Low Budget Village Build For In-Laws

[runrunshaw]

Thanx Matey, yup well it was not much extra moola to extend the roof over the carport, and concrete the floor..now just needs walls in the future, and the carport becomes another room..I like plenty of concrete outside so you have options to work on, cook outside, entertain, etc etc..and it keeps the mud out in wet season..
yes good luck with your wee build..

I feel the same about the concrete. More is coming on our build. I'll have some questions for the forum on concrete soon.

[runrunshaw]

Wondering why most builds I see do not include guttering on the house running to water tanks.
Many reasons to support such a thing and few against as far as I can see.

I think a PhD dissertation could be written on the subject of "Changing Usage of Cisterns in Thai Villages." Be interesting to get some input on this.

My in-laws, who still reside in grandma's old village house, have a system of cisterns. Then a few years back, grandma got a well dug and an electric water pump, and they ran a water pipe into the outhouse. Now, she is on the village water supply, which is extremely cheap. She doesn't use the well anymore--it's cheaper to use the village water supply than to pay for the electricity to run the pump. At least that's what I was told. There is now a Western commode in the bricked-in outhouse.

At the house I'm building, the sloped roof will drain all of the water to the rear. I could install guttering on the rear section of the roof to collect rainfall. But...

We were lucky to get on to the village water supply. Three spigots outside, and of course, indoor plumbing. Not sure that buying those huge cisterns or tanks, and a pump and pipes to get water into the house would justify the cost. I'm all for recycling, but during the dry season those tanks would be empty, and I'd still need to use village water (which comes from the village well), unless I wanted to install my own well, which I don't.

If I chose to install guttering on the rear of the roof, it would simply be to direct the flow for better drainage control.
But maybe I'm missing something about the costs of rainwater collection and usage.

[glalt]

Our village water supply is 3 baht per cubic meter. Very cheap. BUT, it is on and off and not dependable. The pressure is also not high enough to make the switch in the shower heater. I use an 1,800 liter storage tank and the pump drawing from that tank. Of course the pump has plenty of pressure. We were collecting rain water but there was too much dirt from the roof going into the tank. If you can collect clean rain water, that is nice soft water and much better than the hard well water from the village.

The storage tank has a float valve and fills when there is village water. We also have one of those old round cement jars, I think they call it an ong. It holds about a thousand liters for dire emergencies. I had no choice but to buy the storage tank and pump to be able to take a hot shower. My first water pump lasted ten years and other than replacing the pressure switch on the replacement pump, the system has been trouble free.

[runrunshaw]

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

[Doodoo]

sent you a PM
Thanks for the info

[glalt]

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

We did drink rain water for several years. We had a small roof area made from galvanized steel over the outside kitchen area. The roof was low enough that my wife blasted it with the high pressure washer before allowing the rain water to go into a 1,500 liter fiberglass tank. It then was pumped through an 18 liter filter of activated charcoal then through another small three stage filter with a ceramic filter at the final stage. This year the pump died and she didn't bother to clean the roof and fill the tank. She says it is easier to have the jugs of bottled water delivered. I trusted the rainwater system further than I trust the bottled water.

[runrunshaw]

Good point about dirt from the roof in rainwater. I drank a lot of rain water in Central America when I stayed in the Keyes and it was great. The trick is to collect it in at least a semi-sanitized way if you want to drink it.

Once in awhile, my kids will put a bowl outside during heavy downpours...tastes good.

We did drink rain water for several years. We had a small roof area made from galvanized steel over the outside kitchen area. The roof was low enough that my wife blasted it with the high pressure washer before allowing the rain water to go into a 1,500 liter fiberglass tank. It then was pumped through an 18 liter filter of activated charcoal then through another small three stage filter with a ceramic filter at the final stage. This year the pump died and she didn't bother to clean the roof and fill the tank. She says it is easier to have the jugs of bottled water delivered. I trusted the rainwater system further than I trust the bottled water.

Yes, we stopped using a water provider in udon after Thai friends warned us what his source was. Even bottled water in many countries is just a scam.

