Delay and no delay

Today just an update. It's a bit chaos at and around our site.

This disturbing monster monsoon goes on. Super typhoon Noru just passed. Happy we 'only' got strong winds and even heavier rains last night as an effect of this typhoon as a severe depression. A new typhoon seems to be on its way so this weather will not stop soon.  

So also October will be very, very wet without time for the lands to dry. Sad for the farmers because the rice just is getting their seeds and with that becoming heavy. Rain in combination with wind will blow and break the plants and the seeds will drop into the water and will start to rot. Lots of moisture already around us and mushrooms are happy to grow. 

The situation of today is that all the entrances to our construction and living site are blocked. At several sides the road is eroded and sometimes even there are holes of over 3 meters deep. Even the walkway to the village, between our rice field and the neighbor collapsed. The water at that place is about 1 meter deep. 

Several trees already collapsed and more will start to fall down we guess. At our place so far till this morning already four trees collapsed causing some damage on a solar lamp, the fence and entrance gate and the Indonesian garden temples. 

As one of the pictures shows the roots at several places are not connected with soil anymore and if so the soil is only mud. It does not give any stability. At a neighbor's rubber tree forest next to our land also trees already start to fall. Getting some wind for sure will give a domino effect.

So we cannot go, or enter, by foot, by scooter, by car or by truck. And the government, after the rain finally will stop, has lots of work to do. We are not priority at all. So... we have to wait on our island. 

Happy to be self supporting for a big part but still, at least, an adventure. 
This all is the reason for sure we cannot complete the second guest pyramid this month and like it seems now will not be able to start with the main house at the beginning of November. 

Writing this blog rain showers are still ongoing. All together slow progress already for weeks in a row. A delay, and actually no delay at all. We have no schedule and I am retired so what about a delay? 

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Disturbing monster monsoon

For us it's getting time this monsoon comes to an end now. People start to call it a monster monsoon. Again another week heavy rains, thunderstorms and flooding. We cannot reach our land or the village anymore. The road from the village to our site is flooded. Some places with over 25 cm fast flowing water that is eroding the dirt road now. Dangerous to walk. The road direction the highway collapsed again. It's not possible to use this road because of many deep and muddy holes and mud tracks. 

Even the farmers have enough of it. This morning, walking with the dogs in the rain, I was almost struck by lightning. Cupid, who was very confident with thunder and lightning lost her trust at once and jumped one meter high because of the hard blow from lightning that slammed into a rubber tree close to us. A branch of that tree broke (see picture). 

Over and over again we are in a lockdown. Even tractors cannot use the dirt road anymore and get stuck in the mud as do cars. 

The Phu Yai Ban (village mayor) of our village signed a letter to the local government to do something to make the road safe and ready to use. Villagers call it an emergency situation. Not sure if it will help. It's not only us who make use of the road but most farmers who have to take care of their fields and livestock. 

Due to an overkill of rain, the soil of the farmlands is oversaturated. Like other places our soak away fields (draining fields of left waste sewage water) are underwater and not working properly at the moment anymore.  

Fishes, escaping our pond and rice-fields now are everywhere in the garden and on the roads around us. 

Rain is coming and going. And because of that our work turned temporarily into a kind of stop and go game. Even supported by power break after power break for short periods or hours in our village and surrounding areas. 

Although we cannot make use of our truck and car and most of the time also not of our scooter we still have enough building material to go on finishing the second guest pyramid room. But cutting, sawing and grinding we need to do outside. So at the moment we can work for one or one and a half hour and have to take our workmates, tools and materials inside again and change our work.

We did inside painting of the steel 'roofbed' and turning stepladder, finished the inside block gluing and fixed the safe, ventilation system as well as the sockets/electricity outlets. The blocks got a primer so they are ready for tiling and gluing carpet. 

At the moment we are installing the Shera splendid planks for the ceiling and inside walls. 

In the mean time we bought already the induction hob (7000 Watt) and extractor hood (max. 1000 m3/hr.) for our inside kitchen in the new house (outside we get the possibility to cook on gas). A more than wonderful promotion for high quality devices we could not pass up in this time of high inflation and sky rocket rising prizes.  

We wait some more weeks to order construction materials to start with the main house. The road to our site first need time to dry enough and need to be 'flat' again. Not a single truck at the moment can deliver goods, let alone bring heavy loads like sand, blocks or concrete. We hope within a month the excavator can come to dig and prepare the land where we want to start with the house.

Happy again we have no schedule or project. It's all a process and we cannot change the weather...

This afternoon, just in between rain showers, a beautiful sunset. Also part of this season. 

Road to our construction and living site flooded

Second time collapsed and muddy road

Struck by lightning very close to me walking with the dogs. 

Stuck in the mud

Flooding

Stuck in the mud

New rainshowers on their way again

Ongoing monsoon

Soak away field under water

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com

Building permit for our house has been granted

A happy day for us today. 

First of all my daughter Carlien celebrates her birthday. My son Rik started a new job today. Our dog Kadhow has his birthday (10 years young already) and...

This afternoon we got a telephone call that our request for building permission for the main house is approved. It took around two weeks and we finally had to pay 95 THB (around 2,50 Euro) for the written permission that also covers especially me in relations to the (immigration) laws to build our own house. 

Happy, the Or Bor Tor (local government building department) accepted in addition my Dutch degree of constructional engineering and architecture and approved the requested weight and strength calculations they asked me to make.

We will start with the preparations for this next step in our building process like measuring the building site for the excavator to organize, order wire mash and ordering the special strong foundation blocks that have to be produced. The last can take 30 - 45 days if not (enough) in stock.

Now we are early enough because we want to start in November with building. On the other hand we are still about two more month in the rainy season and because the terrible road conditions to our site trucks cannot deliver the heavy load yet. So, we have the time. 

To finish the second guest pyramid room we need a bit more than a month to finish. Before we start with our main house I want to build a shed/workplace to store my tools and machinery and to store some materials during the next step building process. Also I want to install the new electricity lines inlet there.  

After the house is finished it will still be the tool storage / workplace and also, in the future, the storage of our bicycles. 

After the house is finished (what will take between two and a half and three years we guess) the process still is going on. A small carpark for two or three cars with sunroof is, as far as we know now, the last step. 

Find the North, East, South and West front sides of the house to build in the pictures below. 

North side

East side

South side

West side

   

Frans Captijn

email:   pyramidhousethailand@gmail.com