gavin310

We're currently toilet shopping at Boonthavorn and for some reason all the toilets that we like are 3/4.2L. I'm thinking we want at least 4.5L or 4.8L, but I'm just going off of the old reputation that low-flow toilets get stuck too easily. Since there's no shortage of these 3.8-4.2L toilets, I'm wondering if maybe toilet "technology" has improved in modern times. Should a 4.2L toilet be fine? I'll be honest, I've clogged up a few toilets in my lifetime, and I'm hoping that our new toilets won't have that problem. I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

7 hours ago, Susco said:

 

They will cost more than 2-3K, but are top quality

 

https://deceuninck.co.th/deceuninck-color-options/

I actually checked out this company already, but the doors on their website weren't the style I wanted. But, I just went to their German website and they actually have modern looking doors in their gallery. We called the Thai number and I was fully expecting them to say they aren't available in Thailand, but we spoke to a person and they said they can custom make them! So we sent them what we're looking for and they're going to get back to us with a quote. Obviously it won't be cheap, but if it's the same quality as their standard front doors it might be worth it. Contrary to what some others have said, many of the UPVC door and window systems are very strong and secure. Nothing like the cheapo ones in Home Pro or Boonthavorn. Thank you so much for recommending this! Hopefully what they come back with isn't a complete shock...

2 hours ago, Susco said:

 

The pictures of the doors the OP posted, can be perfectly made in uPVC with wood grain cladding, and no risk of expanding or shrinking.

That's what I figured, but unfortunately I can't find anything in Thailand. My wife (Thai) is looking as well, but all we're finding is pretty generic looking stuff. I found some nice looking stuff, but judging from the price (around 2-3k baht) it's not going to be the quality we want. 

2 hours ago, RobMuir said:

 

Rayong doesn't get much rain.

 

A wood door will work, expand and shrink a bit. UPVC won't have any issues.

Oops, I meant Ranong! Thanks for catching that.

12 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

No they are not. A good quality door that has been correctly built and correctly fitted during the wetter part of the year will not bind,  it will shrink a bit during the dry/hot season but if it’s both well built and correctly fitted you will probably not notice that. Also since you are near the sea the humidity will probably not to drop as much as more central areas. 
 

If the door warps it’s either badly built or they did not use correctly seasoned wood, though it could be that they used a species that isn’t stable.

 

Rain will have little effect but high and low humidity over weeks will. The reason rain won’t do much is the finish you put on the door will make it shed the surface water. 
 

if you have to have the door fitted during the dry season be prepared to have it taken of for adjustment sometime in the first year. 

THANK YOU! This is really helpful. I guess the only issue I'll have is knowing which doors are well built. Do you happen to have any key points we should be sure to ask whichever company we talk to?

We're currently building a house and I'm hoping to get some advice on the front door. I want a modern wood door like so many of the new modern houses in Thailand have. I've attached some examples of doors that I like. Ours would just have the door with a viewing window on the door, but no side windows.

We're using a UPVC door and window system for most of the doors and windows in the house, but the front door they offer is not what I want. I want the front door to be real wood or a wood pattern and a nice modern style. When I mentioned wanting a wood door, our builder advised against it due to warping and expansion from moisture. The land is only about 100 meters from the ocean and we live in Trat province, which is one of the two wettest provinces in Thailand (Rayong and Trat are the two wettest in the country). The front door will be under a ledge that comes out about 1.5m, so the door won't be directly exposed to the elements, but if there's strong wind with rain the door will almost certainly get wet.

I understand the concerns our builder has, but I was looking at homes for sales on Koh Samui and Phuket and so many of them have a wood front door just like what I want. So I'm wondering, how they can all have wood front doors if the issues with warping and expansion are a real concern?

From what I understand, with proper maintenance and care these issues aren't so bad with a wood door. But maybe due to living in such a rainy province and living near the ocean our situation is a bit different?

I tried finding UPVC doors that match the style I want in Thailand but have not had any luck. There are some that are very cheap (2-3k baht) that look nice, but those are not the strength and quality I want for a front door.

Sorry for writing so much here. I guess what I'm wondering is, are our builder's concerns about a wood door warping and expanding real enough that we should stop considering a wood door and just go with UPVC?

