#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Construction in Thailand >  >  Baanpong House Build

## jonnyenglish

Located about 25kms out of Chiang Mai, Baanpong is a very small village at the foot of some lovely forested hills, with 200 degrees of 'mountain' views, at the end of a long valley at the head of which is a reservoir named Huay Lan.

There are quite a few visitors to this small place, owing to an easy drive SE from the city,  including it seems quite a few fellow farang, who have (along with their other-halves) decided to settle in this valley.. I am the latest addition to this motley crew.

So, back in April I acquired Just over 2 rai of ex-rice land, with red Chanote title, with a view to creating a large garden with a small(ish) house in it. The land has no power or water in and only 'paper' road access via a dirt track that stops short of the actual plot of land, what could possibly go wrong?!  :Smile:

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## jonnyenglish

Another photo of the land, which is shaped like an elongated capital letter 'D', the red arrows are roughly where the edges of the plot lies, POV is from one corner where one of the survey markers and a rather large cobra was found.

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## crackerjack101

Good stuff Jonny, keep it coming.

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## cyrille

Cracking view.

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## jonnyenglish

Obviously, as it's all rice fields here, I have had to raise the land, but first things first, getting access to the plot sorted out was the primary job at hand... get the village head and land office honcho over with all and sundry, lots of pointing and flapping of paper.

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## jonnyenglish

Obviously, as all this sort of stuff is boring, I didn't mention aforesaid snake to these fellas (apart from the complexities of pronouncing 'ngoo'), in the hope that it's re-appearance would form some sort of entertainment...

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## crackerjack101

> Obviously, as all this sort of stuff is boring


Not at all, mate. Keep it going.

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## cyrille

We looked at some 'ex-rice field' land a couple of months ago. 

A fact that should have been obvious to me was brought home forcefully: no tree cover = farkin hot.

And no, your thread isn't boring. These threads are interesting partly because of the potential...not necessarily just what you are posting now.

If you see what I mean.  :Smile:

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## Nicethaiza

I like home with mountain view...How long will use for building you house?

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## jonnyenglish

The fact that all these semi-official dudes seemed to know about my plans already, plus they had all the relevant maps and whatnot, and all were in agreement as to the proposed location and APPROVED LEGALITY of the access road was a great relief to say the least!

It turned out that most of the discussion was regarding the fact that the access road had to cut across an existing klong that is used to irrigate the nearby rice paddies, so the deal was I have had to put in concrete culverts under the road, with access via concrete manholes and reinstate the klong. Hey, no problem so long as I'm not doing the digging!

I have heard horrible stories about people buying land that had 'access' on paper, only to find out that this was private land and the owner either wouldn't allow a road to be put in or were looking to purchase a gin palace to be moored in Phuket for the permission  :Smile: 

So, with one potentially huge cock-up avoided, next day, in with the machines (Moo Moo inspecting the access to culverts...) :

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## jonnyenglish

> We looked at some 'ex-rice field' land a couple of months ago. 
> 
> A fact that should have been obvious to me was brought home forcefully: no tree cover = farkin hot.
> 
> And no, your thread isn't boring. These threads are interesting partly because of the potential...not necessarily just what you are posting now.
> 
> If you see what I mean.


I do indeed see your point, other friends of mine have bought land that on the face of it looked more shady as they have Mango, Lam Yai and Longan trees on already, however, they face different issues: One then has to cut trees down to build, plus those trees aren't really going to help shade your house much, they aren't tall enough. Plus fruit trees have lots of ants and other insects and houses built near them get infested constantly.

I'll use flat and boring as a blank canvas, it was the view from this plot that attracted me (although I am aware that someone could come along and put a high-rise hotel on the plot next door). 

I have a very good friend who built his own house in this village (visiting him was the reason why I found this location) and his garden already looks mature after only 4 years.. big shady trees all over. 

 Anyhow, I have a cunning plan with regards to flat and hot no-shade rice land... stay tuned  :Smile:

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## crackerjack101

> The fact that all these semi-official dudes seemed to know about my plans already, plus they had all the relevant maps and whatnot, and all were in agreement as to the proposed location and APPROVED LEGALITY of the access road was a great relief to say the least!


Absolutely crucial to keep the powers that be on side. We had some minor issues when we did our place but getting the head honchos in and chatting with them at the beginning meant we never had a problem thereafter. They seemed pleased to be involved and respected the fact that we consulted with them.

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## jonnyenglish

OK, so now this was in that crazy hot season we had earlier in the year, it was very difficult to imagine enough water to create a puddle, let alone planning landscaping with flood management, but getting the land raised by 80cms to a metre is what was needed on ex-rice paddy land that is next to other rice paddy.

Time to bring in the boss (cue action shot of er-indoors):



Edit: Note that the houses in the background along the main village road are not particularly elevated, apparently this area isn't prone to floods, but still, it's a garden I'm after not a frog-infested swamp.

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## jonnyenglish

Here's a glorious action shot of a truck dumping the first of the loads of soil to raise the land.. the dust on the access track was so fine and deep during this hauling process that it felt wet and spilled over into your shoes... lots of Chang was consumed during this time to counter the effects of parching.

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## hallelujah

> I didn't mention aforesaid snake...


That's a great view, but the 2nd thing that came to mind when I saw your pic was snakes. I'd be shitting myself 24/7 wondering what was likely to crawl into the house, given the location.

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## jonnyenglish

And finally, a shot of what 748 X 3m2 truck loads of levelled soil looks like...



At this point I was beginning to wonder if I should just scrap the house idea and keep camels as a petting zoo attraction instead.

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## Norton

Good luck jonny. Keep us posted. You have a good start.

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## jonnyenglish

> That's a great view, but the 2nd thing that came to mind when I saw your pic was snakes. I'd be shitting myself 24/7 wondering what was likely to crawl into the house, given the location.


The cobras slithered off sharpish once all the trampling of feet and moving of machinery started... have seen a banded krait up the road near to a header pond (part of the irrigation system), these are docile by day, but another story completely by night. (google the name and read at your peril!)

Have no fear, I have a cunning plan regarding snakey fellas and houses, plus having a couple of dogs in your garden (one of which should be a Jack Russell Terrier) will also deter most things that slither.

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## crackerjack101

> one of which should be a Jack Russell Terrie


I'd get two. They work well together. We had 3 and the snake problem was resolved.

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## Davis Knowlton

> The cobras slithered off sharpish once all the trampling of feet and moving of machinery started...


Years ago I had a house in Aranyaprathet with endless rice paddies to the rear of the house. Cobra spottings (and they've got some HUGE ones down there) were a daily event. They do love those paddies.

Nice thread - look forward to following along.

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## jonnyenglish

> I like home with mountain view...How long will use for building you house?


It's hard to say...

From buying the land and getting it prepared, so far it's taken 6 months, but this includes delays through waiting on local government offices and other things like broken down machinery, missing-in-action drivers with hangovers. 

I estimate and additional 4-6 months as a build time for the main house. This will not be constantly under construction as workers take holidays, plus there will be unspecified down-time owing to delays in deliveries, mistakes, and the usual unforeseen bits.

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## jonnyenglish

I'm not to fussed about snakes, seen lots of them all over during my years of living in Thailand and I have yet to meet anyone who knows of or know of anyone who has actually been bitten by one, let alone killed.. Far more likely to come a cropper on the roads here than worrying about legless lizards IMO. :Smile:

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## jonnyenglish

OK, so after a couple of weeks of pissing off some of the locals who were complaining about the hundreds of trucks driving through the village, (the ones who complained weren't the ones who had sold me their topsoil.. go figure!), finally the news of the disgruntledness filtered down to me... oops. Time to pay reparations in the form of a couple of parties, much moo yang and 'tiger dance' lao kao... a few chats here and there about what we were up to, how they could benefit, some sweets for the kids, smiles all around and problem solved.

Besides, the trucks had pretty much stopped by then.. time to think of water again, this time pertinent to the arid conditions we were facing down on the land, so back to baanpong sahara.. this time construction of a watering hole:



Note the level of the natural water table at the bottom of the hole.. this is in the driest part of the year during the hottest period on record for 60 years... still the water is there and not too far down. That said, with climate change and all that, one can only plan for worse. The cow in the background is looking on approvingly as it think we are building it a swimming pool.

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## jonnyenglish

And then it rained:



The chap with the excavator had gone off on a bender somewhere with some cash I had given him, so we never got to finish the construction of the pond before it rained and it all started to slump and cave in.

I looked awful and I consider this to be my first "almost disaster".

When he did get back, he had to re-define the pond shape and structure, which is a bit of an experiment on my part, but I think will work just fine.

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## jonnyenglish

I think ponds/lakes are important for many reasons, including;

Tradition. Ponds are common in gardens in Thailand, as you can keep fish in there to eat (and frogs, insects, eels, tadpoles, and a whole bunch of other stuff all on the menu). Water on your property is also seen as good luck. Additionally I like to embrace and re-interpret the positive aspects of Thai culture wherever possible, so having a pond is a must.

Environment. Water is a cooling element in a garden, and although Chiang Mai has cool winters, as we have just experienced, the summers can be brutal. To sit in a sala next to a pond, sip on a beer.. ahhh

Design. A pond or standing water feature is a focal point to a garden, all things radiate out from it and is a very good starting point for a house plan, this is why I keep saying that I am making a garden with a house in it.Many plants only grow in or very near water,  having a water feature will allow me to create a lushly planted oasis that I can plonk a house next to. 

Functionality. If the water gets rationed (as it did in April), having a pond to fall back on as an alternative supply even if it's just to flush the loo or water the odd pot plant, it's better than now't!

I have looked at all sorts of ponds and lakes here in Thailand, some lined, some not, some look like industrial holding tanks, others look like they belong on a crazy golf putting course.

So here's my experimental pond design, I'm going for a controlled natural look:

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## cyrille

That looks like a good product, Klondyke.

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## jonnyenglish

Things have been speeding up on the site recently, all sorts of activity going on;

Gyproc ceilings in bathrooms, office and guest bedroom are all in:



The metal struts for attaching the Shera eaves boarding have been 3/4 installed, just the covered veranda needs doing, but the teams are on top of one another in that area right now, so will be completed in a day or two. The boards will be installed after the exterior paint has been finished.

All wiring and conduits have been installed in the correct place, now waiting for electricity poles and heavy duty cable for the main feed to be run down the land to the house. Obviously lighting and fans will be installed once interior painting and boxing in of beams is completed.

Painting of exterior is continuing now that all the rendering is completed:



No idea why they don't cut in first and then roller, or why they are rollering the first coat in straight lines as opposed to random directions (as I was taught)... I just let them get on with it, although I am really itching to show the correct way, but this isn't a polytechnic, so I can't be arsed. I just know that I'll have to get the paint and brushes out again afterwards and go over things again myself.

