Blog

Project: Other Projects

Posted By Alec on November 14, 2010

It has been a while since I lost posted to the blog, primarily because we have been so busy with our latest projects.  One of which is the design of this large 5 bedroom family home which is soon to be built just outside Nong Khai town centre.

The client came to us with pictures of a number of houses that they liked and we designed the home taking design cues from those initial ideas, whilst designing a custom floor plan specific to their requirements.  The house has 315 sq.m of internal area and features two large bedroom suites on the second floor, plus two on the ground floor.  There is also guest accommodation with lounge, bedroom and bathroom, located above the car parking area complete with it’s own stairs access from the main house.

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Tags: architecture, construction, Home builder, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane

Project: General

Posted By Alec on August 8, 2010

In the past week we were asked to propose a concept design for a 3 storey home/office building in the centre of Nong Khai.  The ground floor of which would be entirely taken up by office space and the top two floors would be the home of the owner.  As of yet a final decision has not been made by the client as to whether to go with our design.  However, I am including this here to give an idea of the detailed images we produce before any potential clients part with a single Baht.  If you are thinking about commissioning us to design and build your home, you can be sure of the final look and style before you make any commitment to move forward.

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Tags: Budget house, Home Design, Home Office, House Construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Town House, Udon Thani

Project: Other Projects

Posted By Alec on August 8, 2010

Another project that we carried out the design for was a pool villa situated right on the Mekong river between Nong Khai and Tha Bo.  This two ensuite bathroom home consisted of large open plan living area set around a decked pool area enjoying views across the mekong river.  For a better view of the river, the home also featured a shaded roof top terrance.

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Tags: Budget house, Home Design, House Construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Mekong, Nong Khai, Pool Villa, Riverside, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Other Projects

Posted By Alec on August 8, 2010

We were recently approached by a client who had a plot of land in Laos on which he wanted to build a relatively low cost 2 bedroom bungalow.  He had already arranged a local builder, but wanted us to carry out the design and engineering of the home and produce a set of plans.  The home consists of two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, large living spaces and both an indoor and outdoor kitchen with two balconies.  We have completed all of the plans the client is due to begin construction with his own builder soon.

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Tags: 2 Bedroom, Budget house, Bungalow, Home Design, House Construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on July 23, 2010

We have been busy with constructing the large pond in the garden which is looking more like a swimming pool than a pond at the moment!  We have also installed the large drains to take the roof and ground run-off water.

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Tags: Home Construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on July 20, 2010

We have now completed all of the block work for the house and added many of the exterior features such as the protruding roof trim and also the detail around the large front window.  We have also installed the conduit for electrical wiring and have begun to prepare internal and external edges ready for rendering.

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Tags: architecture, Home Construction, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on July 20, 2010

Over the past week we have almost completed construction of the remaining boundary walls, installed the septic tanks, continued with interior painting and begun preparations for the large pond and decking area in the garden.   We have also had third party contractors installing our windows.

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Tags: architecture, Home Construction, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on July 10, 2010

All of the door frames have been installed and most of the block work completed.  The remainder of the block work will be completed today.   Then we can get on with the initial wiring and then rendering inside and out.

I thought I would also post a 180deg panorama taken from the bedroom balcony.  I think that is safe to say that this house will have the best view in Thip Thani, even though my photograph perhaps does not do it justice! It has unspoilt views across many km of open countryside.

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Tags: construction, Home builder, house design, Issaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on July 10, 2010

We completed work altering the existing boundary walls on two sides of the property some time ago.  We have now started construction of the new walls needed down one side and at the front of the house.

We have also taken delivery of the septic tanks which will be installed over the next couple of days.  We are also still busy with painting the house.  Especially all of the wood effect detailing, which takes quite some time to achieve the look of real wood.

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Tags: architecture, Home Construction, house design, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, THip Thani, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on July 6, 2010

The block work is progressing very quickly and should all be completed by the end of this week.  Yesterday, the drainpipes were attached to the large concrete gutter which doubles as a roof beam.

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Tags: architecture, construction, Home builder, house design, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on July 6, 2010

I have been very busy over the past few weeks and so the blog updates have not been as frequent as they used to be.  I’m going to try and get back to making short regular posts again.

With that in mind, here is a very short progress update:

We are currently in the process of painting the interior and exterior of the house.

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Tags: Home Construction, house design, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on July 3, 2010

It has been just over a month since my last update about our second project in Thip Thani and as you may expect, there has been considerable progress.  In fact, we are over two weeks ahead of schedule on this project.  This is largely because the  rainy season here in Nong Khai has been very late to start this year.  All of the buffers that had been put into the work schedule for work stopping due to rain have not been needed.

So, since my last update we have cast the ground floor beams,  ground floor slab, second stage columns, second floor beams, second floor slab, third stage columns and the roof beams.  We have also added the roof.  We are now working on the block work.  As with Baan Sanploen, our other project in Thip Thani, we are using the same thermally insulating building blocks and also implementing double walls with cavity wall insulation.

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Tags: architecture, construction, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on June 15, 2010

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past two weeks.  I have been very busy managing our two projects and also carrying out design work for a number of other clients…..  So, on with the update:

TREES

Our two transplanted trees have started sprouting new growth which is a very good sign.  This means that the hardest part is over and they are likely to survive the transplant and take to their new location.

EXTERIOR DETAILING

All of the preformed exterior detailing has been applied around the windows elsewhere on the house.

In addition to the concrete detailing, we have also added more wood effect detailing.  This is the same  material that we used on the roof wing, and as with the roof wing, the full effect can not be appreciated until it has all been painted, which will be done over the next few days.

