Housebuilding Thread

[Crossy]

Rest assured he will be using the Thai standard black, white, green or international brown, blue, green/yellow, or it all comes out (he would get away with red, black, green). I'll ensure he knows this before he starts wiring.

I'm not going to try to rigidly enforce BS7671 or AS3000, just use a spot of common sense and engineering experience to ensure it's safe.

[Daffy D]

Hi "Crossy"

Have been closely following your housebuilding thread taking notes and information for the time when I win the lottery and can build my own house.

Just a thought about the electrics in your kitchen.

The photo shows the yellow conduit channeled in the wall connecting the three outlet boxes.

I note the connection between two of the boxes is sort of diagonal, I always believed the correct way to run hidden connections was always straight up and down.

This way if at any time in the future someone wanted to drills holes, for a shelf say, they would know to avoid areas directly above or below a outlet box.

Having hidden service pipes running in random directions could be a potential problem for future DIY enthusiasts.

Just my personal thoughts.

Thanks for taking the time and trouble posting such detailed account of your house building project, I and am sure may others are learning a lot from your experience

Now if only MrD would stop buying the wrong lottery ticket each month.

[Crossy]

The diagonal has been removed

Whilst I'm not going to try and enforce the 'safe zones' common sense says vertically up and down and horizontally in either direction from a switch or outlet are 'unsafe zones'. Sparks is learning

[GarryP]

Had the electricians wire in another outlet in my new house yesterday. The wires they used were red, green and white. I asked if the green was the earth and they looked at me like I had just arrived from Mars. "No, green is neutral, red is live and white is earth". I have closely followed the building of my new town house from preparing the ground to painting and decorating and managed to catch a number of things they were doing wrong (my unit is off plan). This has managed to save me a number of headaches and the developer running up unecessary costs which they could not pass on to me. In fact they have expressed their appreciation a number of times. This is quite unusual as most developers will not allow on site visits to new housing estates but I was around there every weekend (it is in walking distance of my current home).

Anyway, you are doing right to be closely overseeing the building of your new castle, which is coming along great now the floods have receded.

[Bpuumike]

Had the electricians wire in another outlet in my new house yesterday. The wires they used were red, green and white. I asked if the green was the earth and they looked at me like I had just arrived from Mars. "No, green is neutral, red is live and white is earth". I have closely followed the building of my new town house from preparing the ground to painting and decorating and managed to catch a number of things they were doing wrong (my unit is off plan). This has managed to save me a number of headaches and the developer running up unecessary costs which they could not pass on to me. In fact they have expressed their appreciation a number of times. This is quite unusual as most developers will not allow on site visits to new housing estates but I was around there every weekend (it is in walking distance of my current home).

Anyway, you are doing right to be closely overseeing the building of your new castle, which is coming along great now the floods have receded.

About to start construction on my own place and with little knowledge of domestic electrical circuitry, but not happy with what I see in Thai apartments, etc so any input appreciated

[Crossy]

About to start construction on my own place and with little knowledge of domestic electrical circuitry, but not happy with what I see in Thai apartments, etc so any input appreciated

Have a look here mike http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/ ask any questions on the forum.

Better to ask a dumb question than to get zapped

[Bpuumike]

About to start construction on my own place and with little knowledge of domestic electrical circuitry, but not happy with what I see in Thai apartments, etc so any input appreciated

Have a look here mike http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/ ask any questions on the forum.

Better to ask a dumb question than to get zapped

My thoughts exactly and many thanks for the link

[GarryP]

When they were installing the new outlet yesterday, there was a constant flow of electricity through the breaker. When turned on it was on and when turned of it was on. I pointed out the obvious to the electrician that the breaker had been installed upside down and as a result it was wired incorrectly. He smiled and corrected its positioning and rewired it. Voila, it worked as it was supposed to. It does not give me much confidence in the rest of the wiring.

[Crossy]

Scary Gazza

Anyway, on to faux-pas of the week (and it's only Monday).

