Building House In Issan

[Bpraim1]

Just woundering how many people have insulated they homes, other then foil of the roof!

IE) walls-roof-double pane windows?????

What are there takes on this in home cooling?

[Nongwahyay]

Just woundering how many people have insulated they homes, other then foil of the roof!

IE) walls-roof-double pane windows?????

What are there takes on this in home cooling?

Foil off the roof and you could easily inflict wounds on yourself or even break your neck ................(sorry.......just couldn´t resist it....... )

[Thaddeus]

I have had 4 houses built in Thailand in several different configuerations regarding insulation/keeping heat out.The first house I used double red brick and a flat raingutter 1.5 meter overhang with no downward sloop.this allows the sun to heat the house from the west and the double brick keeps the heat in. I have planted large trees to help but stillfeel the double brick is not the answer.I built a duplex 2 story with single block and they stay the coolest.The last one was built off the same plan as the first house but with single brick walls,a traditional sloped roof with 1 meter over hang and built 1 meter raised from grade level ( my first house was built as 2 story with the whole lower level left open)All the houses have chang roofs with foil and attic insulation also.IMO if i was to ever build another I would use the new Insulated brick they sell now and put a extra large attic vent and both sides of the roof. Also I would put a fan at one of the vents to draw air through the attic and vent it out side. I would install it on a timer to come on in the afternoon and shut off after dark.Also the foil and attic insulation is a good idea

Have you ever considered just sitting outside?

[mailman]

I have had 4 houses built in Thailand in several different configuerations regarding insulation/keeping heat out.The first house I used double red brick and a flat raingutter 1.5 meter overhang with no downward sloop.this allows the sun to heat the house from the west and the double brick keeps the heat in. I have planted large trees to help but stillfeel the double brick is not the answer.I built a duplex 2 story with single block and they stay the coolest.The last one was built off the same plan as the first house but with single brick walls,a traditional sloped roof with 1 meter over hang and built 1 meter raised from grade level ( my first house was built as 2 story with the whole lower level left open)All the houses have chang roofs with foil and attic insulation also.IMO if i was to ever build another I would use the new Insulated brick they sell now and put a extra large attic vent and both sides of the roof. Also I would put a fan at one of the vents to draw air through the attic and vent it out side. I would install it on a timer to come on in the afternoon and shut off after dark.Also the foil and attic insulation is a good idea

Have you ever considered just sitting outside?

We used roof foil insulation and good roof tiles, but it is still warm! I think a combination of things mentioned is what works best. Because of the way the roof was built, we did NOT vent the roof as has been suggested (big mistake). I am going to be looking at how we can do this, as I feel it's adding a few degrees centigrade to the house temperature and maybe get a vent fan. I would think that screened vents from the ceiling will also help to get the warm air up and out.

Never mind, that sounds like too much work, I'm going to sit outside and have a beer!

[ThaiLaw99]

I met a very nice man in KK 2 weeks ago. He used to build houses in Australia and now building his own in KK. I believe he is an engineer and would probably be glad to help you. Send me a PM if you want his phone number.

Sebastian

p.s.: I forgot to say that I saw the construction of his new house and was impressed by his technical skills in insulation. Cuecon bricks with air inside the walls, nice insulation on the roof, etc.

Edited September 7, 2007 by Issanlawyers

[Lickey]

We built our house the other way round to traditional Thai style, ie, put the roof on stilts, used grey coulered tiles to help reflect the heat, I have a 2 by 3 meter pool on the this floor, with a jet pump for water massage, its 20mtrs long by 9mtr wide, its a good area for family parties ect, and a great place to go if the family gets too much,

2nd floor is living accomadation and is double glazed and insulated to keep road and village noise out, it works well, but on the other hand, i think it keeps heat in too,

1st floor is mrs Beauty salon, western style kitchen and a thai kitchen outside, cos of the smell made by thai cooking sometimes, going into the Salon, and if i get fed up with all this, i go to Mrs hillside farm, we have a small wooden house there with a balcony and a fridge!!

[Bpraim1]

What about the walls?? Only use brick never insulat after then gipsom to cover?

I know will have so humidity issues but has anyone tried this route. Why stop at the roof heat comes from everywhere.

[Bpraim1]

Just woundering how many people have insulated they homes, other then foil of the roof!

IE) walls-roof-double pane windows?????

What are there takes on this in home cooling?

Foil off the roof and you could easily inflict wounds on yourself or even break your neck ................(sorry.......just couldn´t resist it....... )

Oh nice one! That a boy! keep it come'n

[soundman]

If you have the money in your budget, maximum insulation is a must. Halves your AC bills......

Soundman.

[thedi]

My house has just the foil-isolation under the roof. The main feature to keep it cool is the balcony all around. This is also my 'office'. The house was build so I could install aircondition, but I never felt the need for it.

A garden with a pond is a great thing in the hot season too:

This pictures are two years old. Now there are more trees in the garden and the trees you see are now bigger and have more leaves. We stay in the shadow of this trees when it is hot.

Regards

Thedi

[Bicko]

If you have the money in your budget, maximum insulation is a must. Halves your AC bills......

