Deck Ape's Big Gringo House

[Deck Ape]

Your kind of party, eh JJ?

[Deck Ape]

Here they are, on Sunday no less! I'm told three more days till roof completion. Since I'm living in the bizarro world in three days they'll start taking the tiles off.

[Deck Ape]

There are several new houses built on my street in the last year. This one is my favorite. Traditional Thai house amended to use concrete pillars and a little kitchen out back



Here's another one they're just finishing up. Cement block construction with aluminium windows. Powerful color scheme



This one's just across the street from me. Our houses will be a study in contrast.

[Deck Ape]

Here's what the Big Gringo House looks like today. Windows squared and braced, cement is being poured. Roofers roofing. Me and Mrs. Deckape mocked up our bathrooms today so they can install our drains and pour the floors.

Nice to see those windows in.

[Loy Toy]

Luv the variation in design and feel and with regard to your little community.

Would hate to live in one of those cookie cutter estates!

Moving forward I see (albeit slowly) but well done mate!

[Deck Ape]

Thanks, Loy Toy. It is a pretty nice place to live, and building my own place is an excercise in humulity.

[DrAndy]

yes, a weird assortment of designs all together, much nicer

keep it up, party soon

[Deck Ape]

Party soon, Doctors orders. All right!

Today the guys finally got going on the doors and windows. Truing them, and squaring them, and at least once increasing the rough opening size. Here they are.....



I spent part of the day priming and painting window and door frames that just arrived, and spent a little time on the roof. Team Homemart failed to make an appearance again today. Starting to think I should have listened to Mrs. DA and just let our team put the roof on.



That's what it looks like today. All window frames in + front and back doors. Tomorrow should see interior door frames and maybe the headers poured.

[Jet Gorgon]

^ Marmers, quit editing posts.

Nice thread, Deckape, and a belated welcome to TD! I like the roof going well out from the walls -- good shade and rain protection. Will you have eaves and water collection pots? Or maybe not necessary?

[Deck Ape]

Thanks for the welcome, Jet. I think MTD just corrected my spelling. Fine by me.

The roof overhand is crucial but expensive. Mine is 1.3m. I wasn't very scientific about this dimension, just went back and forth with the wife a lot. She wanted 1m, I wanted 1.5. Whatever. We both win.
Funny you should ask about water collection, as I just realized we should have a collection tank. We should be able to put gutters on just the back of the house and be able to collect a hell of a lot of water. I'll alse have a cistern for city water and a pump that'll go into lines in the yard as well as the house.

[Marmite the Dog]

I think MTD just corrected my spelling. Fine by me.

I wouldn't dream of doing that. I just corrected your image sizes and put my hands down Jet's knickers.

[Nawty]

was the penis warm and moist ?

[DrAndy]

. Team Homemart failed to make an appearance again today. Starting to think I should have listened to Mrs. DA and just let our team put the roof on.

.

I think you should as well!!

whilst Homemart says they will guarantee any work (well, they say they will make the contractor redo anything if no good) in practice this leads to a lot of problems

We also got a roofer from Homemart as our builders were too busy with other things. He just sent a couple of useless guys who proceeded to nail the roof tiles on instead of doing it properly. result; a lot of leaks and also not good looking

The Homemart guy tried to put things right but it really needed all stripping off and redoing. In the end, he paid up for the tiles that were ruined but not the work, so we lost about B20K. Worse still, we lost time and energy

[Deck Ape]

Shudder. Sorry about that Doc.

Have been up on the roof a few times; took a pic when I saw something I didn't like. That way we could have a real Thai conference and Mrs. DA could translate. It's just the amount of time it's taken! Don't know if it's typical or not, but I have a date I gatta leave LOS to make some more money. Other than the delays, the communication sucks. Despite being on their phones all day, nobody seems to know what's going on.

Anyways, last roof day ( I hope). Roof ridge starts out looking like this



Something like 3-5 cm gap between the battens, foil is folded back to make a little channel.

Over this gap they secure these little hangers (one lying in the ridge there). The hangers and this pourous cloth is the "Dry Tech System"



That guy looks a little camera shy. Here they are filleting the "Dry Tech System" which runs the length of the ridge, to accomodate the ridge vent tiles and screens.



Here are the screens- the tiles, which have spaces at the bottom to let the air out, go on last.

[Deck Ape]

Five of us on the roof. Four to hold it down, one to drive the screws.

Those ridge vent tiles are in the background. So the hot air rises from the eaves between the foil and tiles, AND from the roof space itself. If this doesn't work the big fan I got will.

Extra cost for "Cool Roof System"- foil, vents, special tiles and asst. hardware + installation - about 125k. Had a little buyers remorse when I saw the bill, but now that it's in I think it'll work pretty good. Passive cooling = good !! Even if you use air con it'll work better.
No more about the fucking roof I promise.



Wasn't quick enough with the camera. Just a second before he had a cig in one hand, razor knife in the other, holding on with his eyelashes.



Thai style safety bonus.

