Teak Wood

[too true]

Have started discussions with the hubby about building a house in his village. We can get as much land as we would like, with papers and not too too close to the MIL, for about 50000 baht. We're both adamant that we want a teak house, for esthetics as well as for the resale value, as no one's likey to buy a concrete house in his village but wood can always be resold. He's asked around the village and been told that it will cost 4500 baht for 32 6 inch teak planks. That's about 140 baht per plank. Does that sound right to any of you who have built wood houses?

Thanks

TT

[chownah]

It sounds way too cheap unless the planks are very thin and very short. Maybe this is the white wood from the edge of the teak log and so it is of very low quality. I have never bought teak wood but here in the north where I lived I just bought some wood that is a good quality but definitely not as valuable as teak and paid aobut 40 baht per 50 cm length with a width of 6 inches and a thickness of about 5/8 of an inch. It was sold as 1 inch wood but it was planed smooth on both faces which explains why it was only 5/8 inch thick when we bought it.

Another possibility is that the wood is stolen.....or that you are just getting the teak wood bargain of the decade...or that I'm just wrong and around where you are going to build teak is just really cheap.

Also, you might want to reconsider building a concrete house....around here mostly people build with wood only if they already have acces to used wood from the house they or a relative is presently living in and which will be torn down. It used to be that wood was preferred but attitudes are changing. In our village the family that runs the building supply store and of course has access to wood at wholesale prices stockpiled wood for about a year picking the best pieces in anticipation of building a wood house for one of the kid's family and changed their mind and built a concrete and masonry house and sold off all the wood they had stockpiled. The reason they gave was the it was quieter inside a concrete house.

Chownah

[too true]

It sounds way too cheap unless the planks are very thin and very short. Maybe this is the white wood from the edge of the teak log and so it is of very low quality. I have never bought teak wood but here in the north where I lived I just bought some wood that is a good quality but definitely not as valuable as teak and paid aobut 40 baht per 50 cm length with a width of 6 inches and a thickness of about 5/8 of an inch. It was sold as 1 inch wood but it was planed smooth on both faces which explains why it was only 5/8 inch thick when we bought it.

Another possibility is that the wood is stolen.....or that you are just getting the teak wood bargain of the decade...or that I'm just wrong and around where you are going to build teak is just really cheap.

Also, you might want to reconsider building a concrete house....around here mostly people build with wood only if they already have acces to used wood from the house they or a relative is presently living in and which will be torn down. It used to be that wood was preferred but attitudes are changing. In our village the family that runs the building supply store and of course has access to wood at wholesale prices stockpiled wood for about a year picking the best pieces in anticipation of building a wood house for one of the kid's family and changed their mind and built a concrete and masonry house and sold off all the wood they had stockpiled. The reason they gave was the it was quieter inside a concrete house.

Chownah

Hmm, perhaps it makes a difference that the house will be built right behind khuntan mountain in Lampang. I don't think the wood is poor quality, simply because everyone in the village has got teak houses and teak is definitely the preferred building material there. It could be that it's coming from family. It could also be that it's coming from the forest behind the house, but then I've never seen planks come directly from a forest - I've also never seen a lumber yard in the village. So who knows. I'll ask him.

If I build a concrete house in the village there will be absolutely no chance of selling it later. The families who live there have lived there for hundreds of years, or something ridiculous like that. No one moves in from the outside. And they've all got houses of their own. It would have be wood to give any chance of reselling the house (the wood from the house). And I figure, since it's going to be village people making it, we're best to stick to something they actually know how to do well.

But thanks for your reply. I'll get more information on the length and thickness and colour of the planks. I asked a male friend who comes from around Doi Saket area, also from near a big forest, and he seemed to think the price was decent, but not excessively cheap. So maybe the closer you are to the trees, the cheaper the wood is.....

Cheers,

TT

[chownah]

The usual wisdom in Thailand is that people don't like to buy used houses.....maybe its the fear of ghosts?....everyone wants a new house and houses if resold go for very cheap. This seems to be true everywhere in Thailand...at least from what I"ve read here on TV and what I've seen myself in my own village.

