Thai Dhupp and Princess Joy's Thai House Build

[Thai Dhupp]

right.... lets see if I have managed to fix image upload......

[Thai Dhupp]

this should be a shot of the house as it was 2 days ago....

[Thai Dhupp]

Soffit additions:













The decision we had to make was... what colour to paint these soffits. To continue the wood theme was a given but... in the dark of the walls and barge boards or the lighter tones used in the gable ends?

PJ favours the lighter tones and I have to let her make the decision on something (!) so I'm prepared to go with it. We can always paint it dark if it turns out to look crap!

[Thai Dhupp]

Attention to detail

K.Pot is keen to do a good job - his reputation depends on it, so he controls all aspects of the work:





Straight, sharp corners everywhere







Neat, straight cable runs

[Norton]

He does great work. Best I have seen here. Hope you allow him to have potential future customers view your place.

[Thai Dhupp]

He does great work. Best I have seen here. Hope you allow him to have potential future customers view your place.

I'm sure we will work something out.

i would be very happy if, as a result of this thread K/Pot did a build for another TD member

[Thai Dhupp]

Right - off to the resort near Jomtien for a couple of days - when i get back i will be going to the build to witness the wall painting - the wood effect

have a good weekend everyone...!

[Thai Dhupp]

Morning all. ...

Back from that resort mini break ( Sunset Village Resort, for those interested) after a dire drive home on the Pattaya ring road due to severe flooding - 1 hour to drive 1km - and here's the update from TD Towers:

K.Pot has started laying the terra cotta tiles downstairs in zone 2. He sent me a video but no pix so I will get those when we go tomorrow.

Hes also started painting the soffits

Rain again stopped play on and off while we were away but when we go to the site next we and he are all off to Bunthavorn to pick up ALL the flooring for inside so he can work, rain or shine!

[Mozzbie47]

There are good tradies in Thailand its just that they are few and far between,,whats left over a 10 year old kid could do better..

[Thai Dhupp]

There are good tradies in Thailand its just that they are few and far between,,whats left over a 10 year old kid could do better..

.

Hi Mozzbie.... i think that's pretty true in a lot of places!!

As most here know, i spent a lot of time making the final selection.

I did my research, everything everyone tells you to do - references, examples of work, meet the guy to get a felt for if he could do the job, etc etc....

You can do the research and make the choice but you have covered yourself only up to a point. The rest is luck.

We have been very lucky....

There is another advantage to getting the right builder at the start which we have not yet discussed here - he expects the same standards from any trades he calls in, so you tend to get the more professional Sub-contractors working on the project too.

K.Pot is not going to ruin his rep. by letting some cowboy plumber screw it up. the electricians, the decorator, etc have all been equally quality job driven.

i suppose that ensures they will get repeat calls for his future jobs too so its in their interest.

Everyone wins...

[Thai Dhupp]

Chasing out floor and wall for the consumer unit

The electricians were back in to fit the light cabling in the roof, and this run for the distribution box, or consumer unit.


cutting across the kitchen floor


and chasing out the route in the zone 1 hall


even these edges are sharp and straight!


getting there....


almost finiished.


''...where's 'Elven Safety...?''

[Thai Dhupp]

i just realised - I'm not re-sizing the pix.

Sorry all. ...must do better

[Norton]

Best to resize but no big deal. Slows page load a bit.
Doing a bang up job again.

[Thai Dhupp]

Best to resize but no big deal. Slows page load a bit.
Doing a bang up job again.

Thanks Norton.... will resize from now on...

In a surprise move, K.Pot is meeting us in rhe BKK Bunthavorn tomorrow!

He must be very keen to get the flooring sorted out

[Thai Dhupp]

That visit to the timber importer / sawmill

As I told previously, we went to check outthe Mae Daeng flooring.

Here are a few photos from our visit to the sawmill / 'factory'



Mae Daeng - this was a sample board made up for illustration, using the 9cm planks

We wanted wider planks. and underneath this loose material was a rack of 20cm planks:



Some of the wood was neatly stacked allowing me to do some arty pictures...




... but of course a loit of it looked like organised chaos! The owner knew where everything was though.


part of another customers orsder




K.Pot negotiating the bigger planks for us, with the owner.