Note the chap on the right has utilised a piece of plastic conduit as the roller pole.. I did point out to him that his pole wasn't stiff and limp poles aren't great, much to the amusement of the team. :Smile: 

Additional plumbing has also been going on, and waste water pipes are now nearly ready to be connected up to the tanks and drain-away's.

A bit of site tidying has also been going on, the usable piles of wood and any excess steel have now gone.

Had a meeting with Noarng the build about costs for the kitchen... seems that granite is OK price-wise, but the quote I got for just the carpentry was astronomical (in my opinion) 200,000 baht!  I don't need it to be good hardwood, as it'll be painted anyhow, pressure treated pine carcass with MDF or similar would be fine. 

Will put that to one side for now, and discuss again in a week or so. Perhaps we'll source another carpentry workshop that doesn't insist on using hardwood (or charge hardwood prices!) .

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## David48atTD

> pressure treated pine carcass with MDF or similar would be fine.


We have that in Australia ... but let me know if you find it in Thailand.
.

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## Buckaroo Banzai

> No idea why they don't cut in first and then roller, ) .


If you cut first you have to cut a couple of inches width because you dont know how close you be able to get with the roller but.

in rough areas  if you role first you then you only have to fill in what the roller missed , much faster that way.

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## WhiteLotusLane

Wow this is an excellent topic!   Haven't been back on Teakdoor in a while but this topic is really worth it, just ready through the lot of it.

And I have an extra interest because the size and shape of some land the Mrs has is quite similar to yours..  



Ours is also in the Chiang Mai area and looks like this.. :

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## jonnyenglish

> Wow this is an excellent topic!   Haven't been back on Teakdoor in a while but this topic is really worth it, just ready through the lot of it.
> 
> And I have an extra interest because the size and shape of some land the Mrs has is quite similar to yours..


Cheers WLL, positive comments indeed! :Smile:  

You do have a very similar shaped parcel of land there, and also have the advantage of a road running by the length of the property already, so you can choose where to place the access.. Wow, that's some chicane going on there on that road, with a junction too!  :Drive: 

The house placing (if indeed you are thinking of building) would obviously be dictated to by the land shape, so the fattest part of the land would probably be the first choice, unless of course you are going for a long and thin or Balinese-style house with multiple connected buildings that is..

Your land parcel seems to already be naturally divided up into 3 uses as was mine: access area with parking, house with garden/pool/pond and finally veggie garden/orchard (already with pond!).

Looking at your place, I'd put the gate right at the top, another larger more decorative pond up in that area too, and then house (possibly an L-shaped deal would be best suited) in the widest bit. You could then put the access road down the length of the land on the left hand side.. adding in sala's and whatnot later to break up the length and add interest.

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## jonnyenglish

Progress over the past few days:

Eaves being boxed in:



Tiling of bathroom walls has started.

Decisions on kitchen have taken a u-turn... Missus decided she didn't like grey painted wood after all!  

So, we will go for hardwood to match the doors throughout the house, but only on visible surfaces... but this can wait until I have more funds. For now a brick and concrete carcass is being installed, will be tiled on top and painted.. 

Design for front doors have been requested (although I have already pointed out the exact doors at the carpenters on my visit there)... seems that conversations and decisions here tend to be forgotten about easily.

As a protest I came up with this:



I made 12 visualisations in total, and just knew that the one we'd go for is my original choice, that's because... the whole house was designed with a certain style to start off with!  Yet we have to go through these motions to placate the spirits I guess. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

The worrying thing is that the missus didn't even comment on the UPVC neo-england swan door with rustic surround.

Anyhow, as suspected, she chose the door design that I had originally selected:



All interior doors will match, but the two bathroom doors will be half louvered:

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## WhiteLotusLane

> You do have a very similar shaped parcel of land there, and also have the advantage of a road running by the length of the property already, so you can choose where to place the access.. Wow, that's some chicane going on there on that road, with a junction too!


Haha, yes.  It's weird too as there are two irrigation streams passing on different levels at that point.  Always lots of water going past.  (Haven't seen it flood so far, but when building anything I do plan to go up by quite a lot.)    It's about the same distance from town as you are I think, about 27-30kms.  Ban Pong is very nice though, I used to live in Bang Pong for some time during the last century.  :Smile: 

I think we'll eventually build there, but for now the downtown area takes up all funds.  (Easier to make money downtown, but much nicer to live in the hills.. )

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## jonnyenglish

After 3 consecutive days of rain, the trees and plants are lush and the building team are working with renewed vigour, sensing a change in the season and wanting to finish off the build I guess.

Tiling of both bathrooms continues, I need to purchase some more of the decorative glass and ceramic mosaic strips, as it was decided to make the 2 bands 5 tesserae wide instead of 4 so that the top tiles fitted and didn't need another layer of cut tiles  adding.  Hopefully I can purchase the same type! :33: 



Tidying up exterior bits, such as the area around the back of the house where services are... a small retaining wall added so that the area can be back-filled with rubble and topped with gravel to stop rain splashing back onto the house.

At some point I'll install guttering as well, but this will do for now.

I'll add larger river stones and plants, plus sculptural plants such as agarves in pots to reduce rain splash and noise further, which will also hide the tops of the soak-away's etc.

 

Boxing in of exposed metal beams has begun...

 

The Shera board will join at the beam and then continue on the other side.

Beams also being boxed in on the interior. There are some joins in the wood, but hopefully I can mask these, possibly by careful filling and then hand painting with acrylic artist's paint to mimic the tones and continue the grain across the join. I have done this before with repairs on old furniture, so should be good enough as it's also not too close to the eye..

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## Vettronics

Looking good. A really good thread here. Really enjoy reading.....

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## jonnyenglish

Driving down the narrow gravel lane by the header pond this morning, met a delivery truck coming the other way, they had just dropped off the terracotta floor tiles:





There was a choice of tiles available, some were fired at a higher temperature, so were more vitrified. They were darker, uniform in colour and harder, but just didn't feel right.

There were larger ones, but they just looked wrong.

These were just right, and although not too visible in these photos, there is quite a range of shades of colour, plus some small imperfections which will help break the repetitive floor pattern and make it all look more organic and natural. These are much softer to the touch, and will be much nicer to walk on. 

I am aware that they are also porous, so will stain and wear, that's fine, give them a scrub and a coat of wax and job done..

The cement/grout will be brown and spacing about 5mm.

The ceiling board (although it's usually used for exterior cladding I think) also arrived:



Boxing in of exposed steelwork is now complete, but will need finishing off as mentioned before. Ceiling being installed under veranda:



Concrete pads and rebar now in for the 6 support posts for the covered car port and utility room:



Also master bathroom is almost tiled now (yes I did mange to buy some more of the same coloured mosaic strip, phew!), it would also be ready for the glass shower wall and doors to be installed, but that got broken in the warehouse on Friday.. awaiting a replacement.

All coming together nicely.

Noarng the build reckoned 6 weeks to finish 2 weeks ago, I think there's at least another 7 weeks of work left from today. I'm not bothered about rushing, as we can't move in even if it is finished in a few weeks, as the place has to be blessed by monks first, and they are currently restricted from leaving the temple grounds for a few months. This means that first week of September looks like a date for voodoo, followed by a party to celebrate 'completion'. :Fing02:

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## Vettronics

I really like reading your build. Very interesting.

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## jonnyenglish

> I really like reading your build. Very interesting.


Many Thanks A,  
Bit of a rocky road at times, but nothing to do with the actual build!
After the rains, the location is looking much more appealing, hopefully this will help smooth things along.

Cheers for your support, it's much appreciated,
J

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## Vettronics

Anytime. Cannot wait to see the finished project. It will be a really nice property when you are done.

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## Stumpy

Great progress. I really miss house build threads. They are some really creative layouts and styles and have been over the years. I absolutely loved my build, now its sustaining mode and landscape changes.

I told my wife the other day I want to buy a car hoist so I can work on our cars and truck. She looked at me quite puzzled.....then smiled laughing as she walked away. :Smile:

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## jonnyenglish

Things are still ticking along, ceiling boards going in and car port being constructed, still yet to chose and install wall lights (outside lights already selected).

New and unbroken glass shower wall and door unit for master bathroom arrived on site yesterday.

One thing I'm not happy about in the bathroom is that the builder has installed a pipe to drain away any standing water that might get trapped on the wrong side (the toilet and sink side) of the shower wall.. good idea, but craply executed, with a rough hole being whittled away out of the edge of the floor tile and then smeared with grout.. 

It's pretty visible and there isn't anywhere to install a stainless steel cover to match the shower waste pipe.. my guess it that an angle grinder and cold chisel will come into play, either that or he can lift the tile and do again. Don't care, as long as it looks the same as the shower drain hole and doesn't look like a pig's ear.

Don't want to micro-manage, but can't stand small detail sloppy work. 

Pics to follow in a few days.

Meanwhile I have been pottering about in the garden, moved a tree as it really didn't like being where it was and didn't grow a single new leaf in 8 months, so planted two coconut saplings next to the pond, plus planted in 10 small bougainvillea bushes along the fenceline, so that the plants will grow either side of the wire. Cheap as chips, can stand drought, don't need looking after much, don't get eaten by insects, and if they get a bit overgrown, you just hack them back.

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## jonnyenglish

Here's some update pics:

Shera exterior cladding going up as ceilings:



Same boarding in place around one of the eaves vents in the lounge:



Batons will go in over these, one thicker type of Mai Daeng will run up from the boxed-in beams (same width as) and run to the top of the ceiling to imitate an exposed portion of A frame (not going to bother with the vertical return on the wall), other thinner pieces of baton will be attached to the rest of the ceiling at regular intervals, 90 degrees to the 'tongue and groove' of the boards and painted white. I'm still undecided as to what material to use, strips of board cut to size will stop any insect activity, but may look a bit skimpy, wood will be painted white, so don't want to waste good wood, but cheaper wood is prone to insect damage... hmmm.

Exterior boarding all now in, filled and first coat of TOA premium exterior:

 

Here's a shot of that offending drain-away in master bathroom I mentioned earlier... hmmm:



Terracotta floor tiles now down in bedrooms, office and walk-in wardrobe. Have had a test with grout colour and have gone for a darker coffee colour, the lighter colour was just too close to the tile colour and looked odd, will post pics when it's tidier:

 

Here's a shot of one of the bathrooms, tiling and grouting has since been finished, but I haven't got a shot for some reason:



Car port concrete work:





And lastly, something different.

I got fed up with looking at one of the trees, the star apple. It didn't like being where it was, got burnt by the sun, lost leaves when it was windy and when it finally did grow leaves when it rained, the bugs ate them all.. 

