Building regulations and water pipe

[Artist]

Hallo! Anyone can tell me something about the building regulations in Thailand? What are the
restrictions? How about sewage system and water pipe (DIN?)? What kind of system and standard are applied in Thailand? Is lime being used for walls?

Thanks in advance!

[brianks]

Now this should be interesting to read the reply's. What restrictions? Draw up a set of plans, have them approved by the local authorities and you can build whatever you want, whether it is on the plans or not. Of course a bottle of Whiskey was solicited by our local authorities as the fee for the approval. No inspections.

[STEVE G]

I had a house built here a couple of years ago and it's not much more complicated than stated above. We selected a plan out of one of those Thai books that you can find in any local bookshop, the Thai building contractor produced a set of building plans and submitted them to the authorities, and then built the house.
I personally didn't get involved much more than that as I work away and my partner sorted everything else out on a day to day basis. I would say that the most important thing is to find a good contractor with as many personal references as you can get and go look at other properties they've built first.
Be a bit wary of property developers as the vast majority will just charge you more and then sub-contract the work and you'll have no control over who actually builds the house. ( I would be pleased to hear that this isn't always the case but it seems to be how it's normally done.)
If you want to get more involved personally, I've seen an English language book available in Thailand that goes into detail about Thai construction techniques and regulations, I forget the title but they have it at the bookshop in Bangkok airport.

[Dannie Boy]

We had our house built a couple of years ago. I came up with the basic design and then we got a draughtsman to draw up the building plans. They were submitted to the Building Office (Tessibahn?) for approval, although they did insist on a few changes to some of the specifications, but once approved, that was the end of the process as far as any checking on construction, the only inspection was once the building was complete and three people from the office came to inspect the house, but it was all very superficial - we had made some relatively minor changes to the plans but nothing was challenged and the drawings got signed off.

As Steve G mentioned, finding a reputable builder is the most important part of the process, so follow his advice and you should be ok.

[Arlo]

Is this the book Steve G you are talking about?

[STEVE G]

Is this the book Steve G you are talking about?

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the one I've seen for sale at the airport.

[Artist]

Thanks so much. I will order that book from amazon then.

How do you communicate with your builder? Are they local who speaks English or
farang?

[Pacman]

Hi Artist,

It seems like it is your builder responsibility to running the permission for you with the local governor such a Or Bor Tor or municipality. Inside the house, if the drawing or blue print was signed by an authority engineer, it shouldn't be any problem. But to connect your house sewage or city water you must talk to the local governor or municipality as I said above.

You should have a Thai person to be your representative to contact the local authority to avoid the language barrier.

Cheers!!

[STEVE G]

Thanks so much. I will order that book from amazon then.

How do you communicate with your builder? Are they local who speaks English or
farang?

The owner of the company didn't speak English and my Thai partner dealt with him but his son did and he prepared the plans and also was often available if I needed to communicate directly with them.

[Nereus]

How about sewage system and water pipe (DIN?)? What kind of system and standard are applied in Thailand?

PVC pipe in Thailand is SUPPOSED to comply with TIS standards. There are 2 main grades, one marked 8.5 and the other 13.5.
8.5 is used for house construction, except if used in a swimming pool installation, where 13.5 should be used.
Like many things here, what you see is not necessarily what you will get! I have found pipe from one manufacturer that will not fit a different manufacturers fittings correctly, but Somchai will use it anyway and bury it in a cement wall!
Also, some brands of solvent cement are much better than others.

It is all very well to read books, or to have your Thai partner speak on your behalf,(not all of us have one), but my advice is that if you have no experience in building then it will save you both money and heartbreak in the long run if you employ somebody with experience to supervise the construction. I believe one such Farang person on this forum does such work.

http://www.thaipipe.com/products&services/upvcpipe.htm

http://app.tisi.go.th/standard/fulltext ... 7_2532.pdf

[STEVE G]

It is all very well to read books, or to have your Thai partner speak on your behalf,(not all of us have one), but my advice is that if you have no experience in building then it will save you both money and heartbreak in the long run if you employ somebody with experience to supervise the construction. I believe one such Farang person on this forum does such work.

I agree if you have an unlimited budget but in my case that would have made the project financially unviable, I was building from my salary and was also a bit wary of putting too much capital into Thailand. I'm very pleased with what I have and I would say that the most important stage was taking the time to research Thai building contractors. (I was building at 10,000 bt a square meter, not 25,000!)

[Nereus]

The following Website has a lot of useful information if you sort through it a bit:

[Mod edit: following review, link removed under T&Cs, it has a forum and competing services.]

[Artist]

Thanks a lot! Very useful information.

We are now in the conception phase. We would try to adapt the building using local materials and method.
Our idea is also to build a ecological house which if possible can be off the grid.
High ceiling, good insulted roof and thick stone wall, situated in an elevated position with big windows in line
for natural ventilation, is it ok to have only air condition in one room? or no air condition at all?

[hhfarang]

...is it ok to have only air condition in one room? or no air condition at all?

How many Thai houses do you think are air conditioned? Of course it's ok. The only way it will hurt you if you can stand the heat is possibly in resale value, but then not much because of how easily it is to install a/c here after the build. If you can live without a/c you will save thousands in electric bills and maintenance, not to mention original purchase and insullation. If you think you can live with the heat go for it.

Things to consider are that a lot of people cannot sleep in a hot room so you may at least need it in the bedroom and, depending on your location, you may need some heavy duty buglar deterrant on all the windows (and doors) as well as good screens if you plan to leave windows open all the time, especially at night.

As for me, I have to have it in every room. When I built a house here I had A/C in the master bath and walk in closets (via duct work) as well as every other room in the house.... but then my electric bill averaged near 10k per month. The house I'm renting now had one in each bedroom only, so I installed the biggest one I could find in the main living area. Luckily, with a smaller house, the electric averages a bit over 3k now.

[lomuamart]

If you've got the area then don't plant grass around the immediate vicinity of your house. Rather, put pebbles and shrubs.
Apparently, grass absorbs heat and then releases it once the sun has gone down whereas shrubbery reflects heat so the temperature indoors can be reduced by a few degrees.
I think I've got that the right way round but take a look at the principle as it's supposed to work.