I wouldn't build a house in Thailand with the idea in mind that I would be selling it...and certainly not at a profit.......except maybe in Bangkok or along the coast or on an island where many people have a more western view of things and where housing is expensive.

Chownah

P.S. If you can get 1 inch by 6 inch by 3 metre boards of knot free heartwood teak for 140 baht each and it is legal then you should fill up a truck full of it and take it somewhere and resell it....you'll get rich!!!

Chownah

Edited October 31, 2006 by chownah

[too true]

The usual wisdom in Thailand is that people don't like to buy used houses.....maybe its the fear of ghosts?....everyone wants a new house and houses if resold go for very cheap. This seems to be true everywhere in Thailand...at least from what I"ve read here on TV and what I've seen myself in my own village.

I don't think Thai people like to buy used anything, really. But people just don't move into villages with nothing but farming. There's not much turnover, other than family moves in, family moves out....

I wouldn't build a house in Thailand with the idea in mind that I would be selling it...and certainly not at a profit.......except maybe in Bangkok or along the coast or on an island where many people have a more western view of things and where housing is expensive.

Of course there's no profit to be made unless you're building a house in a big city, but I'm thinking more along the lines of 'what if my husband dies unexpectedly in 10 years?' Then what do I do? Building a house in his village is a compomise we would both making that would strengthen our relationship. But I don't have him, for whatever reason, I can't see myself staying in a Thai village, particularly with kids. So knowing that I would be able to at least sell the wood is better than simply having someone knock the house down and use the land for farming.

Chownah

P.S. If you can get 1 inch by 6 inch by 3 metre boards of knot free heartwood teak for 140 baht each and it is legal then you should fill up a truck full of it and take it somewhere and resell it....you'll get rich!!!

Thanks for the tip!

I appreciate the advice. I'll get the scoop on the wood tomorrow. Don't you find concrete houses an eyesore in villages that are surrounded by farmland and mountains? They just don't belong. Kind of like me in a Thai village, I suppose Not the eyesore part, just the looking like it doesn't belong part

[Nawtilus]

Prices for AAA grade teak solid wood flooring is around 2500b to 2900b per sqm. Because its a square meter price, the actual plank size can vary, the price also varies for longer and thincker planks. But this price range should get anything in the 1m to 1.5m length and 10cm to 15cm width range.

[chownah]

I appreciate the advice. I'll get the scoop on the wood tomorrow. Don't you find concrete houses an eyesore in villages that are surrounded by farmland and mountains? They just don't belong. Kind of like me in a Thai village, I suppose Not the eyesore part, just the looking like it doesn't belong part

Around here most houses are concrete and masonry on the first floor and wood on the second floor...I think they look very nice and fit in quite well scenically. To the best of my knowledg noone in our village has a house made of teak wood. My front doors are made from teak, the decorative scroll work that fill in the railing around the balcony and front porch are teak, and on one of the front corners of the house by the main entry staircase there is a column made of a teak tree that goes from the foundation up to support the roof......and that's the only teak we have except for a couple dozen live trees around the grounds. There are actually better woods for construction than teak...but of course teak is totally adequate.....except for price.

Chownah

[too true]

I appreciate the advice. I'll get the scoop on the wood tomorrow. Don't you find concrete houses an eyesore in villages that are surrounded by farmland and mountains? They just don't belong. Kind of like me in a Thai village, I suppose Not the eyesore part, just the looking like it doesn't belong part

Around here most houses are concrete and masonry on the first floor and wood on the second floor...I think they look very nice and fit in quite well scenically. To the best of my knowledg noone in our village has a house made of teak wood. My front doors are made from teak, the decorative scroll work that fill in the railing around the balcony and front porch are teak, and on one of the front corners of the house by the main entry staircase there is a column made of a teak tree that goes from the foundation up to support the roof......and that's the only teak we have except for a couple dozen live trees around the grounds. There are actually better woods for construction than teak...but of course teak is totally adequate.....except for price.

