News from house building in the rice paddies

[Peter Hendricks]

Dear Friends,

It's been a very long time since we last wrote to you about our adventures in Thailand. So, we have got a few stories for you and lots of pictures.

Well, as they say, "the best laid plans...". When we went to register our home to get an official address, officials just laughed at the pictures we showed them. We needed walls, doors and windows and no, the container wasn't good enough, either. We sat down with Ling, our builder, to see what other ideas we could come up with. You see, I need a fixed address to open a bank account, which I need to legally stay in Thailand.

The second shock came when Ling gave us a quote for building the cottage. We thought it was far too expensive and told him so. We then considered converting half the car port into a building. After all, it only needed walls with doors and windows. How hard or expensive can that be? In NZ I would have gone to Bunnings (DIY store), bought some timber, plywood, doors and windows and built 4 walls. It turns out in Thailand timber is expensive. So is plywood, steel and cement board. But then Ling had a brain wave: since we were planning to build a mud house anyway, why didn't we just build the walls from mud brick? It would be a good training exercise for the house. And the mud is free from the rice paddy.

So, we went to a mud house training course, bought some doors and windows and set to work. We also decided to not build the cottage at all, but asked Ling for a quote to build the foundations for the house instead.

To make the mud bricks, Su started off kneading the mud with sand, water and rice husks in a tub, with her feet. This turned out to be far too slow and hard, so then we used the tractor with the rotary hoe attached to mix in a pit in the ground. This didn't work very well and so, against the advice of our teachers, we bought a mortar mixer. Using the mud pre-mixed with the tractor and finished with the mixer we could now produce from 20 to 80 bricks per day, in dry weather. Due to the heat we could only work mornings and evenings. It took us about 3 months to make all the bricks and build the walls.

Then disaster struck: as the walls dried they seemed to shrink and pulled the plastic frame on the back door out of shape. There was no way a door could be fitted here. Ling used a grinder to remove the mud around the frame, made sure it was straight again, then filled the gaps again with mud. The result was a frame slightly out of shape, with the door only just fitting.

Then Su set about plastering the walls, first with mud, then with hydrated lime. For the last layer she added iron oxide (imported from Germany! Who would have thought that Thailand needs to import rust from Germany?) This gave the outside walls a nice yellow colour. Next we got Ling to enclose the area between roof and walls and put tiles on the floor. This was now designated our future workshop. But for now, this is officially our home.

Then we noticed cracks appearing in the walls. When you touch the wall the plaster crumbles off in small pieces, mostly like dust. We started to realise that building a house wasn't going to be as simple as we were led to believe. Another rethink of the plan was in order.

We decided to abandon the mud bricks and asked Ling to quote us for building the house. His quote seemed reasonable and we accepted. The walls are now being made of AAC, autoclaved aerated concrete, better known by brand names like Hebel or Ytong. Most Thai houses are built from narrow concrete blocks, positioned vertically and about 7 cm thin. For better insulation we chose the largest size, 20 cm thick. The roof also has a layer of PU foam. The build was supposed to take about 3 months.

Here are the pictures:

Phase 1 - car port and work shop

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dhfygA57Pe7tgGzv8

Phase 2 - house

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bBT2NrPcEVewumSe8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cHwU4sk9Ufwo9bS87

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ATPqz2rGRSk6ZCkh7

As before, remember to click the first picture to enlarge it and to display my comments (if you actually want to read them...). You can move through the pictures with the arrow keys on your keyboard.

We hope to move in in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Su's psoriasis has been up and down. After 2 dermatologists and a few alternative treatments,, none of which worked, at least not for long, she is now getting herbal and UV treatment in a clinic in Bangkok. She has gotten to know the mini bus driver very well by now, as she does the trip about 4 times a week. It looks like it is on the retreat now, but she still suffers a lot from itching. Let's hope this one works long-term.

That's all for now. There should be a few more pictures soon.

Kind regards,

Peter & Su.

[Juergen Geiss]

Hi Peter

And we thought you were still in Kerikeri (or thereabouts) cutting lawns for people. 

When did you move to Thailand?

Your building project(s) are truly major undertakings. Congratulations! What have you planned to do after all the building is finished?

I'll write a bit more shortly.

Greetings from NZ and best wishes for both of you.

Juergen and Kay