Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province

**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:11 PM

Lower north west corner...the master bedroom.

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**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:12 PM

The west wall adjacent the stairs and up into the level 2 living room.

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**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:13 PM

West wall of the living room.

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**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:14 PM

Laundry alcove.

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**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:16 PM

They have completed extending the shower wall in bathroom 2.

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**BoganInParasite** · 16-11-2018, 04:21 PM

They had removed the form work and supports from the bathroom 2 counter. This was the counter I felt might require some additional support on the unsupported corner. So I checked the strength today and was amazed. I know they put quite a bit of steel in it and tied it very strongly to both walls, but I still expected there would be some movement or flexing. Nothing, absolutely solid, could not get even the tiniest of movement out of it. Think I'll skip the support idea for the time being.

No more photos from todays visit.

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0684-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0684-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:11 PM

Site Visit 18 November 2018

Headed out to the home site today and spent approximately five hours there. The main activity today for us was to deliver the bathroom and kitchenette counter top tiles to site and to check/accept delivery of the bulk of the tiles from another supplier. We arrived onsite to find the other supplier making the first of three deliveries. We quickly unloaded our tiles, parked outside and started on our usual walk-around inspection. There were four of the build team onsite and the builders supervisor turned up for ten minutes before heading off to a wedding. They were working on level 2 today doing some more rendering of the columns on the covered deck and tidying up other rendered surfaces here and there. Walking around the site I could see electrical work for the shower water heaters in three bathrooms had been done. But the biggest surprise was a start on the level 2 ceilings in bedrooms 3 and 4.

Meanwhile yesterday there had been a bit of spirited discussion between the wife and I on paint colour, tile selections and bathroom mirror border colours. Lots of twists and turns however a summary of the end result was to change the inside paint colour back to be the same as the external walls (as it was ten days ago) and for us to both agree that the bathroom mirror border colour did not match other elements in the bathrooms and something else would be needed for at least bathrooms 3 and 4. (We were too late for a refund/exchange at Global House.)

No change in the front exterior view.
Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0701-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0701-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:13 PM

The first of the other supplier tile deliveries. They did two in the morning then announced they were off for lunch. So we ended up waiting a further two hours before the third delivery and full acceptance.

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0705-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0705-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:14 PM

The newly established tile stockpile.

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**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:16 PM

Rendering still underway in the storage space under the stairs. Not sure which of the build team drew the short straw to have to do this. The end wall (not shown) is still to be rendered.

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0711-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0711-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:17 PM

Electrical work for the hot water heater in one of the bathrooms.

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**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:18 PM

I initially saw the components for the ceiling had been delivered and was pleased. Then I looked up...

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0710-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0710-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:21 PM

The ceiling support was in place for level 2 bedroom 3. I've Googled and I think I'm looking at hanger wires, main trees and cross tees. No doubt the experts and the many that know far more than me will jump in and correct me if I've got it wrong. (Seriously, please do.)

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0715-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0715-jpg

**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:22 PM

Another view in bedroom 4.

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**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:23 PM

And they had made a start in bedroom 4.

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**BoganInParasite** · 18-11-2018, 04:27 PM

And the level 2 covered deck.

That's the last photo from the visit today. Next site visit will be Thursday. We're off to Chiang Mai and Lampang for a couple of days for medical, supermarket, security door and furniture appointments.

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0722-jpg

Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0722-jpg

**Rivo** · 18-11-2018, 07:05 PM

Getting closer now BiP................the ceilings will go up quickly, did you get some fancy ceilings in some rooms ?...........when we built we got a fancy ceiling in our living room included in the price, at the time I asked how much extra to get one done in our outdoor area and it was 2500baht, I gave the go ahead and it looks great, in hindsight I should of got our main bedroom done aswell

**dennis4558** · 19-11-2018, 05:26 AM

Looking great BIP, I hope ours goes as smooth as yours appears to be going.

**BoganInParasite** · 19-11-2018, 06:13 AM

Yeah Rivo, we quite happy with progress. We didn't even consider anything fancy for the ceiling. My overriding instruction to Mart our builder for everything was to keep it simple and functional. This was not to save money, it is just my philosophy of many things now I'm reaching a respectable age. Google Translate describes the ceiling material as 'Interior Thick Gypsum Board'. Regards, -Bip

Originally Posted by Rivo

Getting closer now BiP................the ceilings will go up quickly, did you get some fancy ceilings in some rooms ?...........when we built we got a fancy ceiling in our living room included in the price, at the time I asked how much extra to get one done in our outdoor area and it was 2500baht, I gave the go ahead and it looks great, in hindsight I should of got our main bedroom done aswell

**BoganInParasite** · 19-11-2018, 06:16 AM

Thanks Dennis, I'm tempted to say we might be beyond the point of any major stuff-ups. More and more I attribute our great progress on a very competent builder and a build team that knows what they are doing and work hard. Do you or are you intending to run a thread on your build? Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by dennis4558

Looking great BIP, I hope ours goes as smooth as yours appears to be going.

