I have show the overall dimensions i.e. rooms etc but no details. My wife asked a local ??? "draftsman" and he asked for the details. ?????? Well hel_l if I had them I'd have a complete set of drawings right? ?????

A draftsman only draws. A designer designs and specifies details.

I suppose you are correct Trogers, but I wonder about google's definitions (as shown below) and where I might have gotten my idea of professions.

Definitions:

• · draftsman - 1. One who draws in detail using drawing tools, making plans of structures or machinery, etc. 2. One who draws up legal documents, speeches, etc.

www.yourwebassistant.net/glossary/d10.htm

• · a skilled worker who draws plans of buildings or machines

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• architect

• A person who designs buildings and in many cases also supervises their construction

de·sign·er Noun /dəˈzīnər/

de·sign·er Noun /dəˈzīnər/

Synonyms:

• noun: draftsman, planner, schemer, draughtsman, projector

• designers plural

• A person who plans the form, look, or workings of something before its being made or built, typically by drawing it in detail
  • he's one of the world's leading car designers

Please help me understand. Thanks

The above definitions are correct. The designer (may be an architect or interior designer) will sketch out his ideas and place remarks such as type and sizes of windows, and how high from the floor, type and thickness of walls, type and dimension of doors and directions they are to swing opened, height and type of balustrades, etc.

The draftsman will draw out the designer's ideas into proper dimensioned drawings, usually in 2D blueprints. This is the reason he will ask for the details before he can do his part.

[evanson]

Or you could consider this My link

[bbradsby]

Pretty good pointers here! And you definitely do not sound like a neophyte from your posts and your background.

Hard to give feedback without seeing the specific site & its view opportunities (and those that want to be shielded), analyzing the microclimate through the seasons, and then finally reviewing the 'fitness' of the proposed design response, but a few general comments:

One of my watchwords for climate-responsive design is to look at what the locals built - one hundred years ago. Not that you can or should build a thatch hut or teak stilt house, but the design decisions/responses to climate, lifestyle (actually, Culture in those days, but that's its own conversation), as well as basic geometry & materials selections for each portion of the work reflected a Complete Fit between the occupants, their houses and the locale.

If you carefully analyze the traditional houses in your site's area, there you'll find the design concepts, geometries and materials from which to develop the house design with the highest level of fitness to the local climate - and one that will visually fit in most naturally with the surroundings & look more graceful since your palette will be the same as that used for centuries by the locals.

Note that this could result in a very traditional house OR a very International Style (what laypeople call 'Modern' even as that was what every style of design was called in its day, including Gothic) house.

Can you post some images of your design to date?