bigdod

I seem to remember hearing on here a few months ago that sales of viagra to farang were being banned asa it wasn't good for our health. It was quite obviously not concern for our general well being after all then hahahaha...

True - I remember a whole bunch of times arriving at H'row terminal 4 (prior to T5 being opened) where I faced too many delays - one security scanner thing working for close on 1000 pax, staff who couldnt speak English etc etc, it was a nightmare, but then again, that said I fly in & out of swampy (int'l) a dozen or so times per year and I've been stuck in the hour plus immigration queues (both ways) there too. The only bit that seems to work well consistently (for me) is the domestic side. That doesn't change the facts that the airport definitely has a whole bunch of issues that it needs to take care of if it wants to continue to be what it proposes to be...

Gents,

you all seem to know a whole lot more about this subject than I do - I dont know what megahertz or band my cellphone works on - its a nokia and I use it to make telephone calls. I do know however that it has a 1-2-Call sim card inside it. My issue is that the signal here at my place is not so good. If I climb up the water tower, I can almost get enough signal to make a comprehensible phone call, otherwise, forget it. I'd appreciate if one of you could tell me what I need and where I'm likely to get it to get one of these signal boosters fitted please.

cheers

OK......so now that the 4 "suspects" have been identified as Iranians, do y'all reckon Iran will continue to "angrily reject accusations that it is to blame?"

Something else that all you would be gun owners really need to consider before you go rushing out to buy yourself your 'cannon' is 'do you have the stones to actually pull the trigger?' Most folks when faced with a big eff off handgun being pointed at them will do the right thing and beat a hasty retreat.....but then again, you get some fool off his head on yaabaa and/or Lao Kao, its a different story. And if you're not prepared to go all the way, what you have in your hand now becomes a serious liability and you (and anyone else that happens to be in the immediate vacinity....like spouses, kids, friends etc) are now in serious trouble. Most human beings have something 'built in' that stops them from killing another human being, and right in the heat of a showdown is not the time to debate this point with yourself, because one second is all that it will take for your situation to completely turn to rat-shit. If you're not sure; dont buy one. Trust me....its nothing like it is in the movies.

He got pissed up, got in a brawl and obviously someone "lost face" So what...?? They dont even do man hunts for paedos, so leave the dude alone.....

Whats all this Small Lady stuff Bigdod. We were all over six foot when we came here , but building the House wore us down six inches.. You just wait till its all finished and you get dragged to the Garden Centre. It takes at least a hour to find the Small Lady if she gets amongst the Garden Gnomes, and Cherub Fountains. Good Luck Mate, i aged ten years building ours.

hahahaha I hear ya mate.....I've already fallen into the trap of taking her shopping for flowers etc

I can already tell its going to be an 'experience' taking this on too, but whats life without the odd wee challenge I suppose

Sure thing mate..... here's a couple of pix of the place before and after. Once I get the drawings I'll see what I can do about posting them too.

Can't see any prospective customers for the shop around.

Anyhow jokes apart some to bear in mind, which didn't happen to me but worth a thought.

Another thread was going on about electricity costs and Crossy suggested :-

Are you on permanent power yet?

Your construction supply is charged at nearly double the permanent rate.

I dont mind about the customers mate....as long as it keeps her busy

Actually, that said, there's like a staging post or whatever for all the suger cane farmed locally just up the road, so she's hoping to capture all the traffic from that. Time will tell I guess....

No one ever mentioned to me that there was a difference between construction and permanent power supply either....nice one Kwasaki, another useful bit of info for my sh*tlist....

We're off to the temple later today to see when's a good day to start building.....so this ought to be interesting

Seals and/or CIA are usually quite intelligent and discreet and low probability to be working in a thailand go-go. Perhaps the op is a novelist?

I have met hundreds of special forces guys while drinking in go-gos.

Are you saying the hundred's of alleged special forces guys were working in those go-go's. You are also suggesting you believe what hundreds of guys claimed in go-go bars.

Yeah.....but then again, every military 'person' you speak to is either 'special forces' or 'black ops' or whatever......none of them are EVER the guy that mops out the sh*tters or cuts the grass

Sure thing mate..... here's a couple of pix of the place before and after. Once I get the drawings I'll see what I can do about posting them too.

