The construction of Ms. Buad hai's house

[lom]

^ Expect a week or so of delay in moving.
This is the season of crew change, some of them stay home to make rice, some of them just come back late.
I'm a bit surprised that some arrived already..

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a bit surprised that some arrived already..

Same here. Our house is actually done except for the landscaping and one bit of driveway.

Of course, the big job left to be done are the water mains and underground power lines. Why they left these for last when they'll have to be put under streets, fences and houses is beyond me.

In any event, we don't plan to move until at least mid-May....

[Eliminator]

They're putting electrical lines "underground" in Thailand, damn that's gotta be scarey.

[Anonymous Coward]

They're putting electrical lines "underground" in Thailand, damn that's gotta be scarey.

Indeed. I'm very anxious to see how they do it. They've got proper conduit. Of course, installing it and getting it all to work is a totally different story....

[Anonymous Coward]

This big block of land has been for sale for some time. I guess it sold as the signs are down and just before Songkran they cleared and graded it.

Now I'm curious as to what will go in here. It's probably most appropriate for housing, but it will probably be an annoying plastic fork factory or some such thing.

Our new house is in the moo baan about 300 meters down the road and on the right, just about where the big red arrow is:

[El Gibbon]

Could be worse, maybe a pig farm, or a steel factory or a coal fired power plant. You really never know here. aha bet its a recycling center.

E. G.

[Fabian]

Probably it will be a chemical waste storage.

[Spin]

underground power lines

Does the entire moo barn have totally underground electrical supply? ie. no poles in any street. Or are you talking about the underground section between you house and a pole in the street outside?

[Dougal]

Now I'm curious as to what will go in here. It's probably most appropriate for housing, but it will probably be an annoying plastic fork factory or some such thing.

There was a similar situation near me where developers bought land about three hundred meters back from the main road and built an estate of bungalows, which had a nice view of the hills. What no one told the residents was that the strip in front of their estate was earmarked for a low cost housing project of some 500 apartments.

Their nice view of the hills is now being replaced by a three story concrete box which will doubtless be painted in tasteful orange and blue.

[Butterfly]

What no one told the residents was that the strip in front of their estate was earmarked for a low cost housing project of some 500 apartments.

Usually they build night markets or some other commercial development property in front of residential moo ban, creating a cahos of traffic.

[hillbilly]

The house looks like it is coming along just great! Good luck with the empty land down the street. Remember TIT!

[buad hai]

Does the entire moo barn have totally underground electrical supply? ie. no poles in any street.

That's right, the entire moo baan. Unfortunately, they still have not started burying either the electric or water mains. So, our house sits there, finished, but unoccupied.

Apparently they failed to get their plans for the underground electric mains approved by the Provincial Electrical Authority.

Of course, the downside for the developer is that they can not now get final payment on any of the houses that they have finished. Perhaps this explains why the number of workers on site has gone from well over 100 pre-Songkran to only a couple of dozen now. I'm sure they expected to start receiving money as the houses were completed beginning right around Songkran. Now they're saying late June for occupancy. I'm both fed up and pissed off.

[buad hai]

[William]

^welcome back mate. Good to see you round again.

[Spin]

I'm both fed up and pissed off.

Understanably. I think the underground cabling will be well worth the wait.

It makes the street ambience soooo much better without all that Thai spaghetti strung everywhere

[WhiteLotusLane]

I just read the entire topic from the start: Congratulations!! I think you got a great house on a very very good budget.

Main gripe, which has nothing to do with the house itself, is the wall around your property, particularly in the back. I see this in lots of compounds: Why the need to build such a monstrous wall that even partly blocks the view from the windows? What's wrong with a good old hedge in this country I wonder.

Second thing, the roof ends a bit prematurely I think.. One thing I like about more traditional Thai style building is that they continue the roof on down past the wall a bit lower, so you then don't need those concrete sun/weather covers above the windows.

This picture shows both things very clearly:

[buad hai]

You're right on both counts. I'd much prefer to use plants for screening rather than the wall. In fact, the wall is really too low for privacy and too high for getting a good view of the surrounds. If you follow the garden thread Buadhai's New Garden you'll see how I'm going to use plants to enhance the privacy a bit.

