The build was completed in December 2016, and the property is built to a very much higher standard than would generally be found in Thailand. The current owner personally designed and managed the build, and is a professional registered Chartered Engineer (through the UK Engineering Council). The original structural construction was performed by a reputable Dutch company on the island.
The foundations for the property are the significantly more structurally sound solid ‘raft’ type, not the typical ‘isolated’ column/footing used in most Thai construction.
The house is approx. 62m above sea-level, on a hill setting. The surrounding wall, for the full-length of the rear, and some 10m down the jungle-side of the property is constructed as a solid retaining structure, some 3m deep, to protect the property from water ingress from the hillside. The benefit of this was apparent immediately upon completion of construction when in December 2016 the floods in Samui occurred, and the property grounds remained unaffected. Most properties in the nearby area suffered extensive damage from water ingress to both land and property by not having this.
All structural construction reinforcing components used #5 rebar, and med-high compressive strength (350-400 kg/cm²) CPAC batch cement, checked and verified on-site for correct specification. Random cement samples were sent to labs used in the oil industry for further verification.
The foundations of the house were fully waterproofed to a height of approx. 1m using a bitumen waterproofing membrane.
The pool in the house was constructed using a high strength 400 kg/cm² CPAC low permeability waterproof cement, with a 28-day curing period to allow sufficient hydration. In additional to the high- strength waterproof cement fibre-glass was added to the blend to increase three dimensional strength, and thereby further reduce the chances of any hairline cracks occurring as a result of tectonic movement.
baanking.com 