Hey guys - sorry about the big delay in replying there - I got stuck in Dubai for a week on my way home (work...they always like their pound of flesh before letting me off on fieldbreak...!!!) and then it was straight into it once I got here I guess 'Small Lady' was concerned I got bored so had it all planned out for me

First up, thanks again for all of your help - I've already been discussing all of this with prospective builders etc using your advice as illustrations and they've been really helpful.

State of play so far is that now I've got the land all cleared, filled in and levelled (you should see some of the monster boulders we've had to pull out......incredible...!!) I've layed an 18" concrete pipe along the front of the plot to help with the drainage and already it appears to be going what was intended of it. Power cables have been hooked up, run to the plot and terminated for the time being. Her ladyship wanted a small shop built, so I've decided to build this first for a couple of reasons. I reckon that it'll be good experience for me and the lessons I learn from doing this will benefit the house when I come to build it. Also, I'll build that with a room on the back, so we can live there while the house is being built, so no more rent to pay, security for the shop and we're there for the entire duration of the house build. Also I get my garage built so I can get on with my other passion - custom motorcycles - before the house goes up. Result...!!

I've spoken with some chap from the local "office" who as it turns out is the "engineer" for the village/area/whatever and he's now in the process of taking my "drawings" for the shop from the beer mat and transferring them into CAD. Allegedly I'll get about half a dozen or so sheets detailing everything including the water, power, building materials et al. If he does OK with this, then I'll maybe start talking to him about the house too at a later date, but I'm pretty hopeful of him as he was showing me a bunch of other projects he's worked on and is doing at persent and he seems to know his stuff. All this for a couple of thousand baht and a case of beer (which I have to drink with him). Another result...!

Small Lady's father also brought down a friend of his who is a builder and has worked in Korea, Japan and Taiwan as well as all over Thailand and has a very good understanding of 'farang' building requirements. He understood all of the drawings etc which you guys have so kindly sent me as well as my beer mat drawings and even discussed such detail as rebar and concrete recipe with me, so again, I'm quietly confident that he does indeed know what he's talking about and as he's a family friend, gave Small Lady & pops a fair price for the construction, which it must be said, was pretty much bang on what the engineer had since told me I'd be expecting to pay for the project, so I'm happy about that too. I will of course get another few quotes just to be sure, but so far, its looking pretty good. He even told me that he cant do electrics which I found quite heartening, as usually they'll always just say 'no problem' and then mess it up. Another result perhaps....?

I've also been trailed around all sorts of building supplies places this past couple of weeks in and around Khon Kaen and Korat and have another couple to check out up in Udon Thani maybe later this week, so I think I've got a fair idea now about windows, doors, electricals etc etc too. All I can say is thank god for my new GPS.....its been great. Taken me right to every front door every time.

I've to go pick up my drawings etc tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that turns out. :jap:

this subject has struck a chord with the TV membership

11,017 views and 5 pages of comments to view,discuss and deliberate over the demise of a cheating wifes lover

2 year old abused Thai boy beaten to death get 2,053 views

not even a full page of comments

shame on you

Yeah...shame that, but I doubt if there would be any debate or discussion about that case. String the fcuker up I would imagine to be the unanimous post.

The cheatin slag on the other hand, is something that either has or possibly could affect most of the good folks on here and as such, is very likely to get much more in the way of attention. String her up too might not be a bad idea.....

The Singaporean allegedly fled the crime scene in a BMW 325i that he had bought for his wife. He had previously also bought her luxury gifts and is believed to have given her an allowance of 70,000 baht ($2,900) every month, The New Paper reported.

Link

Married her, bought her a 325i and passed her 70k baht per month, plus luxury gifts and she's b*nging another guy. Of course murder is wrong, but he should have iced the chick. Call this a crime of passion, the escapee serves 30 days and is set free.

How can you come to such a conclusion from the scant evidence posted here? You know very little about this case and you recommend murder.

Catholic priests take vows of celibacy in front of their 'All-seeing, All-knowing God', yet they stray from time to time. It's human nature.

Thankfully, people such as yourself are limited in their actions to posting dribble on internet forums or writing to the Letters to the Editor section of the local newspaper.

The poster did not recommend murder! He said iced the chick - dumped her.