Tiles and fixings were delivered last week, today the roofers lugged all the tiles upstairs ready for starting to fit, and discovered........ta-da, that the bloody fixings are the wrong colour.

This is a fixing sitting on a tile, the tile is actually a light brown but there's too much difference to get away with using the supplied clips.

Easy fix of course, order the right ones. Wrong answer! The correct colour are on two week lead (don't ask me why anyone would have tiles in stock and not the fixings, TiT I suppose). Anyway, nobody has the right ones in stock.

The engineer in me always looking for the alternative solution sent Dusit off to HomePro with a tile and instructions to get them to mix up a matching paint. The boys (and girls) will be painting hundreds of clips tonight

A few more piccies of the roof progress, sparks is sick with the flu (or maybe my wiring diagram and threat of what I'd do to him if I found any taped joints scared him off)

[thaibeachlovers]

I love the traditional Thai layout. I always thought that I'd like a house like that ever since I visited the old PM's house in Bkk years ago. Only thing I'd make sure of though, is that there would be rain cover when going between all the rooms, as some places seem to have decided it's not necessary.

[Crossy]

I too like the layout even with it's disadvantages, it does mean that guests in the spare rooms have the feeling of being in a separate and private building.

All the main living rooms (lounge, kitchen, diner, office) can be accessed without getting wet, it's only when heading for bed that dampness may be involved. All blocks have bathrooms so no worries about getting caught short

There is a 1.3m overhang all around the central space but it has a couple of gaps where the individual roofs meet (or don't meet since they're different heights), it's primary function is to keep the sun off.

We have currently not designed in guttering, Wifey says downspouts will spoil the look of the roof and we have no need for rainwater harvesting. We shall see how things work out once we're in and have got wet a few times

[thaibeachlovers]

I too like the layout even with it's disadvantages, it does mean that guests in the spare rooms have the feeling of being in a separate and private building.

All the main living rooms (lounge, kitchen, diner, office) can be accessed without getting wet, it's only when heading for bed that dampness may be involved. All blocks have bathrooms so no worries about getting caught short

There is a 1.3m overhang all around the central space but it has a couple of gaps where the individual roofs meet (or don't meet since they're different heights), it's primary function is to keep the sun off.

We have currently not designed in guttering, Wifey says downspouts will spoil the look of the roof and we have no need for rainwater harvesting. We shall see how things work out once we're in and have got wet a few times

You could always put down pipes inside the walls as they are constructed. Even if you didn't connect them at first, if you wanted to add guttering later it would allow for "uncluttered" walls. Just a thought.

[Crossy]

You could always put down pipes inside the walls as they are constructed. Even if you didn't connect them at first, if you wanted to add guttering later it would allow for "uncluttered" walls. Just a thought.

The problem is getting the pipe from the gutter to the wall across a 1.3m gap without it looking pretty carp, the overhang is cantilevered off the main roof structure, there are no soffits.

There are 2m wooden support braces below the overhang which could be used to mask the pipes, I'll have to see how they are attached when they arrive.

[Bpuumike]

You could always put down pipes inside the walls as they are constructed. Even if you didn't connect them at first, if you wanted to add guttering later it would allow for "uncluttered" walls. Just a thought.

The problem is getting the pipe from the gutter to the wall across a 1.3m gap without it looking pretty carp, the overhang is cantilevered off the main roof structure, there are no soffits.

There are 2m wooden support braces below the overhang which could be used to mask the pipes, I'll have to see how they are attached when they arrive.

With technology advancing rapidly I'm thinking some spare plastic conduits for future use might be worthwhile. Sort of 'be prepared' for tomorrow's world ??

[Naam]

I too like the layout even with it's disadvantages, it does mean that guests in the spare rooms have the feeling of being in a separate and private building.

All the main living rooms (lounge, kitchen, diner, office) can be accessed without getting wet, it's only when heading for bed that dampness may be involved. All blocks have bathrooms so no worries about getting caught short

There is a 1.3m overhang all around the central space but it has a couple of gaps where the individual roofs meet (or don't meet since they're different heights), it's primary function is to keep the sun off.

