The "silver foil" was about £50, including fitting.

On the subject of heat build up, the floor is probably more important.

For God's sake choose light coloured flooring if you are going to use ceramic tiles.

I went for some very nice dark brown wood inlay type in the main living room.... and the floor does look great.... but when the sun shines on them they absorb the heat and then kick it back out again at night.

If the question is to build or buy then buy.....
Recently built a 3 bed bungalow in Korat....all costs £11000...Land just over £1500....
Im a builder in the uk so was on the case every day and the job they done was well on par with any european house.....
Fit the foil under the tiles as it does help but good windows and doors are even more important for keeping heat out...
If you keep an eye on the materials the builder gets for you you can save a fortune...eg..7500 tiles at 60baht compared to 7500 tiles at 33baht...same shape, colour, strength just ones a diamond brand and ones a elephant brand...
We had everything done and just had to move a cooker, washing machine, furniture in and were away...
When they render the walls just make sure the following days thats the walls are soaked down well to avoid crakes...
Also keep an eye on the support in the roof space as some builders have no idea how much is required to do the job...
Make sure they earth the house....Very important...
And most importantly speak to many builders and get the missus to do the initial quotes as a sight of a farang will add more money......
There are many more things to look out for in the build but keeping an eye on materials is key....
Would build up country any day as that is was drawn me to Thailand...
Got full pics and complete videos of the house being built if anyone interested as a insight of what goes on?

quote:

Originally posted by ian&nat norfolk uk:
Got full pics and complete videos of the house being built if anyone interested as a insight of what goes on?

Yes please Ian. I think there would be quite a few budding builders here who would be very interested in pics.

ian&nat, great tips!. We will be doing something similar soon and I am trying to get a feel for how to go about it all. I have scoured the internet and looked at a lot of sites, all good stuff. I'm currently having nightmares about "Tiger brand cement" and "grounded electrical" .
Not to mention my wife's concern over what we should use as a roof (this I thought would be a straightforward budget constraint, but what do I know?. In the area where we are building there are no water supply lines, rainfall will be utilised to the full and certain roof tiles contaminate the water butts!) And we may have to sink a well as well(no pun intended). I have been told not to worry, but whatta gonna do?

I dont personally think the brand of cement is a real issue, yes if you pay more you get better but correct mix and application and care in the days after application will help lots....i got a crack free zone and i was building during the tsunami!! but i was miles away!!
Electric is not really an issue as hardware stores have all the kit now, fuse box, rcd etc....Earthing can be made simple to outside ground, just remember if you have an electric shower or hot feed in kitchen to earth all metal pipes..
All other pipes can be plastic as even washing machine has a cold feed here...
Cant really comment on water contamination as we have water feed, we actually had the garden concreted at a gradient so when rain season hits water will run straight out of yard..
Most thais i know have no prob with contamination as they just wait for a couple of downpours to clean roof and then collect all water after that....you would have to speak to someone about contamination but i guess it depends on what roof surface you chose....
As for wells i guess it depens on you water table, maybe a bore hole would be a better bet but i got a feeling it will all be pricy..and i reckon the water will be quite hard.
..might also be a good idea to find the level in the summer season as if you find a table in the rain season it may go deeper as summer season comes meaning you have to go deeper..
My guess is if you are in an area with no water feed then all locals will know someone who can bore and advise on table level and quality....you will also need a good pump good size tank and work on gravity feed to you house..
Im in process of making yahoo club to put all pics and some vids so will let you know so you can see all stages....

Thanks Ian, look forward to seeing the pics!

That would be great Ian.

Many thanks in advance.


Nick xxx

I dunno why I gave you 3 xxx's !!! lol


Nick

my missus took them anyway.....

