Thread: Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province

BinP, they are views to die for, excellent choice of location, very nice house.

If its not too rude, what's it set you back so far ?

Just trying to get an idea of how much I will need !

DM.

Hi Dead Metal, welcome. Short answer is 13,300 baht per square meter. Longer answer in post number 160 (around page 8 I think). Happy to provide additional general cost info in the thread but if you need detailed, please do PM me.

Editing..rereading your question...we've paid 3.9m baht to date, got 1.6m to go. The 3.9m includes 1.2m for the land. The build contract is 3.1m baht, we've paid 60% to date. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by Dead Metal

BinP, they are views to die for, excellent choice of location, very nice house.

If its not too rude, what's it set you back so far ?

Just trying to get an idea of how much I will need !

DM.

Site Visit 4 December 2018

Having a bit of a disrupted week. The wife has a referral to an ENT Specialist and so we were up early yesterday to drive 2.5 hours to Phrae. I had suggested we call ahead to confirm availability...no need, Phrae big hospital. Well upon arrival we learn the ENT Specialist only sees folks on Wednesday morning. Much silence and embarrassment by the wife. Needless to say I made the most of the high moral ground that had been gifted me. So we ended up going to the build site today and tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, we'll be heading back to Phrae.

When we arrived today there was our original build team guy still doing cleanups, the painter working on the level 2 covered deck ceiling and the wall tiler working in bathroom 1. Since our last visit on Sunday the wall tiling had been completed in bathrooms 3 and 4 including the grouting, tiling in bathroom 2 completed except for the grouting, a start on bathroom 1 wall tiling and all of the internal ceilings had been painted...primer plus two coats. After an hour two new guys arrived and two trees at the front of our property were felled. Had hoped they were going to cut the trees down at the back of the property to open up the north views, but that wasn't on their task list for today. Mart our builder and his supervisor arrived and we chatted about this and that before heading off. It appears the floor tiler was supposed to start today but had not yet shown up.

In chatting with the painter the wife learnt that a house under construction about a kilometer away in the rice fields was 'farang owned' so we decided to swing past and say hello. We also decided to take lunch at the cafe at Wat Si Mongkhon however they were not serving food. Settled on a lemon iced coffee with no sugar and enjoyed the view. Next site visit will be Friday.

Wall tiling in bathroom 2.

Level 2 covered deck ceiling being painted.

All the internal ceilings have been painted.

Was aware that the intrusion of the storage cupboard off the level 2 living room had resulted a weird counter top in bathroom 3, but today I realized the weirdness extends under the counter as well. Thinking about maybe bricking that under counter space off.

Two trees at the front of the property either side of the driveway entrance were removed. Have opened up the mountain views to the south/south east a bit more.

This is the 'farang owned' house under construction about a kilometer away from ours. Will endeavor to meet the guy in the coming weeks.

Last photo for today. Sitting at Wat Si Mongkhon about 12 kilometers from our place. Not a bad iced lemon tea (no sugar). That mountain is over 5,500' feet high and is covered with cloud rain forest (and world heritage listed). During the wet season the valley on the north side of it has near constant rain and an amazingly clear stream runs out of it. Even in flood it is clear water.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

and tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, we'll be heading back to Phrae.

Don't forget that on 5th Dec. (Wed) is a state holiday...

Sh*t. Thank you sir. I'm not sure there would have been survivors if I drove over there tomorrow to find the ENT guy not there. We've deferred till next week now. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Don't forget that on 5th Dec. (Wed) is a state holiday...

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Sh*t. Thank you sir. I'm not sure there would have been survivors if I drove over there tomorrow to find the ENT guy not there. We've deferred till next week now. Regards, -BiP

Then, I should not have told you. Perhaps we could have here a new thread "The Thais getting shot"...

Curtain Selection

To make yesterday less boring we decided to head to Global House in Nan to buy the curtain rail hangers, rails and knobby things that go on the end of the rail. We were going well, had about 6,000 baht of hangers, rails and knobs in the shopping trolley till be came to the point we needed curtail rails for the three large sliding doors. We needed four at 270cm and two at 340cm. Longest they had on display was 250cm. Called over an assistant who had been watching us for thirty minutes and obviously looking to pace himself in regards to offering any service...do you have any longer...not have. Can you do special orders...nervous smile...no. So I hit the Global House website on my phone but couldn't find longer. Did the same on the HomePro site with the same result. Then the wife and I discuss looking at local businesses to supply the longer rails. Decide maybe but further decide we are not buying anything until we know what the finish of any locally sourced long rails are. Explained to the guy, not prepared to buy partial and we left.