**Stumpy** · 19-11-2018, 07:07 AM

Coming along really well BIP.

**dennis4558** · 20-11-2018, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Thanks Dennis, I'm tempted to say we might be beyond the point of any major stuff-ups. More and more I attribute our great progress on a very competent builder and a build team that knows what they are doing and work hard. Do you or are you intending to run a thread on your build? Regards, -BiP

I hope to, the first 2-3 month I won't be on site but wife's daughter will be there hopefully to take pictures. If I run into problems doing it Norton lives closes so if I run into problems I can always hit him up for help lol

**BoganInParasite** · 22-11-2018, 07:09 AM

Look forward to following it Dennis. Regards, BiP

Originally Posted by dennis4558

I hope to, the first 2-3 month I won't be on site but wife's daughter will be there hopefully to take pictures. If I run into problems doing it Norton lives closes so if I run into problems I can always hit him up for help lol

**BoganInParasite** · 22-11-2018, 07:13 AM

Thank you JPPR2, going to site today and will post this afternoon. Just had a great two day trip to Chiang Mai and back and did a couple of house related things on it, will post details of those as well. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by JPPR2

Coming along really well BIP.

**BoganInParasite** · 22-11-2018, 03:57 PM

Site Visit 22 November 2018

Went to the site today after a break of four days. During that time we did a two day trip to Chiang Mai. Drove over and back via Phrae, Lampang and Lamphun. All in all it is a pleasant drive through a mix of rice field covered valleys and forest covered hills and mountains. The only bland bit is between Lamphun and Chiang Mai. We left Nan early and drove through fog most of the way to Phrae and the same on 1023 until it joined highway 11. In Lampang we stopped at the Indra Ceramics factory outlet. It was here I learnt another life lesson. Never go to a ceramics factory outlet without a plan, list, control of the cash but most of all if you've failed to address those three points, don't ever lose track of your wife. Quite a bit more was purchased than I anticipated, but it does look to be reasonable quality and at a good price. We also stopped at Meshtec in Lamphun and looked at the small showroom for security products for windows and doors. Likely we'll get them to quote for everything on level 1. Once in Chiang Mai we headed to Rimpling Supermarket in the Promenada Resort Mall. For some time I've been frustrated by the lack of many of what I consider to be basic cooking ingredients in Big C, Tesco Lotus and Makro in Nan. Rimpling was more than I hoped with everything I was looking for available. Not cheap that's for sure, but better than not having it or a suitable alternate. I can see us doing a quarterly trip over there from now on to stock up. Next day on our return we stopped at A-WOOD in Lampang. Had a bit of a factory tour, looked at the showroom items and had lunch with the owners. We decided to purchase some bedside tables and other small items. Really quite impressed with what they are making there.

Today onsite the first thing I noticed was they were taking down much of the external scaffolding. There were two of the original build team onsite, two electricians and three or four folks installing the ceiling framework. Plus Mart our builder and his supervisor were there. The most obvious progress since our last visit was the ceiling for the level 2 covered deck and the eaves had been enclosed. Really looks good. More electrical work was done and rendering and wall tile prep in the bathrooms was largely done. We also showed Mark the profile of the skirting board and lintels we wanted. After some discussion we decided to not have the bathroom exhaust fans. Each bathroom is well ventilated with two large windows. We also paid the fifth progress payment of 15%, so have now paid up to 60% of the contract price. Last thing we did was to decide the location of the roof space access. It will be in an inner corner of bathroom 4.

Mart had also done the running around last week and obtained a house book for the property. So we also now have an address. After leaving the site today we called at the government offices in Pua and my wife was updated into the house book. Next week we'll formalize the request for a permanent electricity connection and re-approach True for connection of internet and television service for activation in January. It would seem Mart is now thinking completion of the home may slip into January. Not a problem for us and in any case he is well ahead of the contract schedule.

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Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province-img_0904-jpg

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