Cashboy

I am currently wiring up the consumer unit to the sockets and switches.

The light circuit that runs off 6 Amp MCB that is connected through an RCD in the fuse box.

None of the LCD light fittings have an earth in them.

Surely there is no point in running an earth from the light switch to the light fitting?

That would surely then enable me to run a two core 1.0mm insulated cable to the light fitting in the loft and therefore negate all that plastic trunking?

Is there even any point running an earth from the consumer unit to the light switches as only 6 Amp and has an RCD in the consumer unit?

18 hours ago, emptypockets said:

And...…..?

Sorry for wasting your time reading my post EmptyPockets.

It was my experience and to warn people:

1) that if they are living at a place other than a hotel to make sure they have the original ID card of the person they are staying with and they have to supply the original "House Book" (Blue Book) to prove their address that they did not have to do on the normal 30 day extension

2) that they only stamp your passport for 15 days extension and tell you to come back for another 15 days.

17 hours ago, MagnumForce said:

Hi Cashboy,

Could you please PM me about which officer you dealt with? 

Udon Thani office near the police station complex in Udonthani Town.  The only one I believe in Udonthani.

Today I went to extend my Tourist Visa.

I arrived from the UK on the 29 January 2020 on a 30 day Tourist Visa.

I extended it in February and it ran out on the 28 March 2020.

I went to Udonthani immigration to extend it with my "Thai secretary".

Took:

Passport

Flight Ticket showing return flight on the 27 March

Printed UK letter requesting an extension.

Thai secretary took her ID Card.

I was told that she needed to bring her Blue Book.  That is a book that shows that she is the owner and resident of the house (address that I had given that I was staying at).

Immigration officer told me that if I did not do it today I would get a fine for overstay.

We did not have that on us so had to drive back the 40 kms to get it as well as 2 photos (normally they just take a picture using their web cam at the desk).

Charged the 1,900 bt

Extension was stamped in my passport for only 14 days.

They told me I have to go back on the 14th April and they will give me another 14 days; no charge.

Ethiad told me they will give me a new return journey flight.

However as I used a travel agent, they must do it for me.

Anyway, I checked the earliest flight by Ethiad and it is the 17 April. and the price would be more than what I payed for the return flight (19,000 bt).

My Tourist Extension Visa runs out on the 28 March and my flight out was on the 27 March with Ethiad.

I am a UK citizen and was returning to London UK.

UAE government has told all national airlines ( including Emirates and Ethiad ) that there are no flights permitted for 14 days from the 25th March.

I just emailed the UK government for the email letter from them though reading this forum is not acceptable but showing I have made the effort.

I shall try to online check in on Ethiad website on the 26th March where I expect to be able to do a screen dump of the actual cancelled flight.

I am going to wait until the 26th March to go to the IO in Udonthani in case they tell me to book an earlier flight than the 25th March (doubt i there are any left) to be able to leave Thailand.

I suspect (and hope) by the 26th March most airlines /governments will ban overseas flights so not possible to leave anyway.

I also expect that by then the Thai Immigration Offices will have better instructions and be more obliging.

If the IO Udonthani refuses an extension at least I can show I made the effort and I shall then have to stay until at least the 8th April for a possible flight with Ethiad.

I would not expect an overstay fine based on the Bangkok Post article or have problems with re-entry in the future.

Edit by Maestro: deleted inadmissible link as per forum rule 26 

This project sounds as useful as HS2 in the UK in that it doesn't benefit the ordinary citizens.

The Thai government would have been better off double tracking the existing lines and running normal speed trains (as opposed to High Speed) for freight and passengers to take some of the coaches and lorries off the road.

I actually believe that Thailand as a destination for farang tourists is going to fall.

Even the Chinese tourism will probably be vacating in Cambodia and Vietnam and Laos as opposed to Thailand in the future.

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

Or 6 ????

regards Worgeordie

Putting the coaxial cable in six rooms but actually only have 2 televisions; a Sony 40" (but not smart) and a 56" Samsung  (smart) that I won in a raffle draw at Toyota Buzz when putting a deposit down for a Toyota pick up truck in October 2017.  The Samsung is still in the box unopened and probably old technology now.

3 hours ago, johng said:

I  have not been able to find any DAB ...but haven't really tried very hard   just did a few scans with my Astrometa dvb-t2 usb stick that's supposed to have DAB capabilities...didn't find a single thing ????

Is there DAB radio in Thailand?

What kind of aerial do you need for that?

Is it worth putting an FM aerial up and connecting it up to the distribution amp?

