The construction of Ms. Buad hai's house

[Anonymous Coward]

it looks like it has plenty of room for a little one to crawl around in

Don't go there, William!

did get them to put peak vents in my roof and I hade up some of those turbo vent things to fit on and it works swell

I'm planning the same. The architect said that there wasn't room for the peak vents and that the turbine vents are too ugly. He's clearly wrong on the first point. Maybe right on the second, but I think the effect will be worth the eyesore.

It house is looking fine AC how long before you move in.

They continue to claim that it will be done by Songkran, when most of the workers will disappear for a week. But, they won't start the kitchen until after Songkran, so we probably won't move in until the kitchen is done. We had originally planned to have the kitchen built out by a cabinetmaker, but it was just too costly. We're having the contractor build the counter out of concrete with wooden cabinet doors and drawers. The counter will be granite. This is turning out to be about 25% cheaper than having the cabinets made from all wood.

I could not help notice one of the pics with plastic bags on the ground, why are some people so untidy

It's amazing how much crap accumulates. I guess they'd rather clean up just once. But, I did a little experiment: I left my empty beer cans on the front porch. Of course, since they have value they were gone by the next morning.

[blackgang]

Damn no trouble at all, just get up from puter, open window and shoot.
I made the mounting from flat plate and a short 6"pipe with 3 bolts to secure it to the stub that is made on the roof vent tiles so the bolts are finger tight below the collar of the tile and can not ever blow off in a heavy wind.
Maybe not to pretty but sure makes my inside thermometer look better and the green light on my big aircon only comes on less that half as much as it used to.

[hunter]

I was talking to a friend over the weekend who has just built a lovely house. He said that he had to physically restrain the 'builders' from fucking up most of the time.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piccies of the house.

Totally agree Marmite, that why I try to offer my service, but as usual most people want me to work for nothing, dream on!!!

Builders Thai or Farang need to be kept an eye on a regular basis, otherwise a disaster is waiting to happen?

House Building Consultant Pattaya Thailand | New House Developments | Real Estate Pattaya | Thailand Property

How do you charge for your services dickie ?

[dickie]

I was talking to a friend over the weekend who has just built a lovely house. He said that he had to physically restrain the 'builders' from fucking up most of the time.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piccies of the house.

Totally agree Marmite, that why I try to offer my service, but as usual most people want me to work for nothing, dream on!!!

Builders Thai or Farang need to be kept an eye on a regular basis, otherwise a disaster is waiting to happen?

House Building Consultant Pattaya Thailand | New House Developments | Real Estate Pattaya | Thailand Property

How do you charge for your services dickie ?

Hunter my fees are based on a monthly basis, there is a link to my contract below.

House Building Consultant Pattaya Thailand | New House Developments | Sample Building Contract

Your also see there is a get out clause in there, for both sides?

If your intersted in hiring my services send me a pm & I'll reply although my contact details are on the contact page of my web site.

I'm of to KL on Friday morning so if I don't reply to early next week please bare with me

[Thetyim]

I don't reply to early next week please bare with me

Hmmm......and you call yourself dickie do you

[Anonymous Coward]

I made the mounting from flat plate and a short 6"pipe...

Blackgang: Why did you mount it like that instead of using one that slips in under the roof tiles? Were you afraid of leaks or what?

[dirtydog]

That actually looks a better way of doing it, ie it is right at the top so gets all the hot air, rather than a meter or so down the roof where it is easier to get the tiles out, also I don't think they have the profile for the monier type tiles so they tend to bodge up the fitting, ok maybe now they make a proper profile for that type of roof tile but they never used to.

[hillbilly]

After much thought, have to agree with the dawg.

[Thetyim]

Can someone explain what a roof vent tile is.

Is it a special ridge tile ?

[blackgang]

Special ridge tile' To mount this turbo vent which was 17" open at the bottom, I made a 1/8 inch plate to fit, drilled 3 holes in the plate where the cross braces are in the bottom of vent, welded a 6" piece of 6" thin wall pipe over the 5 3/4" hole in the center on it, put a 1/4" J bolt in the 3 holes, fitted the plate in the bottom of the turbo vent and bolted it in with the J bolts to the cross braces, welded 3 -3/8" nuts to the pipe 1 1/2 inch up from the bottom end and those are for the bolts that go under the collar on the tile to keep wind from blowing the turbo vent off.
Sorry so long but I do not explain well in type. If I can talk and tell you then I get to swear a lot and make myself understood..555

Also the reason for it being at the top is as the DD said, and if you look at the pics in the fotki link for Thailand pics[ page 16 or so] you will see the alum sheet insulation that is under the purlins and so the air comes in the bottom end of the tiles and goes out the top as the foil goes to the top of the tiles at the ridge.plus as was also stated by DD is that is the only vent tile they make and a flat plate under the tiles wouldn't have been for shit, altho they do not make a vent to go over that hole, it is made for lightening rods or a cosmetically pretty rooster. you know that Thai know shit about removing or keeping heat out of a house.

