The wife wanted to have somewhere my mum could live in instead of walking up the steep steps, something comfortable, with flushing toilet, wardrobe, a balcony to on overlooking the Sala and back yard with kids playing etc.

She had her own money, 50K baht, an old A/C that wasn't being used and this is what she built.

Wood she bought, some she cut from her farm, the roof is thatched but lined just "in case" hired a few guys, did some work her self.

On the floor they pressed large leafs on the wet cement, while it dried to get great looking designs,

Stand up shower and sit down thrown toilet and sink.

Includes the small just double bed and Wardrobe. little table etc

The tree the balcony goes through is only 2 years old!!!!! Yep - it grew fast!!!

My mum lives in this 1/3 of the year, rest of the year the kids and others fight to stay in it.

The sala by the way, pond and fountain it over looks cost 5000 to build.

I think ok.

I think OK too.

That is a great little cottage. I could stay there for short times on a holiday. Simple, functional,basic ,and pleasant all in one.

When can I move in?

When can I move in?

555 thanks, and to everyone else, you have to fight off the others. I think a sign of success is that the family all fight over who gets to move in there when mum is away.

I wish I had something to do with it, I was away overseas when it was planned and executed so I have ZERO influence!

It's not big, but very practical.

In hindsite, I'd have made it one meter longer, giving it room for a small kitchette nitch, so that you don't bang the cat's head when you swing it.

But other wise it is pretty dam good, plus the wife has a good eye for colour, which makes it very attractive.

Just goes to show how cheaply the Thai's can build things when a farangs money is not involved,i have been going through the same situation at present and it is a real eye opener what can be built and recycled for next to nothing.

The little house looks wonderful for 50.000 baht! and the outside area for 5.000 baht fantastic!

To CTO ... great job ...

About the water heater ... the local pressure enough or needed a booster pump?

What is the lining used to waterproof the thatched roof?

The thatching is just a board, it will last two - three years before we need to re-thatch.

The money thing - it was my wife's plane ticket to visit me in Africa, she loves Africa, travelling, but loves my mum more, and decided to spend the money on my mum instead. She knew I'd rather her visit me, so didn't tell me till after the foundation had been built.

Water pressure?

Most of the village is on gravity fed towers, actually a lot of people still get water from a few well placed "wells".

These fail when there is no electricity (Hmmm?) so we have our own underground water and pump.

HOWEVER

I also in Thai style has a large reservoir of water in the bathrooms for when electricity does fail.

I am seriously considering putting in a water tower of my own for my own gravity fed water, as it will serve another 2 other (ICT) purposes.

The small bricks are 50 satang each, they are great, we use them in the wife and mate Pizza oven.

Front Sala being built, also about 4000 baht. (Not pond or fountain - but larger)

Have you considered a pressure tank? It allows you to have an amount of pressurized water during electrical outages and they come in different sizes to suit. I would imagine cost is less than building a water tower. If you look at how high a tower must be to get to the low end of decent pressure, it can be rather daunting.

Have you considered a pressure tank? It allows you to have an amount of pressurized water during electrical outages and they come in different sizes to suit. I would imagine cost is less than building a water tower. If you look at how high a tower must be to get to the low end of decent pressure, it can be rather daunting.

I haven't - didn't even know they existed, I assume rather, like a balloon principle, sounds very interesting. Till it goes bang

Will look it up, thanks!

However the tower will serve another purpose, I am bringing low cost broadband in the form of a out door WiFi solution to the whole village, so the tower will be one of the distribution points, so it will serve another purpose.

We don't have any broadband, nor any planned from any of the service providers, so I am bringing in Broadband to the village myself. 6 or 10 mbps to each device that wants it.

Wow great work!