Coolthaihouse Photo Gallery

These shots show the techniques used for perimeter wall construction in this project. The perimeter wall heights vary, up to a height off 2 m. There are support columns spread equidistantly at appx. 2.5 m. The columns are poured after and around the adjacent block work, with a 'tie in' piece of rebar crossing through the column. Color pigment was added during the application of the final render coat for a paintless surface.

20 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Materials (as well as equipment) are kept out of the elements so they don't degrade. The grounds are initially treated for underground insects, such as termites.

17 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The 6" bore holes were dug to a depth of over 30 m. A high quality franklin submersible pump is set in the bottom of each bore hole. The water flow rate was tested and easily passed the guaranteed minimum of 2000 liters per hour.

7 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Outside of the project blue prints and ability to view the model in real time in 3D (but at a reduced level of detail), it is nice to be able to get 'renders' to have enough detail to allow design decisions to be made.

11 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The structure is composed of concrete footings located at about 3 - 4 meter intervals. On top of the footing is a large ground beam highly re-enforced with 12mm rebar and appropriate cross sections. From there oversize cinder blocks were used as the foundation for load bearing walls. They have large holes (about 15cm. x 10 cm.) which are filled with concrete and vertical rebar to make internal support columns (within the walls). There are 3 re-enforced horizontal beams to give the walls lateral strength.

64 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Roof trusses are normally not used here. However, they have a number of advantages. They can easily span about 12 m. By definition, a truss does not need any intermediate point of support within the span. The truss design in this house is an M shape. Heavy duty 4 x 2" box section metal (3.2 mm thick) is used to give more than adequate support for the heavy tile roof.

18 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The kitchen is serviced by a grease trap which exits into the a dirty water septic. The bathroom solids route into a safety tank, liquids go into another dirty water septic. The appliances are properly vented, with an air vent rising up through a designated opening in the oversize cinderblock, vertically through the roof material.

24 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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This project employs proper electric throughout. The system will consist of grounded electric which is run through tightly affixed (the screw attach type) power point boxes. Conduit is routed in the open cavities within the wall to the proper destination. No electric tape is used, wire nut fasteners are used throughout.

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The finishing stage of the project. From decorative glass block inserts to archway support, terrazzo counter tops, ceiling framework up through laying the tile and installing the aluminum windows and doors.

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Various aspects of the completed project, views from the exterior, the great room, bedrooms, bathroom and attic. Also there is a movie clip showing the finished house.

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This project is quite similar to #1, except for the patio being swapped. The project renders are done in Maxwell Render which provides a bit more life like renders, although these were done to mid level quality (still some noise in the shots). A fly through is provided as a good comparison between the design and the actual completed project.

6 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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This is a column based building design, although the aerated blocks used in the wall do generate load bearing walls. There are 14 columns used at even intervals throughout the house footprint. The foundation pour was done with CPAC 280 ksc concrete over well re enforced ground beam framing.

48 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Unlike the Chok Dee #1 this is just a conventional Thai roof truss (as opposed to an M truss), since there are equa-distant columns throughout the house and no need for a large span. The ceiling is two tiered and the outside soffit is done with nature board (much better than the commonly used water resistant plaster board as normally used for the inside bathroom).

19 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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All of the inbound water (pressurized) pipes are the thick 13.5 mm thickness. Quality glue with proper water pressure testing done throughout the project (not just at the end). The inbound water supply is a deep water (bore hole) well of 32 meters in depth. A the bottom of the hole is a Franklin deep water pump. The water is fed into a large submersed water tank via an adjustable electronic valve. Then the water is fed to the house with via a Mitsu 155 watt automatic pressure pump.

28 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Similar to Chok Dee #1 project with the same electrical technician. This is a tape free installation with wire nut connectors throughout. The sockets use the 2.5 mm wire, 1.5 mm is use for lighting and 16 mm is used for the main.

24 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Covers the walkways, driveway, perimeter wall front section. The walkways + driveway are sloped to allow for run off through a series of drain holes in the front perimeter wall. The perimeter wall is color rendered for a paint free surface. This is done for the final natural look (not for cost savings - as it requires some extra steps).

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The finishing stage of the project, including decorative glass blocks inserts, counter construction, and aluminum windows and doors.

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A movie of the finished project + various pictures are here. Views of the exterior and interior.

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This house was done with budget materials such as the prefabricated post columns. The workmanship was OK, but I wouldn't use the synthetic sheet roofing again. It tends not to hold up over time and can develop surface cracks if over tightened during installation. This will eventually be reworked with regular cement tiles, or a metal roof.

