Jonny B

do you still require someone? i have sent you a message.

thanks for the replies, just found and booked a place called samui heritage resort, looks pretty nice, just less than 7000 baht for 3 nights for 4 people, 2 bedroom place with 2 king beds, pretty good value. will post once get back to comment how it was.

yeah thats why i was hoping for the 1 room somewhere a bit nicer then can afford 1500-2000 per night, but would really need the 2 queen beds at least.

Many places have what you are after, 2 queen beds might be difficult as they tend to be found in the more up market resorts. Twin rooms are pretty common.

Are you saying 5,000 THB for 3 nights for 2 rooms? ie about 800 THB per night per room?

I guess to help, we need to know more about where you want to stay. Are you here to party til dawn in Chaweng? Or laze and read your books in Bophut?

Do you want beach side? Mountain top? Off the beaten track? Samui has pretty much all shapes and sizes to suit your budget and needs.

hey, yeah was hoping for around that price for both rooms or the one room with big enough beds to sleep 4 people, but will only check in 2 to avoid extra person charge. anywhere between mae nam and chaweng would be good. will do a bit of both, drinks in chaweng and also some relaxing around a pool etc would be good.

cheers

hi, im heading to koh samui next week just for 3 nights, there are 4 of us and would like to stay together, can anyone recommend a decent place to stay with either 2 queen beds or somewhere with twin rooms, hopefully less than 5000 baht for the 3 nights would be nice, especially if it has a pool and decent bar or restaurant area to chill out.

thanks alot

anybody know if theres direct transport from nakhon si thammarat airport direct to donsak ferry terminal, if i land at 3.40pm, will it be possible to get the last ferry to samui?

thanks

Private hire - u may just make it...

thought so, cheers, rough price for that?

anybody know if theres direct transport from nakhon si thammarat airport direct to donsak ferry terminal, if i land at 3.40pm, will it be possible to get the last ferry to samui?

thanks

has anyone done this trip recently from nakhon airport to samui? was it worth, got cheap flights to nakhon for the date i need to get to samui, how long is the bus trip from nakhon to donsak? is there any direct bus from the airport to the ferry?

cheers

can the ford wildtrak be converted to ngv?

I guess in theory all diesels can be converted to a dual fuel system. There are kits available. I've heard commonrail engines are a bit harder, but correct me if I'm wrong here,. I'm not sure.

Don't know how easily it's done as the fuel injection system needs to be replaced by a dual fuel injection system. One of the earliest experiments was in the UK I believe with a company testing LPG and Diesel on a Range Rover. They reported a 25% increase in power and 30% drop in fuel consumption.

so could some1 explain is it different from getting my old civic converted? whats the difference? thanks

p.s i have a good friend at chonburi chevrolet if anyones interested in buying, let me know and will see if i can get you a cheaper price than you've already been quoted.

can the ford wildtrak be converted to ngv?

ahh k, great thanks for that mate. with the superblocks (they are the same as the q-con blocks yeah?) have you tried to drill much stuff into the walls for built ins etc? i have read they are not good or that sort of thing, any experience?

cheers

Yes, super blocks and q-con are basically the same stuff but different manufacturer. No, I haven't drilled anything yet as the house isn't finished, but I have experience from this type of material before and I have never had any problem.

One should, however, use a special type of screw for this material. I attach a link to a site that will show you the type of screw one should use.

http://www.gunneboindustries.com/en/Fasten...eight-concrete/

great, thanks for that mate.

I just bought the land and paid for the house and gave it to my wife . So much simpler if you can restrict your spending to something you can afford to lose than all this heartache over how secure is my interest if it all goes tits up. Not possible for those on tight means I know but maybe worth reminding those with decent money that you can get too wrapped up in legalities.

Not many blokes who have spent a lifetime accumulating wealth are so eager to drop part of it on someone. Would you seriously give a woman back home an asset worth so much after knowing her so long ? Like hel_l would you. Then again, back home you ain't getting what she is giving. Big head, not small head, remember.

yes your both correct but i think torrenova makes a good point about only investing as much as your willing to lose and keep some back up cash in your own account somewhere, it does make things alot easier. even if you lost that it would probably still be far less than what you would have to pay out your farang wife back home if you spilt up.

looks god mate, did you do any wall insulation, can that stuff be used in walls also?

No, the walls are made of double super blocks with air gaps of about 5cm without insulation. Air is a fairly good insulator if it is concealed and the electrical conduits and the water pipes are mounted in the cavities.