It just looked very tatty and not at all happy:



So, I have had it replaced by a more robust tree that the insects don't eat, that has masses of light and dark pink flowers before the rains, then throws out lots of lush green leaves:



Lesson learned here, In future I'll chose my trees and plants more carefully, observing what does well in the area and what they look like at certain times of year.

Note the length of grass in the last pic. I have tried to hire 4 different people in the village to come and cut it back, but all are too busy.. I'm off to town tomorrow to buy my own strimmer, I cut the jungle back myself! :Smile:

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## runker

Can you get PVC wood there for your exterior work?  Your ceiling looks really nice and I think the drain you have issues with will look fine once the grout is smoothed out and you have a drain cover in place.

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## runker

Maybe a goat for the grass.

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## jonnyenglish

> Can you get PVC wood there for your exterior work?  Your ceiling looks really nice and I think the drain you have issues with will look fine once the grout is smoothed out and you have a drain cover in place.


I'll have to have a look about for the batons... pvc might be good.

The drain tile will have to be lifted, a square cut out and a cover put in, I'm not sure if there is enough depth now to install the drain collection cup/water trap part of the cover, so might have to cut out a chunk of concrete and do it again. Another problem is that the pipe is very close to the wall, so the cover will be offset.. could be an issue. I will have to have a chat with the foreman and see what the score is.

As to goats.. yes indeed, I like goats, pretty handy things, will eat all sorts and give back milk and fertiliser in return! Only issue is that they can climb and eat trees, plus I'm not sure how the dogs would react, as it is the stupid mutts think the cows in the neighbouring fields are large dogs invading their territory. Maybe trade in the dogs for goats on ropes!  :Very Happy:

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## runker

Maybe doing something like this would help.

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## jonnyenglish

Progress over the past week has been pretty slow going, only a couple of chaps on site working, but they are doing an OK job, slow and steady is just fine by me (I'm not paying a daily rate!). 

Work has been focused mostly on finishing off the ceiling boards with framing and shera board strips and baton details. I would have liked to have gone for wood, but will have to pay more for this:



I think the thinner batons will be just fine for now, adding a bit of interest and detail to break up the ceiling expanse. I may add in more wooden details later when funds allow, but probably won't bother.




Doors and windows arrived on site the other day, I'm pretty happy with them, and as instructed, there are no nails, screws or visible dowels on the faces of the frames, as this is both unsightly, but also may allow water penetration as the wood will inevitably expand and contract with changing weather conditions. Bathroom doors with louvre vents have yet to arrive:



Other work on site is building walls for the services room at the back of the car port, site tidying, and also moving about of tree saplings, which have really started to get big.

Another freak-out yesterday from 'er-indoors, about money I guess, but it's hard to tell when being totally ignored... what I did glean from a day of drama before heading off out all night for beers and whiskey was that she doesn't want to live in Thailand anymore. :Confused: 

hmmm.. will see how that pans out  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): , as for me, I'm just dandy here and can't wait to move into my country club/studio. :Smile:

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## jonnyenglish

All being now fluffy on the home front, and some sort of normality is in place again, I can report slow, but steady progress is being made on the house build over the past few days.

I popped in to have a look around the land this morning and looked inside the house to see 3 young chaps leaning and chatting loudly, it was only due to the fact that one had a paint roller in his hand that I realised that they were actually supposed to be there, however the work aspect of this reason seemed to have escaped these chappies.

I'm not paying by the day, but still, 40 mins later they were still chopsing away, and didn't care that the other 4 man team of older guys were just busy working away, let alone that skinny farang chap with the army hat and 1000 yard stare was looking in at the half painted wall.  

A visit to the site later and Noarng the build was there, along with 7 other people doing all sorts of stuff (strangely the young painting/discussion group had picked up the pace and had manged to make fair progress). I didn't bother taking shots of white paint going on walls. It's a bit boring at the best of times, but strangely still seems to be an incredibly random and laboured affair on my walls for some reason. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 



Front doors being fitted, as looking from kitchen door.



Bifold doors also going in. 



TTFN, will post more pics when some decent progress has been made.

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## bluecowry

This was an interesting read, thanks for it.  I like your pond ideas.

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## runker

I like your doors in the last photo you posted but was wondering how they operate.  There doesn't seem to be any track that they follow when opening and closing. And what will filling that gap in the middle, will there be another door hinged to each side?

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## jonnyenglish

> I like your doors in the last photo you posted but was wondering how they operate.  There doesn't seem to be any track that they follow when opening and closing. And what will filling that gap in the middle, will there be another door hinged to each side?


No track, it was decided that actually they cause more trouble than they are worth.. they fill up with grit and dirt, dead insects etc and get jammed up. Also, if there is any slight movement in the wood, they jam and stick or wear badly. 

The central 2 doors are hinged as well, this means there are 4 doors on each side, this way they will fold back on themselves easily and fit snugly next to wall space. There will be bolts holding the doors closed and a securing mechanism on the wall to hold them in place when folded back.

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## jonnyenglish

> This was an interesting read, thanks for it.  I like your pond ideas.


Glad to contribute. I am really itching to get that pond up and running, tired of seeing it as a half-filled semi-stagnant pool of something in a concrete bowl! I have to finish the house first though :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

OK, so, an overview of what I have learnt on the build so far:

1) The metaphysical is as important as the physical (all manner of offerings and incantations have been made to appease the spirits). 

2) What may seem obvious might not be to others (80% of things are executed the way you'd expect it, but then there's the 20% that leave you standing there with mouth open and a head full of questions).

3) Give everything time (even things that seem to be a major cause for concern will, given enough time, be sorted out, no need to add to the fuss).

4) Offer observations rather than instructions (that way there is no loss of face or emotion involved). 

5) Don't expect resort-quality levels of finish from your local builders (I have a very competent team, they are very good overall, but they are not specialists in anything. As such, I will have to revisit many things at a later date to give proper level of finish, especially walls and woodwork).

6) The electrician that Noarng used was nothing short of a lazy git, with outdated techniques and very shoddy practices.. this is one thing that's going to be problematic. I know very little about wiring, having only picked up a bit of knowledge over the years, but heck, even I know there are some serious issues on my build!

I'm torn between just getting the house 'finished' then fixing the wiring to the expected standard, or get them to fix it now and cause all sorts of bad juju on-site (and with 'er indoors, who thinks I just make stuff up at a whim just to create a bit of drama...).

Issues with the wiring:

Mixed up cable colouring regime; In Thailand it should be Black=Live, White= Neutral, Yellow and Green= Earth
I have black on black, black on red, red on red, black with white.. a total nightmare.

No Earth on wall lights or ceiling lights and fans (even in bathroom!) even though I requested everything to be earthed. The fans and bathroom lights need earthing for sure, and I'm not certain even how they can install an ELCB in the control board without earthing.. I'm sure it will just trip out. 

Wall sockets and light sockets should never be mixed on circuits.. I suspect this has happened on my site, but it's such a pig's ear with the wiring I can't tell.

Wiring from sockets, fans and lights all come into junction boxes above the spare bedroom, then they are twisted together (?!) and attached to thicker cabling that then runs down to the control box, instead of just running the cables for each ring in separately.My guess is that he was trying to save space on the board by reducing the circuits. What this means is that the thicker wiring and the fuse of the control board will be higher amps than the actual wiring, a very dangerous thing to do!  I need each ring to be coming in to the control board, each with it's own breaker set at the safe level.

Having pointed out all of the above, I could tell that Noarng was embarrassed, but he was also a bit pissed off, with a typical 'I've been building for 20 years and this is the way we always do it...' reaction. In this instance the 'pointing out, without loss of face' approach crashed and burned!  :Smile:  

After an hour, some sort of noises were being made, something about swapping out cabling for correct colours, but no real admission that the wiring had been badly installed.

I have therefore made an executive decision to let them get on with it, 'finish' the build and get the wiring fixed afterwards by another qualified firm. I just don't want to derail the build at this stage, not that any sort of 'down-tools' has been implied in any way, but with the build at 80% complete, but payments at 90%, it would be more costly for me to finish the build myself (including the wiring) than just to fix the wiring issue later! After all, I rented an old wooden house a few years ago and refused to move in until the place had been completely re-wired, the landlord agreed to pay 50%, I think the bill was 12k baht!

----------


## David48atTD

> No Earth on wall lights or ceiling lights and fans (even in bathroom!) even though I requested everything to be earthed. The fans and bathroom lights need earthing for sure, and I'm not certain even how they can install an ELCB in the control board without earthing.. I'm sure it will just trip out.


Mate, just trying to help you understand ...

_"No Earth on wall lights or ceiling lights and fans (even in bathroom!) even though I requested everything to be earthed. "_ 
... could be translated into Thai as ... Make sure you Earth everything that needs to be Earthed ... Farang very strong about this.

The Thai Electrician thinks maybe he's done the correct interpretation of the work instructions as he (probably)
wouldn't earth anything that isn't a PowerPoint (GPO).

Lost in translation?

---

_"and I'm not certain even how they can install an ELCB in the control board without earthing.. I'm sure it will just trip out."_
In a word ... no.

If the ELCB operate the same as in Australia, they are not set to read any 'Earth' current.
They measure the current 'in' (black wire) vs the current 'out' (white wire) and any discrepancies over the set amperage 
(in Australia that 30 mA) triggers the ELCB.

Yep, it's got the 'EL' Earth Leakage bit in the name, but technically, it's not how they work.



^  

'L' = Load (black wire)

'N' = Neutral (white wire)

There is no active monitoring of the earth wire.

Hope that helps a little.
.

----------


## jonnyenglish

Thanks David.. I sort of understand now :Smile:  

I'm still not able to mention "wiring" to 'er indoors without all sorts of hassle.. I guess I'll just stick to the plan and let them get on with it. I'll review the whole thing once it's safe to do so!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## Vettronics

Getting a good electrician in Thailand is not easy. I have done quite a bit of electrical work in my life and when I came here I couldn't believe how things where done. I rewired my condo because there where no grounds on anything. Even the main panel wasn't grounded.

----------


## Stumpy

I completely understand your electrical angst.  When we started our build and the pillars and slabs were poured  I went and sunk 2 big  8ft long copper rods into ground and showed my FIL and wife a You Tube vid of what they were for so they could explain to the crew.  They got it and understood and no issues.  

Also another area of concern is plumbing.  I have found that the problem with the plastic piping is that it is typically not round as it has sat in some rack with weight on it or whatever. TIherefore when they glue pipe into an elbow or coupler it never seats around circumference.  So I showed them what to look for before gluing.  I said look at the pipe.  If not round do not use and also bought them all PVC piper cutters so they would not saw it.  I have personally watch hair line cracks happen and they think the glue will fix.  It might but with thermal cycling it will propagate.  Then comes the tile yank out and cement mess to fix. I just witnessed this at a friends condo.  Had to tear the whole damn bathroom apart.

