How to Build a Teak House in Bangkok

Harold Stephens is a well know writer who has spent much of his adult life in Southeast Asia, first as a sailor and now based in Bangkok where he has turned out several dozen books. He also writes for the Bangkok Airways magazine and is working on a pair of new books. Prolific, to say the least.

He recently had an unusual article in The Bangkok Post on his one-year effort to construct a traditional Thai teak house on a plot of riverside land he owns in Bangkok. Funny and informative story, plus he knows how to have fun with a fairly serious challenge.

I have always wanted a Thai house. When I say a Thai house I mean something traditional, made from teak with a high-sloped roof and red tiles. Logic told me I could have done what Jim Thompson did and bought a couple of old Thai houses around Tak or up north, dismantled them, shipped them to Bangkok and reassembled them.


As we know, his house is one of the famous tourist landmarks in Bangkok. Thompson did the same for his friend Connie Mangskau - he bought some Thai houses and floated them down river to Bangkok. In time, Connie's house too became a landmark. Of course, there are others who have done the same. Swiss artist Theo Meier built a beautiful traditional Thai house on the Ping River in Chiang Mai.

It was much easier for Mr Meier, however, as he didn't have the shipping problem. Unfortunately, the days of buying up old teak houses are over. All the old Thai houses have long been sold, and the few left standing now have an astronomical price. My budget, as a writer, made this out of the question.

But all was not lost, as there was one other possibility - build my own Thai house. While many thought my idea was insane, I was confident I could do it. I have a ranch in California. I learned to make adobe blocks and built the ranch myself, not an easy task since the art of making adobe blocks had been lost.

As some readers may recall, I also built my own 71-foot (21m) sailing schooner down river in Pak Nam and cruised her for 18 years around Asian waters and the Pacific - until the schooner was wiped out by Iniki, the most violent hurricane to ever hit the Hawaiian Islands.

So I decided to build my own Thai house. Location was not a problem. I live in a big old colonial house with two rai of land not far from Victory Monument. I knew the building had to be taken down, dismantled if need be. Finding the plans, however, was the problem. There are no house plans for traditional Thai houses at the local supermarket.

So I began my research: Visiting Thai houses, taking down notes, making sketches and shooting hundreds of photos.

Finally, I had what I wanted. It was not going to be a huge house, yet large enough to make it livable and to serve as a comfortable guesthouse. It had to have two large rooms - a bedroom and living room - and a bath and toilet. Over all it would measure 10xfive metres. I would use no nails in the construction, only bolts and screws, to enable easy dismantling in the future. Similar to traditional Thai houses, I had to build my construction on posts. The floors had to be made of wide polished wooden planks; the walls bare and stained; and with the wooden windows that swung out. The roof had to be high and sloping, pointed at the peak and set with red tiles. I knew I had to do one step at a time and not become overwhelmed with small details that took some scrutiny to figure out.