kamalabob2

My wife was buying roof tile today for her Village House project at the Buriram Builders Merchants. They seem to do a thriving trade in gasoline and diesel back up power generators for Buriram residential, hospitality and farming applications. Mr. Pichai told me that the super quiet diesel generator that has been sold and installed by several expats in Buriram Province is the 5 kw white Jupiter model for 28,500 baht. I was told by Mr. Pichai that he often orders much larger Atlas Copco European made generators for resort owners, but those generators are significantly more baht. He said his electricians have installed generators.

I know an expat who owns this same 5 kw Jupiter diesel back up generator in a village in Buriram Province. He told me "To keep things simple I went with "Dual Sockets". The generator is wired up to a separate breaker box and from there distributed throughout the house. In the event of a power failure I have to physically step outside and turn the key.". That expat had previous electrical experience in Europe. There must be plenty of shops in Isaan that sell diesel generators, but I would see which shops can also be the warranty repair station for the brands they sell.

The Buriram Global House Store and other hardware stores in Buriram sell Draga Super nail instant tack which is "formulated" in Germany. Some stores sell this for under 100 baht a 300 ml tube. Another low priced adhesive is "Max Bond" construction adhesive in the 320 ml tubes. This product is made in Australia but sold in Thailand for a sensible price. It states "Not recommended for mirrors on ceilings".

My wife uses the sort of large glass bowl Mamaru brand "oven" bought from Power Buy as described by happylarry for quite a bit of fish. When I finish building a little bungalow in my wife's village I'm installing the Teka Stainless steel range and I'll keep it clean. The six gas burner Teka range has an electric oven. It is available by special order at the Buriram Global House, Surin Global House, Surin Thai Watsadu, Surin Homepro, Buriram HomePro, Surin Home Mart and Buriram ThaiWatsadu. It is not on display at those fine home improvement stores. I asked and it is not in stock at those fine stores. However I have seen it on display and also a brand new one in the box elsewhere in Buriram so when the time comes for the kitchen appliances it is not hard to compare prices in Buriram Province or Surin Province. I've seen Teka Ovens for under 12K in Buriram and not all the stores charge the same price or have the same delivery fees, nor the same installation fees. Teka appliance repair service covered under the warranty is provided from Ro iet for Surin Province and Buriram Province. My experience with Siemens and Fagor for Kitchen appliance repair service was a challenge due to the location of repair service men far from Buriram Province. Makro in Buriram from time to time has some interesting pizza ovens. "Who will repair the appliance and where will they drive from, and how long is the waiting queue?" are questions I ask prior to buying items now that I have lived here full time since 2006. Lucky Flame makes a compact electric oven with four gas burners that is widely available for under 13K in Buriram or Surin province at most any appliance dealer or modern trade store.

I now use Zelbrite in the sand filter at my home. I had to replace the original unit that JD Pools installed at no small cost in 2008. I used a Buriram Water Pump shop to source the swimming pool pump, filters, salt and zelbrite. They had the staff who are familiar with out water cleaning tanks to come and install the not so expensive swimming pool pump and filters in a small town about 40 minutes from Buriram. I noted it was only a few baht more to buy swimming pool salt form this Buriram company than if I drove to the TRS factory in Korat. Pool and Spa seems to be the source of much of the equipment at this Buriram store, but the owner told me he sources swimming pool chemicals from several wholesalers in Thailand to be able to offer a lower price than most swimming pool companies. Mr. Pichai has the contract to supply swimming pool chemicals to several Buriram Hotels and a sports team pool which allows him to offer lower prices to private residential swimming pool owners in Buriram.