[Deck Ape]

Rained out today. No roofers to finish the last 1%. No surprise there. The guys set the last door frame. DA & Mrs. DA spent the day at the local builders superstore buying tanks, pumps, and gauges to make the place feel more homey. Trying to buy some supplies & appliances ahead of time. Oh yeah, Lewis was fuckin' ROBBED at Spa.

[Mid]

Lewis was fuckin' ROBBED at Spa.

true that

[DrAndy]

yep, really nasty

I think the FIA has shot themselves in the foot. That overtaking sequence of events was amongst the most exciting thing this year, then they go and spoil it. Lewis was forced to take the corner off, and then let the Kimi past him, as the rule says you should, so no advantage

and the roof is good

[maily]

It is ok for Ferrari to almost run into another car leaving the pit box. It is also ok for their driver to run over one of their mechanics, and no penalties for either, but Lewis cannot get away with racing and following the rules. It seems like the establishment are hell bent on not allowing Lewis to win a championship.

[Deck Ape]

Here's a look at the front of the house this afternoon. I'm told 3-4 more days more until exterior and interior walls are complete. Then channels for wires and water, then render.

Right now the place looks really boxy, mostly due to the squarish shape and 3.5m ceiling height. Will have acres of interior walls to contend with and only 1 Mr. T poster.

At this point the place is feeling extremely expensive for what I'm getting. Land and house will be pushing 3m baht when finished. It's feeling a little small inside and we haven't put our furniture in yet. When I was doing the plans I trimmed the size a couple of times- maybe a little too much. And the no guest bathroom thing is feeling like a mistake too. I am a worrier and I'm in hog heaven these days becuase I've got plenty of material.



......... and to my surprise and pleasure the shrieks and slapstick sound effects of Thai soap operas rings throughout my big gringo house!!

[DrAndy]

At this point the place is feeling extremely expensive for what I'm getting. Land and house will be pushing 3m baht when finished. It's feeling a little small inside and we haven't put our furniture in yet.


......... and to my surprise and pleasure the shrieks and slapstick sound effects of Thai soap operas rings throughout my big gringo house!!

How much is just the house costing so far, and expected?

The size of the rooms will probably be OK, esp as most of your life will be spent outside. Have you got some nice plans for a sitting area, a place to have a coffee/beer/BBQ etc?

you will find the Thai soap opera is merely giving the workers a method acting class, so watch out. I believe that the behaviour of a lot of Thais is based upon what they see in those soaps, not vice-versa

[Deck Ape]

At this point the place is feeling extremely expensive for what I'm getting. Land and house will be pushing 3m baht when finished. It's feeling a little small inside and we haven't put our furniture in yet.


......... and to my surprise and pleasure the shrieks and slapstick sound effects of Thai soap operas rings throughout my big gringo house!!

How much is just the house costing so far, and expected?

The size of the rooms will probably be OK, esp as most of your life will be spent outside. Have you got some nice plans for a sitting area, a place to have a coffee/beer/BBQ etc?

you will find the Thai soap opera is merely giving the workers a method acting class, so watch out. I believe that the behaviour of a lot of Thais is based upon what they see in those soaps, not vice-versa

Just the house, so far is less than a million. I'm beyond budgeting since I've already started. It's gonna cost what it's gonna cost. Could save quite a few baht going tile vs. granite floors, or custom kitchen vs. diy- you get the idea.

The front porch is 25 m2 so should be enough for a good sitting area, wife wants a "sala". Garage should be a good place for that , too, once it gets built. A big carport with a shop.... and maybe a deer stand so I can get high and enjoy the view.

The soaps....thats an interesting one. I once heard that gangsters like chill music because they lead hectic lives, and rastas like hectic music because they lead chill lives. I believe these Thai shows portray an element of excitement lacking in looktung life. I've lived in this nieghborhood for years and never heard a voice raised in anger. Happens every two minutes on those shows.

[Deck Ape]

Note to self: stop being such a whiny fuck. I might be the first person ever to complain that the ceilings are too high.

House looking good, exterior walls almost finished. Bought pvc parts today for self designed plumbing (just google "vent stack" and "p trap" and you're there.

[DrAndy]

Just the house, so far is less than a million. I'm beyond budgeting since I've already started. It's gonna cost what it's gonna cost. Could save quite a few baht going tile vs. granite floors, or custom kitchen vs. diy- you get the idea.

.

1 million sounds fair enough

as for budgeting, I know what you mean, it all just adds up and eventually you find out the final price!

The thing is to just keep the costs in control, as I am sure you are doing. You can achieve good design without having to spend any extra, or not much

[Deck Ape]

Yeah, trying to keep costs under control. It sould be over soon, too.



One of Mrs. Deckape's victories. Glass blocks in the bathroom. Won't help the R value any, but still .......



A look at one of my soakaway pits. Unsuccessful. About .25cu of gravel w/ a 4" pipe through the wall. The problem is I used fiberglass matting to screen the dirt and keep the pit clear. The fibers seem to swell when they get wet. Gonna cut some holes in it or something. Any suggestions welcome.



Think I better get used to this "transitional" look to the house. On the bright side it was pouring today and no roof leaks, and the regular crew showed up. Maybe a box of Chang is in order.