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The Roof Is (Almost) Ready To Receive The Roof Tiles And The Wall Is Nearing Completion

Pictures taken during the construction of our retirment house in Pakchong (Pak Chong), Thailand week ending Friday 11th March, 2011

Pakchong House Roof Purlins 01

This picture (above) gives you some idea of the size of the house. As you can see it towers over the blue neighbours house which is big enough itself.

You can see that all the steel rafters are on the roof and most of the purlins have been fitted. I should think that by now (due to the delay in my getting the pictures compared to when they were taken) they have started putting on the roof tiles.

Pakchong House Roof Purlins 02

In this photo (above) you can clearly see the ‘U’ section of the steel rafters. In this house the concept was originally to have an all wood roof structure. in other words the rafters would be wood.

Inside the house bamboo mats would be laid between the rafters, leaving part of the rafter exposed to view. The concept is shown in the picture below. (That is not our house, but what we want our house to look like)

Bamboo Matt on Walls & Underside of Roof

Above, this is the effect we want of exposed rafters underneath the roof and bamboo mat acting as an internal wall and roof liner.

Now that we changed from wooden rafters to steel to save money, I’m not quite sure house we will treat the steel rafters to make them look like wood. Infill the open part of the “U” section of the rafters with wood and paint it all in the same colour?

Pakchong House Roof Purlins 03

Above, Health and safety worries here. That worker is about 8 m above the ground and has not anti-fall gear whatsoever!

Pakchong House Roof Purlins 04

Above. A clear view of the steel roof structure.

Pakchong House - Our Builder

It’s about time I introduced our builder and here he is (above). He typically has about four build projects on the go at any one time. He is a great guy, very knowledgeable and accommodating. He is also a qualified Thai Architect.

The Cost For Building A Concrete And Block Wall In Thailand

Next a few pictures of the wall at the front of the land, bordering on to the main access road. This is ‘extra work’ for our builder – not included in the original house-build price.

Kanyah negotiated a price with our builder of 49,000 Baht for this wall.The land width is 20 m and assuming there is a gap left for the gat of 2 m the length of the wall will be 17 m. Therefore the cost per meter for the wall is 2,882 baht/m. (That’s £58/m @ 49 Baht/£)

Compare that with the cost for the metal mesh fence of  1,003 Baht/m (£20/m). The wall is nearly 3 times the cost of the fence.

Pakchong House Front Wall 01

Above, the construction method of the wall is clear. Concrete posts at intervals and block infill.

Image of Pakchong House Front Wall 02

Above, the wall looks a bit out of vertical but I think that’s a result of the camera lens. I have noticed that the camera Kanyah uses distorts straight lines as most cameras do unless they are expensive professional cameras.

Pakchong House Front Wall 03

I assume that this guy is casting a concrete capping along the top of the wall. Notice the water running down the wall. Concrete should not be that wet!

Pakchong House Front Wall 04

Above, as I mentioned above, I’m sure ti wall is vertical and that it’s just the camera that makes it look like it’s falling over.

Pakchong House Front Wall 05

Here you can get an idea of the height of the wall. About 2 m I’d say. Also you can see the formwork for the concrete capping along the top of the wall. (If in fact that’s what it is!)

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