I have just returned home to Aust from Isaan. I live in Cairns and at times it can get a bit warm and humid but nothing like where I was in a small village outside Bueng Kan. When the sun hit the roof it heated up the ceiling, I put the overhead ceiling fan on only to get warm air blowing on me, not to mention the whole house being 5 degrees warmer than outside. Has anybody considered building the outer and inner walls out of styrofoam paneling like they do on coldrooms. I work in a very big one that holds about 400 pallets and it has been through a couple of cyclones without any bother. The benefits would be a faster build, no painting the walls and a cooler house. Does anyone know of any supplier in the region.

Google TH for "SIP panels" - plenty of suppliers - even ones who do full kit houses.

You know if you double your walls & leave a cavity inbetween it does the same but better. You are able to run all your plumbing pipes & electrical within the double walls I would go for superblock on the outside & if cost is that much of a factor the standard grey brick & red adobe brick. Don't use either on the outside as they are wonderful for buildin a pizza oven & will retain heat great.....Exactly what you are trying to keep out.You may wan't to consider passive ways to cool the house naturally along with the methods you are thinking about . Trees are an Awesome natural way to keep your house shaded along with paying attention to the direction of the sun winter & summer & how you place the rooms to have a nice cool house. Definitly build the house raised off the ground at least 1/2 a meter. Our floor in hot season is about 26 degrees at the hottest. This is our fifth house we built first one was a failure & a testing house the other 4 are very cool. But in the hot season it is still hot. I would not believe anyone that would tell me otherwise. We still have 1 more that we want to build . That one will be the one with all of the ways we have learned what to do & not do. I build myself but do some things & let my contractor thrash out all the heavy back breaking work.Good luck on your build.Be humble & talk with small mouth. It goes in your favor & you wind up getting better deals than if you think you know it all. True story for sure.

Good luck on your build!

Barry

Thanks Barry I will keep it in mind. After reading a lot of posts I have come to the conclusion that renting would be a better idea, for at least 6 months, then I can look around at other houses, I don't believe in building too high as when I get older it will be just that much harder to climb the stairs. If I do eventually build, I would want a house that is comfortable to live in not for someone else too look at.