And also, I would love some recommendations for companies in Thailand that make either wood or UPVC doors that match the style I'm looking for.

Thanks!

My wife and I are applying for a loan to buy land and build a house. After months of getting everything in order, we're nearly approved. Today the bank sent their people out to survey the land to finalize everything. What they said is even though this land is chanote, it's not a normal chanote and is not as safe as "normal" chanote land. Apparently the land used to be Nor Sor 3 Gor, but a new law allowed the land to be changed to chanote, which the owner did. They said it's not as safe as normal chanote because if a new politician comes into office, they could change this law and revoke the chanotes. I've always been under the impression that all chanote land is as safe as you can get, so this is obviously surprising to me. I made them confirm many times that this land is in fact chanote (Nor Sor 4 Jor), and they confirmed it is indeed chanote land and you own full rights to the land, but it's not 100% sure that won't change later. The lady at the bank helping us with this process said their people are researching the chanote further and will let us know, but that it's basically 50/50 if they'll give the loan for this land or not at this point.

Does anyone know what they're talking about and could explain it better to me? And has anyone gotten a loan for this type of land before? At this point I'm not even sure if we want to pursue this land if what they're saying is true.

I'm considering signing up for LUMA Asia Care Plus. Everything looks good, but it seems they're relatively new so I can't find too much info. Does anybody use them, and if so have they been good about covering what they're supposed to?

I originally had the 1GB TrueMove H package, but I ran out of the high-speed 3G before the month was over, so I bought another package (the 5GB package). Now I just got a message saying the 1GB package will automatically renew tomorrow, but I already have the 5GB package with plenty of high speed data left. How can I prevent the 1GB plan from renewing tomorrow? Obviously I have no use for it at all. (You'd think TrueMove's system would be smart enough to see I already have a 3G package...)

Thank you guys for the info. I ended up just buying the 899 3G package again trough that website. I have a new problem now. I just got a text saying the old 350 baht 3G package is going to automatically renew tomorrow. Obviously I don't need this package and don't want it to renew, but I have no idea how to cancel this. Does anyone know how to stop this old package from auto-renewing?

I just saw in another post that you can add an additiona1GB for 150 baht if you dial *900*8903#. I just tried that and it says this "ขออภัยค่ะ คุณไม่สามารถสมัครแพ็คเกจนี้ได้ค่ะ" which means that I can't sign up for this package. I have the 899 baht 5GB plan and it's not expired, so why can't I buy the extra data?

I bought the 899 baht, 5GB "unlimited" data plan. I just ran out of the high speed 3G. Is there a way to add additional high speed 3G to this? I tried to purchase the same plan again, but since it's not expired it won't let me do it. There's also a 10GB plan for 1,699 baht. If I purchase that plan will the 899 baht apply to the cost?

There's also the 49 baht daily unlimited package which appears to have a data cap of 140GB. If you renew every day that's about 1,500 baht a month. If the data is really at 140GB, that's basically unlimited (at least more so than these other ones) so maybe it's worth it to just pay the 50 baht a day. Has anyone done this?

It's a typo, 140 MB.

Damn. Thanks.

There's also the 49 baht daily unlimited package which appears to have a data cap of 140GB. If you renew every day that's about 1,500 baht a month. If the data is really at 140GB, that's basically unlimited (at least more so than these other ones) so maybe it's worth it to just pay the 50 baht a day. Has anyone done this?

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/3g/toppings/iplay/entry/654

ignis, you can't rely on True's website. There are MANY plans that are still available that are not listed on their website anymore, which is why I was asking about these "Unlimited" plans.

What this means is you get full speed 3G up to the cap limit, the capped speed once breached.

e.g. (speeds up to 3GB) means, the first 3GB of data per month is at full 3G speed (whatever that is for you), then after that your max. speed is limited. The limited speed varies depending on plan from 128kbps to 384kbps (not mbps as shown in the graphic)

for the lower plans < 759 Baht, you start paying excess data rates after you use the plan gigs (expensive).

The bottom line is, 3G is still uber expensive.

Ok, thanks.

