Boundary Wall

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.

Block work and drainpipes...

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.

House Painting

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.

Isara Foundation Bottle Boat Project

This is a rather different type of project than you normally find me blogging about, but I am very excited to be a part of it.  I have blogged about the Isara Foundation before on my other Nong Khai Website - www.nongkhaiinformation.com.  I also display a free advert for Isara in the navigation column to the right on this blog.  However, I have never actually blogged here about what the isara foundation does.

Isara Foundation is a registered charity based in Nong Khai, determined to make it easy AND FREE for everyone to help others. Simply use their website (www.isara.org) as your browser homepage or for your Google searches and you will help to fund Isara charity projects… FOR FREE!

Isara started in 2005 with a campaign to provide free motorcycle helmets to school children, but since then they have expanded by opening a free learning centre where children and adults can come to learn English, providing scholarships and educating students about environmental concerns. Isara creates its own projects together with volunteers, sponsors and clicks to its website (www.isara.org). 100% OF ISARA’S REVENUE GOES DIRECTLY TO CREATING AND MAINTAINING ISARA PROJECTS.

Isara Foundation believes that volunteering should be free and that nobody should profit from charity. That is why they created one of the only free volunteer programs in the world. If you are interested in volunteering in Thailand, India or Nepal, I would personally urge you to take a look at Isara first. You can apply online and before you know it you could be making a difference as an Isara volunteer.

Isara Foundation also has an active online forum where visitors, supporters and volunteers post about everything from Isara’s charity projects to the latest movies, books and music. So don’t just take my word for it, go in to the forum and see what past and present volunteers at Isara have to say.

So, that is a little bit about Isara Foundation, but what is the "Bottle Boat Project"?  Well, it is the brainchild of the founder and driving force behind Isara, Kirk Gillock.  Having recognised the fact that the Mekong river is becoming ever more polluted with everyday household waste such as plastic bottles and bags and tin cans etc... he plans to travel down the Mekong River by boat from its highest point upstream in Thailand all the way down to where it leaves Thailand in the south, and hopefully even through Cambodia and on to where it meets the sea in the gulf of Thailand.  Along the way, he will stop at the many towns and villages on either side of the river and educate people about the benefits of keeping the river clean and free from trash, by giving lectures in the local schools and village halls.  This is a wonderful and commendable idea in itself, and certainly a step in the right direction towards changing the behaviour of those with whom we share the Mekong.  However,  more than this he also plans to design and build an eco friendly boat in which to make the journey !

The boat will be  a catamaran of wooden frame construction but unusually, all of it buoyancy will be obtained solely from over 5000 recycled plastic bottles strapped within its wooden frame structure.  The boat will be powered by electric motors with a bank of batteries on board, charged through a combination of wind and solar power generators.  The point of using such an unusual craft is to attract the attention of the locals wherever it goes and enthuse the local children and adults on the benefits of recycling and of taking care of the environment.  It really will be quite a sight to see, as it cruises down the Mekong river, and I am sure they will have no trouble in attracting attention!

The national Thai media has already begun to take a big interest in the project, as have numerous local businesses, such is Kirk's passion for this and, indeed,  all of the projects he undertakes.

So, why am I posting about this here?  Kirk had come up with the basic drawings and had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve.  I have merely been spending a little time helping to work out some of the finer structural details and producing the 3-D rendered drawings and plan drawings from which the carpenters will work.   The drawings below are a work in progress.  Once I have the completed drawing s I shall also post them here.  I shall also post some pictures of the finished boat on its launch in the Mekong. You can also follow along with the progress of this project and with the many other fantastic projects that Isara is involved with at www.isara.org.  If anyone is interested in sponsoring this project or Isara, in general, you can do so by visiting their website where you can either make a one-off donation or become a full time sponsor, donating just a little bit each month.

Ground to roof level update!

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.

Interior & Exterior Finishing...

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.

Exterior Detailing

Construction of the roof 'wing' is now complete, and ready for staining.

We experienced a delay in applying the preformed exterior detailing due to an unreliable third party contractor.  However, we have now brought in a new contractor who is progressing well in applying the detailing.

Column reinforcement structures placed

All of the column reinforcement structures have been placed and the concrete footings poured.  The next stage is to apply the formwork and pour the first stage columns.

How not to build a wall...

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.

Two columns in, one column out

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...