I went to the Buriram Water Pump shop today to buy some Zeobrite filter media and the owner who speaks English, Mr. Pichai, told me he now stocks TRS Swimming Pool Salt at his Buriram store. Mr. Pichai told me he will deliver the swimming pool salt at no extra charge in most parts of Buriram Province and some parts of Surin province if it is part of a larger order of goods. He has never sold Zeolite or swimming pool salt until a local sports team and a prominent hotel owner both offered to buy a large quantity on a monthly basis. The price for swimming pool salt is 139 baht a 25 kilo bag in Buriram. The Zeobrite I bought was under 700 baht per 15 kilo bag. The swimming pool salt might be cheaper if you drive to the Salt factory in Korat up near PiMai and buy a large amount.

I was not offered house paint color cards when I shopped for paint in Buriram at several stores including HomePro, Global House, Thai Watsadu, Home Mart and a paint shop downtown by the morning market. However I was loaned a house paint sample book that included every possible color of TOA House Paint, a sample color book of Nippon House Paint and a sample card book with all manner of house paint colors of Delta paint from a Builders Merchant Store in Buriram. It made it easy for me to find colors that matched the ICI Dulux paint that had served me well but needed to be repainted. I was able to save money on house painting in Buriram by using a brand other than Dulux and the colors matched perfect. The low end series of most any paint brand such as Super Junior, 4 Seasons, Super Matex will only come in standard factory mixed colors and they will not have a color sample swatch of cards, but they will have a color fold out brochure.

You can see the color sample card swatch in the Nippon House Paint photo on the far right of the table near the computer monitor in Buriram. The Delta paint color sample cards which the Buriram store will loan you is also on the far right of the counter top near the umbrella handle. The TOA Paint sample cards are behind the elbow of the paint sales woman "PC", in Buriram at Ruangsangthai. I believe if the owner of a family owned builders merchants store or family owned paint shop knew you were a serious buyer of house paint who would return the sample color book in a day or two they could also loan you the paint color cards they keep at the store in Thailand. Most any large builders merchants store will have one or more "pc" for each paint brand. The Buriram Global House has seven different paint "Pc's". Any "Pc" has access to all manner of product samples and if the store owner or store manager, told the "pc" to loan you the card samples it could happen as was my personal experience in Buriram. A paint company PC has a budget for fuel to go to your house and help you pick colors or to guide your painters. A building materials store owner or modern trade big box store manager has the authority and ability to request the paint company representative to go to your home or building site to help you with color choices and painting procedures. This is not unique to Buriram.

I believe there will be more than one quality window parts supplier company later this month at the Architect Expo. I've seen all manner of hardware offered to window fabricators at this trade show. Certainly some of the major custom window firms doing significant business in Bangkok will have booths at this Expo and will have representatives, if not the owners of those window firms who can understand and speak English. Casualbiker also has a valid suggestion in how to proceed, but that might not get you a better grade of handles. The http://www.architectexpo.com/page.php?a=1&n=203 is April 28 through May 5th and is free if you register.

At my home in Buriram Province I installed several Panasonic Inverter ceiling florescent ceiling lights in 2008 and am very happy with those units. They are now discontinued. However for my wife's family house in a village they wanted to upgrade the Sylvania brand ceiling circular florescent 32 watt lights with LED retrofit kits at a low cost. The lowest price I found on the Eve Lighting 21 watt 1780 lumen daylight set was at a family owned hardware store in Buriram. This same Eve Lighting model number 527119 must be available at Global House or Thai Watsadu in provinces other than Buriram. The price at Homepro in Buriram for the exact same Eve Lighting was significantly higher than the family owned store. The village relatives are very happy with the bright daylight of the LED kit that was easy to install in the old fashioned circular florescent ceiling fixture and it was affordable for hard working rice farmers of modest means.

Kevvy: You have some REALLY nice design features in your home. Congratulations on a job well done.

You might have better luck with: nakhon ratchasima

I've seen drain snakes in the Nakhon Ratchasima HomePro. They might be at the Global House, Do Home, Home Mart or Neo House. Hardware stores in Thailand do not always put this item where you would think it should be placed. They come in blister packs and in cardboard boxes. The new Buriram Global House has a great selection of professional drain cleaning tools near the toilets. Some stores in Buriram stock Ridgid plumbing snakes, but those would not be for a D.I.Y. home owner.

