Traditional Thai House (Ruean Thai)

The traditional Thai house (ruean thai) is a timber or bamboo house raised on posts under a steep roof with long eaves. Its form varies by region, but nearly all versions share a shaded underfloor space, a veranda and a roof designed to shed monsoon rain and release heat.

Raised floors

Traditional houses are generally raised at least 2 m (6.5 ft) above the ground, mainly because many villages lie beside rivers and canals that flood in the rainy season. The underfloor space (tai thun) is used for storage, crafts, resting in the heat of the day and sometimes livestock. Ayutthaya-period accounts record common houses raised about 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m). Northern houses stand lower than central ones, and southern posts rest on stone or cement bases rather than being sunk into the ground.

Roofs by region

• Central plains: a high gable with a curved ridge and long eaves. The verges carry wooden boards with distinctive ends, the ngao and hang pla, and the panlom windbreak board.
• North (Lanna): lower, thicker roofs with long eaves. The gable peak may carry a kalae, a carved V- or X-shaped crossed board, often on the houses of wealthy families or community leaders. Coverings are terracotta tiles or wooden tiles (pan kled); some houses use clay tiles laid in a fish-scale pattern. The oldest northern type had roofs of woven grass over bamboo walls tied with rope.
• Northeast (Isan): gentler slopes, often without eaves; temporary and semi-permanent houses use baked clay tiles or thatch, sometimes with sunburst carving.
• Korat: Mon-influenced houses with acute gables sharper than 50 degrees.
• South: roofs built to withstand frequent storms. Forms include the gable, the five-ridged hipped lima or panya roof, influenced by Malay and Indonesian design and common in Pattani, and the Manila or blanor roof, a gable top over a hipped lower section, used by many Muslim households.

Materials

Temporary houses use grass, bamboo or palm-leaf thatch, which releases heat quickly. Permanent houses use terracotta tiles in several shapes: kap kluay (half-cylindrical, "banana trunk"), kled tao (square, "turtle shell") and hang yiao (upturned corners, "falcon tail"). Construction is either khrueang sab, nail-free timber joinery that allows a house to be dismantled and moved, or khrueang phook, tied bamboo.

Cluster houses

Larger households built a ruean mu, several gabled units on a shared raised veranda (chaan), each with its own roof.