siam dreamers

On long weekends in hua hin I have massive amounts of traffic noise coming right off the road straight into what amounts to open eves/soffits that are around my whole house. Half the houses around here have either no ventilation and the other half are almost open. Typical Thai underkill or over kill. In order to reduce the noise coming in under the roof it appears I will have to close up a good portion of the almost open eves under the roof that are exposed to the road noise. I can leave some small areas for ventilation but  if I want any chance in dimming the huge megaphone, (called the inside of my roof) this seems like a must.

We also will be creating sound barriers with cement board on top of the fence and between the street and house while insulating the the whole house ceilings in with rock wool safe and sound acoustic insulation.

Even with these three measures in effect i still expect to hear noise but would be happy to get it down to a manageable level for the extra traffic generated on the weekend.

My cost for these sound reduction measures will be under 100,000 baht. We purchased the house at an excellent price, (now we know why) and  have not had to put any real money into it so an extra 100K is reasonable. We don't appreciate being  lied to by the previous falang owner, when asked directly about the noise levels but now he is out and I am in. Karma is a bitch and either he will get his or I'm just getting mine.  

Thanks everyone for your replies. If anyone in Hua Hin has direct experience with sound reduction and would like to help by looking as the place and giving me a second opinion I would apreciat the help. David

I don't have insulation on the ceiling in the bedrooms and plan to install this but my kitchen and living room are an open plan and quite large and difficult to insulate. I don't think any one solution will solve this problem and am willing to attack it from different angles.

I have a house with slated wood strips that make up the eaves around the house. While they are attractive and vent the roof they also let in an incredible amount of noise from the street up into the roof. We live on the street and are working on some ways to minimize the noise coming  into our rooms through the ceiling. We want to cover the wood slats but are not sure what they now use as this area may get some moisture. I have seen both cement board and sheetrock. We will be screwing the material directly into the wood slats. Any input on a cost effective solution would be appreciated. 

Who knows the future but I can give you my take on your current situation. My advise is to put it up for sale at a fair price. I just purchase a home in Hua Hin two weeks ago at a very good price from an owner that wanted a quick sale to move back to Pattaya. I think the property was on the market for under a month. No matter the economic conditions there are always buyers looking for a deal on quality properties, in fact that is when the rich are out shopping.

I also agree with your concern about  hanging on to an asset you are not using and instead renting hotel for the short time you spend in Thailand. My definition of an asset is something that puts money in my pocket, and a liability being something that takes money out. A house that you are not using and is  sitting is a liability in your cash flow. I have been in your situation a few times before and in fact have two house right now and am planning to  put one on the market. I alway find it better to bite the bullet, accept todays market price, and move on to my next adventure. You house is worth exactly what you get for it on the day you sell. Most times I am about 10% less than my initial assessment but since I try to buy right and renovate a little it still works out. Good luck on whatever you. 

In all the land and property I have purchase with my wife I have had to sign a Letter of Confirmation in the land office that reads something like this attachment. No one in the land office ever cared where the money came from, except that it was no longer mine, that was an exchange between the buyer and seller. 

As a side note: this is a very simple matter in the land office in Thailand  but almost impossible and expensive to complete once I am  back in the states. If we are considering a purchse and I will not be in country on the date of transfer we bring  a  "Letter of Confirmation"  signed and stamped before I leave the country. Saves a Whole lot of trouble for about 20 Baht.

Vaccinated Pfizer 2 shots Bangkok. Why not?

Ditto

Thats about how mine estimates came out 2.5 for the initial build and 1.5 to finish. In this case that is why I purchased a finished furnished house for 3 million. To each his own

Dr. Dave I totally agree with your specs for getting a price on a new build Basic Shell Only .

Still I am wondering if the prices we are hearing from other members is for basic shell or more.  From members own experience I would like to know what the initial price from various builders included.

I have a question about the build price. What exactly is included in the  average quotes per Square meter.  The house I posed at 17,000 per sq. did not include walls, tiles and trims, toilets showers, kitchen and appliances, Garden gate, pvc windows, window curtains, screens ect. ect ect. My build qute came in at 2.5m and I estimated another 1.5m for mediam grade fitings, wall, driveway.