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

You do realise there is very little to watch on Thai Tv, unless

mind numbing Soaps,and really stupid game shows are your

thing,

The best way to get quality Tv worth watching,is either TRUE

(don't recommend) ,or streaming from the Internet .

regards Worgeordie

I do not watch television in the UK either but it is the norm to have a television in the house.

Thank you for that information.

Now you have told me that I have to worry if G4 will affect my signal.

There seem to be a lot of mobile phone transmitters where I live.

I was just looking at the UHF frequency range of this Distribution Amplifier I have and it states 470 - 862 MHz.

Is that the correct frequency in Thailand?

Out of interest is the frequency for satellite the same as the UK at 950 MHz to 2300 MHz ?

I have not messed around with TV installations for years.

The last time was probably 12 years ago when I installed a digital aerial, FM aerial,  a distribution amplifier and 16 TV sockets in my house in the UK.

I recall that when I bought the aerial; the aerial had to be a digital aerial and specific to the transmitter station.  I understood that those parallel bars on the aerial had to match up with the sine curves/frequency of the transmitter.

I generally never watch TV but the Thai secretary does occasionally watch the news.

I have just built a 2 story house in Udon Thani province.

I believe that I do not need satellite TV as there is digital TV.

I am not concerned about internet TV, at this point, as there will be ethernet cables also running to the TV locations.

I am about to run coaxial cables to at least 6 TV location points.

I just bought a Triax distribution amplifier with power supply.   ( Sells for 4,480bt bt on Amazon but found one unused in box on ebay for 370bt delivered to my UK house because I am a cheep skate ).

 This distribution box appears to handle anything I might need.  I gather in this case I shall only need the UHF1 for the TV aerial and 6 of the R/TV outlets.

333112-ddu-guide8-49955.pdf

TRIAX - Domestic Distribution Unit (DDU) - 8 in_out - 333112.pdf

I believe that I shall only need the UHF1 for the TV aerial and 6 of the R/TV outlets.

I shall sort out internet to the TVs at a later date (ethernet wire to box and then to TV using an HDMI).

My dumb questions:

(1) Is Digital TV better than Satellite for the basic free TV service and the way to go?

(2) Where does one buy a quality TV aerial in Thailand for Digital TV ?

(3) Does the aerial have to be specific to the transmitter i.e. do they vary and how do I find the aerial frequency type I need if this is the case?

(4) The distribution Amplifier and power supply unit will be inside the roof of the house.  Is it possible the power supply unit will get too hot in a Thai roof with concrete tiles?

1 hour ago, DJ54 said:

Cashboy Thanks for sharing your build with Forum Memebers. It came out very nice. 

 

Thanks to everyone’s input it helps me decide what to do on my house. House is completed. If some of you could give me ideas/comment on the pictures it would be appreciated. 

 

 

You can buy bird grills. They are plastic strips (about 60cm long) with grills that will fit the contour of your roof tile so you need to go to your roof tile supplier with a tile or invoice with the tile you bought from them.

However they are placed and screwed in from the inside of the soffit so not sure if it is too late for you.

Regarding the amount of incoming air, you will notice that if the rooms are too hot.

I am hoping, like you that the roof tile contours with bird grills will be sufficient but doubt it, especially as their is no vent out.

1 hour ago, DJ54 said:

 

On 10/31/2019 at 8:55 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

You need to be careful about thickness of the cement boards. 20mm will almost certainly be strong enough though very heavy cement board is relatively fragile so to support your weight needs to have either close spaced supports or thick boards

 

As this isn’t structural It’s one of the few places I would consider using plywood, as long as you use enough coats of Chandrite it’s unlikely to provide termites with lunch.

I bought 12 No 2.4m x 1.2m cement boards 16mm thick.  They are sitting on steel joists with 60cm centres so can take a lot of weight.

27 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 

I noticed you did not have any vents in your soffits (overhangs), 

 

and I am not sure if you have any ridge vented tiles . You would need them both, otherwise you cannot initiate a convection cycle in the attic;

A convection cycle works as follows

Air in the attic is heated ,and as hot air does, it rises and escapes from the ridge vents, only to be replaced by outside cooler air from the lower soffit vents, which itself is heated and rises , escapes from the ridge vent and is again replaced from the soffits. 

    Insufficient ridge vents , gable vents and/or soffit vents disrupts that cycle , creating an oven affect.

 

 

I had Perforated soffits as you can see above. If you don't have them they can be retrofitted.

    And designed the roof in such a way that I have gable vents at the peaks.