[robytoby1960]

Bottled water in any countries is a a scam

[robytoby1960]

or do you believe that "Vittel" or "Evian" water... small citys in french Vittel and Evian could supply and deliver water so named in bottles sold anywhere at the globe in supermarkets? They make about 5 millions bottle every day but from a handful of sources ? They need huge amount of energy and oil to produce plastic bottles...see the number above. But the water amount they really get out of that sources could not be enough to simply satisfy the surounding villages

[maaka]

just to throw it out there, i have a 4000lt plastic tank catching some water off our house roof..
its on a 1m high steel stand to give it some pressure. No pump..we have the pipes worked so we can also fill it from the village supply, should there be lack of rain, and we need storage..we dont drink it but it does the showers, toilet, laundry, dishes and washing the motorbike..we have had it 4yrs now and I gave it a clean out a month back..glad we didnt drink it...water and heat dont go..the village water boy with the big bottles has never made me crook, so I am happy..

[bluejets]

As Maaka says, usage mainly for toilet, garden, perhaps washing and laundry as this seems to be the larger usage.
Tank on a stand avoids using any pumps.
Dirt in system can be avoided with a fairly simple trap arrangement that dumps the first flow.

Seems at certain times of the year the water can go off without notice and stay off for 3 or 4 days, mostly just 1 day though.
Still a PIA. When it comes back on it's usually red mud colour for at least a day or so anyhow.
Gutters and tanks went in at my wife's place last visit at a fairly reasonable cost.
The gutters we would refer to here in Aus as "country guttering" due to the large size.

[Soonsoon]

What about stainless tanks ? Anyone experienced with them ?

[glalt]

What about stainless tanks ? Anyone experienced with them ?

My 1,800 liter tank is stainless steel. It is more than ten years old and never any problem. The 1,500 liter fiberglass tank the I used for collecting rainwater is now not being used and I have plans to use it for extra storage.

ADDED - You have to be careful with plastic tanks. You should take a bright flashlight and hold it against the outside of the tank. If you can see any light showing through the inside, find another tank because you are very likely to have algae growing inside the tank.

[saint]

What about stainless tanks ? Anyone experienced with them ?
[/quote

ADDED - You have to be careful with plastic tanks. You should take a bright flashlight and hold it against the outside of the tank. If you can see any light showing through the inside, find another tank because you are very likely to have algae growing inside the tank.

Excellent point , and something i would not of thought of .

[bluejets]

A plus for concrete lined corrugated steel tanks.
Perhaps they don't have them in Thailand. (yet)

One hears all the objection about drinking tank water, frogs in the tank, bird crap on the roof but never did us any harm.
One can keep the dead pidgeons or whatever out by the use of a standard mesh steel filter and the dirt problem by making the outlet 6 inches or so up from the bottom of the tank.
I think it might be a little like the adds on tv where the moment some kid gets a bit of dirt on their hands, people go racing for the dettol or whatever.
Already shown that it is probably preferred to let kids play in the mud and build up natural immunity.

[saint]

I have a stainless tank in a shaded enclosure , supplied by a deep well . It has a lid that can be locked , so nothing can get in the tank .
This provides all the house water and has worked fine for over ten years without a problem , although we did have to have the well cleaned about 3 years ago , because the water was getting sandy .
Also cleaned the inside of the tank at the same time , and still crystal clear .

[runrunshaw]

All of this input re rainwater collection and water tank systems is terrific. It's the kind of information-sharing that makes UM so valuable.

As for my humble build for the in-laws, I'm already over-budget. The water pressure from the village system is very strong and my wife's family will be paying the water bill, so there simply isn't any inducement for me to spend the extra money.

Now that I'm back from a short trip to China, I'll get caught up with more posts and try to bring the build up-to-date. I will be asking advice from you guys about a few things I still need to do.

[runrunshaw]

Okay, so here are some photos of the build as of late December, 2018--so about six weeks ago.

Here's the south side of the house.

Back, or west side of house:

Front of house:

North side:

Some interior shots:

[maaka]

looks ample room for the in laws..can I suggest that you make some alcove seating in the outside corner under that roof.. I just use concrete blocks out from the wall, fill it with dirt, and then concrete the top, render it, and then tile it all...nice to sit outside in the shade

[runrunshaw]

Good idea. I've got extra blocks waiting to be used.