MY house build to begin.

[Barney]

Just a small update for this week. My number 1 in the house is moving forward with the Internal house fit out for us to officially move in when I return, if the local monk gives a good date.

The local window and door blind people returned to complete the job, had previously fitted the blinds around the front and sides, as of today have completed the blinds for the 4 sliding doors onto the pool deck and 2 kitchen windows which are mahogany venetian blinds plus a couple of short non opening windows in the hall way and main bedroom. Had to wait for a different colour material for thee hanging blinds.

All up very happy and I think a good price of 45,000 for a full house of 6 large sliding doors and a heap of windows.
Test of time will prove if I am correct. But quality of the product looks good.

[Fatone]

wow! Look terrific!

[Barney]

Our guard dogs, have grown to big now and need to be locked away now and not kept on the chain. Actually Singto the male has broken the last few chains.
So my GF has had a temporary enclosure erected, well its not so much temporary and very strong, needs to be as he is on the 60kg weight now and if he jumps it will now hold his weight, fence can be dug up and moved later when we extend more fencing. The concrete poles are dug in over half a meter with steel welded fence. All fabricated onsite.
Gives the dogs some running space and adjacent to their house.
She tells me just under 50,000. Material and labour.

[JR]

We keep our Filas unchained. So far they have not eaten anyone.

[Barney]

We keep our Filas unchained. So far they have not eaten anyone.

JR
Same with ours. No eating of humans, But we don't have any other fences on the 4 rai. The female is still a puppy.
Unfortunately to many locals wander around through our property.
Just need somewhere for them when no one is home without chaining them.


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[JR]

Fence looks good and purposeful. We have a wall around the house area but nowhere else. Not needed. This is farmland and those who go here, go to their lands to work.
People using your property as public land, is a pain in the butt. Maybe make some ditches to make walking difficult? A trench around your property?

[Barney]

Just for more info on life in the house.
Latest from the GF to spend money on the house, she wanted a full timber cabinet. She decided to have one built from scratch, and not bought from a shop.
Sourced a furniture maker and he was given the project to start on the main dining room lounge area.
Is all part of her Fung Shui thinking.

With the photos I have been provided he appears a good furniture maker, has a huge catalogue and photos of things he can build. This job he designed, provided the timber from the mill she wanted and built the cabinet on site over about 10 to 12 days. GF told me he used about 8 or 9 coats of lacquer and finish coat. He is very meticulous with a quality finish..
Big double sided unit to the ceiling, 2800mm high, 2400 long and 800 wide. 400 front section and 400 back section. Mirrors on one side. Is actually 2 cabinets in one.
38,000 bht all up.

This is a very heavy unit and wont be moved around to much.

She will have him design other things and build into the house.

[Photoman]

Hi Barney
I have just seen a photo of your house showing a border detail around the windows etc ( I'll try and load a pic ) . Were these build in when the apertures were made or added onto the surface afterwards .

Thank you .

Roy

Photo here on my flickr site https://flic.kr/p/X8FC4Y

[JR]

Hi Barney,
Re. your new cabinets. What kind of wood Thinking about termites.

[fatbob]

Hi Barney,
Re. your new cabinets. What kind of wood Thinking about termites.

You can see by the method of construction it is 3 ply with a veneer face, looks like a teak veneer, depending on the type of timber used in the frame to fix the ply to will determine if it's caviar to termites, if the ground is treated below which I'm sure Barney has done with a system, termites wont be able to get in so no issue.

[Barney]

Hi Barney
I have just seen a photo of your house showing a border detail around the windows etc ( I'll try and load a pic ) . Were these build in when the apertures were made or added onto the surface afterwards .

Thank you .

Roy

Photo here on my flickr site https://flic.kr/p/X8FC4Y

Hi Roy,

The photo is not my house. That was from another poster who is building. I have no borders around my windows internal or external.
I remember Mick from "Mick's house build" thread had borders installed. That may even be his house. I know he has them as I visited his house.

[Barney]

Hi Barney,
Re. your new cabinets. What kind of wood Thinking about termites.

You can see by the method of construction it is 3 ply with a veneer face, looks like a teak veneer, depending on the type of timber used in the frame to fix the ply to will determine if it's caviar to termites, if the ground is treated below which I'm sure Barney has done with a system, termites wont be able to get in so no issue.

