Renovation

[gos]

I have just had an extension to my house to start with when they dug the foundation trenches they were a metre out and when they came to put the roof on one wall was 100 mm out which put the roof line out so they had to knock it down and rebuild so it pays to keep an eye on them

[El Gibbon]

and not any where near enough ground to put in bamboo that I would consider a tiny bit safe to keep the bamboo against the building, ie to push the uprights and hold them against the building, even tried pricing it with a crane and building a cradle but it was too expensive.

The one I mentioned in Din Daeng was braced from the inside of the building which was way cool. Stick the bamboo in the window/door and tighten with a cross piece across the opening, solid as a rock. At least I didn't see it fall down and they did three buildings in a row that way.

E. G.

[buad hai]

They changed the electric meter from 5 amp to 15 and installed new drop lines. This painter is touching up around the new lines.


It's still pink....

[a. boozer]

It's still pink....

It's not going to be a place where non-heterosexuals gather, is it?

[buad hai]

It's not going to be a place where non-heterosexuals gather, is it?

No, family of three. Friendly Dad, scowling Mom and uppity teenage daughter.

Wait until you see the living room chandelier. It must use two dozen light bulbs....

Can't get a shot of it yet, though.

[buad hai]

I know you can buy masking tape in Thailand. When is somebody going to show the painters how to use it?


The window frame here has already been painted dark brown. But, the guy who did the pink couldn't be bothered to mask off the frame and slopped the pink paint all over the place.


Here they got pink paint all over the newly installed drop lines and insulator bracket. No attempt to do the job neatly or clean up.

[a. boozer]

I know you can buy masking tape in Thailand. When is somebody going to show the painters how to use it?


The window frame here has already been painted dark brown. But, the guy who did the pink couldn't be bothered to mask off the frame and slopped the pink paint all over the place.


Here they got pink paint all over the newly installed drop lines and insulator bracket. No attempt to do the job neatly or clean up.

I certainly wouldn't have accepted this poor quality of work on my new home. In fact, when the paintwork was completed, our builder had two female workers go around touching up any defects inside and out. When that was finished they then had to go around and ensure that all the glass and tiles were free of any paint spots. In all, it took the two women four days to complete the work.
But, having said that, can never understand why the average Thai appears to be quite happy putting up with substandard work .

.................................................. ..............................

[Marmite the Dog]

I know you can buy masking tape in Thailand. When is somebody going to show the painters how to use it?

I don't know why anyone needs to use masking tape. I can do a better job just using a steady hand. I'm actually amazed at just how bad a job these idiots manage to do sometimes.

[buad hai]

Our new house is "two tone". The top half of the outside walls is a lighter color than the bottom half. What they did was snap a chalk line and paint "using a steady hand". And, for the most part, it looks OK. There are a few wobbly areas, but I guess I can either live with that or tell them to fix it. But, with masking tape that transition from one color to the other would have been really nice and crisp.

And, at this point the kitchen needs to be repainted because Khun Chang made such a mess of the walls. But, I may do it myself so I can mask off the new cabinets and bench and keep drips of paint off.l

[Thetyim]

^ Thats the only way to do it.
You cannot use masking tape on a concrete surface

[Marmite the Dog]

But, with masking tape that transition from one color to the other would have been really nice and crisp.

I was talking about painting around window frames and other similar jobs.

[buad hai]

I was talking about painting around window frames and other similar jobs.

Yeah, with a decent brush and a steady hand that's an easy job to do right.

[NickA]

^ Thats the only way to do it. You cannot use masking tape on a concrete surface

Yes, quite true... I did it and the tape brings half the paint off.

Thew windows I'm looking at now still have masking tape on from when I painted them 3 months ago...might be a bit difficult to get off now

[dirtydog]

Trouble is around wooden window frames and door frames is an indentation, this goes all the way round to create a weak point for the concrete to break away from the wood, this needs to be painted aswell, to paint this without masking tape you will get it on the wood as you need to sort of blob the paint into it, also on the wood will be small amounts of concrete, so you haven't got a straight smooth edge to start with, normally all walls and ceilings etc would be painted first and you don't worry about slopping a bit onto the wood, then you would do all wooden fixings.

[buad hai]

The owner is pretty proud of this tree. It cost 6000 baht. They dug the hole for it while the tree was suspended from the crane.

At the same time the tree was going in they were pouring this concrete slab in the front yard. No forms of course and no real attempt to get it level or worry about drainage.

[WhiteLotusLane]

I'm waiting for really elaborate chromium or blue/golden gates & fencing to arrive.

And of course the family will have a car that costs at least 1 mil baht; say about double what they spent on the house.

[buad hai]

This afternoon a few of the construction ladies from next door arrived with several cases of empty beer bottles. I wondered why. Silly me. When they started breaking them I realized there were for topping the wall:



For some reason, they are staining the sandstone with wood stain. I guess this is to satisfy the Thai predilection that everything has to be shiny. I'm wondering if they ever actually notice the matt finish that is part of most of nature or if they've just observed it in a glossy magazine.

This is the living room chandelier. Nice eh? The owner told me that he wanted the living room to look like a hotel lobby.

[jumbo]

Nice light, shite security on top of the wall. Great shame that this type of thing has to be done to deter unwanted guests.

[WhiteLotusLane]

This afternoon a few of the construction ladies from next door arrived with several cases of empty beer bottles. I wondered why. Silly me. When they started breaking them I realized there were for topping the wall:

The last couple of updates seemed like a train-wreck in slow-motion.

This MIGHT just keep cats off your walls, but doesn't do much else besides looking f&ck-ugly..

Hotel lobby, right.. How many hotels have broken glass on their walls I wonder.

[buad hai]

The place is pretty much finished now. They must have worked like crazy to get it done. I was away for a couple of days so didn't document the progress. The Tamboon Baan will be tomorrow, Saturday. I'm invited so I'll sneak around and get some pics of the finished product. The gilt lions are in place and looking quite spiffy!

And, guess what color the living room curtains are?!?

[Marmite the Dog]

And, guess what color the living room curtains are?!?

Pink?

[stroller]

And, guess what color the living room curtains are?!?

Neon-pink, no doubt.

[buad hai]

A green to MtD for being first with the correct answer.

Sorry stroller: "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to stroller again."

[Marmite the Dog]

A green to MtD for being first with the correct answer.

Horay!! I win!

[Spin]

Is this house worth more now than when they started?