Thailand Expats - House on Hill

ATMwalking · #1 03-05-2007, 12:57

I know some BMs live on a hill or are in property development.

Seems to be getting a house on a hill is a nice short-term thing at best. Maybe you would get 5-10 years out of the place before major repairs are needed. At most they drive some pilings down a few meters. I've also seen them just poor concrete in place. Doesn't seem they are going down to bedrock.

Given the rain we get and that surrounding properties don't always handle run-off water properly, seems there would be a lot of movement with the foundation. Eventually you'd get cracks and a very week structure.

Seaview is nice, but so is a solid structure.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

LivinLOS · #2 03-05-2007, 13:05

My place is sliding down the hill.. retaining walls (huge and uber expensive.. 16mil I heard in retaining wall.. 28m drop on one side) are showing cracks.. Just had teams of men in the house for 2 weeks.. Every year the cracks are back.. The pool leaks (lots) they are talking about draining and patching but the whole structure is not right from the base up..

The house above lost its pool down the hill a few years back..

Wouldnt touch the place with a bargepole to buy..

Hobbsy · #3 03-05-2007, 15:32

If you are buying land and building ona hill no problem you can make sure they bore down far enough.

Current houses on hills (especially Patong Hill) I am with LiL, short term rent ok but no way would I buy - far too many have ended up as Nanai rubble!

nelsonone · #4 04-05-2007, 11:20

all architecture and building practices in LOS scare the livin' bejeeeezsuss outta me!!!!

seems to be even worse on the island than elsewhere????

Rex7777 · #5 04-05-2007, 11:27

Just take a look at what happens in California from time to time. People build everywhere, but once in a while some big rains come along and wash away entire neighborhoods, or so it seems. And California is one of those places where they actually try to do things right - building codes; inspections, etc. Does any of that happen in Thailand?

Rex

TanMan · #6 04-05-2007, 19:05

Sometimes I look at the places (homes) on the hills while golfing at Loch Palm and dont really think about the structure itself, but what is behind the structure... scares me to pieces when I think of the quakes and mudslide possibilities.

Buy or rent... I will have none of either.

LivinLOS · #7 04-05-2007, 19:11

Go and have a look at L'Orchidee in Patong.. Look at the carved out hill behind it towering 15 - 20 meters sheer to allow them to carve flat land to build the plots.. Then think about the rain, the deforestation..

Fancy one of those at 40m ish ??

ATMwalking · #8 05-05-2007, 11:57

Yep. Just idea the other day driving into patong. The ditches were full of dirt runoff. The patong hill seem to be getting more and more dense with multi-story dwells on a very steep sloop. Just looks like it is all ready to come crashing down.

Even if you did a good job making your safe, some idiot up the hill could do things to make yours less safe.

bangladiver · #9 05-05-2007, 13:03

as always don't know for sure but was warned off ha sip pee as none of the stuff higher up is meant to have solid legal title that ain't going to be reclaimed later - see koh samui as example

LivinLOS · #10 05-05-2007, 13:30

Yes anything above tavern on the hill is over 80m..

Some of the property built 5+ years ago does have a legal title.. However anything built after around then has no tabien baan.. Initially all building work was stopped (japanese investors had many many millions of USD on that big spread up there) but last year they started to allow low key building again.. Typically its Thais building up there..

A buddy of mine leased a house for 10 or 15 years for peanuts, big space, nice veranda, good view.. The Thais thinking was the lease paid some money now and in the next 10 years it will either become legalized or not, at least its covered now.

Lightemup · #11 05-05-2007, 13:30

Guess that we just cant win...

Live down the hill, take the chance of a new Tsunami.
Live on the hill, have the opportunity to slide down the hill or get slid into.

Guess we should all look at a condo in Patong Tower then...

Nicke · #12 05-05-2007, 15:38

I read a story in gazette about someone who bough land from a real estate company with intention to build a house and later found out he was not allowed to build anything on that land because it was above 80m.

Lot of money for a land plot he cant use.

Hobbsy · #13 05-05-2007, 15:41

So nom na - don't buy land unless you know everything about the title.

LivinLOS · #14 05-05-2007, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicke

I read a story in gazette about someone who bough land from a real estate company with intention to build a house and later found out he was not allowed to build anything on that land because it was above 80m.

Lot of money for a land plot he cant use.

I know of many of those stories.. I also helped get one borderline plot 'reassessed' from above 80 to under 80..

richone · #15 05-05-2007, 19:32

There's a big house near me, built on a small plot, cut into the base of a steep hill and cliff. There is a retaining wall about 2 metres high less than 2 metres from his house wall. On top of the retaining wall there is a small flattish plateau about 10 m deep followed by an almost vertical cliff going up about 8 metres.

To my amazement about a month ago, they cut down all the vegetation on the flat bit and up the cliff and have started building a 2 storey house there, sat if you like on the flat ledge beneath the cliff, two sides of which are within 2 metres of the retaining walls. Sure enough a few days ago, a large chunk of deforested soil comes down, taking with it a large section of the retaining wall and falls on the rear and roof of the guy's existing house. Surprise surprise!!

And guess what? They are still proceeding with the construction of the house, whilst trying to cut up and remove the fallen retaining wall. http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/im...milies/aao.gif

My rear garden backs onto the side of all this and is on a very steep slope. So here, at the top of my rear garden, they are building a simple block screening wall, allegedly for privacy, which is now close to 3 metres high, looks down on me like a prison wall and has no structural integrity should there be a landslip or falling boulder. They tell me there will be very little infill on the other side of it (no more than 1m), but that a sala will be constructed there behind the new house. This "garden wall" again is within 2 metres of the walls of the new house under construction, on the other side of it. So heaven knows what the weight of the completed house will do to the rather small plot of raised (and wet) land that it squats on. I should think it will burst out all sides.

Maybe I should have posted this on the jokes Forum!!

ATMwalking · #16 22-05-2007, 15:12

What is the max slope you would want to consider as safe or not too expensive to develop? Some of the patong hill houses look like they are on an unstable 45+ degree slope. I'm guessing something like a natural 25 degree max.

Denver · #17 25-05-2007, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightemup

Guess that we just cant win...

Live down the hill, take the chance of a new Tsunami.
Live on the hill, have the opportunity to slide down the hill or get slid into.

Guess we should all look at a condo in Patong Tower then...

Can't argue with that Keld. Had a drive out along 'Millionaires Row' in Kamalala before a near miss with a elephant on the wrong side of the road (They need to take a test or summink!) and some of those really expensive ones look to be on stilts (and not many of them) just driven into cliff faces that have some pretty severe drops into the Andaman.

If the development at Kamalalala Hills slides then I just hope it does it quietly during the night while I am having a kip and ends up next to the bakery which would be convenient for the odd bacon sarnie and cup of coffee!

Save on Dodgers petrol too!

seafox · #18 25-05-2007, 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denver

Can't argue with that Keld. Had a drive out along 'Millionaires Row' in Kamalala before a near miss with a elephant on the wrong side of the road (They need to take a test or summink!) and some of those really expensive ones look to be on stilts (and not many of them) just driven into cliff faces that have some pretty severe drops into the Andaman.

If the development at Kamalalala Hills slides then I just hope it does it quietly during the night while I am having a kip and ends up next to the bakery which would be convenient for the odd bacon sarnie and cup of coffee!

Save on Dodgers petrol too!

Think of the great view that you would have if everything in front of you just slid off into the ocean. D, buy up everything near you. You could be the next Lex Luthor.