JR,
I would have to send a message back to the GF to get the type of wood if you are really interested?
As for termites, Fatbob is correct, I do have under house protection and a periodical check and top up of the chemical.
My house is about 800mm above a concrete slab which is also drilled to insert more of the chemical, another reason I am built up above the ground level is that any possible termite tracks leading into the house can be easily seen with a regular check on the concrete columns.

My intention was to have near zero timber except doors but things change as we move along and some furniture and fittings will be built.
I'm confident that any termite problem will be arrested.

[maaka]

dont termites fly

[Barney]

dont termites fly

Sure do. Straight to a light and then the isaan pot for a nice meal.
I'll keep the lights off and the doors shut.


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[Photoman]

Sorry Barney

[kopkei]

we also had borders (bua they call them) around the windows in our first home , nice but dust/dirt collectors and also tjintjok/tokai/bird droppings area, not practical or clean at all ...

[JR]

Barney, this is the type of frames we have around windows and doors.

[Barney]

Barney, this is the type of frames we have around windows and doors.

IMG_1038.JPG

JR that looks very smart and a clean line look. Like the border strip along the rock and house wall.
Nice to see the green pipe used. All my pressurised lines into the house are green and all unpressured drainage lines are blue.

[Barney]

Well it was time to fix the stuff up I made very early in the build.
I chose the wrong tile for the pool deck but have left it until now to replace.
We all make mistakes and this was a major for me. I admit I did not do due diligence with these tiles.
Have now ripped the old ones up and replaced them.
Our usual tiler took about 5 days to complete the full replacement. Saved as many of the old tiles as he could for use somewhere else outside.
He has also started the tiles on the entrance stair platforms.
Getting close now and Buddha will now declare my move in date, funny how it will syncronise to my next R&R return date.
Furniture builder is working on the main bedroom en-suite shelving and door plus bathroom and same bedroom 2. GF has been able to design and colour match items without buying shop units which were hard because of unique dimensions. Her choice, and mine, I suppose, because I have the wallet .

[tamada]

Electrical has been a busy team with the rough in of the ceiling and wall cabling, mounting of the 2 circuit breaker boards, incoming pole install and cable to house, A/C piping, cable and drainage, security cables, CCTV, 4 independent galavanised grounding rods for steel house frame, 1 copper coated rod for power grounding.

All went to plan to allow as you can see gyprok and external walls to commence.

Took a bit of back trawling to find references to the bain of all home construction in Thailand, the electrical work and found only the one post (so far) with pictures of a power pole going in, a big circuit breaker/distribution box with yellow conduit and reference to grounding for the house frame and a single service ground rod? You mention a 'busy team' so they knew what they were doing with correct gauge wire, no cheap black insulating tape and minimal use of wire nuts? If it's all been done correctly (and with Thailand's history of ---- sparkies and bodge jobs I hope you can understand my skepticism), I would like to ask where this team came from? Any issues subsequently discovered with their install? Of course there may be some more details elsewhere in the thread but whereas I was just looking for the first mention of electrical work thinking it may be worth at least half a dozen Q&A's.

I was inspired to ask having just turned off the circuit breaker for the ensuite hot-water shower and noticed that half the ceiling lights in the master bedroom went off as well!!! Our new-build was over 10 years ago and admittedly the electrician who initially spoke up good game was ultimately a total waste of skin so this new discovery of his inherent shonkiness, although disappointing, isn't exactly unexpected. We have been away from the house for the past 5-6 years so a lot of stuff is 'new' to us but I think things electrical will a bit of a Pandora's Box in that regard.

Nice job on your pile BTW and a work in progress. With a Euro kitchen, laundry/bath room and 4th bedroom added as an extension from stuff left over from our original build, I always thought our (original) 3-bed, 2-bath would be too small 10 years ago when I was a younger, fitter man. My mate built a fairly lavish u-shaped villa with pool, covered parking, separate maids/groundsman quarters and 2 guest bungalows on his 3-and-a-bit rai with a pond, landscaping and trees. In his 60's and pushing retirement as late as possible, the sheer size of the place meant full-on, expensive third-party maintenance, both home and garden. If he had retired, he could have done some of it himself but after you turn 60, some tasks are just not as easy. I now appreciate that our house struggles to beat 150 sq meters livable on a half-rai plot... but I still have plans for my 'man cave' in the unused 'gazebo' half of the car port once the brother-in-laws chooks are relocated.