Edit: well maybe he did... the anger was indeed misplaced but murder is not an option either way.

Hmmm - I dunno, in my day icing someone meant putting them on ice - as in the motruary. Either way, I agree; if the bird's putting it around, sort her out. If the guys a nobody, then let him walk, if he shoulda known better then go to town on him too. Its not as if there aren't plenty 'ladies' for everyone without fcukin with someone elses.

Unfortunate business all the same....

Hi everybody...

I dont know if this is any use to anyone, but I just bought myself a new Garmin Nuvi 3790v (Thai version) It came loaded up with Thailand DEM, Thailand Streetmap v12.0 NT 3D, Malsingmaps Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei NT 2011.30 and Thailand Streetmap v12.01 NT [Dual] All. Now, I am not a technophile by any stretch of the imagination and even I have figured out how to work it (coz all the blidy instructions etc are of course only in Thai...!!) I live out in the sticks up in Isaan and so far its taken me successfully to a whole bunch of places in both Korat and Khon Kaen....just punch in the place name....... including shops (I thought that was amazin'...) and press go. It also knows all of the little streets out in the village. Brilliant. I've yet to give it a test drive down in the big smoke, but I'm sure it will be fine there too. I'm in touch with Garmin just now to try and get all of the instructions etc in English to see if there's anything else I can do with it, but so far, I'm really chuffed with it.

Have a look at this thread as there is some good references for existing plans from a couple of posters. if mentioned already, sorry, better to have twice than not at all.

http://www.thaivisa....23-house-plans/

There are a couple of other sites in Thailand as well that have a lot of information on building in LOS. These are freebeerforyorky and coolthaihouse. Google them and you will find them. I was toying with the idea of building , but mostly where I was looking is now under water. Back to the drawing board and at least I had not outlayed any funds.

Best of luck and keep the humour up, as from what I have seen with others you will need a sense of humour building in Thailand.

Cheers

Well not mentioned here where it's needed, that is apsolutly fantastic house plans information " Litlos " a great leap forward in infomation for " bigdod " .

Hope you find a suitable place to build if you go ahead.

After the Thai wood house we had before fell down in flooding at the rear, we have a 2 metre land infill before we rebuilt.

We are nearly 1.5 M above our side road.

AHA..... so you are talking from experience. No so good that you had your house fall down on you mate, but I suppose the upside (if there is such a thing as an upside to yer house fallin down....) is that at least you were prepared for the flooding this time around....

Looks like your idea of the new thread is paying off too..... I've learned more this past couple of days than I have in the past 6 months.....

Here are are some footing plan photos for reference for a two story house. The bit maps Kwasaki put together look fine for a single story house. I think a lot of people are curious about a topic like this. By the way, the local tessabann or arbotor offices also have architects and engineers on staff that can be quite competent, depending on where you live. They can put together a plan that suits the local area and is understandable by local work crews. I was very happy on how they "over-designed" our plan and considered our lay of the land.

Have a look at this thread as there is some good references for existing plans from a couple of posters. if mentioned already, sorry, better to have twice than not at all.

http://www.thaivisa....23-house-plans/

There are a couple of other sites in Thailand as well that have a lot of information on building in LOS. These are freebeerforyorky and coolthaihouse. Google them and you will find them. I was toying with the idea of building , but mostly where I was looking is now under water. Back to the drawing board and at least I had not outlayed any funds.

Best of luck and keep the humour up, as from what I have seen with others you will need a sense of humour building in Thailand.

Cheers

T-Dog, Litlos...

thanks for your information guys..... much appreciated...!!

I dont know if you've guessed it yet, but I'm new to this building game and Kwasaki has been helping me out with some info/ideas for a build that I'm aiming to embark upon some time in the future.....so any ideas etc that you can help me out with will be much appreciated.....so cheers for your input :jap:

Maybe 'small lady' will ease up on my ears a bit too now that she can see I'm on the case

Funny you saying about Iraq, reminded me of what you first said about your Mrs and putting two bricks together, the way the Arabs doctor there Camels, is while the poor buggers balls are hanging down, they get two bricks and whack them together with the balls in-between and get out of the way quickly.

As if you say your ground is good and solid as it sounds, your foundation work should be made easy and can keep this thread for reference.

