The HOF Weblog

When our contractor, K. Nampol & Co., started marking off the lines for HOF, we found that the site plan wasn’t exactly as it was in real life. My Architect and extreme drinking buddy, Khun Prasert (a.k.a. Ajaarn Deang), was well prepared for this and said, “Even better!” His foundation design on land could already withstand a fairly decent sized tsunami, so when I checked the blue prints for his footing plan that would basically hold up the “private side” of the house; I did it with a keen eye.

The F3’s, as they are designated, will be comprised of four reinforced cement pilings each that will be driven into the bed of the pond several meters deep. These are to be topped with a poured concrete "cap" that will act as the footing to support each of the water based columns. The caps being fairly huge, K. Prasert recommended that we drain the pond about a meter so that they are hidden below the water line.

Great idea! Enter the water boy…

It's begun. After nearly a year of planning, designing, bitching, and whining we've finally broken ground at HOF.

In Thailand, the ground breaking ceremony is pre-empted by a trip to the village elders who can advise upon the most auspicious days for beginning construction. I asked Jum-krob, if they could also advise her the best day for calling the F@!#king plumber for the toilet that had been backed up for weeks. This prompted a surly look, but the plumber showed up the next day.

Very auspicoius, indeed!

The two most north-eastern columns of the design were selected to be blessed. These were adorned with fresh coconuts, bananas, sugar-cane, and an old T-shirt from each the wife and I -- one shirt per pole. Various coins and leaves were scattered at the bottom of the column footings and then sealed beneath a layer of concrete, while the contractor sprinkled the site and workers with the Thai version of holy water from a silver bowl with a handfull of leaves.

A great start followed by our first problem: the contractor didn't mix the cement right when pouring the columns, so we had him break them down and redo them. I asked if that was bad luck, and the reply was, "mai pen rai."

Here is a collection of links that have somehow or another influenced the design concepts behind HOF:

This weblog is about the joy, trials, and tribulations of building a house and home-living in Thailand.

As we're now done with construction and have moved in, I'm going to start posting things that have more to do with living than building.

It all started about a year ago, when I got a bug up my ass about the fact that if I were to ever be able to afford to actually build my own home—and more importantly be able to afford it—it would be here and now in Thailand.

It was love at first site when I met my Architect. I showed up drunk on a Saturday afternoon, and he had a hangover. Khun Prasert is such a fan of fermented liquids, he named his first daughter "Beer."