Initiation Ceremony for a new building

P'Jiap is commissioning a new building similar in size to my farm. He has consulted Buddhist monk to pick an auspicious date to start the construction - something didn't occurred to me. So it gave me an opportunity to witness a traditional ceremony in initiating a new construction. It was 27th April at 9am.

I arrived 15min before time, workers were draining water off the pile heads.














P'Jiap was preparing the prayer table with offerings of chicken, duck and some Thai desserts, similar to traditional Chinese practice my mum did on festive occasions.



















The crane was standing by.














A young banana & sugar cane plant were tied to one end the steel columns; both are fast growing plants to signify expeditious completion of the building.














Asked P'Jiap to pose before the ceremony begins.



















Of course P'Moo too, he is always supportive and present on such occasion.



















Came 9am, P'Jiap and his mother started to offer prayers.














Next joss sticks were hand over to Chang Ou, the builder.














Guess he would pray for the safety of his workers at site.














There were 8 wooden pegs, each with some Buddhist scripture & specific instruction to place them around the the first column.














Two pegs were hammered into the ground on each side.



















Then gold foils were placed around the the pile head














The ceremony over, the crane hoisted the first steel column up.














Workers erected timber to hold it in place.



















Soon both were up and secured.



















We break for lunch and by noon, almost half the steel columns were set up - pretty fast.














I wandered around the back yard, found this brood of puppies catching a nap before my presence woke them up.

April '09 2nd update

I was eager to see the work in progress having been away for a couple of weeks. By now the rice fields are flooded & transformed green with new seedlings. The farm house merely adds to the backdrop in the distance as a gray patch.














Scaffoldings were erected to plaster the exterior walls.



















Wall was hosed wet before applying the cement layer.














The roof pools are water filled to test for leakage.





























The wet season will start soon in May, the drive way is paved over a layer of soil with rock mix.











Managed to identify one of the 'spider-man' - turn out to be a brother of Chang Ou.



















I tossed the idea of getting each worker a safety helmet - it drew a giggle from everybody! It's their body language to say it won't work. P'Jiap added, "The foreign contractors even impose fines for not wearing safety helmets at their work sites... Thai construction workers just don't wear them". Well, so much for a kind thought and how difficult it is to change a work culture!

It is fortunate no accident occurs at my work site thus far, so how is it going to convince them being safer to wear safety helmets? Besides motorcycle helmets enforcement is still lax out in the provinces.

April '09 Update

Daily monitoring of progress over the past 2 weeks was not possible as I took time away to Melbourne attending Lisa's graduation. Good that I got some photo updates last night.

See it in a more complete form finally. But my eyeballs popped out & shook my head soon as I saw the first pictures - OMG, how is it the window openings for the equipment room at floor level!














Good resemblance to my SketchUp model, huh; less the wind turbine.



























Chang Ou must have missed out reading the height or was it my mistake without detailing it? Such communication errors were usually correctly promptly on site. This this one slipped through! Lucky it is a minor mistake that can be rectified easily.














On further thought, I'll leave it as it is. These openings suit well to experiment with my DIY long range bird callers - in comfort here without going up the roof top!














Other than that, things are pretty much in order.
Insulation foils laid below roof tiles.














Contrary to the "DON'Ts" about using roof pools, I buck those advise. I see more in its benefits than the negatives. May be I am cocky but take extra precautions about long term leakage issues & "sauna effect" it may cause.
External roof pool to collect solar energy in the day, stored thermal energy will be used to "buffer" heat lost during the night.







The walls are "wedged" at the top to discourage other visiting birds - especially pigeons common in the area.



















Putting up the wall of the roving room.














So I've decided to add a lift - DIY build by P'Moo all the way to the roof top!














Water pond in the roving room, solar heated water here will be gravity fed to ground floor via a "drip curtain". In the process thermal energy will be transferred to the air between walls and creates humidity at the same time.














Airwell and entrance to nesting areas.














Ground floor water pond.














Stairway and air vents.



















P'Moo fabricated the steel doors at his workshop. He is a DIY man - extraordinaire!














Nesting planks delivered to site waiting to be installed, grooved by the machinery he built.














Rock fills for the driveway. Soil here turns muddy after rains - only 4x4 can get through!














I always enjoyed sights of these yellow flowering trees that blossoms only this time of the year.