The roof baffles me. It wouldn't take much to extend it as you suggest, but instead they go to the trouble to build those concrete awnings which are really too shallow to do any real good. I plan on putting outdoor bamboo blinds over the windows that will get the most sun.

Alas, these are some of the sacrifices one makes when buying in to a development like this.

[WhiteLotusLane]

I found a pic of a single floor 3 bedroom house that does extend the roof a bit, and even manages those wooden supports that give it even more of a Thai style look. (Not sure if those are actually supporting or merely decoration; probably the latter)

Of course it costs a good deal more than what you paid.



(I'm house hunting. )

Original link to this propery is here: House outside Chiang Mai

[I like this site in general because they include a Google Earth / Google Maps link to where the property is, so you can actually just go take a look rather than waste time talking with the real estate company's office staff. It's in Chiang Mai though]

[buad hai]

Today is the day they were supposed to install the curtains (matchstick blinds, really). Ms. B did her best to organize things. She called the developer to let them know that the curtain people would be by the office at 9 AM this morning to pick up the keys. She called the curtain people to make sure that they would drop by the office first to pick up the keys.

At 9 AM I get a call from her (she's working today) telling me that the curtain people are there, but forgot to pick up the keys. Would I go over. So, I pour a jug of coffee, collect my book and peddle on over. By the time I get there they've been to the office and back to report that the keys are not there. The construction boss has one set and no one knows where he is. The other set is with the subcontractor who installed the window screens last week. He's 50K away in Sikhiu.

At this point I suggest we reschedule, but the curtain guy wants to wait for the keys as he has no other work today and won't have a free day for at least two weeks. OK. We wait. I sit on the porch with my book and coffee.

At about 10:15 someone arrives with keys, but I can see at a glance that they are the wrong ones. Ours have an orange or yellow tag and this one is blue. (They also gave this very same wrong set to another contractor that we'd hired to do wooden baseboards.) They try them anyway.

Finally about 10:35 the contractor with the keys arrives and makes the handoff. We open the front door and the curtain guys start to unload. I open the windows to get some circulation. While doing so I get my first look at what must be the ugliest sliding front door screen that I've ever seen. It looks like it was pulled from Alcatraz. It must go, and soon.

I settle into the kitchen (the only room they won't be working in) enjoying the breeze and my book. Pretty soon I hear one of the guys say to the other, "Mai mee fai". (No electricity.) Of course not. Since the builder failed to get Provincial Electrical Authority permission to bury the electric cable there is no power to any of the houses. No water either.

I go out into the living room where they are setting up; their electric drills plugged in to the powerless wall outlets. When I confirm "Mai mee fai", their jaws drop. One guy jumps in their truck, driving off to the office I suppose to borrow a long extension cord. He returns to report that there is none available. They quickly pack up and as they are leaving tell me to call back when we have some power.

No wonder this project is three months behind schedule. And counting.

[buad hai]

Flash - Just got a call from Ms. B. The curtain guys have arranged a long extension cord and are going to try again this afternoon.

Photos at 9.

[Marmite the Dog]

The curtain guys have arranged a long extension cord and are going to try again this afternoon.

Chock dee, na.

[buad hai]

I'm supposed to get a phone call before the guys start installing the shades so I can supervise. No call, so I ride over on my bicycle to see what's up. Sure enough, they're there. The have installed one shade and are working on the second. Unfortunately, they have installed them too low. So low that the window screens, which are hinged and swing in, can no longer be opened.

Once again their jaws drop and they stare at each other for a moment.

I suspect the screens that were custom made based on their measurements (and our instructions about being high enough for the screens to open....) are not long enough.

I couldn't stand it anymore and rode off to the tune of electric screw drivers humming away. I bought a nice ice cream as a reward for my perseverance.

Fortunately, we are only in to these guys for 2000 baht. And, that's all it's going to be until the job is perfect.

Ha!

[buad hai]

The world's ugliest sliding screen door. This has got to go.

[buad hai]

After all the drama the blinds came out OK. They had to remount about half of them because they were too low....


Living Room


Bedroom blinds are backed with fabric for more privacy and a darker night.

[sledge]

some shots from my window