Hopefully this link will work and you can see a few pics.....i am capturing these from a vid camera so quality isnt perfect but its ok....a lot you will not be interested in but a friend who i gonna be helping with a thai houise real soon wants to see as many as possible.....
Every day im going to try and put more and more on so keep checking back as i have all pics through to the finish and even the finishing party...
And remember all this cost just under 850,000bt.......the car nearly cost that.mad heh.... Nakhon Ratchasima House 2004/2005

Ian wrote

quote:

As for wells i guess it depens on you water table, maybe a bore hole would be a better bet but i got a feeling it will all be pricy..and i reckon the water will be quite hard

I have bore water and the photo below may be of interest.
The two rocket shapes are filters one is silicon granuals (soften the water) the other activated charcole (to puify)in the middle is a small fibre filter. Two 2,000Lt tanks are for the well water (never runs dry and 50Mt deep cost 10,000baht)
Third tank of left is for roof water and we find one tank full will last us a year (family of four)we use it for drinking only and in each 20lt tub I put an "Aqua Clean Tab" that I bring from UK from a camping shop (32 tabs for a fiver).
The whole filter system cost us 17,000baht and it means that all water is drinkable that comes into the house, but rain water tastes better in my opinion. The rain water tank is filled after it has been raining for about 20 mins then the inlet is opened to let the water into the tank (we only collect off one roof side).

A question for you it looks like your house had a foundation that was not a raft construction was there a reason for this (it looks like a suspended raft)?

Like the photos !

Sorry forgot to mention
That we have presurised water system for the house hence no water tower needed and tanks easy to get at for cleaning. Ever tried cleaning at tank at the top of a tower not easy !
and the electric switch on top of right hand tank is for the well pump to automaticaly switch on and off.

You made my day mate....i had a feeling i was the only one who drank the rain water..good on ya..took my stomach a few months but now its ok and if i ever run out of bottled its very handy...
Luckily we have a water in feed so didnt have to worry about a bore, but saying that we will be investing in a good water tank soon as when water is short they like to play with the on/off over here....The system you have looks awesome and the guy who posted above will be well pleased with that infomation im sure...
The foundations are raft and the fact that they are raised makes no differnce to strenght or level of support...if you can imagine multi storey car park in the uk you will see what i mean...
The reason we went this way is mainly because i wanted to air the building...all cement will eventually deteriate if it is just sitting on or in the earth..when raised it will never be exposed to this and i can happily fit air bricks under this level which will help air everything on construction and throughout its life....
It wont really make any diffence to distrubution of weight but as you will see in later pics we do seal this gap...
I guess it saved on costs as well as the ground did not have to be prepared and the bricks we used to seal the gap are alo cheaper than cement....
Call me a cheap charlie if you want but breaking into chang money is a no no

Saying that though we did use did use standard raft on the boundary walls, there is no need to raise these and when we eventually get around dismatling our wooden house which is directly in front then we will knock this wall out to extend around the whole plot...

Very interesting photos Ian.

Maybe you could answer a question on waste water that is puzzling me?

The "Town house" we have in LOS, has the waste water going into a plastic tank, buried into the ground at the back. From the tank, a pipe leads away from the top, into the drain in the road at the front of the house. Does the tank need empting now and then, or does the solid waste just break down and flow away? I have asked the misses about this, but she just says "the tank makes the water clean."

How big are the tanks?...are you sure they are plastic?
I have no idea how the waste would break down unless there is something to actually do that...
Are you sure this pipe from the top isnt some kind of extended vent pipe that normal cess pits use?
Probably be a good idea to empty it like a normal cess pit and check out what kind of system is in place.
Not ever heard of a pit that treats the waste for you but this is Thailand!!
Just one more thing...have you seen clean waste flowing into the street drain?

I can't remember the exact size of the tank, maybe about 2m deep by about 1.5m wide. It had a small inspection cover on top. Several inlets with one outlet. It is normally full of water. There is a second small tank apparently, which collects cooking oil from the washing up. I did see clear water running from the outlet, but that was only as the system was being tested. We have not actually lived in the house as yet. It was only handed over to us a couple of days before we left on the last visit. I have seen these black plastic tanks for sale at HomePro. I am puzzled as to how it works.