Are people quoting per sq. m. prices with  full house with standard contractor grade fittings, (example do the prices include fitted bathrooms, kitchens) or is it the normal non standardized confusion here, (as in most cases) when you are getting quotes for a build. Peoples experience with what was include in the initial quotes received would be appreciated. 

Every time I transfer funds into Thailand I request a letter from the bank (free) recording the transfer. If they want to know where the money comes from with out going transfer this letter always satisfies them.

I also just asked the selling agent about how the list the sq. meter and he said everything under the roof. 

 His wife sent us the house plans and what they told me matched the number on the listing. It included all the living,storage, terrace space under the roof excluding the garage.

I was surprise that the numbers matched because my agent, who is a farang,  tends to give me short incomplete answers. He seems to resent when I ask him basic due diligence questions I would ask about any propertyor large investment I make.  He brags to me about how he does due diligence on any house he list, and has in fact sold or managed a couple idenical houses in our 7 house community, but when I ask questions pertaining to my own due diligence I have to push him.  He is not hiding anything but just a poor salesman who can't hide his disdain for other people.   

As I buyer I have a right to know/find out as much information as I can BEFORE I put the money down. The reason I specifically need to know the approximate sq. meters, who runs the neiborhood finances, are their neiborhood rules, where are fees go, what our finances are like, ect. is I like to know what I am buying and when the day when I list the property I also know I 'm selling. Basically being an American and dealing with an American agent is no more illuminating that having my wife speak to his wife and dealing with  lost in translation.

 I just received my BOQ from the builder and have my total estimated the total cost to build. I am coming in at abut 3.8 million baht for house, wall, and driveway with quite a bit of room for error. The land plot I have for this home is in 137 sq wah located in Pranburi. If anyone see this home anywhere that I may be able to look at it I would appreciate a heads up. Thanks

On Monday I received an SMS appointment for Pfizer at Bumrungrad on the 18th August. Good Luck

As of yesterday evening Medpark hospital was allowing you to register to receive Pfizer on the 18, 19, 20.  when you hit the end of registration process. https://medparkhospital.com/page/covid19-vaccine-expatriates/?utm_medium=&utm_source=intervac  Good Luck

Thanks for the input guys. In a weird twist of fate I have already met foreigner Joe and his builder over a year ago in compleatly different situations. Also from the video I could see the house they are building was about 5 minutes from my house. I ran over today, toured the house and met both Joe and the builder. Thank you very much for the help.

Does anyone Know of a quality house builder in Pranburi Hua Hin area that they can recommend for a new house build. Thanks

Check Bahtsold or https://www.kaidee.com/c12-motorcycle-motorcycle for use motorcycles. A used Royal Enfield 650 with low kilometers can be had for about 165,000 baht. The 500cc and the 650cc are completely different bikes. The 500 is a single cylinder thumper with loads of vibration. The 650 is a parallel twin based on the the 1967 Royal enfield 750 interceptor released in America. Much more in the family of Triumph Norton And BSA. I am not sure about the Honda being easier to service than my Enfield. The dealerships for both in the Hua Hin area are only about 10 Kilometers apart and I try not to have either of them touch my bikes.

I live in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Even though we have a dealer down near us now I find it more rewarding to do the simple maintenance myself.

Thanks guys, I absolutely have considered the window size and flat roof. The front two windows are  7 meters long by 2.5 meters (insane in this heat).  I eliminated the large left one completely and reduced the other by 25% while at the same time reducing or eliminating window all over the house. The window are way too big and way too many.

The roof is not flat but sloped metal. The blueprint calls for a measly 3% slope but the revised plan has been to increase the slope to almost 10%. The slope is enclosed within the box shape so the roof still appears flat. In my location having roof access would not improve my views and I am going for a large outdoor porch. The interior space has been rearranged to increased my front porch to 3m x 4m and wrap around the house.

I have also modified the interior layout by consolidating the two bathrooms upstairs into one large one. 

Thanks for your suggestions and input. I am waiting for the BOQ and bid from my first builder.

I am in the processes of getting a bid and BOQ for building a house in Pranburi using House plans from Banpatan MD19. I was wondering if anyone has seen this identical house built anywhere so we might be able to take a look at it. Also we are looking for a house builder in the Pranburi hua hin area. Any help would be apreciated.