You cant see them yet because they were not installed yet but that's the best picture I could find.

They look something like this

 

I dont think you have gables in your roof, but if you dont have vented ridge vents, some of your ridge tiles can be replaced with vented such as this, 

 

or an extractor fan, something like this

 

 

You are correct.

I have virtually no ventilation into the roof and that is a concern for me as in no idea what the effect will be.

Especially as the idea was not to use only fans in the rooms and not airconditioning  (though I have wired up the house for 4 air conditioning units and will certainly install one).

The only ventilation I have at the moment is:

Through the plastic grills to prevent birds getting into the roof under the tile ends.

Through the small gaps in the soffit boards. 

Ideally my house should have ridge tiles with vents and the soffits with vents to get a circulation of hot air through the ridge tile vents.

I shall see if there is enough ventilation once the house is finished and go back to the drawing board if not.

The next house I build would have gables.  Much easier to construct the roof with regard to the steel work, less cuts (virtually none) of the tiles as no hips and also easier to ventilate with grills on each end of the gables.

28 minutes ago, transam said:

My house in the UK had insulation on the gypsum, didn't make any difference in the hot period, don't think it made a lot of difference in the cold period either because the house had solid 9" walls, no wall insulation.

I am from the UK and when insulating a house, the first thing you insulate is the loft. 

Best return on money invested; next would be double glazed windows.

The purpose is obviously to insulate to keep the heat in as opposed to keeping the heat out.

In the UK they are now using 200mm (8") of insulation in the loft now.

You probably would not notice much because the temperature in the UK never gets that high.

The builders shall finish painting the outside of the building today.

I was surprised by the amount of paint available in Thailand and the wide difference in prices.

I ended up using Captain Parashield.

This is their most expensive range but is acrylic, supposedly has UV protection, 15 years of protection  etc etc.

I decided on white semi gloss to reflect the sun.

Prices before quantity discounts:

Base Coat (5 US gallons) = 19 ltrs   3,000 bt

Top Coat (2.5 US gallons) = 9.46 ltrs  1,800 bt

I didn't realise that a US gallons is less than UK gallon until now.

It worked out best (after experimenting) to put 2 coats of Base coat on and then 2 coats of Top coat on.

Recommended was 1 base and 2 top coats and obviously the coverage per gallon on the bucket was nothing like it actually covered.

On 10/28/2019 at 7:49 AM, DJ54 said:

Thinking after the fact (build finished 2 years ago) about putting 

insulation under the roof or on top of ceiling (gypsum board). 

 

- Suggestion? 

- Would be efficient? 

- Read about some insulation causing fires? 

 

Thanks

I would think the best way to insulate the roof is by laying insulation in the roof on top of your gypsum boards.

Again; SCG, Diamond and Dura all supply and can be bought in places like Global House, Thai Watsadu and Do Home.

I have been told it makes a big difference in keeping the rooms below cool and saves a lot of money on air conditioning.

I used 10 cm x 5cm x (1.5mm gauge) steel to support the ceiling gypsum boards.

My intention is to use the rolls of insulation on the gypsum board between the steels and then put cement boards (2.4m x 1.2m) on top of the steel so that I can use the roof for storage and maintenance.

On 10/29/2019 at 10:37 AM, sirineou said:

 

  I have a concrete tile roof, only because the wife wanted it, I guess she had a metal roof all her life and now wanted something different. But IMO metal roofs require less maintenance,  cool down much faster in the evening. and have a much higher waterproof integrity factor than cement tiles roof.

Though having said that, It would also be fair to say that so far I never had a leak on my cement tile roof. And to also say that IMO cement tile roofs are more attractive. 

Though, in an earthquake I much rather be under a metal roof than a concrete tile roof LOL 

Having put a concrete tile roof on the house, I am not sure if I would do it in future development.

The reasons:

The heat inside the roof gets very hot and stays hot for a long time after the sun has gone.

The tiles weigh more than 10 tonnes on the roof.

You need a lot more and heavier steel to support the roof than say a sheet metal roof.

You need to weld a lot of steel batten to hold the tiles on the roof.

I think that a compromise would be the cement tiles of of 50cm x 120cm; cheaper and lighter and look like concrete tiles.  Dura, Diamond, SCG all manufacture them.

4 hours ago, slappy said:

The secretary brews a cracking cup of Yorkshire tea also.

 

No good without a piece of chocolate with the tea!

22 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Interesting thread. Thank you. Wise decision to use these bricks instead of the massive red bricks. Are they more expensive per sq.m.?