I'll post a couple of sketches to just give some insight and ideas towards your first step into foundation.

Oh ! and while I remember you sound like someone who likes to do things for himself as much as possible, so here's this for the record.

If you don't use a ready-mix company to deliver, this is for a strong 1 cubic metre measurement of ready-mix :-

350 kg of good quality cement for a concrete mix. - - - 700 kg of Fine aggregate (sand) - - - 1100 kg of Coarse Aggregate (gravel) - - - 190 kg Water i.e. (190 litres) that's what I like about metric measure same, same. Note that too much water will weaken the mix and ideally the temperature don't want to be much above 26 degrees and keep the Sun from drying it off too quickly, cover with your Mrs white bed sheets. that was a joke by the way.

Your foundation depth can be as low as 400mm depth for a single storey on good compacted ground.

Once your at ground level you can use what you like for elevation height, here's something to ponder on and I am drawing an end floor abutment, I'll post later.

Click on the main one to bring it up larger.

Oh Jeeziz Christ Kwasaki....dont go givin her ideas....it'll be me gettin the bricks and not the camel

I think now the first thing will be to get hold of someone that knows about this sorta thing and figure out just how good the ground really is before I go committing to a particular way ahead....but for sure I've got a folder with all the stuff you've given me already on my desktop.....and everything else you can give me will be going straight in there along with everythin else..... you've pretty much hit the nail on the head as it happens.....I'm game to have a go at anything. Its all just a case of findin out exactly what you need to do and then getting yer sleeves rolled up and getting into it.... and of course knowing when you're out of your league and lettin the craftsmen do their thing.... I do actually need to get myself tooled up now you come to mention it, and I was thinkin about gettin myself a hold of a wee half bag mixer to be going on with, coz I reckon it'll earn its keep this next year or so... so that recipe is in the folder as well

Dont mention white bed sheets to her either mate..... they got used to polish my bike hahahaha.... actually, thats a lie...they weren't white hahaha although she was actually alright about it....eventually

cheers for all the info Kwasaki....you'll hafta fire round for an ale when we get to the 1st post mate....:jap:

Yup Kwasaki.....blacktop = tarmac road. The idea of the hardcore infill was for exactly that reason mate......when the guy came to dig that waterwell, he had all sorts of trouble getting his small truck in, and it was still relatively dry(ish) then. So my plan is to dig down a few feet...I can use the soil to fill in a low spot too which is a result in itself....and then just top it up with hardcore....and as you say, once it comes to finishing it later on, I'll just concrete on top of it which should make for a nice solid driveway too......

a) I realise that raising the house up a bit is going to add to the cost, but I think in the long run it may not be such a bad idea.....but again I'll do some more homework and see whats for the best.....whole point is I just want to get it right first time and not have to go fixing all the shortcuts a couple of years down the road - and of course cost is going to play a big part in all of the decisions, but I think if I make them informedly, then I should be ok..... first step on that point is to weigh up the pro's and con's of the materials available I guess.

b)Plans......back to the beer mat again I'll maybe have to get all technical and go for paper and pencil next I suppose.....

c) Electricity may not be an issue.....but then again, TiT...

d) Got it..... I'll manage that I reckon

e) I did once rewire a cottage back in the UK using nothing but a Readers Digest book for reference and got a mate that worked for the electricity board to test it all and hook up the power... so I'll maybe have a go at it again and see what happens....That wiring link was REALLY helpful.... cheers for that....:jap:

I've already been speaking to a few guys about where to shop etc and got a few good leads to look into when I get home next week (I'm in Iraq workin just now) apparently there are a few good places in Korat, Khon Kaen and Udon so I'll have a wee drive around and see.....

Yeah....me too blue....I was starting to get a bit confused there myself. I guess 'too many cooks' do actually spoil the broth.....

