Building a house in Cambodia - useful tips

armchairlawyer · Post by **armchairlawyer** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:00 pm

My tips -

put electric cabling in strong conduits to stop rats eating it

Use a strong damp proof course

I'd appreciate any tips on architectural design and layout. Talking about 6x12 metres, two storey. Facing west. Land is raised so no need for stilts. Want to incorporate large ampunts of lumber for cosmetic reasons from the existing house that will be torn down.

Thanks in advance.

Post by **Username Taken** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:19 pm

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:00 pm Land is raised so no need for stilts.

Stilts provide a nice shaded area under the house for hanging a hammock and for the locals to congregate for chats, etc., without the need to enter the main house area.
Stilts provide a convenient place to tether your livestock.
A stilted area below the house can also house a convenient to access bathroom and toilet, and car parking as well.

Post by **Freightdog** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:38 pm

I’m watching a couple of houses being built nearby (near Krakor)

One has immediately opted for a regionally typical external staircase. Curiously, the other has actually decided on an internal staircase, which will enter the first floor towards a front corner, without taking too much floor space. When I first arrived in Cambodia, the other half’s family home had a well worn and rotted, eroded quite steep staircase.

At some point, they decided to modernise, although that was largely the extent of their thinking, as the result is borderline dangerous in wet weather.
I like the stilts idea, even though two of our plots of land don’t really need it as they are sufficiently above the common flood line.

Keep the septic stuff away from the well?

Kammekor · Post by **Kammekor** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:57 pm

Large, North facing windows.

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 7:52 pm

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:00 pm My tips -

put electric cabling in strong conduits to stop rats eating it

Use a strong damp proof course

I'd appreciate any tips on architectural design and layout. Talking about 6x12 metres, two storey. Facing west. Land is raised so no need for stilts. Want to incorporate large ampunts of lumber for cosmetic reasons from the existing house that will be torn down.

Thanks in advance.

We brought our land with a existing Khmer brick style house on it which we tore down>

I wanted to add more dirt but the wife took the contractors point an we didn't > BIG mistake
We later had to add 1' of dirt around the half built house, that was a pain.

our house is 7x9
we laid our electric cables in pvc pipe underground to the house from the pole
bedrooms are eastern side of the house
large bathroom
make sure ur kitchen and bathroom counter tops are western height, NOT khmer height
Turn off values on all incoming water pipes at the wall ( for sinks, toilet, bum gun) , 2 drains in bathroom, ( one in shower , one at the opposite end of the bathroom) put in pipes for washing machine
Lots of windows with built in screens, double brick, 2.8 m ceilings
cement over bricks than sanded, than primer than, 2 coats of paint ( interior and exterior)
LOTS of electrical outlets
min 1 meter ( 1 1/2 is better) cement walkway around house
dont put ur house near ur land boundary if you can help it
source quality materials from global house in PP
sceptic tanks ( 2) we used those large concrete rings ( 4) at opposite side of the land to our well, use the tan water tank not blue one

talk more later

bolueeleh · Post by **bolueeleh** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 8:43 pm

land 21m x 10m, 6 floors, garage and small restaurant area on ground floor, first and second floor offices, third and fourth floor rooms for staffs, fifth floor personal ensuite room with kitchen etc,
foundation on top of 20m hill with massive boulders, took 2 drilling and excavation companies to complete, company given up half through drilling and digging, sacked the construction company and took over myself, employed various tradesman to complete individual tasks, another mistake,
1 - "electrician" couldnt wire correctly, lights keep flickering, found out later "electrician" had only 3 small farm houses experience and start calling himself an "electrician"
2 - plumbing, couldnt pump water up 5 floors, despite changing 3 water pumps after plumber "recommendations" + plus drilling of holes of waste water pipes didnt lined up
3 - roofing, roof was designed to installed solar so it was angled at 15deg only, roofer "recommended" normal roof tiles, leaked like hell during rainy season, found another roofing guy, ripped up whole roof to redo corrogated metal sheet roof, stills leaks
lastly, general construction, miscalculated stairs, ended up with a big first step and others steps normal sized, tiles buckled after few months etc
plus suppliers problems, EDC problems, construction permits problem etc

my tip is - dont do it, not worth effort and frustration and money invested

Post by **Freightdog** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:40 pm

A couple of items popped up in that last post.

Stairs- treads and risers dimensions don’t appear to be a concern, here. More than a few places, the risers are inconsistent height, making negotiation interesting in blackouts, and stair angles a little too steep, with treads sized for 8yr old feet.

Bathroom drains. In our current apartment, I think the upper floor bathroom drain is a high point, making the bathroom a vapour trap. I keep meaning to poor some napalm down the drains to see if I can clear out whatever seems to have crawled in and died.

Dummy question-
Electrical standards seem to be rather lacking on the whole. Is this apathy, corruption, a combination, or an actual genuine lack of any meaningful standard set by the department of putting stuff up?
I got dragged into a sideline consulting thing last year, in Nigeria. Outright corruption means that standards are simply ignored subject to whatever is in the envelope. They do have a proper building code, and proper electrical codes, albeit somewhat last century, but British Standards, all the same. They’re just a guide to how far people have deviated when they start counting the bodies.

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Fri Feb 17, 2023 10:29 pm

Build at least one hundred meters from ghost banana tree.

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Sat Feb 18, 2023 8:18 am

MY observation, Khmers take no pride in their work or others work:
i outsourced my doors/ wooden baseboard trim, painting, ceiling, windows none respected the others work
even thou labor is cheaper in Cambodia, the house i built in Phuket was cheaper/sqm and much better construction
I had more problems with my 1 year old house in Kep than the house i had for 10 in Phuket

I think appliances, materials you buy in Cambodia coming from China, Vietnam and Thailand are seconds

Buck · Post by **Buck** » Sat Feb 18, 2023 10:39 pm

This seems quite artistic to me….

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/insp ... 023-02-06/

Building a house in Cambodia - useful tips

Building a house in Cambodia - useful tips

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