----------


## jonnyenglish

6th of July is apparently the best day for a bit of Juju and house blessing.. some offerings and whatnot, but no priest this time. A bit of traditional karaoke and a bbq later...

No, the house isn't finished yet, but the windows are in, most doors are on, the electrician scurried in without being noticed and did some bodging.

Pics to follow soon.

----------


## jonnyenglish

The last few weeks have been mostly running around sourcing better quality fittings than Noarng would have used on the build, including;

Lighting, door and window furniture, bathroom fittings, electric showers, ceiling fans, water pump etc. 

The usual argy-bargy of locating products in retail outlets only to find they are discontinued or out of stock. Nearly all items have now been purchased (thank goodness!).

Work on the house this week:



Fitting front door furniture, with decent heavy push/pull handles (both doors, inside and out) that weren't of a neo-babylonica pseudo-antique look :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 



Fitting of bifold doors, along with deadbolts (which I think look like they may be troublesome later on if there is any movement in the wood, which there is sure to be!)



Tiling of kitchen and lounge floors (note Goi the neighbour's dog inspecting the finish).  As the tiles are not absolutely equal and even, plus the last two tiling sessions were somewhat of a rush job, the spacing is uneven, thus it requires your man (bottom LHS) to angle grind along a straight edge to even things up a bit. Grouting is also going on in this not-so-quiet working environment.



Concrete carcass that was installed in the kitchen has now been ripped out, walls finished and floor being tiled in readiness for fitted kitchen to be installed in a few weeks time.

Khun D.Odgy and his sidekick Tonto also visited and fitted some wall sockets and light switches.



Nearly there with the tiling now.. but still have to tile the front verandah, although the tiles have run out again, so more need to be ordered.

One thing I did notice this morning when I popped in to give the workers 2 bunches of bananas and the front door lock and handle sets, was that without bothering to ask, someone has installed additional handles on the sliding doors. Hmmm.. OK well they weren't requested and even with good intentions and all that, they look odd, the finish is cheap and not in keeping with the overall look. Additionally, the locks already fitted to the sliding doors have recesses to pull the doors with already, so having 2 sets of handles is just plain bonkers. :Confused: 

Here's a close-up of the offending articles (on RHS):



Well they can come straight off again!

Outside (apart from a bit of tiling and pea gravel concrete finish on steps and verandah) is also nearing completion:










Next stages will be finishing off the car port and service room, connecting up the plumbing and electricity, (including pump and water tank), fitting out the bathrooms,  
and installing a kitchen.

TTFN

----------


## Begbie

Looking pretty good. We have a set of teak bi-fold doors similar to yours. The wood hasn't warped and after five years they're pretty much in the same condition as new. But given the choice now I'd probably go for a sliding door.

----------


## cyrille

We've had a shitload of problems with wooden doors expanding in the wet. So glad our window frames are aluminium.

----------


## jonnyenglish

Yeah, the bi-fold doors are a bit of a 'suck it and see' thing... I think that they'll be fine as this wood is pretty high quality, dense, close-grained and I'll give it more attention with extra coats of varnish once the build is "done". 

If they do become a pain in the arse, I'll just flip them out and put white aluminium sliding doors in, and re-purpose the hardwood frames.

The idea of putting these in was to continue the long and thin design theme of the windows, as well as removing the divide of inside/outside.. I'll soften off the whole thing by using plants in pots to bring the outdoors inside more.

----------


## Klondyke

> We've had a shitload of problems with wooden doors expanding in the wet.


A sufficient gap (not too tight inside the frame) has to be always reckon on.

Sometimes when installing on site, the door edge was manually shaved off because too tight to the frame. Then, the edge has to be varnished again, otherwise the moisture is entering through this open grain.

----------


## FatOne

Looking very nice JE

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Looking very nice JE


Many thanks... will really look much better once the kitchen gets installed and the verandah and pond sorted out and other assorted bits fixed (a fair bit of snagging to do).

----------


## FatOne

Your attention to detail is fantastic. The wooden windows and doors look great

----------


## Stumpy

> The last few weeks have been mostly running around sourcing better quality fittings than Noarng would have used on the build, including;
> 
> Lighting, door and window furniture, bathroom fittings, electric showers, ceiling fans, water pump etc. 
> 
> The usual argy-bargy of locating products in retail outlets only to find they are discontinued or out of stock. Nearly all items have now been purchased (thank goodness!).
> 
> Work on the house this week:
> 
> 
> ...


Wood work looking very nice  :Smile: . I REALLY love wood in houses. I did the same type bi fold doors for our TV room however they are in a guide runner top and bottom and fold up nicely. The room is small so when the AC runs it will make it uncomfortably cold if you want it to be. 

All the Teak we used was from the old house. I wish I had more. Few more places I would have liked to use it to accent interior. I still want to make a Teak wet bar area.

Will you install ceiling fans?

Keep the pics coming.

----------


## jonnyenglish

Hi JPPR2,

Woodwork is looking OK, but really not to the level of finish I would prefer (I used to be a conservation joiner). The whole lot needs tidying up, sanding down with fine grade, then resealing. Had a discussion with Noarng and the foreman yesterday and they agree. 

The focus for the moment is to finish off the build, whilst scrabbling around for the finances.

The detailing can come afterwards, even if I end up doing it myself...varnishing will be best done in a clean room, hung with damp sheets to remove all dust, not on the verandah above piles of sand whilst someone is chasing out the floor tiles with an angle grinder! :Smile:  

Yes, I will install ceiling fans, they will be short ones hung from the overhead beams.

It's a shame that Thailand hasn't yet caught on with internet retail of reduced price furniture and interior items, I could furnish this whole place for about 100,000 baht if I was in the UK/USA, I could spend that on just a sofa here!

A trip up to Baan Tawai is on the cards soon.

----------


## Stumpy

> Hi JPPR2,
> 
> Woodwork is looking OK, but really not to the level of finish I would prefer (I used to be a conservation joiner). The whole lot needs tidying up, sanding down with fine grade, then resealing. Had a discussion with Noarng and the foreman yesterday and they agree. 
> 
> The focus for the moment is to finish off the build, whilst scrabbling around for the finances.
> 
> The detailing can come afterwards, even if I end up doing it myself...varnishing will be best done in a clean room, hung with damp sheets to remove all dust, not on the verandah above piles of sand whilst someone is chasing out the floor tiles with an angle grinder! 
> 
> Yes, I will install ceiling fans, they will be short ones hung from the overhead beams.
> ...


JE,
I understand. you know though, I let a lot of the wood finishing aspects go. It gives it some character and honestly at this juncture, it all good. My contractor did the same, installed for fit and got some stain on them but later I had to clean them all up in places. Mine all fit well but the wood craftsman friend of the family new of the swelling concern and properly set them.

We just did a multiple sliding glass door set up for our upstairs Sala. Quite impressed with the quality/fit and finish. Now we can put our nice wicker furniture outside. Before the birds flew in and through would crap all over and when it rained it would blow in. The ceiling fan moves just enough air but we always have a nice breeze at our place.

As for the furniture...Absolutely agree. I had researched this on trips before my wife and I moved back here. This is why we amassed a ton of Mahogany/Walnut dark wood furniture in the US and brought with us. The cargo container easily paid for itself. One solid real wood King bed frame here can set you back $3K USD. The cargo container cost was $5K and we brought over 3 solid Mahogany bed sets for the bedrooms plus a lot of other furniture.

Like you, I wasn't about to build a nice home and fill it full of Index Furniture :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Like you, I wasn't about to build a nice home and fill it full of Index Furniture


I can see that acquiring furniture will have to be a mixed approach... Some things I'll design myself and have them made up.

I have seen some decent copies of famous designer furniture, armchairs, chaise-longue that would add a nice element to design as well as functionality, sure they aren't originals, but will still work.

For the time being however, I'll be sitting on the floor! :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

Arrived on site to the sound of drilling, not wood, but concrete, prolonged bursts of hammer action chiselling, and wondered what the heck was going on...



Some floor tiles were being taken up as they weren't laid flat enough.. I didn't think they were too bad, nothing that would have resulted in stubbed toes and any raised edges would be worn down soon enough as terracotta isn't the toughest flooring in the world (I 'd invite people with tough feet to walk to the fridge and back to get beers).

Additionally, the Bifold doors were all being taken off and fettled, bolts being re-positioned etc.

So, the things I ask for get interpreted into the next best thing, and yet stuff I don't ask for gets done.. at this stage I have adopted a bit of a not-giving-a-hoot attitude, as things tend to work themselves out after a few days anyhow. Overall I'm pretty happy.

Other stuff:

The thrones and other bathroom bits have arrived  :Smile: 



Tiling going on the verandah:



And a meeting in what will be the kitchen, with the kitchen design and installation crew, the missus and Noarn the build:




Lots of chat, questions, answers, more of the same questions, followed by the same answers. Basically, the upshot of it was that the electrician had installed the wiring in the wrong places. Oh... really?!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

Trenches were also being dug for the water supply pipes, external security lights, more internal lights, bathroom fans, showers and some more plug sockets are now also installed... so lots of activity today.

----------


## Stumpy

> So, the things I ask for get interpreted into the next best thing, and yet stuff I don't ask for gets done.. at this stage I have adopted a bit of a not-giving-a-hoot attitude, as things tend to work themselves out after a few days anyhow. Overall I'm pretty happy.


Honestly JE, Great approach. Its keeps you from going crazy and stressing you out. I found on our build it always worked out as well. Sure we did a lot of homework and communication up front before the build which helped, but there were still things along the way that left me scratching my head. I too am extremely happy with our house in the end. Its just a house, not some shrine. I realized that if my wife was happy then I would be too.  




> 


Gal in the pic looks just like my wife both physically and build foreman wise. :Smile:  She always seemed to have the builders full attention. 

BTW, did you have any 3D rendered build plans developed prior to the build?

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Gal in the pic looks just like my wife both physically and build foreman wise. She always seemed to have the builders full attention. 
> 
> BTW, did you have any 3D rendered build plans developed prior to the build?


Gal in the pic is my misses, aka Sergeant Major  :Smile: 

Yes, did draw up 3D plans myself first, then Noarng's son drew up architect's plans  (which were mostly not adhered to).. close but no cigar!

----------


## Stumpy

> Gal in the pic is my misses, aka Sergeant Major


Ten Hut!!!!.... I completely understand. I love my wife's tenacity. She some how can make it all seem so pleasant. Nice smile, polite, speaks nicely, laughs all the while saying "DO IT MY WAY"




> Yes, did draw up 3D plans myself first, then Noarng's son drew up architect's plans (which were mostly not adhered to).. close but no cigar!


