runrunshaw wrote: ↑

February 10, 2019, 4:02 pm

dunroaming wrote: ↑

February 10, 2019, 3:50 pm

glalt wrote: ↑

February 10, 2019, 10:44 am

My wife wanted to have a roofed place to park the tractor. I agreed. I was at my condo in Jomtien. When I got back home, I found that I now have 100 square meters under roof. I told her that I wan't going to pay for that huge project. I paid 9,000 baht and she paid the rest.

shed_102655.jpg

looks like u will need another one for the tractor but agreed iron looks good and properly spaced. Wish I could build same for 9000

The 9K was his, contribution, wife paid the rest, I think.
#1.. wish my wife had that kind of money.
#2. That car/tractor/bags of rice park had to cost 35K minimum, don't you think?

Yes me too agreed my one was 80K without the cement base that's getting done this week 12 cube of cement etc

Okay, so after firing Jit, his brother, and the other derelict, my TW's uncles and their crew took over. These were mature, experienced men in their 40s and 50s who didn't drink on the job. Sometimes we had a few beers on site at the end of the day. Usually it was between four and seven guys. It was different every time I went to the site. Uncle Mak was running the show, and he was fairly meticulous--at least when he was around, that is.

I made a deal for 12K baht for them to move the cement posts into alignment, hang the roof, and pour the foundation. They got right to it, and actually had things such as real scaffolding, real ladders, and professional tools.
I had been buying all of the materials since Day One, but now I felt more secure that these guys weren't out to rip me off.
Things were rolling along. Mak predicted the house would be finished by the end of the year. I doubted that, but it sounded good to my wife.
I also decided to keep it a 12-pole structure with a 1 M roof overhang creating 140 SQM of roof. But I wasn't going to keep 96M as interior. Since my plan had been to build a 60 SQM house, but I'd been given a 96 SQM layout, I decided to keep 64 SQM as interior, and the other 32 SQM would constitute a Thai kitchen and a patio.

That meant the sliding glass front door would have to be placed on the north side of the house, leading onto what would now be a covered patio. It was a radical change from the photos of the house I had committed to build, but I knew I'd have to tighten up spending however I could. What is it the US Marines say? Adjust, adapt, overcome.

I now took the project as a challenge; could I build a decent house at a price? I didn't know, but decided to spend more time on site and pay a lot closer attention to developments.

These are the stories that are good to share and I for one enjoy reading them. The longer you live here the more horror stories you get to share but sometimes the opposite. I think any of us that have built something have these stories The police are still looking for our first builder!! and we have some useful contacts too

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I have to go back to China for awhile and won't take my laptop there, so I'll try to get further along in the story before I leave.

The construction learning curve has been steep. I read a lot of the building threads and took notes, and did Internet research, but there's nothing like practical experience. I must say there is satisfaction in building something. We might build again---this time a house for ourselves---or we might not.

We've certainly gotten to know our building supply shops. We've bought from Thai Watsadu, Home Hub, Do Home, Big Lots, four different small shops within ten minutes of the build, a roofing shop on the Nong Kai highway, and two other building material shops. Wish I hadn't sold my pick-up truck a couple of years back. Not all places deliver for free.

Oh, and there's a scrap metal shop on the road to Sakon Nakon which has some really interesting finds. We bought some slightly bent iron to use for gate poles, and also sections that now constitute the gate. Here are some pics of that scrap metal shop:
The first time I went there, a farang and his TW were loading a used gate into a songteaw for the trip to their place in Nong Sam Rong. Wish I'd gotten there first---it was a nice gate.

Drive through a Thai village---no two gates are alike!

Okay, it was now sometime in early to mid-December 2018, and issues with the build had settled down. The workers showed up every day and worked hard. The only thing that bugged me was that at the end of the day I'd ask what they needed for tomorrow, so I could buy it on my way home. Many times they said they didn't need anything, but by ten the next morning they would call, needing something ASAP! It created a lot of unnecessary running around and having to buy stuff at shops that sold at higher prices.

My wife's uncle Mak and I struck a deal that after the roof was finished and foundation poured, I would pay them 50,000 baht to complete the house, including plumbing, but not electrical or painting/tiling,drop down interior ceiling.

Mak agreed to throw in a couple of iron doors he had for the Thai kitchen, and to build a counter and some other extras. Not sure if that was a good price, but I agreed.

Like your written story and your build..
just as a yard stick, can I throw in some pics of a workshop / bungalow / shop / classroom I have just had built for 300k..
Maybe its over priced but thats how it comes..it the options its gives us, or the missus when I depart this mortal coil..
I left one bay as a carport just so the missus wouldnt have the family move in now and I would loose my man cave, but in the future we will pull the 4 windows out and block in the carport and the boy when he marries can live there..it has a toilet and shower attached..10m x 5m roughly..

Looks like you got your money's worth to me. Congrats on building such a swank man cave--I should be so lucky to have one. Smart move to leave the one bay open as a carport, LOL!