SUSPENDED CEILING

n addition to the concrete detailing, we have also added more wood effect detailing.  This is the same  material that we used on the roof wing, and as with the roof wing, the full effect can not be appreciated until it has all been painted, which will be done over the next few days. After a slow start due to an unreliable third party contractor, we now have a very good contractor who has completed almost all of the ceiling work.

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Tags: architecture, Home Construction, House Builder, house design, Interior Design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, THip Thani, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on May 28, 2010

There is an existing boundary wall on two sides of the property that is about 1 meter high.  It is fairly typical of the walls in Thailand, having columns at about 2.5m spacing, standard block work, with a cast concrete top.  We had planned to leave the existing wall in place, but increase its height.  To do this, we would extend the height of the columns, then use wood effect fencing panels between them.  The existing block work at the bottom would then be rendered to give a smooth finish.  To extend the height of the columns, we would make new steel re-enforcement structures and attach them to the existing re-enforcement structures , then cast the columns around them…… The problem?  The existing wall has NO STEEL RE-ENFORCEMENT!  Apart from reducing the strength of each column, it also means that the columns are not tied to each other through the top cross beams, as intended…. This probably explains why the wall is not straight!

This wall has stood for about 12 years so far and I’m sure that if we were not planning on increasing its height it would probably be stand for quite a few more years. However, disturbing the structure and adding extra weight to the top of it would definitely reduce its stability significantly.  Now we have a bit of an issue – whether to completely rebuild the entire wall or to try to fix what is there.  One thing is for certain… it is not worth risking building on top of it as is.

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Tags: architecture, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Walls

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on May 28, 2010

Yesterday, we installed the reinforcement structures for the first two columns.

We had a problem with the electricity supply posts around the plot of land.  The problem was that the smaller of the two was sitting about 2 metres inside the plot of land and more troublesome was the fact that both posts had ground stays positioned within the plot.  The combined effect of the stays and the small post meant that the front access to the plot was practically blocked off.  Yesterday we had the smaller  post and all ground stays removed.  Because the plot is positioned on a bend in the road, the large mains supply post will be moved across the road in the next couple of weeks so that the line cuts the corner thus negating the need for a small post entirely.  When we eventually bring power to the house, we we run it underneath the road to eliminate unsightly overhead wires running to the house.

We also had the ground stay removed from the post at the front of “Baan Sanploen”, our other project in Thip Thani.

Obviously, one can not just move electricity supply pylons at will.  This has to be carried out by the Thai national electricity company.  You can also not, generally, have posts moved just because you do not like how they are positioned.  We were just lucky that the small post had been incorrectly positioned on our land and that the best solution also involved the large post to also be moved away.

Two columns in.... one column out...

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Tags: architecture, Electricity Supply, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Baan Sanploen

Posted By Alec on May 25, 2010

Yesterday we brought our new trees over from the orchard in which they were originally situated. We also had to remove one huge branch of a mango tree, which was cutting across the eventual position of the extended height fence we shall be putting up. Normally, I hate the idea of cutting down trees, but it didn’t seem so bad in this case as we planted two to compensate.

Half of a mango tree is cut down

The tree on the left is the Rambutan on the one on the right is Lychee

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Tags: architecture, construction, Garden Landscaping, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Trees, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on May 23, 2010

Right on schedule, we have begun work on our next Thip Thani project.  The lucky Buddhist day for the first column to be placed in the ground is next Thursday, 27th May.  Between now and then, the foundations will be dug, and all of the re-bar for the column and footing structures will be cut and tied.

Breaking ground on a new project

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Tags: architecture, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on May 18, 2010

Having spent the last 10 days consulting with our client, the redesign of our second project in Thip Thani is now complete.  Our client had been watching the progress of our first Thip Thani project “Baan Sanploen” and liked the general layout, but also loved the general look and feel of my original design for the second Thip Thani plot that I posted pictures of a couple of weeks ago.   So the new design could be considered to be a hybrid of the two designs.

Yesterday morning I passed on all of the architectural plan drawing to structural engineer.  I should have drawings back by the end of the week and break ground on Saturday.  The target completion date is early September.

Ground floor plan

Second floor plan

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Tags: Architect, construction, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Structural Engineer, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on May 8, 2010

Well, I had everything ready for our new project. All of the calcs had been done and we were all ready to break ground on the site. However, I was approached by someone who was very interested in our plot of land and who would like us to build a house for them… Great! Except that the house that I had already designed and was going to build does not fit with their budget and specification. Nevertheless, although it will mean a delay in the building work starting, it is obviously better to have a buyer lined up from the start of the project and a contract in place. So, it is back to the drawing board… I now have to prepare some concept drawings to give an idea of the sort of property we will be able to build for them to meet their budget and required spec. Once we talk through all of the options and all parties are happy, we will draw up a contract and begin the detailed design work. It is a little bit harder for me to estimate how long it will take to finalise he design when a third party involved… Obviously you have to be sure that the design is exactly as the client wants it, so it normally takes a little longer to tweak the final design. I will post some 3D renderings as soon as I have a (new) final design.

The time that I have put into the initial design, that we were going to build, will not be wasted as we will build it on another plot of land at a later date.

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Tags: architecture, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Thailand, Udon Thani

Project: Thip Thani Project 2

Posted By Alec on May 5, 2010

I have now passed on the plans for our next project to our structural engineer in order for him to perform all of the necessary calculations and produce all of the material we will need to pass on to the planning department.  Below are a few 3D renderings showing how the exterior of the finished home will look.

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Tags: architecture, Home Construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Thailand, Udon Thani