In between rain showers

We are still in the rainy season. Lots of rain and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and night. The roads to our site are too muddy for trucks to reach our site. So, although the U-Ditches (gutters) are ready to deliver, we have to wait till some dry days. They will come. 

In the morning and night nice temperatures but humid. In between the rain showers we succeeded to finish the fixing of the battens and the covers and connections of the isolated metal sheet roof above the bathroom of the second guest pyramid.

 
In our pond the morning glory (that does not give me any glory at all anymore ;)), grass, water lilies and lotus flowers proliferate as weeds. It makes it difficult for our Kingfishers to catch fish. So, with the present weather it is good to create some space. A couple of mornings we worked on it now. Still not finished. A hard job I can tell and... not for long. The weather will invite and support the plants to grow quickly and be back soon. 

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Although heat and high humidity, we slowly go on.

We got some new supervisors keeping an eye on what we are doing. Happy to have a new King Fisher back every morning. Even watching me very close, under the sun cover of our temporary living container during my morning yoga and meditation. 

The update of Google Earth for our area now shows the progress after one and a half year of building by ourselves, with our own hands. Maybe the view of the labyrinth attracts the attention of birds. In the evening we even had two different species of owls. One of them, like my former Otus owl in Chiang Mai, a Collard Scops Owl. 

Although more used to the climate at our site, it's still hard at the moment to work between around 11 am and 3 pm. Temperatures rise above 40 decrees C with a humidity of over 90% because of the rainy season. So, several times already we made the choice to stop working during that time. Happy again we do not have any schedule. 

In the mean time we finished the welding of the steel bunk-bed and painted it with red oxid primer. We put the main electricity line for the streetlamps on our site in and connected it with a LDR-switch (same as working with street lights switching on when it's getting dark). For now we made some temporary lights and connected the lights surrounding the labyrinth as well. A nice view in the evening. 

We ordered and got delivered the 'flat' basic isolated roof for the bathroom of the second guest pyramid and installed it. We also got the wrong delivery of round ridges and end ridges for the Exella Classic Rooftiles delivered so can start with installing the tiles. 

We did the preparation for the concrete U-Ditch (rain water gutters around the pyramid) we ordered this morning and connected the drain-pipes to the pond. 

Kadhow enjoys (sleeps) in the cool(er) sand under our container unit and several times starts to meditate in front of the Buddha at the labyrinth around 5 pm. 

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Extension building permit, maintenance and further progress

36˚C In de shade and a humidity of around 85%. It’s hot, sweating, but we are still going on with our process. Short periods of working and breaks in between. Drinking a lot of water and sportdrinks.

We went to the Or Bor Tor (local government) to get a one year extension of our building permit. Actually we were told it was not a problem to go on with building after the former permission expired (half of this month). But, being a guest here and dealing with all kind of rules and regulations in this still for me foreign country I want to follow the laws so not to get any problems.  It was ease and cheap to get formal allowance to go on with our process. 

The last period we had to do some maintenance. About one week ago Phatsamon discovered the sewage pipe connection with the toilet of the Knock Down House (our temporary site office and living container) was leaking. I designed this unit about two years ago and a company made it for us. Now it worked out the pipe connection in the floor was not right connected and the sewage pipe inside the floor broken. Not a nice job even having to do with our own 'shit' but part of the 'game'. It took us a Sunday afternoon to get the toilet off, install a new piece of sewage pipe and to re-install again. Cement and silicone needed some time for drying but late in the evening we could make use again and everything working fine.

 
Last Sunday I wanted to fix the underside of the floor connection and the sewage pipe after drying. Phatsamon was taking a shower at that moment. Being under the floor all water was dripping from the shower pit. Sad to see but good to discover. It worked out also this connection was not made right in the bathroom floor. I needed to take the shower pit out, install a new and longer sewage pipe and a different type of shower pit. Installed a vent and re-installed the new pit. Unfortunately, taking the pit out, it happend to get a small crack in a floor tile and have to fix that as well. 

The main steel construction for the roof of the second pyramid is finished now and painted. The steel structure is now at two places connected with copper lightning rods. We fixed the first two strong lower battens using the laser and are working now on cutting and welding the steel for the bunk bed. 

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

 

Little progress

We are making a little progress again. 

Because of some days of dry weather it was possible for a big truck to reach our site. So we got the second order of three pallets of rooftiles delivered. 

After nearly two weeks our Kia truck is back from the garage. It took nearly two weeks for repair but, so far, it's driving (steering) fine. It gave us the possibility to buy another fifteen 2" x 4" steel beams for welding the basic construction for the second guest pyramid. Yesterday we also bought fifty battens already. Together with the remaining 'Q-Con' blocks enough materials for the next three till four weeks to go on with building. 

In the mean time of the truck repair we worked inside the first guest pyramid to fit and fix all the basic electric pipes and wires. We checked and connected the main switchboard so we could close the straight walls. Last but not least we extended and completed our CCTV security system. 

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com