Thanx Matey, yup well it was not much extra moola to extend the roof over the carport, and concrete the floor..now just needs walls in the future, and the carport becomes another room..I like plenty of concrete outside so you have options to work on, cook outside, entertain, etc etc..and it keeps the mud out in wet season..
yes good luck with your wee build..

Wondering why most builds I see do not include guttering on the house running to water tanks.
Many reasons to support such a thing and few against as far as I can see.

maaka wrote: ↑

February 13, 2019, 6:21 am

Thanx Matey, yup well it was not much extra moola to extend the roof over the carport, and concrete the floor..now just needs walls in the future, and the carport becomes another room..I like plenty of concrete outside so you have options to work on, cook outside, entertain, etc etc..and it keeps the mud out in wet season..
yes good luck with your wee build..

I feel the same about the concrete. More is coming on our build. I'll have some questions for the forum on concrete soon.

bluejets wrote: ↑

February 13, 2019, 6:57 am

Wondering why most builds I see do not include guttering on the house running to water tanks.
Many reasons to support such a thing and few against as far as I can see.

I think a PhD dissertation could be written on the subject of "Changing Usage of Cisterns in Thai Villages." Be interesting to get some input on this.

My in-laws, who still reside in grandma's old village house, have a system of cisterns. Then a few years back, grandma got a well dug and an electric water pump, and they ran a water pipe into the outhouse. Now, she is on the village water supply, which is extremely cheap. She doesn't use the well anymore--it's cheaper to use the village water supply than to pay for the electricity to run the pump. At least that's what I was told. There is now a Western commode in the bricked-in outhouse.

At the house I'm building, the sloped roof will drain all of the water to the rear. I could install guttering on the rear section of the roof to collect rainfall. But...

We were lucky to get on to the village water supply. Three spigots outside, and of course, indoor plumbing. Not sure that buying those huge cisterns or tanks, and a pump and pipes to get water into the house would justify the cost. I'm all for recycling, but during the dry season those tanks would be empty, and I'd still need to use village water (which comes from the village well), unless I wanted to install my own well, which I don't.

If I chose to install guttering on the rear of the roof, it would simply be to direct the flow for better drainage control.
But maybe I'm missing something about the costs of rainwater collection and usage.

Our village water supply is 3 baht per cubic meter. Very cheap. BUT, it is on and off and not dependable. The pressure is also not high enough to make the switch in the shower heater. I use an 1,800 liter storage tank and the pump drawing from that tank. Of course the pump has plenty of pressure. We were collecting rain water but there was too much dirt from the roof going into the tank. If you can collect clean rain water, that is nice soft water and much better than the hard well water from the village.

The storage tank has a float valve and fills when there is village water. We also have one of those old round cement jars, I think they call it an ong. It holds about a thousand liters for dire emergencies. I had no choice but to buy the storage tank and pump to be able to take a hot shower. My first water pump lasted ten years and other than replacing the pressure switch on the replacement pump, the system has been trouble free.

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

sent you a PM
Thanks for the info

runrunshaw wrote: ↑

February 13, 2019, 10:50 am

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

We did drink rain water for several years. We had a small roof area made from galvanized steel over the outside kitchen area. The roof was low enough that my wife blasted it with the high pressure washer before allowing the rain water to go into a 1,500 liter fiberglass tank. It then was pumped through an 18 liter filter of activated charcoal then through another small three stage filter with a ceramic filter at the final stage. This year the pump died and she didn't bother to clean the roof and fill the tank. She says it is easier to have the jugs of bottled water delivered. I trusted the rainwater system further than I trust the bottled water.

glalt wrote: ↑

February 13, 2019, 5:08 pm

runrunshaw wrote: ↑

February 13, 2019, 10:50 am

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

We did drink rain water for several years. We had a small roof area made from galvanized steel over the outside kitchen area. The roof was low enough that my wife blasted it with the high pressure washer before allowing the rain water to go into a 1,500 liter fiberglass tank. It then was pumped through an 18 liter filter of activated charcoal then through another small three stage filter with a ceramic filter at the final stage. This year the pump died and she didn't bother to clean the roof and fill the tank. She says it is easier to have the jugs of bottled water delivered. I trusted the rainwater system further than I trust the bottled water.

Yes, we stopped using a water provider in udon after Thai friends warned us what his source was. Even bottled water in many countries is just a scam.

Bottled water in any countries is a a scam

or do you believe that "Vittel" or "Evian" water... small citys in french Vittel and Evian could supply and deliver water so named in bottles sold anywhere at the globe in supermarkets? They make about 5 millions bottle every day but from a handful of sources ? They need huge amount of energy and oil to produce plastic bottles...see the number above. But the water amount they really get out of that sources could not be enough to simply satisfy the surounding villages

just to throw it out there, i have a 4000lt plastic tank catching some water off our house roof..
its on a 1m high steel stand to give it some pressure. No pump..we have the pipes worked so we can also fill it from the village supply, should there be lack of rain, and we need storage..we dont drink it but it does the showers, toilet, laundry, dishes and washing the motorbike..we have had it 4yrs now and I gave it a clean out a month back..glad we didnt drink it...water and heat dont go..the village water boy with the big bottles has never made me crook, so I am happy..