Thread: Roobarb's patch

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

I'm not coming to this thread any more.

Sometimes I get the feeling you are not the only one...

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

Posh git. Here's a picture of my outside loo:

Oi, Betty, I'm not going to whop out my todger anywhere near that bamboo thicket. I can see you have one of your vicious guard geese lurking in the background, licking his little beak at the anticipation of a bit of gentleman's sausage for lunch (OK, possibly a chipolata for elevenses, but the loss would no less felt by me).

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

I spoke to the missus last night when she had her dad on the other line; asked a couple of simple questions, simple alterations, but the grief I got...

Oh yes, been there and done that.

Puns of gentleman's sausages not being allowed near to the bamboo bush aside, these women-folk do seem to get a bit stressed when they are managing a build. It appears that our helpful suggestions are often not appreciated in the way they are meant...

It seemed so unfair that my missus was doing something that I would have loved to have done whilst I was stuck sitting in an office (which I hated). All things being equal I'm sure we would have swapped in a heartbeat, but alas they are not.

I simply resigned myself to having to work for another couple of months to cover the cost of re-doing things the way I'd initially wanted them done, and saved my arguments for when I really need them...

Keep your powder dry roobarb , like betty said it just gets better and better.

Originally Posted by BKKBILL

Keep your powder dry roobarb ,

Wise words Bill.

Originally Posted by BKKBILL

like betty said it just gets better and better.

Wot, marriage?

Oh, the build... Thanks .

It does seems to be turning out to be roughly as planned, if you could describe the project as being planned in the first place... I'm happy with the place. There are a few goofy bits but we weren't aiming for perfection here, just a rambling sort of country retreat that will give me plenty to potter about fixing (or breaking and then have someone else come and fix) in the years to come.

Beautiful looking home Roo, I would love to see it one day when finished, I think the Thai builders do a fantastic job, albeit with a few minor concerns, but the overall feel of your home is looking very comfortable and unique. To build something like this in Oz would cost the national debt!

Originally Posted by Roobarb

But the thing is this, I know the bottom of the window frame is 95 centimetres off the ground as it was checked by me many times before they finalised the window positions specifically so we could get some proper height counters built underneath.

Not any more it isn't. They use shit loads of cement when laying tiles. I'm sure the cabinets are OK though.

Originally Posted by FatOne

Beautiful looking home Roo, I would love to see it one day when finished, I think the Thai builders do a fantastic job, albeit with a few minor concerns, but the overall feel of your home is looking very comfortable and unique. To build something like this in Oz would cost the national debt!

Thanks for your comments FatOne, and welcome to Teakdoor too BTW.

Just last night my wife and I were trying to work out what we'd paid the builders for labour on this place. I reckoned it was Baht 465k and immediately got a 'No way, it was muuuch more than that' answer. After a bit of effort trying to get her to quantify her claim, she eventually said she reckoned it was more like Baht 485k (accompanied with sharp inhales of breath and 'Paaang Maak' noises.. Either way I doubt we would have got much for that in Oz.

I see from some of your other posts you are planning a build yourself. Tell us more...

What?

Where?

When?

Start a thread on it when you're ready to. Everyone loves a good building tale and there would be plenty of advice from folks here, some of whom do actually know what they are talking about... as should be clear by now, I'm not one of them.

Good luck with it mate, and thanks for joining in...

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Roobarb

But the thing is this, I know the bottom of the window frame is 95 centimetres off the ground as it was checked by me many times before they finalised the window positions specifically so we could get some proper height counters built underneath.

Not any more it isn't. They use shit loads of cement when laying tiles. I'm sure the cabinets are OK though.

Yup, you're partially right Marmite. They lost about 5 cms on the tiling cement. It also transpired that when they were pouring the slab there was a bit of extra in the truck so reckoned no harm would be done by making the slab about 5cms thicker too...

At no point did anyone stop to think that the windows, and more amusingly, the door frames, had already been fixed in place.

The floor height to the top of the bottom bit of the window frames is 85 cm, which is just enough height to make a reasonable kitchen counter, albeit with no form of backsplash or ledge when the windows are open. As I'm not that enamoured with the tiled counter tops then sticking a new counter top directly on top at a later stage shouldn't be a major challenge.

The positive side is that having grumbled a bit about it being back-breaking working in the kitchen at 'local height', I'm excused most kitchen duties much beyond opening a beer.

Originally Posted by Roobarb

I'm excused most kitchen duties much beyond opening a beer.

I got out of kitchen duties after I decided to treat the wife to her first hamburger a few years ago. I bought a pack of frozen ones in Tesco and cooked up a couple. She seemed to be chewing a lot when she tried her's.....at which point I discovered that I had not taken off the waxed paper used to separate them in the package.....

Whatever works I always say......

That's an inspired solution Koman, well done I say!

