Design Ideas for Thai Style House

[craighuahin]

I am building a new house in Hua Hin and looking for design ideas which include both modern and traditional Thai styles. So, for example, modern rendered brick walls and Thai style roof, high ceilings, open plan between living & outdoor areas. Can anyone share examples of some houses, designs, inspirations I can use to get me started? A (mostly English) search for modern/traditional designs hasn't produced much other than some top end properties that are WAY outside the budget

I saw a few houses around the Palm Hills golf course area that looked close to what I'm after, split-level Thai style roofs but with modern walls so keen to see some similar examples.

[caller]

There's probably a reason why only top end properties, such as those at Palm Hills, match your own plans!

Have you considered approaching an architect, or looked for examples on the net that you could use as a basis for your plans?

You would also need to consider a building company that can match your expectations. Here it tends to be rinse and repeat, with most Thai builders having their 'preferred' way of construction, you will be requiring them to think outside of that box.

[PeteC]

Below are the bungalows at the Davis Hotel on Soi 24 in Bangkok. Cement at the bottom and Lana style on the top. Interior is Thai Lana, mixed with modern conveniences. There's many hotels around the country with that style, as well as private houses. There should be builders familiar with how to build.

[PeteC]

Note: Be prepared for dark living though. The interiors are a lot of wood and dark for the most part.

[Green Nomad]

I have been looking into this myself for some years now. If you go onto the Lazada website and search house designs you will get pictures of many examples. Lazada sell plans, some of the designs are tremendous. Also, I would suggest using a website called pinterest, if you login you can search and open numerous links to Asian/Thai designs. If you are reluctant to do that, clicks4homes, homethaidd and omhomedd are good links to search. In thai but you can get to see what's available. Hope this helps. GN

[VincentD]

My wife had the house in Bangkok rebuilt after major damage due to the 2011 floods. She went to an architect and got it done, with all the approvals and everything.
We were also considering building on the plot upcountry in Khampaeng Phet but decided not to. Plans are available at the Amphur office for free, all pre-approved, and can be modified to suit for a small fee.
It's something you might want to look into as well.

[deepee]

Sadly many folks go about building a new house in a back to front manner.
You really should start making observations of your land first and designing the house to suit, not trying to make the land suit the house.
Try visiting your plot at different times of the day different days of the week and in different seasons if you have that opportunity.
Make notes about sun direction ,shade, breezes, the neighbors ,road traffic noise, potential flooding,etc,etc.
Then start matching your possible designs to your plot.
Too many times I've seen houses unmatched to their plots and some can be near on unliveable and even down right unhealthy.

[Green Nomad]

Very good point deepee. One point that you didn't mention, although not related to the house exactly, is access for trucks. All very well having a nice large plot for your dream house if the build requires a certain type of delivery, not just cement mixers. Could be artics.

[craighuahin]

I will have an architects design, I just need to provide plans to a Thai builder and go over the local/compliant equivalent and see where we land.

Have been looking online but so much of it is either too traditional or far too contemporary. Looking through the real estate sites for-sales (FazWaz etc) I'm getting some interesting ideas which would mean the house blends in with local styles. But in general, lots of glass and high ceilings so no fear of dark spaces.

Last time I was there I met some builders, most took me to see examples of their builds, and a couple of architecture/design shops who just seemed keen to plan everything from their office on a laptop - no thanks. I need to see the end product.

The local choice of materials seems pretty varied, e.g. aerated concrete block and endless choice of wall/floor tiles. Saw a couple of interesting road side shops making stone tops, paving etc. I'd be interested to learn about any other local gems for fitting out a house beyond the usual watsadu type places, and any good built-in furniture, kitchen suppliers etc.

Thanks for the responses! Would be great to hear more about everyone else's build projects.

[Dannie Boy]

There are numerous kitchen suppliers, but Boonthavorn in Hua Hin have numerous options to consider.


