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Original Coolthaihouse BuildA pictorial view of the building of the 'cool thai house' prototype. Arranged in sections as follows, please click to see the details!

Note: If you are doing your own project and want information on building that applies to what you are doing, it has been compiled in the information section. The two sections are similar (information and cool shots), both drawing from this house being built, the difference is, the info section details options of building materials and the like, where this section is simply a history of the cool thai house being built!

(This is circa 2004 the original CTH)
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Original Coolthaihouse InfoA great place to build, but the more information one has, the better. This page has many articles and write-ups on various aspects of building a house in Pattaya, Thailand. Most of the information can be applied to other areas within Thailand as well. Most of the articles contain picture examples showing various stages of house construction. You are not going to be building the house yourself, but the more you know the smoother it will go. Hopefully these articles will help you visualize some aspect of your project ahead of time and provide information on various house building options.

The text is divided up into sections as follow. General: General information about building and some good ideas. Basics: basic materials, foundation columns, concrete pours, wall construction, tile laying, roofing, windows and doors. Details: ceiling construction, finishing the eves with grc sheeting, how to create a inexpensive but nice kitchen, bathroom options along with a construction example and electrical considerations. Other: perimeter wall types and example, water systems and options, gate and security metal installation, an example of building a planter box and rain gutter installation.
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Last additions - Original Coolthaihouse Section
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This is the land plot after some fill dirt has been brought in (to the left of the truck). It is 84 square wah. (01-Jan-04) dozerSep 28, 2011
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The front gutter system. (15-Aug-04)dozerSep 28, 2011
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The rear gutter and down spout.(13-Aug-04)dozerSep 28, 2011
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Added the final gutter on top of the patio. (23-Jun-04)dozerSep 28, 2011

Random files - Original Coolthaihouse Section
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A house with a roof made of synthetic roof sheeting material. (12-May-04)dozer
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Surface Well Problems: The side of the well needs to be filled in with small stones, to prevent air and water pockets forming outside the well. (12-Jul-04)dozer
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Installing brackets for the 6" gutter sections. (16-Jun-04)dozer
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Tile roof example (cool thai house). This is the most common roofing material in use for houses built for foreigners. (03-May-04)dozer
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Here is what what should happen. First a square hole is dug which is 1 meter square. Then a base of concrete is poured to keep the rebar pillar frame in place. Then form wood is used to make a large square for a foundation pour up to the ground level. The sizing of this form box will be about 60 centimeters wide. This is an important step as shortcuts will lead to foundation pillars shifting and walls cracking, among other things.

In this case the foundation hole was just 60 centimeters wide. Then a can was used to do the pour. The can was inserted and then dirt was placed around the can. The pour was done and then 5 minutes later the can was lifted out of the ground. This method is commonly used to create the post for a perimeter wall, but if used for a house proper will lead to an substandard structure. (This is what the picture to the left is showing, ie. the can pulled out 5 minutes after the cement pour).

Doing the foundation column like this can cause a lot of settling cracks, and other problems which only time will tell. It just isn't very sturdy. If you compare the house done for a foreigner and that regular Thai house: The house built for a foreigner will be a lot prettier and will be 'finished' off to a foreign standard. It will have things we take for granted -- like a sheetrock ceiling. The Thai house will be much simpler and cheaper (maybe 200,000 Baht or so total cost). But important things like the foundation columns will almost always be done to standard.

What follows are some shots of the standard way of doing foundation columns for a single story building......
dozer
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A window cutter will measure and cut the wood windows on site. (19-Jun-04)dozer
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Here is the door lock in the process of being corrected.dozer
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Another house with wood windows. (06-Jul-04)dozer

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