22 files, last one added on Sep 28, 2011
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I was impressed with the perimeter wall team, the labor at the time was 900 per 2.5 meter section and the work was pretty good. Pattaya prices for labor are much more dear, perhaps 500 per linear meter for a 2 meter tall wall. The village wall has held up well over the years.

13 files, last one added on Aug 05, 2013
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The deep water well is 45 meters deep and took two tries to get right. The first attempt the pipe collapsed and required drilling another bore hole. This well digging group may not be the cheapest but they always come back to service the work they have done even two or three years done the line. This well was 60,000 including the pump. Decided on the 6" (as opposed to 4 inch) as service is easier in case of a collapse as can insert a 5" line.

15 files, last one added on Sep 26, 2011
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Originally the concept was a simple storage building, but it morphed into using the available footprint of the existing into a parking, storage, living area with full kitchen and 2 bathrooms. The overall area under roof is 264 square meters with a living area of about 132 square meters or half of that. There are 30 columns in the over all build with extra footings without columns for the bathrooms. Metal form work was used for the columns which was rented on a daily basis. We planned so that the form work would be enough for half the columns and kept the form work in place during a 1 week curing period.

69 files, last one added on Sep 26, 2011
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The electrician we have used on just about every project we have worked on which makes it nice as we know how each other works. He is experienced with larger projects and is detail oriented so that work can pretty much be offloaded and get done correctly, nicely, and neatly. If there is something he doesn't have he will wait until he gets it (instead of using whatever might be around at that point in time). In this project electric is routed from the main in the street via HDPE underground conduit. The house uses single phase electric. All of the outlets are grounded as well as the recessed lighting. The fixtures and main control box are bticino. The project also included routing all necessary CCTV/Lan/Satellite TV cables.

39 files, last one added on Sep 26, 2011
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The initial construction group turned out to be lacking in the ability to do any plumbing (*early red flag*), so we ended up plumbing the entire setup pretty much on our own. Water for the project originates from a deep water borehole with a franklin submerged pump which routes water out of the borehole into a 1000L storage tank. One Mitsubishi automatic pressure pump routes the water into the house. Drain pipes and the septics are vented through special tiles in the roof. The system was pressure tested prior to pouring any concrete. A different set of plumbers helped install the faucets, shower heads, water pump and hot water heater, they were a bit better than the general builders but it was still trail and error. Eventually all got installed correctly.

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There were two groups involved, one to build the general structure and the other one to lay on the CPAC Monier roof tiles. The roof structure was inspected at various points by an engineer associated with CPAC monier to ensure that the roof would hold the load and and was flat and true so that the tiles could be laid on the battens correctly. The roof structure guy was a bit flakey and luckily we had our own metal worker who repaired all poor welds and also patched any 'out of true' areas of the roof structure as required by the engineer. As far as the structure the exterior was 4in x 2in x 3.2mm structural steel tubing double sections and most key rafters were also 4x2x3.2 which is a bit of overkill but better safe than sorry. The only subsequent problems encountered were due to bad tiles (which were replaced under the guarantee) and one problem with the tiles along the gable edge which was also fixed.

35 files, last one added on Sep 26, 2011
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This is the same ceiling installation group we have always used and they do a very good job with interior ceilings. Even though the exterior ceiling turned out OK, they changed the pricing half way through which created problems and generally just were not set up for exteriors. Never ran into the problem before because other projects didn't have a large exterior area. The interior of the house had a 'step' in one room and several 'step' areas in the great room entry area. The step was 60 cm overhang by a 15 cm drop. Chang brand drywall sheeting was used in the house with the moisture resistant type used in the bathrooms. The exterior used vented smart board with both aluminum and vinyl screening used to protect against insects. The vinyl is much cheaper and seems very durable and functional so we ended up shifting over to that for most of the house.

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Originally just a storage unit we decided to upgrade and splurge somewhat on the tiling of the project, especially since we knew and had worked with the tiler on other projects and knew he would be able to do a perfect job. The driveway and patio were tiled with bezen brand small manufactured granite tiles. These come in different shapes and and are applied in a pattern. Most of the house and storage area floor was tiled with a super glossy and heavy granito tiles. Then tiles were laid on the kitchen wall and also in the bathrooms. In addition to this there was a feature wall tiled with small sandstone tiles and the concrete frame for the kitchen cabinets was also constructed on site (these last two under separate albums).

35 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The counter support structure was made out of red brick rendered with concrete. The poured sub counter was reinforced with 6mm rebar mesh work. On top of the poured counter there will be a granite counter top in a U shape. There is one sink, a stove top, 2 storage areas, and 2 shelving units. The below counter units are Kitzcho. Above the granite counter top Kiztcho cabinets will be installed. We had our tiler do all of the structure work and then Kitzchco came in and installed the cabinets. The electrician then installed lighting above and below the upper cabinets.