[Thetyim]

^ Thanks. That is what I had imagined it to look like but I have never seen one before.

So it would be a fairly simple job to remove an existing ridge tile and replace it with a vented one ?

[blackgang]

Yes, they didn't get mine til the roof was done, and they got 3 and put em all up, so I made em take one down and thats it In took a pic of, it was up there for a couple weeks.
But the rooster that they make to fit the tile is actually a wind vane, Big Rooster too,,when ya get the tiles they have a rubber cap on the hole.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the sort of light fixture that we were avoiding:



I did a quick walk-through some of the other houses and it appears that the builder is putting this exact fixture in every room of every house unless the buyer asks or buys something different.

[El Gibbon]

Would make a great 'dish' for your Golden Retriever's food.

E. G.

[Anonymous Coward]

It appears that the contractor is making a big push to get the house done before Songkran; probably so that the developer will pay them so they can pay their workers before the big holiday. Anyway, lots of action over the last few days and lots of mistakes to go with it.


Here they've installed the metal part of the fence. Of course, they had to break into the wall that had already been plastered and painted to fit the metal.

Other than to show respect for their time-worn custom of refusing to plan ahead, why do Thai builders plaster and paint concrete only to break it again a few days later to install plumbing, electrical or something? I can understand their lack of concern over the time this wastes, but, given their devotion to cold hard cash, don't they realize how much money they're blowing by working this way? Unbelievable.


Here you can see the slab for the carport and some of the exterior lights. If you look closely you can see how they had to break concrete to install the conduit in the fence pillar and the wire leading to the light on the carport pillar.


Here's the front porch. The overhead light fixture was our choice; the one on the wall theirs. I like them both.


Here's the ceiling fan and ceiling light fixture in the living room. The ceiling fan was the plainest one we could find. The light fixture is still too decorative for my taste, but at least it's made out of real wood and not overly gaudy.


Here's the "laundry area". Not sure why they poured the slab all the way to the fence. I guess it was easier that way. The pipe sticking up leads to the drainage system. I guess that's where you stick the washing machine drain hose. Note the crappy fluorescent fixture above the back door. That will be replaced as soon as I find something better. (Shouldn't be difficult.)


Here's an exterior shot from this morning. I've taken such shots from the same point since the beginning. It's almost done now and looking OK to me.

During our visit today we got a glimpse of the incredibly crappy bathroom mirror/shelf/towel rack set that they were going to install. This inspired us to make an emergency trek to Home Mart where we managed to find decent mirrors and OK stainless steel shelving and towel hangers.

In the US it's the practice of housing tract developers to offer upgrades to buyers: better appliances, better lighting fixtures, better bathroom fittings, etc. I'm surprised this isn't done here, at least at this moo baan. Would be a great way to fatten up the profits.

I suspect that we'll be told we can move in late next week. We have a rather long list of things that need to be "fixed" (including outdoor electrical outlets with no ground wire....) and we plan to wait until all that's done. Also, the kitchen build-out won't start until after Songkran. We'll wait for that to be done as well.

[Thetyim]

Looks like the fitting will get wet there

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like the fitting will get wet there

Really stupid, isn't it?

[Thetyim]

^ Is there room for it under the hood or will the door hit it ?

[Anonymous Coward]

^ Is there room for it under the hood or will the door hit it ?

There's room under there for a different sort of fixture. Maybe one that's not too wide that uses a screw-in bulb.

[blackgang]

Looks like wooden sash and windows??

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like wooden sash and windows??

Yes, all wood. Supposed to just have wood preservative on it but instead they used a glossy wood stain.

Grrrr.....

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe this is the conduit for the underground power lines. It seems as if this should have been one of the first infrastructure items to be installed, not one of the last. The water mains have also not yet been laid down.

I'm not sure how they will bury the conduit and water mains underneath the concrete streets and walls they've been building for the last six months, but I suppose they'll find a way; even if it means unnecessary work and ripping out stuff resulting in the usual cosmetic blemishes....

[lom]

even if it means unnecessary work and ripping out stuff resulting in the usual cosmetic blemishes....

If you don't have enough work - create it
My experience from Thai building crews is that half of their workday is spent fixing yesterdays mistakess and the other half to create new for tomorrow.

[MeMock]

^ always employed i gather

[Anonymous Coward]

Since photos of house wiring are rather boring, I've only posted a few. However, one of my major concerns about any house is how well the electrical work is done. One of the favorite tricks on Saipan was to have ground (earth) wires that extended only a few inches into the conduit and then to use the neutral wire as a common neutral/ground. Naughty, naughty.

I have been explaining to Ms. AC things like why a ground wire is necessary, why it's not a good idea to put the electric oven on the same circuit as the kitchen utility outlets, etc. She tried to convince them to wire the oven separately, but was unsuccessful. My response? "No worries, we'll take care of it after the fire."

Yesterday she went to the big book fair in Bangkok and returned with but a single volume which is entitled "Chang Fai Fai Nai Baan".

The woman's in to it!