All in a days work...


General view of the works - extraction and cooling fans / AC to keep the working environment acceptable - hard wood dust is carcinogenic, remember.


The operators still wear masks as an additional protection.


another sample board showing some of the different woods they deal in


Lovely wood everywhere...


Just waiting for the next customer...


...lol - I AM that customer! yours truly with the owner...


This was the place, in case anyone else needs wood. sorry - i cant read it but theres a phone number. (and no, before anyone asks - im not on a commisssion!!)

[Thai Dhupp]

So....I was looking at these gold tile inserts....



....Yes, we met the builder and his wife in BangNa Bunthavorn the other day to finalise, and order all the flooring and walling.


i favoured this one for a bit of interest in the master bathroom


we looked at others too -this was nice but 3x the cost


Can you see how its will go together with our bathroom wall tile?


Maybe my hand will help - we split each tile into 4, 2-line sections meaning 1m / tile. I don't want to overdo the gold - just a hint to break up the wall. Gold line will run above the top of the sink stand and below the bottom of the mirror


It's early in the proceedings but already K.Pot looked a bit stressed out!


The Bunthavorn assistant tried the 'we haven't got that one but there is this one (at 3x the price)', routine early on in the proceedings.

Not sure who shot her down quickest or most vociferously.. ...

She did not try it again.


Once she understood her place and role, she knuckled down to do a reasonable job.

PJ and I had already researched and got the ref numbers for most of the requirements already


My carefully produced 3D images of each room detailing the floor and wall choices came in useful for K.Pot to draw and write all over!

[Thai Dhupp]

Electrical Progress.


Remember those cuts in the kitchen floor and hall wall?

well... now they got cabling installed...





...all ready for connecting the main incomer to the consumer unit

[Thai Dhupp]

Air Conditioning

K.Pot was sure we could get a much better price than the one quoted by 'Modern Air' and he was right.

By dealing directly with the electricians, who have a link ot the Daikin Factory, we were able to cut about 80K off the previously quoted AC bill.

They got the job.

(its amazing how cheap those expensive AC units you buy in the shops are, when you buy them direct from the factory. jeez... really. )

This is for Daikin Super Smart units with R32 coolant and WiFi connections.

They are also installing a multi-unit CCTV system with remote access, a 30-day video feed storage system and a UPS unit.

[Mozzbie47]

Nice work mate,,you have found yourself good tradesmen and that in Thailand is very difficult,,I have seen the other end of the scale..

[Norton]

all ready for connecting the main incomer to the consumer unit

Keep those pics. Will come in handy when you start drilling holes in walls to mount pictures.

[Thai Dhupp]

Nice work mate,,you have found yourself good tradesmen and that in Thailand is very difficult,,I have seen the other end of the scale..

I hope your experience was not too disastrous....

Yes...K.Pot has shown us his engineering credentials - plus the ability to think ahead - pretty essential when dealing with hysterical farangs who want last-minute changes... he's took it all in his stride.

Also, his operation is bigger than I thought... including mine he's currently working 4 projects.

[Thai Dhupp]

Keep those pics. Will come in handy when you start drilling holes in walls to mount pictures.

Now ....where's that cable?


bzzzzzzzzzt!!

Ouch! ahh... there it is!


shoulda listened to Norton...!

[Thai Dhupp]

In fact.. there has been a bit of progress on the electrical front.....


Connections for AC have appeared, and trunking has cabling in it


Lots of coloured wiring coming out of sockets and switches


More neat n tidy trunking runs


One of the outside conhnections


AC for bedroom 2


Comms / data cabling going in too...

[Norton]

Comms / data cabling going in too...

Pretty sure we discussed this earlier but are you going to get fibre to the house?
If you get TrueVision for TVs you will need coaxial cable outlets at each TV location.

[Thai Dhupp]

Pretty sure we discussed this earlier but are you going to get fibre to the house?
If you get TrueVision for TVs you will need coaxial cable outlets at each TV location.

We DID discuss it before Norton, lol cant remember what was decided...

I will have to check with those electrical boys - if its not included it soon can be...

is it a recommended addition?