We have currently not designed in guttering, Wifey says downspouts will spoil the look of the roof and we have no need for rainwater harvesting. We shall see how things work out once we're in and have got wet a few times

You could always put down pipes inside the walls as they are constructed. Even if you didn't connect them at first, if you wanted to add guttering later it would allow for "uncluttered" walls. Just a thought.

take a look at the red brick wall thickness. what kind of downspout can you put in them?

[necronx99]

I too like the layout even with it's disadvantages, it does mean that guests in the spare rooms have the feeling of being in a separate and private building.

All the main living rooms (lounge, kitchen, diner, office) can be accessed without getting wet, it's only when heading for bed that dampness may be involved. All blocks have bathrooms so no worries about getting caught short

There is a 1.3m overhang all around the central space but it has a couple of gaps where the individual roofs meet (or don't meet since they're different heights), it's primary function is to keep the sun off.

We have currently not designed in guttering, Wifey says downspouts will spoil the look of the roof and we have no need for rainwater harvesting. We shall see how things work out once we're in and have got wet a few times

I would imagine that in many (most?) cases standard guttering would be overwhelmed by the water volume and spill out anyway?

You could build some decorative wooden (more teak!) trellis/planterbox affairs that incorperate a rainsheild at the top in each of the two corners that let you walk the enitire U shape undercover...

How long before you get to the plumbing/water supply stage? You are putting in a filtration plant I assume?

[Crossy]

With technology advancing rapidly I'm thinking some spare plastic conduits for future use might be worthwhile. Sort of 'be prepared' for tomorrow's world ??

Indeed, we've got some 'data' routes, but to be honest we're not tech centred at home, besides things are tending to go wireless.

Take a look at the red brick wall thickness. what kind of downspout can you put in them?

Yup, only a single thickness. We're relying on cross ventilation and shading of the walls to keep inside comfortable, not requiring Arctic conditions means we make very little use of the A/C we have currently.

How long before you get to the plumbing/water supply stage? You are putting in a filtration plant I assume?

Initially we will have a basic filtration system, the village water is pretty good anyway since we're only about 500m from the treatment plant. We currently get Sprinkle delivered for some stupid low price, it's almost not worth making the water supply potable.

[Crossy]

The colour issue with the tile fastenings has been resolved. I'm more than slightly impressed with the computer colour matching available from the major suppliers. We got a litre of Toa Industrial Lacquer matched up with a tile, results below:-

Certainly good enough when it's up on the roof. The boys and girls painted zillions of these clips by dipping in thinned lacquer, 2 weeks lead time saved

Upstairs the roof structure continues to absorb loads of steel, we are actually getting towards completion.

Never leave home without your gas axe.

Meanwhile downstairs, a load of pipe has arrived.

As have the plumbers. This is the drainage system from the smaller upstairs bathroom, another load of pipework that would not look out of place on a PTT oil rig.

These are the pipes from the storm drains on the upper deck.

This lot will be boxed in, it's round the back anyway so not normally visible.

More general views of roofing progress.

On guard as usual

He's a lovely dog, but of uncertain temperament and with very sharp teeth.

[Bpuumike]

"Never leave home without your gas axe."

Or Duct Tape or WD-40.

Like your thinking!

[Crossy]

"Never leave home without your gas axe."

Or Duct Tape or WD-40.

Like your thinking!

If it moves and it shouldn't - Duct Tape

If it doesn't move and it should - WD40

[Litlos]

"another load of pipework that would not look out of place on a PTT oil rig" Only for the thunderbox, shower etc. Everything else is heavy duty, even for PTT.

Are you putting vents in the "Black" water lines, or relying on the tank vents? There is a fair bit of discussion either here or on the other board about Thai's do not put the vents in the lines and sometimes the water disappears from the S bend or gas bubbles back up, neither are something you want inside the house and particularly the ensuite.