I have a 20+ page 3D rendering. All electrical, plumbing, lighting, septic, grey water etc etc. My wife and I sat with the General Contractor and went over page by page and signed and agreed. I'd say they got 95% spot on, the other 5% is as you say No cigar. They did however only have to come back 1 time to fix an issue with one toilet vent so I call that a big win (It was actually plugged with newspaper). The house has had zero issues now and its 2+ years old.

----------


## thaimeme

> Arrived on site to the sound of drilling, not wood, but concrete, prolonged bursts of hammer action chiselling, and wondered what the heck was going on...
> 
> 
> 
> Some floor tiles were being taken up as they weren't laid flat enough.. I didn't think they were too bad, nothing that would have resulted in stubbed toes and any raised edges would be worn down soon enough as terracotta isn't the toughest flooring in the world (I 'd invite people with tough feet to walk to the fridge and back to get beers).
> 
> Additionally, the Bifold doors were all being taken off and fettled, bolts being re-positioned etc.
> 
> So, the things I ask for get interpreted into the next best thing, and yet stuff I don't ask for gets done.. at this stage I have adopted a bit of a not-giving-a-hoot attitude, as things tend to work themselves out after a few days anyhow. Overall I'm pretty happy.
> ...



Coming along nicely, Johnny.
Modest, yet seemingly quality steps.


The young lady in the foreground - is that the real boss [Missus]?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  Keeping things in order...

Continued success and no mishaps.
Best to ya.

 :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

The build is almost complete, still some snagging to do, plus we have a bit of an issue with the wiring installed in the master bathroom (no surprise there then!)...

The power feed for the shower was put in an approximated place, then the bathroom was tiled, then the shower unit installed, but the wiring comes in 6 inches from the shower position and runs around the corner and top of the shower unit and back in to the left hand side... ugly wires visible, so some cheap-arse plastic stick-on, snap-close surface conduit has been roughly hacksaw-ed and bodged in a shitehawke attempt at hiding wires. Same goes for light above bathroom mirror... power feed too high up, leaving exposed wired to light unit.. same crappy attempt with surface conduit.

It's not as if this is a DIY attempt at changing something already installed.. it's a bloody new build, with clean lines and nice materials, only to be let down at the final jump by lack of care... FFS!  :Disappointed:  

Solution is either i) to knock out a couple of tiles, chase out the brickwork, install conduit and re-tile in the right position.

Or ii) re-site the shower unit to where the wires come through, but then the shower head and will be at 90 degrees to the unit, and it will look a bit odd. Plus there will be mounting holes visible in the tiles where it was previously sited, so the tile (or tiles) would have to be replaced anyhow!...   a pain in the arse, all because of lack of attention before tiling. 

I also requested lighting above the window behind the kitchen sink.. (I'll put in a shelf with a concealed LED lighting strip underneath), but somehow this request was ignored, I asked again, as the wiring conduit in the walls was being installed, as I noticed no conduit had been installed for this, and was told "no problem, will do". 

Walls were then rendered, ceiling installed, decorating done, still no sign of electrical feed... so I asked again.

Khun Ranger and Tonto wiring services must have paid a visit yesterday, because now we have wiring coming out of the ceiling above the kitchen window... I presume that the proposed solution to hiding this now visible wiring is that same crappy surface snap-on conduit.

I don't think so! better get the angle grinder out and get some chasing-in done, followed by some very clever filling and painting or there will be trouble!

Again.. 95% fabulous, nice finish, nice materials, made to look 50% shite owing to a dodgy rushed finish and half-arse solution on a few things.

I'm not a happy chappy. 

It's a learning exercise for me, I would never had thought that knowing what fittings are going in and where they are to be placed should be worked out at the stage where brickwork has just been completed, but this is actually the case. Noarng and the foreman should have known this, I perhaps should have, but I have never overseen a house build before, so I guess I am sort of excused.

The missus is on the case, so perhaps it can be fixed without too much of a faff... almost at the point where I don't want to go to see the house any more as every time I do, something annoying as hell is waiting to greet me!

Advice to anyone wanting to build in Thailand to any level of decent finish... simple answer is DON'T!  Just rent, it'll be cheaper and more stress-free  :Banghead:

----------


## Loy Toy

Great thread jonny and I hope you get everything sorted.

I also wish you and your family many happy years in your new home.

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Great thread jonny and I hope you get everything sorted.
> 
> I also wish you and your family many happy years in your new home.


Cheers LT.. I'm wishing too!  :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

OK, so after a bit of a long-winded phone conversation with the missus, Noarng agreed to fix the issues.

Step one: re-siting the water feed pipe and waste pipes for hand basins to a higher position so that the pipes can be hidden behind ceramic mounting unit (as intended) and not hang down below like a bunch of blue pudenda!



A= original height, B= new correct height. 

A would have been fine if the sink units had a floor standing pedestal, but we couldn't find one that matched and fitted the sink shapes we liked, so went for wall mounted instead, so this is what caused the issues. 

We did however choose the bathroom stuff at the same time as the tiles (Noarng was actually with us during this shopping trip), so really the measurements for installation should have been cross-checked against the plumbing on site at that time BEFORE tiling happened. 

Step 2 is re-positioning shower unit to sit 90 degrees to wall with shower head mounted, this hiding wiring and no need for stick-on uncle bob's DIY surface- plastic conduit...which means also that a longer water feed pipe needs to be purchased (and I can't help but think this was also a constituent factor in the decision to mount the unit where it was!).

Not sure what is going to be done about the plastic dicombobulation that carries the power to the over-mirror light in the master bathroom.. might as well re-position that too, it's only about 5 inches, but will still mean some chasing, a short length of conduit (hopefully) and a new tile being placed with a hole cut.


Also purchased a 2000 litre green plastic water tank directly from the manufacturer (which just happens to be the nearest source and also saved us some beer tokens!)

Getting there.. slowly!

----------


## jonnyenglish

Update on work this week:

White paint splatters have been removed from floor tiles (using solvent, as I caught one of the chaps scraping away and scratching off the smooth tile surface).

Stain splatters on walls have been painted over.

All wood has been sanded down and re-stained and a few of the planks used on door frames have had a second coat of brushed stain added to darken them down to match the tone of the rest of the wood). All wood has now received a coat of varnish.

Terracotta floor tiles have been sealed.

Showers unit has been re-sited, sinks have been re-positioned to correct height, lighting units re-positioned and all tiles have now been reset and finished.

All door and window furniture now fitted.

Some rendering done to concrete pillars and the walls on the carport/utility room.

Now waiting on kitchen to be fitted on the 18th Aug.

Also waiting on electricity to be hooked up from entrance gate to the main house, plus a spur ran over to the carport for lighting and power for the pump and utility room. After which water can be hooked up and the leaky pipe joins fixed! 555 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

No photos, as it's a bit boring, will post photos of the 'completed' build, which should be 'in a few weeks' (TM).  :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

Update on progress;

Temporary power feed has been connected up to house to test all the circuits and fittings.. all seems fine and there was no blinding flash and the house didn't burn down!

All manner of small bits and pieces have been fixed, still a few more to go though.

Finally got the house number from the land office, so can get power connected up with permanent meter.

The carport is 99% completed, just need a tap and a waste pipe installing to plumb in the washing machine in utility room.

Water has been connected up to the house via tank and pump in utility room, all's good and no leaks that I can find.

Bit of a balls-up with the kitchen installation, some of the doors delivered were the wrong colour, will take another week to complete.

So, until then, here's a shot of the house form the road through the village, in a few years you won't be able to see the house at all after all the trees I have planted grow a bit;

----------


## runker

Beautiful view of your house.  I hope it is only the trees that grow to block the view of your house.

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Beautiful view of your house.  I hope it is only the trees that grow to block the view of your house.


Plots of land are going up for sale already.. it's only a matter of time before a moo baan or resort developer moves in on the act. I'm not too bothered, the mountains will still be visible and I am right on the edge of the valley, right at the end of the road. This picture actually shows the back of my house, the front faces the mountains, if the view of my house disappears, the view from my house (with mountains) will hopefully remain. :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

OK, as all may have noticed, there's been an update with Teakdoor forums, so certain functions and processes have changed, after spending ages trying to find 'My Gallery' or even anywhere to upload images to, realised that's all obsolete and no longer the necessary process. So, here's testing the direct way by posting images straight from my PC into the post:

Images of 'completed' car port, still needs washing machine feed and waste pipe installing, but hey, near enough. It also looks a bit stark right now, but will plant around to soften the structure in. Ideally I would have wanted it hidden from the house, but space and land size limitations forced the location and orientation. It will eventually be connected to the house with a covered trellis walkway. I'll also have to plant more shade trees opposite as the sun shines straight in to the car port in the late afternoon:

----------


## jonnyenglish

Progress has been slow on the kitchen installation, a few mistakes were made, some mismatching colours on the doors, and some slightly dodgy installation details, which were rectified over the 5 weeks it took (I was quoted 5 days!  :Smile: ). 

Extractor hood still needs to be hooked up, but I have to put in a shelf that goes above the counter, from the extractor around the corner and over the sink, above which will house the vent pipe and also down-lighting and power supply. 


Monster fridge arrived, complete with usual ugly energy efficiency sticker (applied in regulation wonky fashion).. any tried and tested method of removing this bloody thing would be appreciated! The surface is just paper, but the adhesive under it will be a different issue. Loathed to use any spirit-based approach, as it may attack the surface of the door, abrasion is out, so perhaps just soap and warm water?  I have used gasoline on things with adhesive before, but not sure with this.



When I get more funds, I'll stick in a 1 X 1m island for extra storage, preparation space, it will sit directly under the middle pendant light.

----------


## jonnyenglish

All the rest of the house is pretty much complete, doors and window wood frames need another coat of matt varnish, the rest just needs a good clean and a whole bunch of furniture putting in, will spare you shots of everything, but here's one of the lounge, so you can get an idea of the look and feel of the place.



As this is a construction thread, not intended for interior design ideas, I guess I'll call this job done. Cheers for following and your interest, comments and support, all very much appreciated.  Chok dee Khrup, Pop gahn mai! :Smile:

----------


## misskit

Nice, large kitchen you've got there. The island will make it perfect.

I hate those stickers, also. Half vinegar and half water will take the goop off. Dab on and let it sit a few minutes, then wipe. 

The delivery guys usually have something to take the stickers off if you make a fuss when they bring the appliance in.


We want to see the design ideas, too! Right to finished.

----------


## David48atTD

> 


Is the caged area a 'lock-up', an 'avery' ... or something else?

