Fitting out your Thailand condo

[dirtydog]

Can't forget to grout between the tiles, we usually use the same or a similar color grout to the tiles, this helps hide any size differences in the tiles, these tiles are exceptionally good though.

[dirtydog]

Time to do the fancy tile work, you can buy these ready made for a few thousand baht or get your builder to make your own, they are a bit of a pain as normal cutting is generally used for sides of rooms and is hidden, these are stuck in the middle of the floor so you got to sort out the edges which is a lot of work.

[daveboy]

Nice work DD.

[dirtydog]

This sort of stuff is real labour intensive and I doubt if it is done much in first world countries as the cost would be prohibitive, here we are sticking in a 8cm black granite border round the edges, we wanted to keep the tiles full size for the main area.



Sticking in the normal tiles into the display.



Another little granite inset.

[dirtydog]

Time to get the ceiling up, the top is obviously concrete and as ugly as fok, pipes and all stuff like that to hide, so first off is get the hangers up.



Yeah they dont look like much but they do the job and it is a lot cheaper using alloy than wood for ceilings.



This is a stepped ceiling, with that sort of thing you pay for the meter even if you only got a 10cm step as it involves a lot more work.



More c line going up.



Condos in Thailand these days don't want to burn farangs to death anymore, so they are fitting sprinkler systems and stuff like that, whether they work or not is another thing, but the thought is there, so the ceiling guys have to work to the sprinklers height.

[dirtydog]

And here we are with the finished granite tile design insert for the center of the floor.

[Marmite the Dog]

Very nice.

Can we see the ceiling yet?

[dirtydog]

Naaa, haven't run the cables yet, be another week at least

[Tao]

^ A week? You ought to be pushing em harder

[cimboc]

Crikey! that looks full on well done DD

[dirtydog]

So now we got to stick some skirting board round the place, normally this would be wood, yep black granite skirting, fok that stuff is hard work to finish, you need to look at the picture carefully as there is also an black granite insert round the edge of the floor.



Whats these tiles doing in a bowl of water you may ask, these are the bathroom tiles for the wall, these are nice and soft and easy to cut, but also really pourous, so you got to damp them down before you stick them on the wall otherwise you don't get any working time with them.



With Thai tiles you don't get the little knobs on them for spacing, also here you can't buy the little crosses to use as spacers, so yep your down to doing it the old way but a new version, the old way would involve using matches to space the tiles, here the matches are all different sizes, so yep, get that pack of tooth picks out, we need erm.

[jizzybloke]

I like that granite skirting and border, looks nice.

I saw someone using string to get even spacing on wall tiles once, seemed to work well cos it looked nice when he'd finished.

[dirtydog]

We use a chalk line to mark off the lines after using a plastic hose with water in to get the levels, but normally in the UK the tiles have little lugs on that space them out, or you can buy tile spacers, the little crosses, they don't have them here yet

The bathroom tiles should really have a dividing tile between the 2 different sorts of tile, jees, you seen the price of them these days? Used to be able to get a nice one for about 20baht, now they gone all gay and flowery and the only nice ones start at 120baht each, this is a big bathroom, so that idea was blown out.

[dirtydog]

hmmm, seems to have been a bit of a slowdown whilst I have been away, although the hot water pipe was extremely difficult, there is one water heater which will be hidden in the bathroom counter, this will feed the bathroom sink, the shower and the kitchen sink, anyway the tiles look quite nice and will be finished tomorrow.



The messy bit running along the floor in the middle of this picture will be a raised area to stop shower water going into the main bathroom area.

[EmperorTud]

Did you get the inspiration for the granite tile design from the Hellraiser movies?

[dirtydog]

Ahhh, it wasn't my design, the customer spent a few seconds with a scrap of paper and a pen, not quite a detailed plan but we got the idea of what he wanted

[Fabian]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

hmmm, seems to have been a bit of a slowdown whilst I have been away

That's no surprise. I guess now all your workers buggered off to isaan for songkran?

[Loombucket]

Looking really good DD, some nice ideas here, keep it coming.

[dirtydog]

Got to admit I might stop working again after this one, I can't afford to but I really have had enough of dealing with Thai morons, the guys doing the bathroom counter are closed till the 21st, fok knows what is happening with the kitchen stuff as they are taking the full holiday for the whole of Thailand, I remember when they were poor and worked all the time, things are changing too much and the bstards have holidays and that, I really do need to work for a couple more years to sort stuff out, but i REALLY HATE WORKING