Building a Vastu-correct Traditional Thai House

Using all natural building materials, abiding traditional ceremony and ritual, designing according to vastu-correct building principles, inspired by Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, including right direction, right placement of rooms, right proportion, natural & non-toxic building materials and auspicious timing, this traditional Thai house was built in Isaan Thailand over a period of 3 months in 2013.

You can view the construction and final result at YouTube:

Thanks for sharing that ...

Great slide-show, well documented and a wonderful building ...

.

Fantastic , You can see a few more different designs in Old Siam village in Sahmut Prakan.

Farang's house in Sisaket

Moved to housing.

Nice house.

Nicely done. I like it.

May I ask how much the cost was? Excluding land.

Also what sort of termite treatment was done and what kind of locker did you use?

Again, beautiful house, congratulations.

Great job!!

Fantastic looking house,can you tell us a little of what it is like to live in it?

Did you ad any western conveniences?Does it stay cool inside?

I will never be able to afford a house like this but i really like the style.

no signs of termites yet?

Thank you for the positive and appreciative comments.

The building of the house was actually a 4-5 year process: finding land (ultimately decided on wife’s family farm as I did not want to live in a village. We wanted to be alone in nature yet safe near family on the large cassava and rice farm they own), designing the house according to ancient Vedic building principles of right direction, right proportions, right placement of rooms, natural building material, etc., finding a builder, lumber sourcing…

In the year previous to actually erecting the house, we created a ½ km. access road to the house plot, built up the plot 2 m. by excavating a nearby rice field (it settled to 1 m. after 1 year), didn’t have municipal water or electric (too far off the local grid) so we pulled our own 1 km of electric wire through dozens of concrete poles from the edge of the nearest village where we installed an electric meter. All this prep work was done by wife’s farm family who also benefited from the new availability of a road, water and electric. This was enough work for one season and we wanted the built-up plot to settle before digging foundations. We returned to NYC to the other extreme of civilization.

Returning to Thailand to build, 3 trucks of lumber and 6 workers and a foreman arrived at the appointed time and building began immediately. Only 7 workers but each can do every job. The only specialization is that they only build traditional Thai wooden houses. But it's hard work. The house is 100% wood & clay tile. The wood is incredibly dense and heavy and it is finished on-sight (the wood is delivered rough) then heave these long 16 foot pieces up to each level by hand and then notch all the joints for a solid fit. And tools are just basic--some string, a plumb, hammer, angle... I was on the site all day, every day and just watched them marveling at their precision yet speed of working. The workers built from sun-up till –down every day. They never went into the village, living off the land for months. We only brought them water, some whiskey, snacks and blankets. Being traditional house builders, they observed traditional building ceremony and ritual that I appreciated. These guys were highly skilled and open to my questions and concerns while building. We worked closely with the foreman and made some design changes on the fly and never had a problem. A great pleasure to work with these skilled builders. The foreman appreciated that a falang was building a traditional house and we had long conversations around the night campfire about the spiritual aspects of traditional house and building. The foreman stated that this house would be still standing in 100 years. The house took 3 months to erect. It has no insulation. Its components are wood, clay tile roof, nails and bolts, and tin at the roof joints for drainage. When finished structurally, it was totally sanded and stained 4 times. Before the first and final coat of stain the entire house, including interior roof structure was painted with Chandrite termite protection. Floridan termite protection was poured into the 20 concrete foundation conduits before filling with cement. Floridan was spread over the ground under the house before the concrete pad was laid and the base of 20 posts were painted with Chandrite.

During the month after the structure was erected we installed water storage, filtration and plumbing into the house, brought electric into the house and installed light fixtures inside and out, and laid a concrete pad under the house. Then we planted 11 rai of cassava!

We did not spend a night in the house until it was structurally finished, stained and blessed by the local monks. The first night was an incredible experience. As a vastu-correct house (Google “Maharishi vastu architecture” to understand the value of living in a vastu structure.) Sleeping far out on the farm as creatures and wildlife settle down under the stars is incredible. Living spaces are 4 m. above the ground and across the open fields are refreshing cool night breezes. Although it does get hot during the day, fresh breezes though the open design and upward drafts keep the house cooler. We might install an A/C in one room next year.

Like a wooden boat this house will require maintenance. I just keep a bucket of stain handy and touch up sun-blistered spots when they appear. I’ll do a large sand & stain job on the 2 sun-sides in a few years. Hire someone to do it while we’re away, so no problem.

We purchased 4 rai from the family at a negligible price as we promised to bring utilities to the farm. The cost of building a road, bringing and installing utilities, building up the plot, building material & labor, fence, finished bathroom with shower, toilet, vanity sink, and a concrete pad under the house comes in at just over 2 million bhat. A good value, I think.

During several visits to Thailand I looked for traditional house builders, travelling to Ayuttaya, northeastern Isaan, all over. I finally found my builder in Bangkok about 3 km. from my hotel! I’d like to say who my builder was but he is a private person who only builds traditional houses for a few and does not seek publicity. Not that I’m anyone special but at our initial contact I think he appreciated my knowledge of traditional building techniques and my understanding of the spiritual and cosmic elements of building in tune with nature. He referred to the houses he built as generators of spiritual energy their specific mathematical dimensions and proportions and the house’s connection to the cosmos being vital to the success, happiness, prosperity and health of the occupants.

A wonderful house, done the right way. Have a good life there.

No-ones asked how much yet?

RAZZ