As I was Googling for the number to dial to renew my 3G plan for TrueMove (with a data cap of 3GB per month) I came across the graphic below. Before this I didn't think TrueMove had an unlimited 3G plan. Before I sign up for this, does anyone know if these unlimited plans still exist? In the small print for the unlimited plans, it says "speeds up to 3GB", "speeds up to 5GB", etc. That obviously doesn't mean anything, since there is no such thing as a speed of 3GB for mobile internet. Maybe that's just a typo and it's not actually unlimited but has a data cap of 3GB? Anybody know what's going on here?

You would put all in the countries allowed space.

You should at least put the name of a hotel and the address of one if possible.

Great, thanks ubonjoe

One of the questions on the Thai visa application is "Countries for which travel document is valid". The travel document is my passport. Are they asking which countries my passport can be used to travel to, or which country issued my passport (which they already asked in a previous question)? Also, for my proposed address in Thailand, is simply putting "HOTEL, BANGKOK" a valid answer?

I had no idea alcohol was cheaper in America. Thanks! That'll save me a lot of hassle...

I'm flying to America and I'd like to buy two bottles of booze and stuff them into my checked in bag. On the U.S. customs website is says up to 1 liter is allowed, but anything after 1 liter is subject to duties and taxes. Does anybody know how they decide what to charge you? Say for example I am bringing in two bottles of Absolut Vodka and they cost 800 baht each.

And another question, is it even cheaper to buy the alcohol in Thailand and bring it with you? I don't know what the cost of booze is in America these days.

EDIT: Ok, so I just found some information about the state I'm traveling to specifically (California)...

The new overstay rules are not in effect yet.

You will have no problem returning to Thailand. Others have done it with much longer overstays.

You should get a tourist visa while you are in the states. You can get a 3 entry from the embassy.

Thanks ubonjoe! That makes me feel much better. I plan on getting a 1 year multiple entry visa when I'm back in the states.

So I've been planning a trip back to the states and also moving to a new place in Thailand, and during all that it completely slipped my mind that I never went to the local immigration to get a 30 day extension on my visa. It's been so routine that after I forgot to go it just never crossed my mind. I feel like an idiot.

My flight black to the states leaves on the 15th, so by then it will have been 30 days overstay. I'll need to pay 15,000 baht in fines, right?

It sucks to pay the fine, but what I'm most worried about is being able to return since I have a return flight 1 month later. I checked out the newer, stricter overstay rules and those don't kick in until you've overstayed 90 days or more.

So, once I pay the fine, will this overstay not affect my ability to come back into Thailand? Is this overstay bad to have on my passport and would it be best to renew my passport while I'm in the states?

Since it's summer in the states, I've been seeing my friend's mountain camping and fishing photos on Facebook. I'm really missing that and I'm hoping there's something in Thailand that's in some ways similar. Obviously I'm not going to find the Sierra Nevadas in Thailand, but I want to find a freshwater lake with cooler temperatures where I can camp and fish. In the past in Thailand when I've camped in a tent it got so hot at 8am that I couldn't stay inside the tent, so i want a cooler climate. I know in the north in the mountains it gets chilly... are there any lakes there where you can camp that has some decent fishing? (Shore fishing, not boat fishing.) I'm not looking for places where you can "probably" camp, I want to find somewhere that's known for camping. Mainly for safety reasons since my girlfriend would probably be coming with me. Any ideas?

If you ever feel like a trip up to Essan I'll be happy to take you out on the lake here in Loei.It's a little piece of heaven. I've got a good custom built fishing boat with electric outboard I brought from Scotland. There have been great days & disappointing days over the past few years for me but when you get lucky there's nothing to compare with catching a big wild fish. August, September & October are the best times to go for the big boys. Now I just spin with poppers for Plachon & Plachado. I'm sure you know that a bad day fishing is always better than a good day at work! I used to own a fishing tackle shop in Scotland & brought loads of good gear here. You are welcome to experience what I have available up here any time. Here's one of my better catches. Tight lines mate! Joe

PC140449.JPG

Really nice fish! I'm down in Trat, but I'd love to head up to Issan and fish sometime. I brought 14 fishing rods and 18 reels with me from America.