Do you have a large septic tank if you are out in the country? Does it require emptying by tanker as in the UK?

as a reply to your question i can only offer advice on my own experiencies,i have just recently completed the building of a house in sisaket province,although my girlfriends own city is udon thani.
my girlfriend was more than happy to build the house away from her own village as she herself explained to me that over the course of time the never ending line of open palms and obscure never seen for years family members turning up for the 'rich farangs pots of free money' would eventually wear thin and inevitably cause problems.
as for the build or buy question,i would definately choose build assuming you can find the right plot and are prepared to be there all the time overlooking the builders and have the patience of buddha himself.
as for myself i am now the proud owner of a three bedroom three bathroom bungalow built to me and my girlfriends own design and spec at a very reasonable price.
what ever you choose to do good look and all the best.

Yes we have 3 cess pits..i put some more pics up so you can see how the waste is managed...a pit that size which is fairly standard needs emptying about twice a year or once for us..but i guess its all down to how long you are there and what waste you dispose..we have one tank for toilets, one for bathroom drains and one for kitchen drains...
I thinks its about 60bt for each lot the tanker suck out, good value heh...
I got ya now...my system is classed as a cess poll system where it just fills up and has to be drained out whenever required...your is a standard septic tank..
What will happen with your is unlike mine yours will be airtight and house waste will flow in at the top of the tank. The outlet pipe which will be near the top will either have a T shaped end or failing this there is usually a baffle wall in the centre stopping solid waste reaching the outlet and blocking it up...
The solid waste should then just lay on the bottom and naturally bacteria will basiclly eat this and you will end up with a scum level forming on you tank..hence why we have baffle or T ends to stop this getting to the pipes..
These last for ages as long as bacteria does its thing and it remains airtight..you can help it along by adding live bacteria which will eat all this waste for you...sounds good doesnt it...as the waste water level rise the outlet will just take it away to the street....
You may have to get it cleaned from time to time but it should last for ages before you need to..
Good idea to have a seperate waste tank for oils as it would just kill that system and block it up..kinda like it does over here when people pour it down the drain, just builds up and goes solid..

Ian
I can echo you comments on the waste side we have three pits and in coming up three years - no empying needed they are concrete about 4' wide and 8' deep the liquid level in any of them is no more than half way up fatty waste from the kitchen goes in the one recieving from the washing machine so that the fat is emulsified by the detergent. All the tanks have no bottom so that they soak away to the ground although they do have overflow pipes (onto next doors garden) they have never seen yet to discharge anything.

re Foundations
we did have instead of a damp proof membrane put down below the raft an addative to the concrete put in to make it waterproof. (as advised by a structral engineer friend) The water proofing product work well because we also built a carp pond using the same treatment and no leaks (I didn't realy belive that it would water proof but it did)!
also

quote:

You made my day mate....i had a feeling i was the only one who drank the rain water..good on ya..took my stomach a few months but now its ok and if i ever run out of bottled its very handy...

I prefer the taste to the commercial bottled water and at least I know where it's comming from, unlike rain water in some UK areas the rain in our village is neutral Ph (no acid rain here)it goes great with scotch

Thanks Ian. I have Googgle'd on septic tanks so am now up to speed in that area.

I see you managed to get the electrics mounted in conduit. I hate the normal surface mounted wiring in LOS.

Did you consider ventilation in the roof space? I know its done in the UK to keep the wood dry, but even my loft in the UK gets hot in the summer.

The next item for our house will be some aircon for the bedrooms. I have been told to get inverter type units as they run more efficiently. But have no idea which brand. I suppose you get what you pay for.

quote:

But have no idea which brand. I suppose you get what you pay for.

Ray
there are two types sold one is more economical than the other and costs more it uses 25% less electric, dont ask me what they are called though (apart from air-con) just know we had a mix of both and they all come with a one year gurantee. Air-con is a retro fit make sure that the water drain is away from the wall.