17 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The project utilized 5 solid wood doors of a softer wood than teak (mai ber see ah ไม้ เปอร์เซีย) which was painted with an oil based paint. The doors are supported by frames which are embedded in poured side columns and all have poured lintels above them. The windows, entry door and kitchen door were done with white aluminum 1.5mm thick. The aluminum works out in my opinion better than PVC and is very durable. For the wood the only change we would make is to go with a harder wood for the one exit door as there has been slight warpage.

16 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The security storage room is a re enforced room for storage that is part of an existing room which is split in two by a metal partition. The partition is welded steel 1x1 pieces in a mesh pattern with a welded metal door as the only available entry. The top of the structure also has a metal mesh partition above the ceiling. The walls are double thick with reinforced concrete in the middle. Our welding guy did an excellent job on the partitions, the cross supports are all straight and the door operates as designed.

15 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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The area of the 'feature wall' used wall blocks of 20 cm so that the wall and column would be the same size and therefore no part of the column would be visible. The tiler rendered the surface of the wall as they typically do if they are going to tile that surface, as it ensures a level surface and 90 degree corners necessary to do a quality tiling job. Weber adhesive cement (tile fix) was used to affix the small natural sandstone tiles as well as the 75 kg. sandstone engraving. The small sandstone tiles were 270 per square meter, the square sandstone feature tiles were about 169 to 188 baht each and the large 75kg sandstone mural was 9500. The large engraving was also available in a three piece version which was cheaper and easier to install but decided that the one piece would look better.

20 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Under mount sinks are much more work than surface mount so they don't get used that often, but we think they look very nice with granite. Working with the actual stone factory means that they cut any size and only charge you for what you use. For under mount sinks they take the sink to the factory and cut the hole on site. The granite installer arrives and cuts other parts on site. In this project we used granite for a U shaped counter in the kitchen and in the two bathrooms. The installer is pretty good, is recommended by the factory and has done several jobs for us.

18 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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On this project we were had a great welder working at a day rate helping us. Most importantly he helped correct some poor welds in the roof structure and laid in leveling pieces of square steel tubing prior to the tiles being laid. Then he proceeded to work on many other special projects which included a service access ladder, satellite dish support, barbed wire installation using tensioners, security metal installation, storage cabinets, access gates, car rack, storage racks, king size bed a bunk bend and many others. The unique thing about this worker is he could take a partial design and finish it off better than we would have designed it. The bunk bed was done from a one inch magazine clip given to the worker by Ms Dozer and he designed and added all of the proper points to secure the bed with bolts for easy assembly/dis assembly. One of the few times where things we don't design all the way out 100% actually turn out correctly, as in true prodigy....

23 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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These roll up doors were used in the storage section of the building. Although they can have a negative connotation, roll up doors are functional and price effective. They are sold by the square meter depending on grade, color and accessories. In this build there were a total of 2 openings using 3 doors, one with a split panel. The coverage area was about 8 m x 3m or 24 sq m and the price was around 16k from the factory. However the installation was really a rip off (by our own installer) at 4500 b or 1500 b per door. The installation team wasn't detail oriented and did only an OK job.

11 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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It turned out to be about 1/2 the cost to buy the equipment directly from the avetech importer and various resellers at บ้านม่อ and ครองถม (ban maugh and krong tom). As far as design concepts the main things to consider initially are related to power to supply the cameras and how to power them with sufficiently thick wire to avoid any problems from insufficient power at the camera. Here we used a 9 channel switching setup in addition to a 12V DC UPS to power the cameras. The main switching station was hooked into a 1500 kva UPS to take care of power outages.

23 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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Some finishing touches including painting and putty application, wood trim on the ceiling, cornering columns and installing curtains. The wood trim was a soft wood (mai bur see ah) which works great as trim and holds looks as good as teak. The wood trim guys were the ones that do all of the wood work for us and work great, seldom a problem. The painting group was one we had used on several other projects and although they aren't 100% we haven't run into any painting groups that are. In any event we both like using a specialty group to do painting as opposed to getting the main builders to do it -- which is a frustrating, paint on everything needing to be there every minute type process. Curtains material was purchased at Jattujak market (it is custom ordered to size and then picked up several weeks later). It was better quality and lower priced and had more of a unique look than our previous curtain person could deliver.

20 files, last one added on Sep 27, 2011
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A few shots of the finished project. Overall the project took about 6 months from being to end. Even though most of the contractors on the project we had worked with before, there are still many things we would do differently -- primarily involving selection of the main builder.

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