Stiebel Eltron makes water heaters and other items in Germany. And other plants all over the world. The vast majority of the Stiebel Eltron water heaters sold in Thailand are made in Thailand. Plenty of photos of the European manager of the Stiebel Eltron plant on the facebook page of Thailand Stiebel Eltron.

https://www.facebook.com/stiebeleltronasia/photos/pb.117262014971009.-2207520000.1427557165./867690226594847/?type=3&theater

I'm not sure about the larger tank products of Stiebel Eltron that are sold at "dear" prices in Thailand. I've seen made in Germany Stiebel Eltron water heaters in California in 2014 but I did not check all the models. Lucky Flame is a Thai brand but a Japanese company plays a role in their water heaters built in Thailand. Panasonic make some great hot water heaters in Thailand in my experience. Toshiba hot water heaters are made in Thailand at a Toshiba plant and they seem to be fine.

But in my post #17 I was encouraging the OP to buy his water heater for Texas from a USA supplier.

469 Moo 2 Tambol Klong-Jik, Amphur Bangpa-In, Ayutthaya 13160 ,Thailand

Mr. Pichai is the owner of Ruangsangthai Buriram Builders Merchants which has two stores in Buriram. It has been my observation that he spends most of his time at his larger store on the Buriram - Phutthaisong Highway which is directly across Highway 2074 from the Buriram PEA Electric office. It is five minutes heading out of Buriram from the Ekachon Private Hospital. His store number is 044-666-484. His personal mobile phone number is 089-844-9680. He sells, installs and services Grundfos, Schaefer Franklin Electric, Mercury, Mitsubishi, and Frong submersible well pumps. He sells, installs and repairs Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Honda, Calpeda, Ben Luck, Mitsan, and Lucky Star surface pumps. A key reason I have been a customer of Ruangsanthai is that they installed my three water pumps, and if a water pump needed to go back to the store for repairs, they will bring a "free spare loaner water pump" to my house or to my wife's village plot of land where she pumps water for some crops. The only loaner pump I have needed in the past 10 years was a swimming pool pump to be fixed at his shop and in the two days it was not at my house, I had a loaner swimming pool pump provided by Mr. Pichai. The woman who is in charge of his Buriram Tool and water pump repair service department seems to understand and speak English which makes it easy when I do not bring my wife to Mr. Pichai's store. He is on google maps.

http://www.burirambuildersmerchants.com/location-map.html

I've bought a few water pumps in my 10 years living in Buriram Province. The current Mitsubishi water pump and Hitachi Inverter water pump at my home North of the Buriram airport were bought, installed and maintained by a family owned shop in Buriram. The Schaefer Legend Franklin Electric submersible well pump I bought in August 2014 from Ruangsangthai has proven very dependable in my wife's village land. I was show five different brands of submersible well pumps at Ruangsangthai in all different price ranges. The advise was given in English by the owner of the Buriram Builders Merchant Store, Mr. Pichai who understands and speaks English and Thai. He has both young and more experienced men working in his water pump installation department and water pump repair department. He told me he works with several different well drillers in Buriram and Surin Province. Some of the well drillers appear to be cowboys and play very loud music on trucks that could be in the Beverly Hillbillies TV show. Those well drillers might not always buy the top of the line products, might buy cheap pump controllers, might not understand the best way to wire a controller and they might mark up pumps to serve their needs. If the OP wants some options explained in English by a Thai shop owner who does not hide in an office and who gladly helps expats it might be worth his time to visit with Mr. Pichai. He is pictured in a blue shirt with two mobile phones. The man in the white shirt is his Honda garden tools, Honda Generator and Honda water pump sales advisor. The older man in the photo is 60 years young and supervised the water pump installations at my home in 2008 and has been to my house for water pump repairs, swimming pool pump repairs and new additional water tank installations. He is the only person of the four men in the photo that does not speak English, but he does know water pumps and water filters based on my dealings with him.