Soundman.

Yes Soundman this is correct. Any rooms that are air conditioned will benefit from being insulated but for the rest of the house it does not matter.

There are many configurations avalaible:

Single timber external cladding

Single leaf brick walls, plastered

Cavity (double) brick walls

Single leaf brick and internal gyprock or timber on steel or timber frame

etc etc

The ambient temperature inside and outside will be consistent, whatever the wall and ceiling finish.

The trick is to have circulation. This can be done by having vents in the ceiling and have self operating rotating fans on the roof. Leave a couple of doors or windows open and these fans will withdraw the hot air in the ceiling space and of course this will result in new air being drawn into the ceiling space through the doors and windows and the ceiling vents. This sets up a circulation and reduces inside temperatures.

it is also a good idea to build your eaves overhang on your roof as wide as possible (Minimum 1 metre). This means that you will only have direct sun on your external walls in the early morning and evening. Trees around the house to shade the walls is also a good idea.

I am also an Aussie building consultant/engineer living in Isaan

[soundman]

Trees around the house to shade the walls is also a good idea.

Ponds, trees & grass, as opposed to bituman & concrete, make a huge difference to ambient daytime temperatures around the dwelling.

Especially if the trees are providing shade on the exterior walls that are facing the sun.

[Bpraim1]

Ok Thanks for the help.

new question? What about fibreglass or foam insulation in the walls after the brick or steel post.

hence Brick insulation gripsum paint.

I will be use'n aircon most of the time. House is small 100m2

I see alot of people foil the roof to reflect heat, but when useing aircon, what about walls, windows?

[Bicko]

Ok Thanks for the help.

new question? What about fibreglass or foam insulation in the walls after the brick or steel post.

hence Brick insulation gripsum paint.

I will be use'n aircon most of the time. House is small 100m2

I see alot of people foil the roof to reflect heat, but when useing aircon, what about walls, windows?

As I said above if the room is to be air conditioned then there will be considerable benefit and aircon running cost savings if you insulate.

There are many ways of doing this.

The silver foil under the roof tiles or roof sheeting helps although i often see them lay the foil directly under the sheets and on top of the roof beams. It works a lot better if the foil is fixed to the underside of the roof beams and leave an air space between the foil and the roof. Some light timber battens at about 75cm centres can be used to support the foil

Ceilings can be insulated either by spraying in an insulating material directly on to the top of the ceiling. This can be messy if you do not have fixed panel ceilings. The alternative is to cut and lay insulating "bats" which are normally 100mm thick fibreglass wool directly on to the top of the ceiling and cut neatly to fit between the ceiling joists.

Walls can be insulated in many ways but the most effective is to build a cavity brick wall (2 walls with a gap between of 20 to 30mm ) or to use hollow concrete blocks. There are also some aerated concrete blocks around which i am told are OK but I have not used them.

The exhaust fans that i referred to above are a very efficient and cheap way to extract hot air from the ceiling space and set up a circulation to draw in new cooler fresh air.

Hope this helps

[Bicko]

By the way double glazing of windows is expensive and uneccessary. Works well for cold climates but not for heat.

Single glaze your windows and pay a bit more for heavy curtains with a silver reflective material backing on the glass side and keep the curtains drawn during the heat of the day.

[pumpuiman]

I used blown in styrofoam expanding insulation under the roof tiles, it strengthened and waterproofed the roof, and insulates really well. I'm happy with it.....although it was pricey.

[Bicko]

A very good tip---

Use Inverter technology split level wall or ceiling mounted air conditioning. This technology is relatively new and most effective, it will reduce your electricity running costs by as much as 50%

Mitsubishi and Samsung both offer a good model.

Selection of the correct unit to effectively cool your room is most important. Work out the cubic volume of the room (Length x breadth x height = m3) and select the unit that the manufacturer says will suit that volume. DO NOT go under size in an attempt to save money. It does not work and you will regret it forever. If anything go up one size. You can always reduce the operation of cooling but you can not increase beyond the upper limit.

Air conditioners MUST be cleaned and serviced regularly. They need regassing and the screens in the distribution unit in the room need to be taken out and washed and brushed clean. The frequency will depend on where you live. If it is a polluted or dusty area obviously cleaning will be needed every 6 months or so.

[Bpraim1]

Sounds good, I have two new Aircons, panasonic 2ton and a Panasonic 1ton invertor.

Will be take'n these to the new house.

I am mostly intersted in the wall aspect of insulation. Roof is a ceramic tile sprayed with Ceramic sealent. You can look here about it www.freshflowservice.com

My house is a steel frame prefab design. Outer wall is like a cement shingle,then steel studs,Gipsun.

I want to put insulation between the outer and inner walls.

But am worried about Humidity problems.

[kamalabob2]

What an interesting web site you posted. Great idea to treat the roofs and I had never seen the pre-fab type buildings in Thailand. The previous Thai Visa Forum members have given you great advise. If you want to know specifics about a particular insulation product why not ask the experts who speak English at www.siaminsulation.com Any Home Mart can give you the LARGE 9 inch by 11 inch Green Front Cover 1/2 inch THICK catalog on many Insulation Products from this company. I have spoken on the telephone several times with a person on the technical staff of Siam Insulation who understood and spoke English very well. I have seen various types of Wall insulation in this green catalog.