Chownah

But those houses that are concrete on the bottom and wood on the top were originally only just one raised wooden house, weren't they? I didn't think people were still building that kind of house any more. I thought you meant the one or two story concrete box that Thais love to build. I have no problem with the concrete wood combination (I live in a house like that now, as a matter of fact) except that the bottom floor is always just this one really big room that I find kind of overwhelming.

What are the better woods than teak for construction? Redwod? See, this is where I truly know nothing about nothing. I'm guessing that people use teak around my husband's village because there's just so much of it. But if there's a cheaper better wood, I can check if they've got lots of it in his area.

Where are you in the north, if I may ask? And, the teak tree that you've used to support the house, did you buy it or did it just come from the piece of land that you bought?

Cheers,

TT

[chownah]

A concrete first floor with a wood second floor is probably the most common type of new construction in the north...although more people seem to be going to one floor construction as the price of wood keeps getting higher and the quality keeps getting lower.....they keep the concrete first floor and dispense with the expensive second floor of wood..unless they have an old house that they can dismantle as a source of wood. Even the roof support members are increasingly of steel and I've even seen some window support frames made from steel instead of wood.

A good wood for structural members is mai theng. It is usually/always imported from either Laos or Malaysia from what I've been told. The heart wood is stronger than teak and is so hard that bugs tend to leave it alone. Mai deng (red wood) is actually a name used for a variety of species (as near as I can tell) so you can get red wood that is a very high quality or a very low quality depending on the source. If you want to compare the strength of ANY two woods all you need to do is to compare their DRY weight...I must emphasize NOT THE WET WEIGHT BUT THE DRY WEIGHT. The heavier the wood, the stronger it will be.....this goes across the board for all woods in the entire world....I have never heard of any exceptions.....of course I'm talking about wood with either no knots or a few small ones. Teak is not considered to be an exceptionally strong wood and if you heft a dry teak board you will see that it is not heavy when compared to some mai theng or even a high grade of red wood.

The teak support tree was purchased from a neighbor and was not far from our house.

Chownah

[Swelters]

But those houses that are concrete on the bottom and wood on the top were originally only just one raised wooden house, weren't they? I didn't think people were still building that kind of house any more. I thought you meant the one or two story concrete box that Thais love to build. I have no problem with the concrete wood combination (I live in a house like that now, as a matter of fact) except that the bottom floor is always just this one really big room that I find kind of overwhelming

Cheers,

TT

We built one the traditional way and are discovering we like it a lot, especially the open bottom floor. We've got endless discussion of this on our blog at

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/blog/swelters/index.php?

The sketchup model shown here gives the general idea, but the final result actually looks even nicer than the model.

A year or so ago you could find decent hardwood flooring planks for about 80 baht per sok (6 in wide by 0.5 meter long by 1.5 in thick), if my arithmatic is right that works out to be abouot 1000 baht per sm, or about $700 per cubic meter which is how you sometimes see it quoted internationally.

Good design produces nice stuff whatever the materials. Landscaping (shade!) makes a world of difference. But count yourself lucky to be in the traditional setting that you describe.

Good luck!

Swelters

[too true]

But those houses that are concrete on the bottom and wood on the top were originally only just one raised wooden house, weren't they? I didn't think people were still building that kind of house any more. I thought you meant the one or two story concrete box that Thais love to build. I have no problem with the concrete wood combination (I live in a house like that now, as a matter of fact) except that the bottom floor is always just this one really big room that I find kind of overwhelming

Cheers,

TT

We built one the traditional way and are discovering we like it a lot, especially the open bottom floor. We've got endless discussion of this on our blog at

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/blog/swelters/index.php?

The sketchup model shown here gives the general idea, but the final result actually looks even nicer than the model.

A year or so ago you could find decent hardwood flooring planks for about 80 baht per sok (6 in wide by 0.5 meter long by 1.5 in thick), if my arithmatic is right that works out to be abouot 1000 baht per sm, or about $700 per cubic meter which is how you sometimes see it quoted internationally.

Good design produces nice stuff whatever the materials. Landscaping (shade!) makes a world of difference. But count yourself lucky to be in the traditional setting that you describe.

Good luck!