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[dundrillin]

Regarding fitted kitchens, Ikea have a good selection and quality is pretty good. The new larder cupboard is especially useful. 25 year guarantee.

Regarding QCON blocks go for 20 mm type and make sure the builders use the plaster recommended by the makers. Qcon will actually send their technicians to the site to discuss proper procedures free of charge. I actually used this service and found it very useful.

[Dannie Boy]

Regarding fitted kitchens, Ikea have a good selection and quality is pretty good. The new larder cupboard is especially useful. 25 year guarantee.

Regarding QCON blocks go for 20 mm type and make sure the builders use the plaster recommended by the makers. Qcon will actually send their technicians to the site to discuss proper procedures free of charge. I actually used this service and found it very useful.

I’m sure he’ll realise, but it’s 20cm (200mm) blocks.

[VincentD]

Have been through a couple of house builds myself, first one by local handymen in a very Thai village on the then outskirts of Bangkok. As it was a single storey cinder block style, they didn't dig deep foundations the floor was parquet (later cemented over and redone) with a wood framed roof and pressed cement roofing. Very slow going back in 1989, but the house is still standing, even weathering the floods of 2011. All the wiring is exposed and nothing is hidden in the ceiling so rodent damage is practically non-existent. The wife's sisters live there now.
One or two upcountry, two without any suspended ceiling. Airy but impossible to aircondition. Wife's village. For another sister.

And the final one where we actually got an architect that also employs the builders. This is very important.
They had already built 3 houses in the village where the flood damage to the existing houses was severe enough to consider starting from scratch. So we did have the opportunity to inspect his work and the quality of workmanship.
You start with a basic plan and discuss add-ons. They would then go and get the necessary approvals and permits to build. This is very important as there were issues with the neighbour, which they ironed out. I said it's your problem, not mine. You have the permits and approvals.
Since it was going to be a double storey, foundations needed to be done. They used some kind of screw instead of the pile driver, otherwise we would have gotten even more grief from the neighbour.

They did use hollow bricks, a suspended floor and steel framing for the roof. I also told them to make sure the water line was accessible for most part, we've had problems before with buried pvc pipes and those can be a pain to remedy.
Building materials were standard, I asked for certification that comes from he concrete supplier.
The wiring is embedded in the wall, but with proper metal trunking. Ánd wiring for installation of aircon units already wired. Ceiling is fixed and did cause a bit of stress with rodents, fortunately didn't have to rip it all out to address the problem.
Those suspended ceilings have other issues, when we had a severe storm at the company, those tiles got blown out and sustained water damage.
They did put in phone plug points, I would have preferred CAT5 but that was what people did at the time.
The electric box didnt even have RCCbs or ELCBs, just one great big ON/OFF breaker. I threw a hissy fit but relented and bought one and got them to install it before the house was accepted.

(Side note: The first house built over 30 years ago had a fusible link type breaker and ceramic fuses that were single use. and a 2 wire circuit. No earth. On a 5 amp meter..) That has since been remedied, but you will have to fork out more if you want a higher capacity electric meter.
These days a 3 wire circuit is mandated, but make sure to check.
Also the type of breakers used, but nobody really checks these sort of things unless you've been used to dealing with it at company level.
But I digress.
Sorry, a bit long. But that has been my experiences with local builders. YMMV.

[VincentD]

Oh, and if you're using local builders, never, EVER! give them an advance for materials or pay up the full amount before they've finished the job. Many tend to abandon the work if they've underestimated, or leave you with a whole lot of unused materials after the job is done. And will happily walk off with them.

[dundrillin]

Regarding fitted kitchens, Ikea have a good selection and quality is pretty good. The new larder cupboard is especially useful. 25 year guarantee.

Regarding QCON blocks go for 20 mm type and make sure the builders use the plaster recommended by the makers. Qcon will actually send their technicians to the site to discuss proper procedures free of charge. I actually used this service and found it very useful.

I’m sure he’ll realise, but it’s 20cm (200mm) blocks.

oops senior moment