I went this morning to price a new 2000 liter DOS brand Eco Jazz water tank at the new Buriram Global House Store. This is the water tank featured on the Buriram Highway signs announcing the Grand Opening Sale at the Buriram Global House Store. Excellent large store with almost one million different items under one roof. I noted the Surin Global House store has more items under one roof including a wider choice of fiberglass spas. The enthusiastic store employees seem to be very well trained at this new Buriram Global house. I also priced the Honda brush cutter that my Brother in law has requested I buy at the lowest price from a store in Buriram province. In my brief observation the Buriram Global House charges 6990 baht for the 2000 liter DOS Eco jazz plastic water tank and a local Buriram Builders Merchants store charges 4990 for the exact same water tank model. Then I took into account the delivery fee charged by Global House and the price difference was even more significant as I live past the Buriram Airport. There was a significant difference in price on the Honda UMK435 four stroke Brush cutter with the local shop having a much lower price posted. It might be due to one store being the Honda Wholesale Distributor for Buriram and the other store more focused on importing exclusive brands of Chinese tools that only Global House can sell in Thailand. Both options present good choices for home owners in Buriram in my opinion.

The new Global House store has some very inexpensive Chinese made toilets and Chinese floor tile which might be perfect for use by my village relatives. They only care about the out the door price and are not concerned about any future repairs. It is a Thai way of thinking which has virtue for the village farmer relatives. I was able to get my father in laws Hitachi water pump fixed for 585 baht today at Ruangsangthai across from the Buriram provincial Electricity Authority office where you pay the electric bill. I will be back at the Buriram Global House Store on March 28th when they will have plenty of "pretties" who work for the tool companies and will pose for photos.

For the OP: Given the choice of bringing a foreign product made in Thailand (and never that same model sold in America) to the USA and never getting any warranty support OR buying it from an authorized USA retailer and having real enforceable warranty rights, it is an easy choice. I am the guy who bought a Motorola phone in the USA and could not get any support for repairs in Thailand since that exact model phone was never imported into Thailand.

The electric meters you might see at the Buriram Global House Store are for a landlord to use for apartments or for a private person to use as a sub meter on a family compound. Those meters sold at the Buriram Global House store are not for use for a PEA Electric bill. The Provincial Electricity Authority has the serial number listed for the approved electric meters they charge you to use.

There must be a motivated Netafim drip irrigation dealer in Klaeng or a Hunter lawn sprinkler dealer in your province. I've seen the RainBird sprinkler importer booth at a previous Architect Expo in Bangkok. I've spoken to both the Hunter sprinkler design representative and at length with Sutouch Yamngam who is the Buriram Province Netafim drip irrigation technical advisor. Mr. Sutouch Yamngam is fluent in English and Thai, but my wife had to translate for me with the Hunter Sprinkler representative. If you do a google search for the brand you may find the distributor in your province who is willing to provide personal customer service and a written price quote. "One unforseen drawback is the missus now wants to go buy loads more plants, now its automated watering she wants to get more of it !! " I understand 100% the situation of LivinLOS!!

You can often see bi-lingual representatives of lawn sprinkler companies or drip irrigation firms at Expos which are held in most provinces of Thailand.

I'll go out on a limb here. If you have a properly installed under the counter multi point water heater from a reputable brand such as Stiebel Eltron, Panasonic, Toshiba, or Hitachi and use green PPR pipes or PEX hot water flexible pipes I believe you are not at risk in the shower. You should have the correct size and proper safety breaker dedicated to your hot water heater. But a Schneider Electric or Panasonic RCD or RCCB or GFCI breaker seems a wise choice and the proper sized breaker for your 6000 watt under the counter multi point heater would seem prudent to me. In a 2000 baht a month rental I lived previously I had a Panasonic on the wall shower unit installed and the local appliance store seemed to grasp electric safety to a certain point. The better electricians that were sub contractors on a house I had built in 2007 and 2008 put both one in the bathroom grounded outlet AND the under the counter 6000 baht multi point heater on the same RCCB breaker. It has worked out fine for 7 years. If all those items were readily available in 2008 in Buriram there must be a wider selection available in 2015 in any Province in Thailand.