Do you have the space on your plot of land to add some sort of covered terrace to help to block the sun from hitting and baking your walls?

[kamalabob2]

Correct web site: www.siamfiberglass.com

[olaus]

Just woundering how many people have insulated they homes, other then foil of the roof!

IE) walls-roof-double pane windows?????

What are there takes on this in home cooling?

I did not insulate my house in any way.

We have AC but seldom use it.

If you insulate, you keep the house warm all night. If not, the house cools down very quick after the sun sets.

[Bpraim1]

What an interesting web site you posted. Great idea to treat the roofs and I had never seen the pre-fab type buildings in Thailand. The previous Thai Visa Forum members have given you great advise. If you want to know specifics about a particular insulation product why not ask the experts who speak English at www.siaminsulation.com Any Home Mart can give you the LARGE 9 inch by 11 inch Green Front Cover 1/2 inch THICK catalog on many Insulation Products from this company. I have spoken on the telephone several times with a person on the technical staff of Siam Insulation who understood and spoke English very well. I have seen various types of Wall insulation in this green catalog.

Do you have the space on your plot of land to add some sort of covered terrace to help to block the sun from hitting and baking your walls?

Thanks for the reply,

I have looked at afew different products, will be checking these out soon.

I have about 1 rai of land. We are putting a covered deck on one side with tree/hedges around the deck,

Hope to keep MrSun at bay.

Thanks everyone for the info!

Will post pics when complete.

[chiang mai]

The OP needs to do a search in this forum because there's a whole range of info on this subject that is really useful. Only other point to add is that I noticed last week that Carrefour (in Patong Beach) sells sheets of polystyrene, one meter by one and a half meters, one inch thick that works out to be about 13 baht a square meter, really good value for insulating above T-Bar panels. The items mentioned were in the arts and crafts section.

[Bpraim1]

Chiang Mai,

If I every neet you, first round is on me!!

[chiang mai]

Chiang Mai,

If I every neet you, first round is on me!!

And the second, third and fourth. Please forward address ASAP, can travel at short notice.

[Bpraim1]

Do you know where Nong Khai is?

Well not even close to there! hahahha

may just have to find you at the unofficial TV party in CM in Nov

[Lickey]

The prime reason for having a roof on "stilts" in my case was to have a cooling breeze through the 3rd floor, also rain comes in there and cools the ceiling of the 2nd floor, the roof tiles are silver/grey to reflect heat, the 2nd floor double glazing [tinted with mossie screens] are primaralily to keep the local noise out, these units are not really expensive, check at global house for prices, the walls are the mini-brick with a coating of fibre insulation, then gyproc board painted over, with the windows shut and AC on, it will maintain a comfortable temp of 23 and i can sit and read a book with no outside noise atall, we live on a busy highway into a busy big village, and i suffer a lot with tinnitus, thats the reason for the extra insulation, think about this if you need a quiet place, you will only ever design one house in your life, so best get it right 1st time,

Kind regards, Lickey.

[hgma]

We just finished our "second" home here in Nongkhai.(2-1)

Between the roof end the ceiling we use insulation.

in fact we think thats the proper way to keep your house cool.

the difference between indoor and outdoor without putting on fan or aircon is about 3-5 degrees(less indoors)

insulation between roof and ceiling has another advantage......small leakage doesnt come true the ceiling.

we use thermopane windows.....sound proof.....keeps it cooler also...plus burglair "free"

good luck

hgma

Just woundering how many people have insulated they homes, other then foil of the roof!

IE) walls-roof-double pane windows?????

What are there takes on this in home cooling?

[harry]

In my planning for building a new, countryside, house I wanted to be as autarchic as possible. {You never know about an worldwide energy crisis, etc. and you can make this into a hobby as well! :-)}

So in addition to earlier suggestions ...

-solar and wind energy ( with generator backup).

-roof cooling by "water leakage" on it.

and

natural circulation of air in the house by:

1. an outside cold air reservoir in the ground with ...

2. outlet, centrally in the house (included in the ground floor concrete)

2. vents on the first floor's roof

[steve73]

In my planning for building a new, countryside, house I wanted to be as autarchic as possible. {You never know about an worldwide energy crisis, etc. and you can make this into a hobby as well! :-)}

So in addition to earlier suggestions ...

-solar and wind energy ( with generator backup).

-roof cooling by "water leakage" on it.

and

natural circulation of air in the house by:

1. an outside cold air reservoir in the ground with ...

2. outlet, centrally in the house (included in the ground floor concrete)

2. vents on the first floor's roof

Harry,

I'm thinking along the same lines. i.e.

Solar water heating,

Solar PV's (to run the A/C? & fridge,etc).

Small back-up generator (preferably deisel to run on cooking oil)

Heat pump rejecting heat to the pond - 8m deep (not sure if the fish would like it too much though..?)

Have you come across any info or suppliers in Thailand?

Cheers,

S