Summary after our first year meditative building process

December 31 again today. Nice to look back to the progress we made in our process of building. Everything by own hands, no stress, no time schedule and just the two of us (and Kadhow always guarding). 

Looking back... actually we did do a lot. 

So, A  Summary: 

A)    Exactly one year ago (31 December 2019) we started with the first electricity poles for the (first) main electricity lines to our construction site. 

B)    We made all the architectural drawings by ourselves needed for permissions. Happy to make use of my basic study for constructional engineer and architect and having experience with building in Saudi Arabia. 

C)    We bought a second hand truck (and experienced lots of problems with it this year to keep it running ;)). 

D)    We got all the official and legal paperwork done (land lease agreement for me, building permission for the knock down house (temporary site/living container unit), and first two guest pyramids), construction on my name, house book, etc. So to do everything by Thai law and not to get problems with the authorities and immigration.

E)    Drilling for water (5 inch water supply and pump at 60 meters deep).

F)     Installing a control room (power plant including a back-up generator, water storage of 3000 liter, two external pumps) and an underground electricity and water network at our construction site. 

G)    Building of a sewage system with sceptic tank and soak away field. 

H)    Preparing the foundation and install the self designed knock-down house. Building a veranda and sandwich (double) roof. Placement of the first air-condition unit.

I)    Replacement of the old family tree, basic landscaping and placement of the entrance gate to the labyrinth.

J)    Extending and deepening the pond.

K)    Placement of the Buddha statue and building the 20 cm thick petite Chartres Labyrinth mosaic surrounded by lights. 

L)    Building a campfire place.

M)    Start of the first guest pyramid room (60 % finished today). 

All together a year, we think, we used well, with lots of devotion, pleasure, fun, positive (and also some negative) experiences. A year of creating nice and good quality lasting things.

We hope the coming year we will stay safe and healthy to go on making progress on the way to our private small spiritual center. Happy to have something to do. Several years to go ;).

December 31 2019:

December 31 2020:

Thank you for following our building journey!

Frans, Phatsamon & Kadhow

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Christmas tree? No, the basic steel structure of the roof and more

We picked up new construction materials.

In the evening of December 23 we made our first campfire. For me every time this is a kind of life experience again. I love campfires. They make me calm, relaxed and give me the opportunity of discovering more and more about 'fire'. Actually my former profession. 

The next day we bought concrete furniture (benches) for six people to sit around the fire. 

Thursday December 24th we managed, without a crane, to lift the basic steel structure for the roof of the first guest room.

Christmas day we celebrated and only ordered some new materials like the air-condition unit and in the evening went to church.

Working at 6 meters high now I wear a safety fall protection.

Today we went on welding and received already the U-ditches we ordered as the gutter around the pyramid room. 

All together, things so far are going well. 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Small accident but concrete topping of the ground floor ready.

We ordered topping for the ground floor for early this morning. Yesterday we finished the formwork.

We got a call the truck had to deliver first another address and it could take till around 10 A.M.. Great, it gave us time to do some final preparations and... not to hurry. 

Finally the truck arrived at 12.11 lunchtime. The driver a bit stressed. He jumped out of the truck to ask if we were the right address to deliver and... forgot to pull the handbrake of the truck. It looked for me they were with two staff and one was already preparing to take the turn to our site, backwards, in. But, no way... The truck started to drive by itself. Happy it hit (and broke some) poles of the fence and hit an old tree truck were it stopped. Happy as well this time we ordered only 4000 Kg. So the truck damaged and the fence as well. 

After some delay again we could start pouring the top layer and finished (tired and thirsty) at 4.20 PM. Time for a break and something to drink, to take a shower and (for me) a short nap. 

Kadhow, again, saw at the end everything turned out well and totally relaxed in laying down meditation ;). 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Basic steel skeleton for flat- and pyramid roof ready.

The last couple of days we spend on cutting, grinding, anchoring and welding the basic structure for the pyramid roof and the flat roof. Also the wire mesh for the top concrete layer is prepared now. 

It's great to work with the green laser to get the floor spirit level on the millimeter. Working with that instrument in the early evening shows the best results. During daytime we have our Bosch Professional tripod with spirit level. 

We are working now on painting (grey oxide primer) the steel (against rusting). Finally you will not see any steel at the end because all steel is part of the inner wall masonry. We also are installing the sewage pipes. 

Next step is placing the formwork for pouring concrete for the top layer of the floor. After that welding the pyramid roof steel structure and bricklaying. Enough to do and the weather is fine (but still very warm with temperatures of 34 degrees during middays. 

Kadhow... meditating at the Labyrinth. 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Extension waterpack installed, discoveries and first steel for roof construction

This afternoon I managed to install the extension of our water storage with the so called 'waterpack' system. An additional 2000 Liter tank with a pump on top. So, for our project now we always have 3000L water 'in stock'. 

We use this extension to keep our 1000 Liter filtered water buffer always full, to water the garden and to keep our pond reasonable filled with water during the dry season so the habitat with fishes, snakes, snails, turtles, frogs, fishing birds, etcetera will continue to flourish. Without water... no life. 

We discovered, actually not even six kilometer from our construction site, we can get special metal sheet roof panels with a thick isolation layer and fifteen years guarantee. We also found prefabricated so called 'U-ditch' gutters with grating we need around the pyramid buildings. This will safe us a lot of work. 

We bought the first steel to start with the base of the roof construction. 

I really like it, our cooperation is great, we have a lot of fun, Kadhow enjoys traveling in the truck and being outside surrounded by cows, and the weather to work is great!

, 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Hollow core slabs (basic floor for first guest pyramid) and water tank extension with pump arrived.

This morning, at the same time, the hollow core slabs as well as the 2 m3 tank extension with pump arrived. It took a little bit more than two hours to put the slabs in place and yes, although the truck had a crane, it still was a hard job. Phatsamon was of great help putting the heavy slabs in place. 

Yesterday we prepared the top of the masonry with a 1 cm thick layer of seconded foam. We put this layer to be sure during the rainy season no moisture will reach the floor and upper masonry. So actually the floor of the pyramid room is 'floating' on the foundation. This also helps to prevent against any cracking of walls and tiles.

We also installed all together five thin spray hoses to prevent us from pests under the floor.

Tomorrow I will finish the installation of the water tank and we will buy the first steel. 

Kadhow, was meditating at the labyrinth, knowing everything will be OK ;). 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Back to work again

After our short holiday, today the next gravel and sand arrived. Yesterday we discovered to our surprise, on the way to Surin Immigration for my TM 30 registration, U-drains in Prasat (Surin) and... an elephant statue we like. Transportation of our 'Jantje', the elephant statue I once bought in Chiang Mai, is too expensive. 

Tuesday December 8, earlier than expected, the prestressed floor slabs and the watertank will be delivered. 

Back to work again. The weather now is great and... inviting. 

Kadhow, ongoing, is keeping an eye (and guarding against cows) on everything that's going on. 

Frans Captijn

e-mail: pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com