Jun
27
Revisiting the Hut
June 27, 2007 |
Next morning we got on Nan’s Honda, and puttered over the other side of the village to have another look at the “hut”.
There was quite a few things that had to be done, to make it into a home, but it can be done without spending to much. It’s a solid build. All we need to do really is put tiles on the floors to make it easy to clean. And put stucco cement on the walls and give it some paint.
The back door have to be replaced, as it’s just a piece of corrugated iron, nailed to a frame. That is also where we will make our bedroom, by putting in a light wall. Not sure if we’ll make this with bricks, or just some wood paneling.
We will also put in an inner roof, as the ceiling is the corrugated metal plates that the roof is made from, and it probably gets quite hot in there. Call me crazy but we are not putting in air-con. I find that putting a fan at the foot end of the bed is more than enough for me at night.
There is the traditional water basin and bucket system for showering in the out house, and I see no reason to change that now. I may regret in January when night temperatures make it quite cold to have your morning shower. I’ve gotten used to the squatting toilet now, so no need to change that either. Well, that’s another thing I may regret when sooner or later I will eat something that my bowels wont agree to.
The boys will also get their own room. And the rest will be the living room, with TV and a computer desk.
Anyway, Nan is busy right now finding someone who is willing to take on the job. She recons she can have it all finished inside before I return in August. Then we’ll start on the outside, weather permitting.
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Comments
8 Comments so far
How did you make those pictures?
With Google Sketchup:
http://sketchup.google.com/
hey loony,
sounds just like our house! tin roofs, doors made from tin and old boards… there is a serious “oven effect” when the tin roof heats up and it gets hot underneath. my fiance told me that my idea of a water spray that sprays down the tin when it’s sunny has been done.
we busted out the old cement water tank and just tiled the whole bathroom. bought one of them plastic 50 gallon ‘jars’ for the shower water. in the winter i have a problem with pouring water over my back too!
google sketchup of our build is at:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/thaikarl/WorkingOnTheHouseInLomsak
i thought i could do the stucco - but when i say the crew doing it… no way. would have taken me months.
progress!
Nu
Nan has hired 3 guys to do the stucco. And the tiling will be done by the same crew. They also did the tiles in her mothers house, and the job there was reasonably well done.
But remind me never to take on a job for her. She will pay them 200 baht a day for the job, and they all now she have a farang husband.
That lady is a tough negotiater me thinks
I am thinging about getting somone to build a small water tower and make a shower. The water basin can stay as a reserve. We’ll see when I come back in August
Thaikarl, what are your thoughts on the tin roof sweating on the inside from the water spray? I have a tin roof on my house in GA. and have alot of problems with the tin sweating.
Rune, consider a stainless steal water basin positioned in sunlight to hold your shower water, it probably will be nice and warm in the evening making for a nice warm shower.
I dont know what the winter temps are where you are but they cant be that bad.
I am way ahead of you there Dago. Allready discussed it with Nan, and I will look into it on my next trip. She did not quite understand what I had in mind, as she wondered why I kept talkking about towels (i was talking about water towers of course).
Basically I am thinking about getting a small 3 meter tower welded together, slap a 50 litre or so water drum on top of it, fix some pipes on the bottom, and lead it into the shower house. That should make a nice shower. I think the local water pressure should be sufficient to get water up there
dunno about the tin roof sweating under the overhead spay. seems it would only do that if the tin temperature gets cold - the warm moist room air beneath will condense on the underside of the tin. intermitant spraying would help i imagine, so that the tin never gets *cold* but never gets *hot* either….
i’ve gone thru the same go around with my wife about the shower concept. she just looks at me with that “why would you need to do that???” look they give you. found out that a water tank tower is expensive to build. you can buy a submersible pump, like they use in the garden fountains for 800 baht or less. put one of those in a water jar outside the house - where the sun heats the water somewhat. rig up a pull-chain switch (you will have great fun trying to find a pull chain switch by the way. we went to i don’t know how many electric shops looking for one. they thought is was something from outer space.) to turn on the pump so you aren’t standing in water and fiddling with 220 volt plugs and switches - you remotely pull a string to turn on the switch for the pump. the pump we got for the water fall i’m building will lift water more than 2.5 meters up - should be enough to run a hose up into the shower room. i like taking a shower outside using the rainwater jars anyway. the water from the well is very hard water - lots of dissolved minerals that get into your skin.
Cant be that expensive to buy some piping and have a small tower welded together. In my line of work we do that all the time for comms tower, and they are a LOT taller than 2-3 meters. A simple watertank in top, and some piping.
The whole idea is just to have warm shower water (black tank, plenty of heat), and save some electricity by avoiding to install an electric water heater.
Well, we’ll see what I land on, but thanks for all ideas