BTW, looking great

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## jonnyenglish

> Is the caged area a 'lock-up', an 'avery' ... or something else?
> 
> BTW, looking great


555, it's a laundry room, the idea is to have washing machine in there, can hang up clothes to dry without being bleached in the sun or getting rain on. It also houses the pump, and no doubt will have my bicycle in there too. I guess it could also be used as a holding pen to quarantine feral visitors :Smile:

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## HuangLao

Coming along splendidly, Johnny.
Nice large spaces!!

Cheers.

 :Smile:

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## naptownmike

Looking great.
Those stickers are tricky to remove. I used some adhesive remover , it worked great but also removed the finish in the fridge door.

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## Stumpy

> Advice to anyone wanting to build in Thailand to any level of decent finish... simple answer is DON'T! Just rent, it'll be cheaper and more stress-free


Sorry to hear you feel that way (Probably frustration at the time). I disagree though. I know I could never personally rent here. I did a few times both condo and a house and it never feels like home.*​* Is there a different level of patience required when building your own place...yes. I think the challenge is usually communication and expectations. Your comments are invaluable for others but sadly you are now the teacher for the next guy. There were 2 or 3 things done at our home that made me shake my head. They were minor but you just look and say....OK.  2 of them were the towel racks in the bathrooms. Just put where he thought it looked good. I will take a pic and show you.  It is what it is. I found as westerners we have much higher expectations and thus get very frustrated when it is not like we expected. Our general contractor was really good. Paid great attention to detail. I feel very fortunate in that regard. aAter 2 years I have found no wall cracks anywhere which is a good thing. I expect some more settling in the next few years. 

Regardless, Nice view and house looks good. Should bring you many years of enjoyment and when your trees start to mature you will get some privacy.  We just added 6 more very large mature flowering trees to our house area ( five are 6- 7meters and one 10+ ). I have found it is best to plant big mature trees from Aug thru Oct. Lots of rain water to encourage root growth along with vitamin B1 and 12. They are doing really well. Next year they should look good.

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## jonnyenglish

Absolutely right JP, frustration at the time, but also being made aware that even without looking at things too closely for levels of finish, many things towards the final stages of the build were approached with a certain sense of "that'll do" or quite often thoughtlessness. I don't want to be judgemental, mistakes get made and what is someone's idea of a good choice is not the next person's, but when it comes to things like walls, doors, windows, floors, tiling, installation of bathrooms, even by being there on-site every day, it was a struggle to even get close to the minimum level of what I would deem as acceptable standard (at the very least to the standard that I could achieve). Which is very strange as 90% of the build, what I would consider the tough stuff, was achieved with relative ease. I could tell that the team were tired and just wanted the job to finish. Noarng brought in other workers towards the end to help with painting, varnishing etc, but they really were a haphazard bunch and actually made as much work as they saved in the end.

If level of finish is not an issue however, then the whole process could quite possibly be stress-free.

Just waiting on the electricity to be hooked up with a permanent meter, have ordered the cable, posts and gubbins, should be any day now.

The trees are very happy at the moment, all of them have nearly doubled in size over the past few months, I can't wait to get more funds in and convert it into plants and bits for the pond, and other bits around the house (will work from house outwards with the garden).

I also need to fix the road, it's in a sorry state after the rains. $$$$$$ :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## cyrille

Yep, care over those 'finishing touches' is definitely in short supply. A particular bugbear for me was grubby paw prints over the paintwork. I'm afraid people doing the job presumably expect someone to clean up afterwards.

Great thread though Jonny...your place looks knockout.

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## jonnyenglish

Thanks for the positive comments guys, I'll post a few updates on progress over the coming weeks/months... Baanpong Country Club is almost open :Smile:

----------


## Shutree

Great thread, and good to know that I am not alone in wanting those ugly stickers off my appliances.
Often they will peel off readily when new. They seem to get more stubborn with time.
I use nail varnish remover. Not for nail varnish, before anyone asks. It is cheap and available everywhere. Cotton balls too.
Mainly I use it for taking paint splatters off tiles. (In Thailand, surely no paint splatters! I here you say.)
It worked great on the label on my plastic fridge. However, it started to dissolve the white plastic on the air conditioner. So best to have a wet cloth to hand and test it on an inconspicuous area first.

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## jonnyenglish

Update: I have  managed to remove the offending sticker from fridge by using the old squirrel fingers method of carefully teasing it off whist the adhesive was still soft and warm, without the use of any tools or potions... That said, some incantations were muttered to the land spirits to not let the sticky backing come away from the paper sticker, which seemed to work! I was of course then chased about by the missus with a broom for removing the sticker, I guess she liked having it visible (can't explain why that is).

It also has to be noted that this sticker is not a manufacturer's sticker, one shouldn't remove a factory sticker, even if it looks to be temporary, otherwise one runs the risk of malfunctions, which are as sure to follow as rain is when the word 'barbecue' is uttered. :Smile:

----------


## bindog

> 555, it's a laundry room, the idea is to have washing machine in there, can hang up clothes to dry without being bleached in the sun or getting rain on. It also houses the pump, and no doubt will have my bicycle in there too. I guess it could also be used as a holding pen to quarantine feral visitors


Yeah, I was thinking "in law accommodation" in a smart arsed kind of way.   :Smile: 

What's the width of the carport, from a standing-behind-the-truck perspective?  6m?  

Any idea what's the cost difference (roughly) in going for the longer span as opposed to a column in the middle? 

(We'll be building a carport next year...)  

Love the lounge room btw, that pond sets it off nicely.  That's a > 4m span as well isn't it?  I am pleased to see it is doable going outside the standard 4m x 4m.

----------


## jonnyenglish

Hi Bindog,

I did jokingly tell the builders that the room at the back of the carport was where I would be sleeping... I guess that's why they neglected to put in a water feed and wastepipe for the washing machine!

The width of the carport is 8 metres I think, I wanted to be able to park 2 pickups/4x4's side-by-side and a couple of motorbikes there and still be able to open the doors without bashing into things. The cost difference is probably hardly noticeable, perhaps a few thousand baht more for a few extra metres more that's all.

You are right about the lounge, the span is 4m, as the house interior is essentially 16 X 8m (plus and extra 2 metres for the front veranda) , I think any wider than this and you have to put in extra posts and beams.. had a few cms of sagging in the middle of the precast floor slabs at this size, even with temporary bamboo supports in place for the floor pour , but solid as can be now.

----------


## bindog

4m wide lounge?  Well done, it looks wider than that - must be the doors "bringing the outdoors in" as they might say in a marketing brochure.  

That's good news - I thought 4m would be too narrow for a living space, but you've proven me wrong.

----------


## FatOne

A great Job and nice finish in the end. Can be frustrating I know but you end up with a great home at a good price. Congrats

----------


## jonnyenglish

So, the team turned up to put in the electricity poles and cable running from the gateway to the house, which the runs under the ground to the house. Wires all connected up and looking OK. I wanted to run everything subterranean from the gate, but finances wouldn't allow it at this stage. I might revisit at a later date and have everything moved underground, but I'm guessing after the trees grow for another year or so, not much will be visible, so probably won't bother. Never underestimate the power of 'can't-be-arsed'.  :Smile:  

Upshot of this now is that we have to wait for PEA to come and inspect and then switch on the power, which means in the meantime the house doesn't have any power and work that was underway has now stopped!

Some carpentry for example... fitting a gate and rails to the entrance way to stop the dogs from making a home on the veranda:


And before power was cut, the kitchen team turned up to do a bit of snagging. One of the attaching points for the carcass wan't robust enough and had sprung away from the wall, so was replaced by larger bracket. One has to wonder how many people it takes to do this job, 4 apparently:


Dog was there to make sure everything is in order.

Floors have all been sanded and re-sealed, bathrooms have had a hose-down ready for a final clean. Need to box-in the vent pipe for the extractor unit in kitchen, plus put up a shelf as mentioned previously, but everything now on hold due to no leccy ... c'mon PEA!

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## naptownmike

Looking great. That tile floor looks nice too I bet it will feel nice to walk on also.

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## bindog

Going back to the loungeroom and those cantilevered doors - what will you do for security on those?  I know it would stuff up the view, but Thai people seem to love their security gates / window bars etc.  Got to assume there's a reason for that.  

Is it even possible to have external security gates with that type of door?

----------


## misskit

^ Cantilevered bars for the bars are available. I'm sure you can find some nice looking ones.

Never seen them on a house but a few businesses around Chiang Mai have them on the storefront.

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Looking great. That tile floor looks nice too I bet it will feel nice to walk on also.


Cheers.

 I just didn't want to go with the usual, large shiny, McMansion, up-skirt reflection floor tiles. Apparently, these terracotta tiles were are pain to lay, as they were quite uneven, plus their small size made for extra work.

I have lived in a house out in the countryside of Chiang Mai that had these tiles, and thought they were great. Easy to maintain, warm to walk on, and a bit more natural looking. 

I did however intend for these tiles to be sealed outside, and waxed inside, but this part of my requested design has been conveniently overlooked. No worries, I'll just let the shine wear off and then wax them with liquid floor polish and a man/woman for hire for a day!

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Going back to the loungeroom and those cantilevered doors - what will you do for security on those?  I know it would stuff up the view, but Thai people seem to love their security gates / window bars etc.  Got to assume there's a reason for that.  
> 
> Is it even possible to have external security gates with that type of door?


Bindog casing the joint already!  

I'm not putting up bars on these doors. To break in, you'd have to pretty much have to destroy 80% of the doors, as you can't just open one or two and they are bolted top and bottom, plus the glass is too narrow to get through.  Having bars attached to them won't make much of a difference really, I guess that concertina security gates like this: 


They could be put on the outside of the door frame, working independently from the actual doors. I have 3 dogs, an assortment of snakes, chest-high weeds,  plus there are other security measures in place (having not much worth stealing also is a factor).

I hate living in a house that looks like a fortress, had that for years in Koh Samui, trying to get away from all that crap.

By the way Bindog, I owe you an apology, the dimensions of the lounge is 5m wide, not 4 m that I stated earlier! No idea were my logic went. The dividing wall is centred on the 10m width... adding on the veranda width and open ceiling and wide doors makes it look much wider. The original plans were for 4+4m room width, but this was binned when the missus wanted 200m2, which was then whittled down to a more manageable size.

----------


## Stumpy

> I just didn't want to go with the usual, large shiny, McMansion, up-skirt reflection floor tiles. Apparently, these terracotta tiles were are pain to lay, as they were quite uneven, plus their small size made for extra work.
> 
> I have lived in a house out in the countryside of Chiang Mai that had these tiles, and thought they were great. Easy to maintain, warm to walk on, and a bit more natural looking.


Nice tiles. looks GREAT!!!!

My wife and I had a huge debate on the tiles. I was leaning to the Terracotta style that you have put down. Wife did not like them claiming they collect more dirt and dust. We ended up with the "McMansion" style  :Smile:  tiles you mentioned.  Honestly they both look nice. we have numerous Asian style rugs around the house.