I bought some Chinese chicken cheese sausage from Lotus and popped a couple in our halogen oven thingy. I thought as they cooked they look kind of shiny. You have left the plastic on Dear she informs me.

Originally Posted by bankao dreamer

I bought some Chinese chicken cheese sausage

Well done BD, that in itself would have deserved a ban from the kitchen. It also should have scored the beneficial side effect of her doubting the value of sending you on any future grocery errands.

I always wondered what those sausages were actually for, now I know.

Originally Posted by bankao dreamer

You have left the plastic on Dear she informs me.

Full respect fellow, you're clearly not a man for half measures. The message was nailed home well and truly on that one!

Originally Posted by Roobarb

Originally Posted by FatOne

Beautiful looking home Roo, I would love to see it one day when finished, I think the Thai builders do a fantastic job, albeit with a few minor concerns, but the overall feel of your home is looking very comfortable and unique. To build something like this in Oz would cost the national debt!

Thanks for your comments FatOne, and welcome to Teakdoor too BTW.

Just last night my wife and I were trying to work out what we'd paid the builders for labour on this place. I reckoned it was Baht 465k and immediately got a 'No way, it was muuuch more than that' answer. After a bit of effort trying to get her to quantify her claim, she eventually said she reckoned it was more like Baht 485k (accompanied with sharp inhales of breath and 'Paaang Maak' noises.. Either way I doubt we would have got much for that in Oz.

I see from some of your other posts you are planning a build yourself. Tell us more...

What?

Where?

When?

Start a thread on it when you're ready to. Everyone loves a good building tale and there would be plenty of advice from folks here, some of whom do actually know what they are talking about... as should be clear by now, I'm not one of them.

Good luck with it mate, and thanks for joining in...

Thanks very much Roo,

My darling wife is over in the village now and has organised the builder. We are building in her village, Namjan, near Seka in Bung Khan province. She has designed the house and after a few alterations we have had a thai guy do the drawings, it will be a 3 bedroom with ensuite and large lounge/dining/kitchen area, block ( Q Con of course ) and tile construction. She paid the deposit yesterday and construction should be starting as I write this. Current quote is 1,230,000b after I insisted on a number of things all picked up from Teak Door. As soon as I have my 10 posts up I'll try and start a new thread and post the plans and hopefully some early pictures.

Great stuff FatOne, it sounds like a good price.

You're on seven posts already, three more and you're away.

Where is Bung Khan province?

Hi Roo,

I've been working on getting my posts up so I can start!! Bung Khan is right up the North East near the Laos border, on the meekog river about 3 hours drive from Udon. I'll be there at the end of next month to sort out colours, kitchens and bathrooms. And of course just to kick back in the wonderful, peaceful countryside that will one day be my home when I retire.

Look at that, 10 posts already...!

Wow, you're way up north. It's nice up there, at least from what I remember of that part of Thailand from many years ago and I doubt it's changed much.

Right, looking forward to seeing that thread starting.

Good luck...!

So, where to start.

First view of the place from half way down the drive - OK, it's not the actual first view as the car is parked outside the house already, but that aside...



We will build a wall just behind the trees then (in line with where the bamboo posts are if you can make them out) then fill the land behind the wall near to the house. It will give a bit of separation between the trees and the house/garden.

Coming in a bit closer...



With all the recent rain things were a bit muddy, especially as the land had been filled in a fairly haphazard fashion rather than thinking about drainage. The bottom of the slope to the house had become something of a thick, gloppy clay-like bog.

Luckily Budget Rent-a-car had sorted me out with one of these this time as all the 2WD stuff was getting stuck at the bottom of the slope.



Saved me getting my feet too dirty (unless helping to dig out the other vehicles).

We're going to have to get a bit more soil in before the next rainy season, but landscaping will have to wait for now.

So, making our muddy way to the front door:



A few areas that need taking care of here.

First up, and as Marmite pointed out earlier, they were more than a little generous with the cement layer that they applied for laying the tiles. My 2 metre x 1 metre front door now seems to have shrunk to about 1.9 metres by 1 meter. I've not measured it, but just looking at the door it seems they have shaved off about 5 cms from each end.

As I think I mentioned much earlier in the thread I was never really happy with this front door. I suspect that we will change it to a double door thing, probably with some glass in it, before too long. For the time being it serves the purpose of us being able to shut the house up.

They've done a nice job of the window above the front door though:



It's an example of one of the areas where I think the builder has done a great job by improving on what I'd asked for. When I sent him the picture there was a vertical central pillar running dividing the window in two (below).



He instead had the window made without the central pillar and put in the kite shaped piece of glass instead, which I think is much better looking.

Originally Posted by bankao dreamer

When we moved into our place there was no lights. We used extension leads and a table lamp. A torch was needed to use the loo, any cooking was done on a charcoal burner as the kitchen didn't exist. But it felt so good being in our home rather than stuck at the Inlaws.