 

The current price in the builders merchants  (Global House , Thai Watsadu, Do Home) for G Con type Blocks is

15 cm thick x 20 cm high and 60cm long is 41 bt each

So a block is 0.6 x 0.2 mtrs => 0.12 m2 so you need 8.33 blocks for 1 m2 => 340 bt per m2 

The price for a 7.5cm thick brick is 21 bt  so => 8.33 blocks for 1m2 => 175 bt per m2

51 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

No disrespect intended, but i built a house in Isaan 14 years ago.

10 kms from the missus's village.

On a 1 rai plot of land, that's 1600 sq metres, walled off.

Our own compound, in the middle of nowhere.

No neighbors.

Still here.

Your place may turn into a wonderful home, but it looks like a small plot of land, ie all house and no garden.

Location looks to be smack bang in the middle of the village.

A sort of stand out mansion among all the tin roof slum dwellers (no disrespect to the tin roof inhabitants).

Not exactly a view to die for, nor the peace & quiet i would require living in the sticks like i like.

Best of luck.

ThaiGuzzi,

I totally agree with you.

The plot of land is all house and no garden and located in the middle of the village.

The house has a foot print of 180 m2 (including over hanging roof) and the land it is on is 1.5 nang = 600 m2 including the old house on the plot.

If I was to knock down the old house (living in it at the moment) then there would be more garden but even then I would probably build a large workshop on it.

The view from upstairs is not bad because you have a view above most of the roof tops but not what one would call "die for views".

As a house, the building would have limited resale value because it is too big in comparison to the houses around it.

This building is going to be a house and office for my business in Thailand, hence so big.

If you look at the floor plan you will understand how flexible I have made the building as I was not sure what my plans are.

I also built is so large because the problems of building a large house are basically the same as building a small house.

Location is good being 200 metres from the A2 road (main Kon Kean to Udonthani ).

The all important 7-11 is also 200 metres away (so important to younger Thai).

Market is 350 metres away.

The Thai "secretary" wants to live in her village and that is her land, i.e. I didn't pay for that land and the old house.

The neighbours land and house (old 40 year old wooden house) on 2 nang ( 800 m2) is up for sale but family asking 2 Million bt so obviously living in fantasy world and can keep it.

I agree that living out of the village away from scroungers, barking dogs and motorbikes with go fast exhausts is better.

I bought 5 rai (red chanot) in January 2019 from someone with financial problems for 750,000 bt one kilometer out of the village.

1 hour ago, transam said:

The stair look a bit steep......????

Transam,

You are correct !

The first run hall to half landing are 22.5cm step and 18 cm high but the second set from half landing to landing are 20cm wide and 18 cm high and hence steep.

From some of the buildings I have seen in Thailand, having each step the same height is an acievement.  

I might be able to extend each step by 1cm on the second run of steps to 21cm.

If you ever build in Thailand, you will always find issues with the following:

1) Roof - usually too many hips and eaves joining and with poor building always result in leaks.

2) Stairs - most Thais just cannot measure out right and it is not rocket science (saying that some of the East Europeans working in the Uk seem to be a bit confused).

3) Sewage - just cannot get the correct fall; if a fall at all from toilet to tanks etc.

I haven't reached the sceptic tank stage but shall do that myself with a labourer working with me.

1 hour ago, Aussiepeter said:

Love your house Cashboy. Mt missus and I built a similar palace in Saraphi, Chiang Mai in 2008 and lived there for five years, before cancer sent us permanently to Australia. Had the same problems as you - I also bought a welder and spent hours after the workers left for days putting in extra welds in the roof. We had a Thai builder, but he was too busy with his mia-nois and fighting roosters to supervise his workers, so I had to rectify all the faults, but it turned out great, as I am sure your place will be ! I put terracotta red CPAC tiles on our place and it looked A1. I went back in March this year whilst in CM to take a look - I was shocked at what only 5 years could do in a polluted environment. The tiles on our old place were now almost black ! That and the latest Thai owners had painted it all bright red like a temple.

Good luck - the air wherever you are is clean as from the photos, nothing like what CM has become. Cheers. (PS, I am actually a Brit, (from where the Kray twins came from) but have lived in Oz for yonks).

AussiePete:

Sad to hear that you left Thailand because of health.  I hope you recover and can keep coming back to Thailand.

With all the new Thai immigration rules and compulsory health insurance in the near future there are going to be a lot of farnag that cannot stay.

I used CPAC tiles on my roof but dark grey for practicality.