Got in the car and suggested to the wife she search for curtain shops in Nan. Found one, looked good on the website. So we drove to it and all we found was an empty shuttered shop in a Red Cross building. Wife calls them, miracle of miracles, they answer. They've moved, Google Map problem they said. Well no, YOUR website has the old address. Anyway we converged on the new address and while everything was a bit basic, it was undoubtedly a curtain shop with examples on the wall, dozens of sample books and two or three sewing machines visible in the back room. They guy also knew what he was talking about. (I was still in a bit of a mood and it didn't help when we got a request from a nearby shopkeeper if the car could be moved because the sun glare off one of the windows. I did move it but not before asking the wife whether the sun was stationary in this part of Nan. At least she got my message.)

Anyway we discussed our need for double curtains/rails on four medium sized windows, four large windows, two large sliding glass doors and one very large sliding glass door. We had measured the level 1 windows and door and provided a reasonable estimate for the level 2 openings. After selecting our material the price was 45,000 baht supply and fit everything, subject to them coming to site and doing own measurements. At that price we were happy to have them come to site to measure and that is happening tomorrow (Friday) morning. When we got home I checked and told the wife my bottom up estimates and budget for this work was 36,500 baht. Not quite sure what the wife did last evening but she wrangled a new price out of him of 38,000 baht and almost a begging message to do the work. There is probably more that could be squeezed out but I'm close enough to budget to be okay with the price.

Here are the materials we chose. The theory is the goldish solid curtain will compliment the floor tiles and the colour stripes in the lighter material will do the same for the solid curtain and the cream walls.

we had the same problem when changing our curtain rails,NOBODY had any sizes that we needed,350-370cms.290-300cms.for 3double patio doors.
so your best bet is steel rods varnish them,and buy the plastic,varnish coated rings,so they slide easy,home pro 90bht.x10 rings not cheap when you need 40packets.
there are plenty of steel rod supliers about,but make sure they varnish them for you,otherwise the rods will gather dust on them and you will have trouble opening and closing the curtains.

Thanks HH, I've never heard of varnishing steel rods so would not have thought to ask. Think we'll discuss with the curtain guy tomorrow onsite when he is measuring. I also want to understand what he intends for colour and finish for the hangers, rods and knobby bits (what are they called?). Appreciate the tip. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by headhunter

we had the same problem when changing our curtain rails,NOBODY had any sizes that we needed,350-370cms.290-300cms.for 3double patio doors.
so your best bet is steel rods varnish them,and buy the plastic,varnish coated rings,so they slide easy,home pro 90bht.x10 rings not cheap when you need 40packets.
there are plenty of steel rod supliers about,but make sure they varnish them for you,otherwise the rods will gather dust on them and you will have trouble opening and closing the curtains.

Thanks mikenot. I'd lay finials on the curtain guy tomorrow but doesn't speak English. But at least I know now and can try to improve my image with the wife. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by mikenot

Finials ? According to the Homepro website ........ or curtain rod ends to us plebs.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Thanks mikenot. I'd lay finials on the curtain guy tomorrow but doesn't speak English. But at least I know now and can try to improve my image with the wife. Regards, -BiP

Well there you go, I edited it with the Thai while you were typing, LOL. Will that help your image ?

I'll give that a shot. Thanks again. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by mikenot

Well there you go, I edited it with the Thai while you were typing, LOL. Will that help your image ?

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Was aware that the intrusion of the storage cupboard off the level 2 living room had resulted a weird counter top in bathroom 3, but today I realized the weirdness extends under the counter as well. Thinking about maybe bricking that under counter space off.

Dont brick up that space under the counter.Make a false wall and hide stuff in it.Who would be looking for false wall under the counter? Well I guess everyone that sees this post now.

^ Hah ... my thoughts also.

A place to put a safe behind a false door which is behind a door.

Think I will go with a strong lockage door option in the short-term. If I'd been on my game the better option would have been to brick it in here and put the strong 'secret' access door in that lockable cupboard off the living room. Maybe next build... Regards, -BiP

Back to the site today. An update and more photos this afternoon.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

^ Hah ... my thoughts also.

A place to put a safe behind a false door which is behind a door.

Originally Posted by mikenot

Finials ? According to the Homepro website ........ or curtain rod ends to us plebs.

something like huua-taai-rarng-marn in Thai, head and tail of curtain rail.

Mike.

that's it FINIALS when they are fitting,dont forget to have them fit extending brackets,so if you are fitting security doors with mossy netting our brackets are 12cms.and the extending ones are 15cms.
don't let the curtain fitters cover the rods with oil,yes they will slide easy at first,but once the dust settle's on them that's it,also don't use the steel rings.i would have liked to have wooden poles made looks better,got them up in the bedrooms,but for big windows and doors you can only use 3 brackets.

^Attaching few pictures what I had been furnishing long time ago. I think the teak things are still available in that shop, can see and advise.