Cheers

[Crossy]

Are you putting vents in the "Black" water lines, or relying on the tank vents? There is a fair bit of discussion either here or on the other board about Thai's do not put the vents in the lines and sometimes the water disappears from the S bend or gas bubbles back up, neither are something you want inside the house and particularly the ensuite.

Yup, both the blackwater (bog) lines have vents that emerge high up on the wall outside, floor drains have U bends.

Mr Flush (the plumber) installed both along with access points for clearing blockages with no prompting

[necronx99]

Stacks of brown tiles are for?

[Crossy]

Stacks of brown tiles are for?

The roof

They are actually a lot lighter than they look in the photo, much closer to the first image in the same post.

[Crossy]

Here we are again for another exciting episode

Work on the roof steelwork is complete, unfortunately the tiling can't start until the teak barge boards arrive next week. So instead the rendering team get going.

Inside K. Sparks installs his conduit. all those bends were done cold by hand using a bending spring.

And the renderers attack.

Meanwhile a new guard dog has arrived, cute, but like all puppies he has needle sharp teeth.

This is the metalwork for the bathroom ceiling. It's going to have an attic storage space above hence the dimensions of the steel.

The frame for the patio doors is in.

More render downstairs, no that's not a miniature indoor swimming pool.

Looks a pretty good job to me.

[Litlos]

Any sign of glue for the conduit joints? I took some photo's of some builds a few weeks ago I was looking at last night. Not one of the outside conduits were glued and surprisingly a few of the joints had popped open. Might as well have saved a few baht and just laid them bare into the soil 200mm deep. To make it more interesting the same type of yellow conduit was used for power, telephone and cable TV, if in doubt just pop open a joint. The good thing was separate conduits for the different services, the bad thing side by side

The way things are moving along you should be ready for the flooding later this year.

Cheers

[Crossy]

Against all odds the teak man arrived today, he originally said Friday.

Unfortunately, one of the food motorcycles arrived at the same time, so a break was called.

The delivery was of the patio door, the supports for the eaves (decorative in a steel structure)

And teak barge boards.

These are solid teak about 1" thick, they are heavy!

The two sections are joined using teak dowels, no glue or screws.

The boards are fixed using screws through the steel.

Beginning to look the part

[Crossy]

Been a while since we had an update, visible progress is much slower now as we approach the finishing stages. That said, we're still waiting for the roofers, they are apparently tied up on another job, grrrr. With no roof Sparks cannot do any wiring.

We had a brief panic when an official from the local Or Bor Tor office arrived and told the contractor we don't have a building permit. Apparently one of the locals had complained that 'Ban Farang' had not applied for a permit, Dusit called Wifey who promptly stormed to the office with the documentation. Boss Man got a serious ear-holing, he hadn't made the connection between my wife and the farang house, a serious mistake since my step-son is married to his daughter

Anyway, here are some piccies.

All the roof screws get painted to match the tiles, behind the painting chap are the gable vents, they go here.

The wood roof braces go on, these are purely decorative on this build.

The gables themselves get planked.

Whilst my two grand-daughters supervise.

And the decorative wood siding is applied.

[Crossy]

Well, it seems the roofers have finished their other job

Progress is pretty quick once they get going.

Each tile has to be trimmed to accommodate the curvature of the roof, a job for the big angle-grinder.

The supports for the soffits go up.

And the soffits themselves.

Dusit explains the bits of steel that have appeared at the top of the stairs. they are the fixings for the bannisters.

Meanwhile downstairs, the four square columns have magically become round.

More outside views.

This is the side which is not normally seen, the geese will get this view from their pond.

[necronx99]

Well, it seems the roofers have finished their other job

Progress is pretty quick once they get going.

Each tile has to be trimmed to accommodate the curvature of the roof, a job for the big angle-grinder.

The supports for the soffits go up.

And the soffits themselves.

Dusit explains the bits of steel that have appeared at the top of the stairs. they are the fixings for the bannisters.

Meanwhile downstairs, the four square columns have magically become round.

More outside views.

This is the side which is not normally seen, the geese will get this view from their pond.

Brilliant. I officially have "roof envy".

When's the party?