I reckon I'll be doing much the same.....I'll get as gen'd up as I can and then just get torn into it I suppose

Kwasaki...... new thread was a brilliant idea I reckon..... and maybe 'small lady' will ease up on my ears a bit too now that she can see I'm on the case albeit with a little help that is....!! Incidentally, I reckon that third house pic is probably the one most within my capabilities but at the same time the one most likely to see me found floating face down in the mire at the bottom of the garden were I to suggest it

1. Its up a couple of metres from the blacktop and then another metre or so down the other side to the rice paddy.

2. I also had a water well drilled and the guy had to drill through mostly rock to get to it.

3. Foundation importants,(I did kinda figure that part out for myself too....)

4. To engage the services of someone that does this for a living and see what he says.

5. Interesting point about the earthing though.....I never considered that.

6. And of course......small lady is chewing my ear to just slap some bricks together....

1. Sounds good, your good to go.

2. Sounds good too, nice consolidated ground.

3. Foundations can be really simple, it really depends on what your house design is going to be like e.g. 1 floor 2 floors ??

4. One of the local builders could easilly sort you with a foundation you just need area plans of the house.

5. Have you got electricity poles nearby or that could cost you as well. ??

Also a copper rod driven into the ground will give you enough earth protection.

Also if your getting air-cons, water heaters and electrical showers you want 15/45amp supply.

6. Duct tape is available at you local Homepro or Homemart.

I'll post a drawing for you, which regulated sizes but can be taken down a bit, again depending support required.

1. Its not all sweetness & light.... water pools down beside the blacktop and recently its been a quagmire there...so I'm thinkin about digging it down and back filling with a couple of feet of hardcore to toughen it up

2. Pretty much....I'm quietly confident about that....

3. I fancy a single storey house but raised up a metre or so, so that there's air gap below which should also assist with plumbing etc....

4. Plans.....aha, I need someone that can first decipher beer mat sketches.....

5. There is a point I can tie into about 350/400m up the road. Got a reasonable quote to take care of that too (40k all in) How far in does the copper rod need to go....any idea...?? I'm guessing here too that I need to wire the place up with earths to all the outlets etc even though nothing you can buy here is earthed...?? I need to read up a bit on this too now you come to mention it.....

6. Duct tape is looking like being my first emergency purchase.....:jap:

cheers everyone for your input......keep it coming

If your building a house the reinforced ground foundation lay out and depth needs to be designed to suit the ground area and your columns set out and raised from it.

This is a subject I'm considering at the moment. I need to find someone that knows about all of this to tell me exactly what I can or need to do before I even put two sticks together..... and we all know how difficult it is trying to weed out the 'experts' from the people that actually know what they're talking about.....

It's nothing to worry about really the main points are :-

1. Do you need to raise the ground level for obvious recent events.

2. What is the ground if not known, is it :- clay, sandy, or is there an underground lake.

3. Dig an hole and find out or get somebody to do it.

4. Most reinforced foundations correctly installed can be as little as 50cm deep, going from 75cm and up according to the building structure.

5. Electrical earthing requirements can be done at that level too if really wanted.

6. Once you have got your sound base your good to go.

Cheers Kwasaki... I'm not unduly concerned about the ground really....its up a couple of metres from the blacktop and then another metre or so down the other side to the rice paddy, so i think I should be ok for that. I also had a water well drilled to see if i was going to have to get plumbed into the "local" water or not (which was going to be costly) and as it turns out, now I've got a water well and the guy had to drill through mostly rock to get to it, so I'm guessing that its pretty firm underneath too. I've discussed this subject with a few bar experts who as it happens all agree with you that the foundation is the important bit ( I did kinda figure that part out for myself too....) but they did leave me puzzled as to what actually was the best way to achieve this.....so I guess my job this time is to engage the services of someone that does this for a living and see what he says. Interesting point about the earthing though.....I never considered that.

And of course......small lady is chewing my ear to just slap some bricks together....

If your building a house the reinforced ground foundation lay out and depth needs to be designed to suit the ground area and your columns set out and raised from it.

This is a subject I'm considering at the moment. I need to find someone that knows about all of this to tell me exactly what I can or need to do before I even put two sticks together..... and we all know how difficult it is trying to weed out the 'experts' from the people that actually know what they're talking about.....

I guess you'll be paying particular attention to the damp proof course then...... Glad to hear you're out of it though.....

It's for sure an exciting time but it's loaded with so many questions to answer, as " rgs2001uk " said :-

Whats your budget, by what % can you afford to go over budget?

Probably the most important one.

hahahaha yeh....I can tell its going to be 'interesting' hahahaha...... but I'm up for it. I guess if I can stay off the beer long enough I'll even have a budget