You are almost there. Soon you can relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts.

----------


## jonnyenglish

Entrance way gates now installed.. keep those pesky hounds from mucking up the veranda:

  

Now just need to put up the shelf in the kitchen above the sink, install 2 LED strip lights and box-in the extractor hood vent pipe (have decided to get it made up in stainless steel to match the extractor hood). Additionally, we will put in a white tile splash-back in the kitchen, running from the back door round above the sink and all the way down from the corner to the fridge... All that is left then is to get internet connected and bob's your uncle.  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> Additionally, we will put in a white tile splash-back in the kitchen, running from the back door round above the sink and all the way down from the corner to the fridge


 Suggestion for what it's worth. Maybe splashback would be better if same as counter top. Appears to be grey granite. Height just below the 3 electrical outlets. 

All looks great. Well done. Sure to be enjoyable place to live.

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## jonnyenglish

Maybe 'splashback' is the wrong term.. I'm just going to tile the wall at a height up to the underneath edge of the extractor hood, following the line of the granite worktop (which, I remember, needs sealing!). This will mean having to take off all the electric wall sockets above the worktop and re-install them after tiling, but hey, one of them doesn't work so needed fixing anyway!

----------


## Gnasher

Just a quick reply to something you have already done , but the best way to remove stickers is with WD40. I owned a photocopier business and they were always covered with stickers WD 40 works and does not attack plastic or s/steel

----------


## jonnyenglish

You are right Gnasher, I forgot about spray oil, I did know once upon a time!  I'll try that on the shower units where the 'squirrel fingers' technique didn't work as well and left paper and glue stuck on. 

Popped down to the house today to cut some of the 9ft high weeds and also to see if any work was going on, and a bloody good job I did too...  The tiling has been started in the kitchen, but instead of removing the electric sockets on the wall first, yer man was cutting the tiles to fit flush around the sockets FFS!  :Confused: 

I mean who the hell recesses electric wall sockets so they are flush with the tiles?  How would you access the electrics behind the socket? (which has to be done any day now on one of them as it doesn't work for some reason!) you'd have to chisel the tiles around it first... sigh, I have no words ... really. :ssssh:

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## jonnyenglish

Finally moved in to the new place a few days ago and have been climbing over piles of stuff accumulated over the past year, when I get everything in the right place(ish) I'll upload a bunch of photos. 

Progress:

Final fixes and snagging are still on-going, these past few days included;

Installing a gas pipe from outside, running through conduit (for added protection) under the house and up through the kitchen floor into back of cupboard. I also remembered to seal around the hole with sealant, all done by myself (I'll give myself a pat on the back).

Yesterday brought me many hours of grubbing about under the house, apart from removing hazardous builder's junk (metal, glass, wire, etc) and installing the gas pipe, I also moved approximately 1 ton of rubble (not glazed tiles) for filling in the monstrous potholes in the track leading down to the land. The rains have pretty much now finished, but so have my finances, so gravelling of the road will have to wait.

Both bathroom sinks have now had U-bends installed, after discovering that the plumber had decided to experiment on a new system not using any, which resulted in a lovely fragrance wafting up from the plugholes. Fixed now though.

Had to call in The Lone Ranger to fix 5 wall sockets and a light that weren't working at all (which involved cutting holes in new ceilings and completely rewiring that ring). Plus two sockets in master bedroom had their earth's and neutrals mixed, which tripped out the main switch every time something was plugged in (at least I guessed that's what the issue was). It's safe to assume that his system of colour coding for wiring black with white, black with red, white with red, black with black (but one with a bit of tape on it) wasn't so clear after all...  That's a 25% failure rate on wiring that was supposedly checked after installing! Not a bad effort  :rofl:  

I reinstalled wiring and conduit for cooker extractor hood, The Lone Ranger had made a right pig's ear of the job, but looks OK now I had a rethink and took some care to get it right.

3BB fibre-optic internet installed... lovely and fast, wifi works a treat too.

Still waiting on delivery of 4 poster bed for master bedroom, bit of a delay as the carpenter had to fit this in around making a load of other stuff for a hotel. Should be here next week sometime.

Also waiting on manufacture and delivery of Venetian window blinds, coming from Bangkok... bit of a delay as the saleswoman neglected to ask for a deposit to seal the deal on the order. This results in me waking up with sunrise, which isn't actually a bad thing, I get more done in the day. Should be here next week sometime.

Next update will have pics.

Cheers for now.

----------


## Thai Dhupp

Hey *Jonny*...

*Congrats* on finishing (lol almost!) a really great build and a great read too.

You are just finishing, I'm about to start, so you can watch my build efforts from the comfort of yours.

*Relax*... you have earned it!

----------


## jonnyenglish

> Hey *Jonny*...
> 
> *Congrats* on finishing (lol almost!) a really great build and a great read too.
> 
> You are just finishing, I'm about to start, so you can watch my build efforts from the comfort of yours.
> 
> *Relax*... you have earned it!


Cheers TD, 

Still progressing with the 'snagging', had the floor tiles in the master bathroom replaced today, as the first set weren't laid properly and any water on the floor just pooled in the middle rather than draining away on a nice flat slope... got bored of getting wet feet every time I walked into the bathroom..

Next up is putting gravel and plants around the house, and possibly a new gate (the current (temporary) bamboo one is looking a bit worse for wear, the missus thinks it gives the wrong impression. I'll have to come up with a design for a new double gate, as I hate the stainless steel and gold affairs.

As to 'relaxing', I have to earn some more beans to buy furniture and other bits, but I'll try and squeeze beers and G&T's in as well  :Smile:

----------


## jonnyenglish

Finally got the window blinds installed, went for matt aluminium in the kitchen:



Cherry wood in the other rooms:



Started tidying things up, scraping windows (where varnish had been slopped on the glass), bit of filling and paint here and there around wall sockets. 

I still need to buy a whole heap of furniture and furnishings, but my bank balance won't allow for it just now, but have started with a few bits and bobs so we aren't sitting on the floor!





Apologies for the terrible picture quality, my phone died and this is a cheap charlie back-up phone.

----------


## runker

Nice and simple, looks great.

----------


## bindog

It does look great.  Love the lounge room especially - the ceiling, the external doors, and the recessed timber internal door.  I'm keeping all three in mind for my future build. 

It looks cool too - in both senses of the word. 

How did you go with the ceiling?  Was it a struggle getting the concept across, or is 'cathedral ceiling' something Thai builders / architects are familiar with?

----------


## jonnyenglish

The ceiling concept was understood pretty quickly, but I wanted to use materials that had features, rather than just a vast expanse of smooth white plasterboard, so this complicated the actual build somewhat. The fake tongue and groove Sheraboard (supposed to be used outside as weatherboard for eaves and soffits) is relatively heavy and not so cheap, so extra care had to be made when cutting and fitting, plus the steelwork has to be pretty accurate as well, because the board is fitted directly to it, wheres if it was a suspended ceiling, all manner of crude welding and angles can be hidden.

Let's put it this way, everyone who sees the ceilings in the open area and the master bedroom all think it looks great, this includes Noarng the builder and his foreman, but the building team have stated that they will never build a house with a ceiling like that again, it was a bunch of hassle for them and slowed the build by weeks  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

I guess other materials could be used that might make it easier to install, but I wanted to make sure that everything I did was insect, damp and mold-proof. 

The only real headache I had was trying to figure out how to divide up the space, sectioning off the master bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and en-suite bathroom, plus office and guest bedroom and bathroom, whilst allowing the flow of air through eaves vents and keeping look of the open living area. Noarng and I managed to figure it out together, but actually he had an idea already, so the concept was definitely understood.

----------


## cyrille

I'm very impressed with that floor tiling, particularly since if I remember correctly you went for a cheap option.

We've had to get our living room redone because the cement under the tiling contracted, resulting in an ear shattering noise at about 5am and a floor that had become smaller than the tiled area.

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## jonnyenglish

Actually Cyrille, they ballsed-up the tiles in the main living area. What they didn't do is remove all the wash of grouting from the tile surface properly when it was damp, they just smeared it with a dirty rag. When this grouting then hardened, it proved really tricky to remove. I caught the team trying to scrape and sand the grouting off, which was destroying the tile surface too, so made them stop that as soon as I saw them. I instructed them to use dilute solutions of HCL or similar and soft wirewool to remove the excess grout skim.

When I came back the next day, they had just sealed the whole floor, grout and all.

The result of which was also uneven and patchy, as the areas of tile surface without the 'grout wash' absorbed the sealant, so they put another coat of sealant on it. 

The finish now is far from ideal, as some areas are clear tiles and some have a milky yellow-ocre wash sealed in. At first glace it all looks very rustic and part of the nature of the tiles, but on closer inspection it is apparent that something's not quite right;

Here's what a good tile looks like:


Here's what a bad tile looks like:



A close up of a crappy tile (using equally crappy phone camera):




Of course I had stipulated on multiple occasions that the interior floors should all be waxed not varnished, but this was ignored as it was perceived I would prefer this treatment! 

It goes without saying that the areas that are not seen, ie., guest bedroom, office and master bedroom are all perfect!

I can live with the tiles for now, as no doubt they will wear over time and the imperfect finish won't be as apparent. The alternative is to strip off the sealant using solvent, wash the tiles with soapy water, remove the excess 'grout wash' with fine wirewool and a weak HCL solution (taking care not to abrade the tile surface), clean thoroughly and then wax finish as originally intended. 

I'd have to do this myself though, as I couldn't risk someone else having a go and screwing the pooch all over again! It wouldn't have to be done all in one go however, I could do it in sections, put some music on, tins of beer, slowly getting it right.

Don't have time right now though, so as I say it will have to do for now.

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## cyrille

It seems to be a problematic area in this country...along with plumbing and a few others. Thanks for that detailed info.

All this confirms our previously held belief: don't even think about a build unless you do it yourself or will be able to pay very close attention to it.

----------


## jonnyenglish

One problem I do have with my new house is that the en-suite bathroom has a stink problem... the nice new bathroom smells like an ancient shitty sewer.

At first I thought it was down to the fact that the plumber hadn't put in U-bends in the hand basins, so these were added below the house, but this has made no difference at all.

If the bathroom isn't used for a while, the room fills up with a methane smell, and despite sticking my nose over the wash basin plug hole and shower drain, I can't detect exactly where this is coming from.

I suspect that it's the toilet seal, but again, I can't detect any specific location where the smell is coming from, which is odd.

Noarng and the team have been back 3 times already, but nothing they have done has fixed the issue.