Swelters

I've seen your blog on building your house, actually, and it's been very helpful. The style of house that you have is what we've been talking about - the U style, and we want a big open area at the front that can be used as a porch. How many square metres or feet is your house? I saw a plan of a traditional northern house on the governement website, but it looks a little bit too big for what we need.

The outside of the house is every bit as important as the inside. The land we're looking at is 3 rai for 150 000 baht, but right now it's sugarcane land, so I'm concerned there won't be many big trees around. But my husband's a gardner and farmer at heart so I'm confident he'll be able to whip it into shape pretty quickly...

[Swelters]

Thanks for the comments.

The figure below shows the dimensions, it's roughly 12 "standard" 3 meter by 3 meter modules, or 108 square meters in plan. You can see it's two thai houses in an "L" configuration.

We appreciate your interest in the blog, of you have comments or questions you can post them there as well. We'd also be grateful for your vote if you are a thaivisa member, it will help when we get around to publishing all this.

As for vegetation, it,s a key for success as you suggest. Banana trees are great, they grow to astonishing size in months, I sit on the deck and just pick them off the tree for breakfast.

Edited November 9, 2006 by Swelters

[michael1954]

Have started discussions with the hubby about building a house in his village. We can get as much land as we would like, with papers and not too too close to the MIL, for about 50000 baht. We're both adamant that we want a teak house, for esthetics as well as for the resale value, as no one's likey to buy a concrete house in his village but wood can always be resold. He's asked around the village and been told that it will cost 4500 baht for 32 6 inch teak planks. That's about 140 baht per plank. Does that sound right to any of you who have built wood houses?

Thanks

TT

I think you should expect to pay $60 per cube for A grade teak at wholesale ex works. A cube is 12"*12"*12" so if the boards are 1" thick you get 12 sq feet. 5$ per sq foot or 50$ per square mtr. Sappy young teak is much cheaper but far inferior. Normally secondhand teak is better but hard to find.

Your price seems to be well below the international price for teak. I have heard that this is sometimes possible but I would be very cautious. There is a lot of teak furniture made in Thailand so obviously a ready market for wood.

My wholesale price ties in well with the price of 2500Baht per square metre for flooring.

[michael1954]

Have started discussions with the hubby about building a house in his village. We can get as much land as we would like, with papers and not too too close to the MIL, for about 50000 baht. We're both adamant that we want a teak house, for esthetics as well as for the resale value, as no one's likey to buy a concrete house in his village but wood can always be resold. He's asked around the village and been told that it will cost 4500 baht for 32 6 inch teak planks. That's about 140 baht per plank. Does that sound right to any of you who have built wood houses?

Thanks

TT

I think you should expect to pay $60 per cube for A grade teak at wholesale ex works. A cube is 12"*12"*12" so if the boards are 1" thick you get 12 sq feet. 5$ per sq foot or 50$ per square mtr. Sappy young teak is much cheaper but far inferior. Normally secondhand teak is better but hard to find.

Your price seems to be well below the international price for teak. I have heard that this is sometimes possible but I would be very cautious. There is a lot of teak furniture made in Thailand so obviously a ready market for wood.

My wholesale price ties in well with the price of 2500Baht per square metre for flooring.

[loong]

Be aware that all suppliers of teak should be willing to supply a proper receipt. If not, then is not legal.

If you build a house with illegal timber, you do run the risk of having it confiscated. Probably not too likely in the middle of nowhere, but be warned that there is a slight possibility.

Most houses are built from reclaimed teak. An existing house is dismantled and resold. An average price for the whole house seems to be around 200,000 Baht.

I have bought legal cladding recently, but cant remember the price, but very low quality from young teak trees.

I have bought the decorative panels in Soong Men, not too far from you. Between Den Chai and Phrae. These panels are about 700mm long by 125 mm wide and about 15mm thick and cost 85 Baht each. They are made from reclaimed seasoned timber and totally legal.

That would lead me to believe that the correct price is around 140 Baht per linear metre for good 150.mm wide flooring.

The problem is that everyone in the village that I stayed in used illegaly logged timber. They said that legit timber is too expensive. Funny tho, everytime I asked them how much they would have to pay for legit timber, nobody could tell me!