Finishing Touches

It has been a busy month, hence the lack of updates on the blog!  We have all but completed our project in Fao Rai.  All that remains is a little bit of finishing to the wood work.  The following pictures were taken about a week ago before clearing the site.  I shall post a full video of the interior & exterior in about a week.

Painting, Tiling and Window Fitting

We have now completely tiled the floor of the house and covered the floor with a layer of cardboard to protect the tiles whilst we complete the rest of the interior work.  We are also in the process of installing all of the windows and fitting out the bathrooms.  The granite for the kitchen counter top is due to de delivered and fitted by Monday, which will then allow us to complete the tiling and fitting of the kitchen cabinets and appliances. We have applied an undercoat and are now awaiting top coats of paint.

Painting, ceiling work, kitchen and bathroom preparation

We have completed most of the exterior architectural detailing work and have poured the concrete foot path and patio areas around the house.  We have also nearly completed adding in the suspended gypsum board ceiling and have begun to paint the house.  We have also begun constructing the kitchen and bathroom counter units and carrying out the necessary plumbing work.

Yesterday we started bringing floor tiles and bathroom fittings etc... to the site, ready for installation.

We are currently a week ahead of schedule for our initial planned completion date of 24th April for this project.

Wall rendering and architectural detailing

The roof is no complete, as is all of the main interior and exterior wall rendering.  On the exterior, we are now adding the architectural detailing to the house and adding the four staircases.  Inside we are beginning the wiring and ceiling work.

Roof Tiles

All of the block work has been completed and the roof tiling is also almost complete.  We have now begun chasing the conduit into the internal walls ready for the electrical first fix and also preparing the surfaces and edges for rendering.

Roof structure and further block work

The main roof frame has now been added to the house and the tile mounting spars are being added.  The roof tiles are due to be delivered in two days. Most of the initial block work is completed and we shall be starting to render the walls in the next couple of days so within a week the house will begin to take shape.

Floor going in, walls going up

We have finished casting of all of the columns and beams.  The floor slab has now been poured.  In this case we used pre-cast concrete slabs over which was laid a steel mesh.  A layer of concrete was then poured over the tope of this.  This method is much quicker than adding in supports and shuttering and then pouring one thick concrete slab.  Most of the walls have also now been built.  Due to budget constraints with this project, we are using standard blocks, rather than the thermally insulating blocks that we have used on other projects.

Beam shuttering

We have been continuing preparations for the casting of the main floor beams in a couple of days by adding all of the shuttering around the steel beam reinforcement structure.

Construction begins...

We broke ground on our 2 bedroom house project in Fao Rai on 16th January.  On 18th Jan we poured the concrete footings. We then prepared the formwork for the first stage columns, which were poured on 22nd Jan.  Yesterday we began to prepare the wooden structure that will support the main beam formwork.  The beams are due to be poured on 27th January.

Two bedroom single storey home

I have just finished the design of a low cost two bedroom single storey home for a client near Fao Rai, Phon Phisai.

The home is entered via some steps leading up to a covered porch and  features a relatively large open plan living / dining room and kitchen area.  This leads on to a large covered deck at the rear.  There is also another covered area for an outside laundry just off from the kitchen area.

The master bedroom has a very large walk-in closet and an en-suite bathroom.  Unusually, at the clients request, the en-suite bathroom then leads on to a walled open-air shower room. There is then a guest bedroom with built in closet and a second bathroom.

We shall be starting construction of this home within the next week, with a scheduled completion date of around the end of May this year.  Check back here for updates on the progress of this build.