For water filters and media that goes into water filters you might consider the opinion and offerings of a shop owner who speaks English that actually sells the filters and media for filters to the local water bottlers. Cost and quality of the results may play a role in what shop a water delivery supplier selects and where that for water delivery business buys the materials that go into the water filters. Every province in Thailand has water delivery trucks and they all must buy the water filtration equipment from a supplier they trust. I have priced many water filters over the years. I've seen water filter shops open and then close in Buriram Province. I've noted which stores in Buriram were responsive to my concerns and which shop could explain to my wife how to backwash the filters. The Fitrex filter looked very interesting to me, but I had been cautioned on that filter. The post from Longball53098 confirmed what I had been told. Hence I have three separate sediment filters in conjunction with a Mazuma carbon water filter and a Mazuma resin water filter and not one 4 filter unit. Perhaps the OP can have his wife ask the "water delivery man" where that delivery service buys water filtration equipment and the filters that they use to bottle drinking water. There must be suppliers in every province in Thailand that sell proper water purification equipment at a sensible price.

I have a suggestion for the O.P. He might look in his province at an independent family owned high volume water pump shop that not only sells Mitsubishi, Hitachi or Grundfos water pumps but that is also the "authorized repair center" for each brand of water pump. He should be able to ask in English in person to the owner of a shop he is thinking about spending thousands of baht on a water pump 1) "If this water pump does not function properly at my house will you send your employees to my house to fix it within 24 hours?" 2) "If I bring the water pump to your shop do you have an actual repair department with spare parts so you can fix my (pick the make and model) within 24 hours" or 3) "If my water pump breaks is it my responsibility to bring it to your store in a box so you can transport it to a repair center in Bangkok while I wait with no water pump?" 4) "Do you offer a free replacement water pump while the pump I bought from your store is being repaired?"

I noted today that the water pump shop in Buriram where I have bought and use a Hitachi Inverter MMP400EX water pump, Mitsubishi WP 305Q water pump and a Franklin Schaefer 8 stage submersible water pump has the current advertisement from Thai Watsadu laminated at the check stands showing the local Buriram water pump shop price on every water pump is lower that the Thai Watsadu "sale" price on every Mitsubishi water pump and lower on every Hitachi water pump. There certainly could be a similar cost savings and after the service policy in Johnny Jazz's location. There must be a similar water pump store in his province where the Mitsubishi Deputy Department manager of Fan & Water Pumps Artit Manubrud of Kang Yong Electric Public Company Limited would spend time with the repair staff or Kazumi Hoida the Managing Director of Hitachi Power Tools would spend time with the repair department staff. In my personal experience both Hitachi and Mitsubishi have dependable water pumps, but the shop that you buy it from and that will maintain and repair your water pump can help you select what is best model for your needs and budget. My Mitsubishi and Hitachi water pumps are both serving 6 bathrooms since 2007 with no major repairs and nominal expense after the 5 year warranty period ended.

The Bangkok aluminum window and aluminum glass door company I wish I had hired in 2008 is http://www.aluzat.com/product.html The owner speaks English, has a showroom of sorts and every year has a large booth at the Architect Expo. I now believe my house builder had gotten a payment from the Chonburi window fabricator I did hire and I have often regretted not following the advise on window products given to me in English, in person by the owner of Aluzat. Sun paradise is another firm to price for quality windows in and near Bangkok, http://www.sunparadise.co.th/

The web site which might have information on the grand opening of the Buriram Global House store is www.globalhouse.co.th

