Outdoor stairs installed, ready to start with a next (in between) job to do.

After around six weeks the outdoor staircase is installed. Only some minor things need to be done (third topcoating of the steps and floor of the yoga/meditation sala and topcoating of the steelwork/balconies of the sala). 

So, we are ready for the next (in between) job to do. 

Unexpected and in between the process of constructing the stairs we got inspection, by 5 police officers of Thai Immigration, of my retirement visa, our pyramids, the TED's, and other buildings, our activities, (building)permits, land-paper, marriage certificate, house books, etc., . Happy we arranged all, advised by a Thai lawyer six year ago, in the correct way by Thai law. Everything worked out to be OK. 

This staircase installation really took attention. Now it's finally finished. The idea, the drawings, the calculation, the thick construction steel, the cutting, welding, grinding, puttying, polishing, painting (special anti-rust primer and two special top-coatings), the cutting, painting and installation of the cement floor planks, the time, all the effort, etc., shows the results. Exactly as it was in my mind and all the steps (nearly on the millimeter) the same measurements.

Before I started, I thought about skipping the original plan and make a much easier staircase. Now I am happy I stuck to the original plan. A creative, kind of art, solid and strong staircase that shows a different type (Western-Style) house. 

Time will learn how these stairs will deal with the change of the seasons, the high temperatures and the rains.

Several things I learned again.

# Although it's called winter here, the last week we already had to deal with temperatures around 38 degrees C / 100 F in the afternoons in the shadow. Not a great temperature to work with especially because we did not get the time to get used to these, for this time of the year, already extreme temperatures. 

People ask us why not paint in the late evening/night? This has to do with the lamp/torch light that attracts mosquitos. The other thing is the humidity level. So the best times are to paint early in the morning between around 8 am and 11 am and late afternoon, after 4 pm till around 5.30 pm. 

# The special primer and top coating paint I used need special Thinner. Also necessary with the high temperatures because the paint dries to quick and it's nearly not possible to paint with a paintbrush or roller. 

I never heard and never learned before there are many different (special) types of Thinner. So the first time I used 'regular' thinner, I needed to clean and start over again. 

# Although I knew already, I had to face that paint colors shown on the paint can and/or  color range, only give you an indication of the color. Depending on the basis material you paint, the light, wet/dry situation, there can be a lot of difference. 

I tried some green color, that seemed nearly the same as the color of the ceramic rooftiles we used. It worked out to look terrible. Find a picture of a try out. 

So I changed that color into orange/brown, connecting with the color of our masonry.

Find an impression of how we made and installed the outdoor stairs. 

Our dogs, this afternoon, except for Cupid, did not feel totally happy and safe to walk up but this will come. I installed a small 'entrance gate' of the sala to keep them in if they are with me/us for yoga.

The next, in between, job will be creating a carport/cat-room for our four cats. The cat-room area will be partly a separate and roof-covered room with two doors and a connection to an open air cage with a protection against the entrance of snakes and birds of prey. 

For today, finished with this job and time for a cool (Ice-cold) beer just before my 6 weeks next alcohol break. 

Frans & Phatsamon

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Staircase underway

Slowly the main house is getting more form now. The interior totally finished and this year possibly the outside also will be finished. 

Immediately January 1 we started creating the outdoor stairs to the yoga/meditation sala on the first floor. We have great weather now to do construction work with temperatures in the morning of around 14 degrees C and during the day around 30. 

It's the second time in my life I am building a staircase. During my studies constructional engineering and architecture I learned constructing a staircase in a building is one of the most difficult parts to do. Not only because of the measurements to walk smoothly up and down. It's also an art to do it the right way and, if you want, to make something special (as we wanted).

The first stairs I created (drawing and construction), working for the Dutch Ballast-Nedam firm, was in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The drawings I made myself. After that I was the superintendent for the construction with a team of workers from Korea and Thailand.  

For residential developments staircases mostly are prefabricated in a factory. Computers, machines and even robots fix the staircase in the right dimensions and the prefabricated stairs are fit at the right time in the building process. The first rise can be a bit lower or higher because of setting these stairs. 

For our house we need to do all this work by hand ourselves to make it tailor made. Happy I made the drawings myself as part to get building permission three years ago. They, now, helped me a lot in measuring, cutting, grinding, welding, etc.. 

First I thought about the idea to make an 'easier' stair but after a while I stuck to the original plan again. A kind of art and indeed a lot of work. But 'building as meditation' I called it six year ago at the start of the process.

We constructed a so called "Low-pitch" / "Easy" stair. And... all the individual rises at our staircase are exactly the same. The pitch/slope is 39 degrees what makes it, getting older, easier to use. To create that we needed to make a half-landing in between. 

Living in Thailand, so far, I did not find a public building with the right (read same) size of the unit rises and runs/goings. This does not make walking up and down comfortable and, I think, in some situations (especially for the elderly) it can even be dangerous. Over and over again I am wondering why these stairs to make did not get a bit more attention.   

See some step-by-step pictures of the process so far to get an idea. 

Half landing

(connection to the copper earth electrode)

And sometimes, having drawings or not, you still make a mistake. Human error, I created 1 step too much.

A matter of cutting the weld and shorten the prework you did already with one step and reinstall at the new place. After that, still to do, polishing and filling the holes I drilled in the floor in the same color. Happy it's still man-made. 

Frans & Phatsamon

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com