Yup, as you'll probably see we were much the same, a few clip on lamps from Homepro or Ikea with extension leads was about as far as our lighting went. As you say though, we're living (OK, camping) in our own home, we're not simply staying at the in-laws. It makes a huge difference.

Originally Posted by bankao dreamer

I really like your place Roob I had a similar design on paper myself, but struggled to find anyone to build it. Thats why we went for the knock downs.

Ha, the funny thing is that if I had the imagination to come up with a solution like yours then I probably wouldn't have bothered to build this one.

I guess we were just really lucky to find a builder who felt like taking on the challenge without wanting to fleece us in the process. Our decision to use him was really driven through necessity as we had already bought and knocked down the old houses without really planning what we were going to do with them. We soon realised that we needed to get the wood up off the ground before the termites got at it. The builder was chosen largely because he was available, willing and his price was reasonable.

Originally Posted by bankao dreamer

I also love the location you have some nice views there.

Thanks, yes, it's the location that I love most about the place, the house is really just a glorified viewing platform.

Wandering inside, and looking towards the kitchen:



The main priority on this trip was to work out what we needed to get the builder to do in order to finish off his part of the work.

There was a need to get a few basics though for living there and so we went into town to buy a fridge. Whilst we were standing there, caked in mud and wearing our only set of warmish clothes we realised that a washing machine was going to also be a necessary addition to the shopping list. Looking muddy in the village was fine, indeed seemed to be quite fashionable, however we did feel a bit conspicuous standing amongst the beautifully groomed cosmopolitan types shopping at Big C Chaiyaphum...

As an aside, we arranged for the washing machine and the fridge to be delivered the next day. The truck hove into view at the end of the drive and I lay in wait at a decent vantage point, camera at the ready, waiting for it to plough into the bog below the house and get well and truly stuck.

Unfortunately from an entertainment perspective, it bounced happily through the mud on its skinny little tyres and stopped right in front of the house which meant I got no photos of the delivery. Anyway, who wants to see pics of a fridge delivery going well?

For what it's worth though, on the Roobarb off-road proving ground I reckon that in the number 1 slot is a rental car (probably just about any will probably do so long as its fully insured) and then, surprisingly, in number 2 is one of these:



The washing machine will eventually go in the corner of the kitchen where the two plastic tubs are. The builder was summoned to get some plumbing sorted out for us, hence it sitting in the middle of the floor in the pic above.

To the right is the little study area with the door to the downstairs loo on the wall opposite the far window:



Sorry, I've just noticed that the bog brush still needs putting away...

Anyway, the hope is that there is just enough room for a thinnish desk and chair in there. Once we get the gypsum ceiling people in we'll probably get them to do a sort of arch thing between the pillars on the far side of the stairs just to give a bit of separation from the hallway.

Looking back at the front door. I do like what they've done with that window:



We still need to get some gypsum up around the insides of the top window, and cover up the wiring conduits.

A view from the front door looking through the house towards the downstairs terrace:



Leaning against the far wall is a new door which will go on to the soon to be constructed water tank room next to the kitchen (more on this later).

Lying on the floor in front of it is a new kitchen door. The original one had started out at 2 metres tall, but like the front door had been bodged to fit into what ended up being a 185 cm high doorway (I didn't ask why this door frame ended up lower than the front door one). The funny thing is that none of the Thais noticed that the kitchen door was a bit low. I'm a bit taller so I most certainly did notice it straight away.

What's annoying is that if someone had called up and said that there was a problem I would have happily paid for a new door frame so that the door remained the right height. Because they sliced bits off the door now the frame needed replacing AND I had to buy a new door. I'm not going to lose sleep over the cost, but it's an annoying waste of money nonetheless. What I'm more pissed off about is that I rather liked the door, and as I couldn't find a similar one I ended up having to get one something I was not as happy with...

Grrrr.

Whilst we're here, this is a photo looking in through the front door:



Initially I had quite liked the idea being able to see upstairs and out through the windows leading onto the first floor balcony when coming through the front door.

Once we started building the house though we realised that in the late afternoon it would become like standing at the receiving end of some type of death ray, so practicality gave way to aesthetics and we stuck a roof on the balcony.

We did have the electricity connected, but as yet have not got around to fitting any lights.

Well, sort of, I tried my hand at getting some lighting up.



The builders, who let's face it are a pretty inventive bunch when it comes to taking shortcuts and hoping to get away with stuff, were rather impressed with the lengths, or depths, of shoddiness I'd gone to with this particular installation.

It's important to earn the respect of these people. So long as they know that anything they can do I can do even worse then it may concentrate their minds a bit.

Unfortunately I'd forgot to buy a lighter for the candle so, like with much of the rest in the build, it was another solution that had not been terribly well though through.