There will soon be a large new Global House Store in Buriram. The Buriram Global House is on the same Highway as Buriram I.Q. House. It is around the corner from the Buriram Thai Watsadu store. I am not sure if they accept orders on line or have prices on line. They do have a web site. They have many special prices on imported brands that other stores in Buriram do not stock. Tuf Tools, Wellington Windows, Crate Sanitary Ware sinks and Toilets, Vero water pumps, Sabu kitchen appliances, are but a few of the very economical made in China items that will compete with Thai Watsadu and HomePro in Buriram. Global House Buriram should offer Buriram house builders an excellent way to lower costs with less expensive unique brands of electrical fittings, spa bathtubs, lighting fixtures, kitchen furniture, sanitary ware, taps, plywood, electrical wire, gypsum board, steel, plumbing fixtures, ceramic tile, porcelain tile, rain gutters that are made to high specifications in Chinese factories exclusively for Global House. Global House is owned by SCG and is able to offer less expensive Dura brand cement blocks than Home Mart offers in CPAC or Q-Con cement products. Dura brand cement wood is made in the same factory as Elephant brand cement wood but made to a different specification and is available for Global House to sell at a low everyday value price. The Global House Store in Buriram will be a great competitor to I.Q. House, Thai Watsadu, Home Mart and Home Pro builders merchants store in Buriram since they are all within ten minutes from the Buriram Global House Store. Global House will sell quality Dulux house paint, Captain Paint, Delta Paint, Beger Paint, and Pammastic Paint, among other quality made in Thailand paints.

For more realistic prices to drill a well and to get answers in English I suggest you visit the owner of a local "water pump specialist" in your province. Grundfos, Mitsubishi, Franklin Electric all do a good business with family owned stores that supply the well pumps and well controllers direct to the owner of the well and do a significant trade with the cowboys that call themselves well drillers. Wrong size casing, lies about depth, not use a grounding wire, just a typical day of the well drillers I have observed. I had better luck in Buriram as the same shop that sold me Mitsubishi and Hitachi water pumps for my house also sell deep well submersible pumps. The owner of that Buriram Builders Merchant was able to give me three telephone numbers of well drillers who purchase better grade pumps. I bought the 14 stage Schaefer Legend and Franklin Electric controller from the Buriram Pump shop and paid a separate fee for the drilling. There was no "hourly fee" at any point. I believe many of the Thai Chinese owners of "water pump" shops speak English and Thai in most any province in Thailand. The owner of the water pump shop in your area would be wise to recommend a decent well driller as the seller of the water pump is responsible for the repairs under the warranty period of the water pumps. If cowboys install it wrong and "skip" a couple of the important items, and you end up with mud blocking your water flow you will probably call the owner of the shop that sold you the well pump. Or if the installation team of the water pump seller goes to your home with a proper 4" submersible well pump, but the casing of the well was NOT what your wife was told, and not really the size you paid for, it will cause a wasted trip by the water pump installers.

For the boundary wall most any local builder can give a bid for normal blocks and proper footings. They seem to quote for a certain number of meters between posts and you might want a shorter span. I believe the attractive http://www.fenzer.biz/ walls have been the subject of a thread on Thai Visa. I see advertisements quite often in the Thai language newspapers for Fenzer and it looks like something to price for a long lasting attractive fence. They seem to have sales offices in several parts of Thailand. The same local businesses who make pre-cast floor sections might offer a similar precast fence product as Fenzer. Fenzer seems to have installation teams that can handle challenging soil conditions in Thailand according to a thread on Thai Visa which had great photos.

Puchooay : "Who is "pujaybaan"?" That is just a different spelling for the elected official you might call a mayor in a small town in your country. The advise other posters have given you are well worth consideration and better to have the right papers and permission prior to your event. The fees are nominal if done in advance, the "payments" if you do not have the papers and permission after the fact or during the event are much higher. LostinIsaan must have done this sort of event and has steered you in the right direction. Enjoy a pleasant evening.