The other strange thing is that the guest bathroom is absolutely fine, despite being used more frequently than the en-suite. There are differences in the two bathrooms however, the toilets themselves are different models, the waste pipes differ in length and location too (the en-suite waste pipe has further to travel). So perhaps a combination of things is the cause. 

I have no idea, and I don't think the builder knows either, which is a worry.

The saga continues! :Confused:

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## cyrille

Right...we have stinky bathrooms too, except that we know where the smell emanates from: the shower drain. It also allows for the entrance of mosquitoes.

Thus one of those scourers with a plastic handle on top is placed over the plug hole when the shower is not in use. Not an ideal solution, but hey ho...it works pretty well.

Oh and there's a really effective eucalyptus air spray available at Rimping.  :Wink:

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## misskit

> If the bathroom isn't used for a while, the room fills up with a methane smell


Did your plumber put in a vent to your septic tank?  One of my bathrooms septic tank is

  not vented and stunk.  Had to put in an exhaust fan.

----------


## jonnyenglish

yes, the tanks have vents... will see how we progress today

----------


## Norton

> Did your plumber put in a vent to your septic tank?  One of my bathrooms septic tank is
> 
>   not vented and stunk.  Had to put in an exhaust fan.


Yep that will do it. Should be toilet/sink/shower vent pipe in both bathrooms.

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## Begbie

We have a similar problem in a bathroom which isn’t used much. A hydrogen sulphide smell. I suspect it’s just material hanging on the low side of the shower and sink drain pipes. Luigi’s suggestion of pouring a liter of Coke down the drains seems to work.

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## jonnyenglish

OK, so update on smell in the bathroom, the builders took out and re-seated the toilet and this seems to have done the trick. I have closed the door and window of over an hour since and no whiff! hurrah!  :bananaman:

----------


## Norton

> OK, so update on smell in the bathroom, the builders took out and re-seated the toilet and this seems to have done the trick. I have closed the door and window of over an hour since and no whiff! hurrah!


 :sexy:

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## jonnyenglish

Uh oh, spoke too soon. Smell is back.

Well at least I have identified where it's coming from, definitely the toilet seal. I stuck my head around the back of the loo at floor level, something hasn't been sealed correctly, so the builders will have to come back again (again again again). If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well... ('well', at least 4 times it seems!)  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## jonnyenglish

Toilet smell now fixed, Noarng had to go in to speak with the chaps at Cotto, apparently this model is quite tricky to install as it is a closed-sided design and the access space at the back near to the wall is very limited, seems that many builders are having issues getting the rubber seal to fit properly.  

I also chucked half a container of EM into each septic tank to help things along, I did put some in before I moved in, but probably not enough.

Enough about bogs now... high time for other more pleasant things!

----------


## jonnyenglish

And so it continues... the somewhat epic saga of the en-suite bathroom.

Having solved the riddle of the stinky throne, the next episode to tackle was (or should I say "is") setting the floor tiles so that water flows from the floor and down the plug holes, instead of just collecting in pools in the middle of the main floor area and the shower.

One has to wonder how tricky this can be, as the main floor area is only 5X7 tiles and the shower area is 4X7. After all the guest bathroom has a larger floor area and it was installed with no problems.

I did point out during the initial installation that the shower plughole is raised too high, and this is not the usual design when one wants water to flow down the drain. My comments were of course ignored.

After the 4 attempts to seat the toilet correctly and the 3 attempts to get the floor right, Noarng finally admitted that the tiles needed to come up and the whole thing done again. 

I have also requested that the rather tasteful porcelain tiles not be butchered with an angle grinder leaving over-cutting and a ragged edge when this 4th attempt of tiling is attempted. We shall see.

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## cyrille

Hi Jonny.

What's EM?

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## jonnyenglish

> Hi Jonny.
> 
> What's EM?


Hi Cyrille, EM stands for 'effective microorganisms', it's a brown liquid soup full of life... you can add it to compost heaps etc to speed up the biological breakdown of stuff.  I bunged it in the septic tanks to get some activity going in there. Gardening and farming supply shops sell containers of it.

----------


## jonnyenglish

*Ten months on: an update.*

So after living in Baanpong country club for nearly a year, having also experienced a pretty heavy rainy season, I'm glad to report no major issues with my house build. 

One element that needed attention was the soffit. As the metal frame expands and contracts with heat and cold at a different rate to the Shera board, cracks appeared at the joins and some of the boards were working loose. The solution was to use batons over the joins, glued and screwed in place, then filled and painted. This should have been done by the builder before, but there was a discussion at the time to add oversized hardwood (Mai Daeng) batons as architectural details, but as I ran out of cash , we decided that Shera board batons would suffice... this was conveniently forgotten about. Anyhow, all fixed now. I will add the wood details another time.

I still have decking and a sala to build, and some more landscaping/planting etc., but busy paying off my debts first.

For those interested in how the pond and garden is working out, here are a few shots:

 

Plenty of shady spots.


Pond attracts all sorts of wildlife, fresh water terrapins, tortoise, frogs, snakes, birds, insects, crabs, eels etc. Lots of edible fish in there, including Tilapia and Tab Tim, but also catfish and snakehead to keep the numbers down a bit.


Marginal plants all doing well.


G&T area with mountain views


Back of the house with large Yukka in pots (photo doesn't give a correct idea of scale, they are pretty big)


Lastly, a shot of a village in the next valley along, about 5 minutes by bike from my gaff... Rice is almost ready to harvest and the smell is so sweet... and people ask me why I live in Thailand :Smile:

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## Loy Toy

Lovely looking place mate.

You must be well pleased.

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## Thai Dhupp

Absolutely fantastic *Jonny*.... that *pond* looks like its been there forever. 

Great-looking place too - we will be having those same type of *folding doors* on the master bed balcony, the dining room x 2 and the living room upstairs. 

My builder is just making them up now...hope they look as good as yours

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## jonnyenglish

Cheers guys!  :Smile: 

All the woodwork has stood up to the damp conditions with very little movement, even places that get some rain and then lots of sun. I need to re-seal/re-varnish the window frames that receive the most sun, but wood itself is still solid.

The pond still needs to have waterlily plants in pots in the water, and I need to divide up some of the papyrus and bull rushes etc and plant them around here and there. Some flowering marginal plants I put in didn't do well at all, no idea why, they just upped and died... A learning process I guess.

My friend is currently building a small house near the gateway on my land, a right little community going on over here out in the boonies! :Beerchug:

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## ciccio

congratulations, really a great job and good taste.

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## Lofty

Great thread, enjoyed every page, ruffly how much was the bare House, we are thinking of moving away from the city, cheers

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## jonnyenglish

> Great thread, enjoyed every page, ruffly how much was the bare House, we are thinking of moving away from the city, cheers


Hi Lofty,  the build was 2.5 million, but if I had chosen a cheaper roofing material, cheaper floor tile and used an alternative to Mai Daeng hardwood for doors and windows, plus built on a pad rather than raised, I reckon I could have built it for well under 2 million (possibly as little as 1.5 million).  Additionally, I didn't haggle with the cost of the land, I had looked about a bit and hadn't found anything that felt right, so when this land turned up, I just paid the man. In retrospect, I think I could have just gone for 1 rai and a cheaper build, I could then have done a similar house for 2.5 all-in cost.

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## jonnyenglish

> congratulations, really a great job and good taste.


Thanks! Still have to finish the landscaping and various other bits, but getting there (very slowly).

As I mentioned to Lofty, in retrospect, I think I would have done a few things differently... maybe next time  :Wink:

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## pseudolus

Love the doors - a really nice feature you don't really see too often in Thailand house builds.

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## NamPikToot

> *Ten months on: an update.*
> 
> So after living in Baanpong country club for nearly a year, having also experienced a pretty heavy rainy season, I'm glad to report no major issues with my house build. Lastly, a shot of a village in the next valley along, about 5 minutes by bike from my gaff... Rice is almost ready to harvest and the smell is so sweet... and people ask me why I live in Thailand


Jonny, great thread and the build has come out really well. The site is fantastic with great views - and for the money you paid you have a lovely place. Hope all is well on the home front, seemed touch and go for a bit.

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## jonnyenglish

> Jonny, great thread and the build has come out really well. The site is fantastic with great views - and for the money you paid you have a lovely place. Hope all is well on the home front, seemed touch and go for a bit.


Hi NPK, thanks for the kind words... Always more to do with a house and land, slow progress getting to where I want it to be. As to the "home front", it's still not ideal, things have settled down a bit, but I'll wait and see what happens.  :Ponder:

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## Klondyke

> folding doors


Similar folding doors (and a large fixed screen) by oak frame I have installed at my house making use of a half of the original large terrasse to create an inside sitting corner (for Thai TV). The folding doors are meant for a possibility to open the area for an occassional larger event. 

And in turn, extended depth of the terrasse by teak floor (appreciated by the dogs on the guard).

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## David48atTD

^ an unusual place for an air-com unit?

Works well?

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## Klondyke

^Yes, it works well, why not? It's well hidden, where else could it be better? The connection goes embedded under the terrasse floor and vertically inside the wooden frame to the inside fan unit above the large screen.

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## pseudolus

What's it like to service though? Can the decking be lifted up or is it a case of finding a smaller than usual somchai to do the job?

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## Klondyke

^As far as I know there is not much maintenace on the compressor unit, except cleaning from the dust, just spraying it sharp from all sides. And if needed a re-fill, that's possible, the deck is 1 m high. 

In fact, there haven't been much maintenance on it, we scarcely use the a/c...

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## Norton

> ^As far as I know there is not much maintenace on the compressor unit


Very little. Spraying to clear dust and occasional coolant recharge.
Looks a good spot to me.

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## BoganInParasite

Hi JE, I can't believe I hadn't seen this thread before. Great job sir. I'm about two thirds through a build in Nan province and as I looked at your thread today, I had to keep reminding myself I wasn't in mine. I do regret not finding a convenient local supplier of the terracotta tiles you've used, they were our first choice as well. Regards, -BiP

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## jonnyenglish

> Hi JE, I can't believe I hadn't seen this thread before. Great job sir. I'm about two thirds through a build in Nan province and as I looked at your thread today, I had to keep reminding myself I wasn't in mine. I do regret not finding a convenient local supplier of the terracotta tiles you've used, they were our first choice as well. Regards, -BiP


Cheers BiP! Strange that you couldn't find terracotta tiles, but then again you are a little more out in the boonies than me. 

Merly Klitmat and Happy New Year to all! :Smile:

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## BoganInParasite

Kept getting told I'd have to go to either CM or CR to source them and wasn't that keen for a single purpose trip. Regards & seasons greetings, -BiP



> Cheers BiP! Strange that you couldn't find terracotta tiles, but then again you are a little more out in the boonies than me. 
> 
> Merly Klitmat and Happy New Year to all!

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