I don't think this type of roof insulation is suitable for walls unless one builds metal frames to keep the insulation in place.

ahh k, great thanks for that mate. with the superblocks (they are the same as the q-con blocks yeah?) have you tried to drill much stuff into the walls for built ins etc? i have read they are not good or that sort of thing, any experience?

cheers

I have installed this roof insulation made by CPAC Monier. It comes with double-sided shiny reflective aluminium with glass fibre insulation inside. Although the construction is still not completed one can feel a huge temperature difference between the outdoor shaded areas and the indoor.

CPAC Monier roof insulation cut open

Installed roof insulation

looks god mate, did you do any wall insulation, can that stuff be used in walls also?

Our South facing deck is 5 meters deep a further 1 1/2 meter roof overhang. All walls Q Con, House is 1 mtr off the ground with air flow under. High ceilings maybe 7 or 8 meters with vented roof space. Back wall never sees the sun. Place stays pretty cool.

Some pictures if anyone wants some ideas http://www.flickr.com/photos/banjopicker/ Search around for the deck and outside kitchen pictures, they are all in there somewhere.

awesome place mate, done a nice job there, if u dont mind me asking where is that you live and approx how much would you have spent doing all that?

cheers

Went through exactly what the OP is going through before building. Wide verandas, single depth (so house is longish, apparently to encourage airflows indoors), lots of windows on opposite sides of each room, insulation on roof, high windows to allow heat to escape, high ceilings etc.

My experience of the finished product:

1) east side with 3m veranda - still gets hot because not enough shade trees and also not so breezy. Sun angle now (APr/May) means sun is beating in till around 10am

2) west side with a smaller veranda of only 1m due to builder error, but has many shade trees and breezier - stays cool until about 2pm, after that warms up a little but trees provide some relief. I can sit here without fans on breezy days.

3) bedroom on west side cools down quickly at night so it's fine with just fans by the time I sleep. I still use air con on some nights when it is very very humid and still (usually around 10 days March-May period). Breeze flowing thru room dissipates the heat I think. I never shut windows in my house.

4) I think the positioning of high windows not right in my case, because the sun comes in at 3pm-4pm and heats up indoors. Only happens around this time of the year due to angle of sun.

5) My roof insulation, the thin aluminium foils that is the standard minimum, is inadeqaute I feel but I am not sure if it'll help by increasng insulation on roof.

6) A perimeter wall blocks the breeze on the east side so it tends to feel warmer here than the west.

7) SOme days when it is still, very hot and very humid (probably one week in the entire year according to my own tolerance level) I still use the air con but house is not built for air con due to high ceilings and many windows and vents in ceiling, so not energy efficient to use air con I think compared to a very well insulated smallish room with low ceiling.

My conclusion: passive cooling works to some extent but without a doubt if you can catch the breeze and plant as many shade trees as possible even to extent of shading entire roof, then like the west side of my house, it can feel cooler most of the time. If I had to do it again, I'd make very sure about breeze direction and orientate house accordingly, plant more trees to make sure roof/external walls are not exposed to direct sun, improve roof insulation and wider verandas all around.

thanks alot mate, nice to hear from someone that has actually tried to do the same thing. that helps. it does seem like the best option is definately to plant many trees around the house and extend a nice verandah around the whole house and have some good roof insulation. What material did you use to build, just brick?

do floorboards instead of tiles make a difference. what about structure wise, i read those q-con type blocks are suppose to be better than normal brick, has anyone built a house with these and noticed much of a difference.

I haven't done to much research except that i majored in physics and mechanical engineering <snip>

1. Oh dear. Naam, be a good chap and give your XL ego a rest for a moment or two. My suggestion/comment was directed to the OP

2. If the OP was just starting out in researching this topic then the two sources I suggested would be as good a place as any to start. Scanning these sites - and following the leads to other sources within them - would surely be a lot more helpful to the OP than someone telling him not to bother as it <his goal of cooling his house at least to ambient outdoor temp> can't be done. The Coolthaihouse web site, is as I am sure you know, is far broader in the reach of topics it addresses than is suggested by the opening line you have quoted.

3. One or more posters have suggested the wider eaves to shade the windows and walls. It surprises me that there are not more houses along the lines of the traditional "Queenslander" houses in Australia (you can google on this name for pics and details of what I mean). It would seem to be so much better suited to Thai climate than the North-East American inspired homes that seem to be all the rage here.

thanks mate. haha yeah pretty funny about naam, get them tho.

what makes the queenslander homes cooler, is it mainly just the big awnings/eves going running around them?

One drawback for building a house with concrete blocks is it's not possible to add additional parts if you want to expand your house. My house was built with concrete blocks and there is no way that we can make more windows here and there or collapse parts of the wall to make more entrance like the house built from bricks.

A gas powered disc cutter is your friend

please tell more crossy? what is that?

ahh sorry, didnt realise you meant for cutting the bricks, got ya.

One drawback for building a house with concrete blocks is it's not possible to add additional parts if you want to expand your house. My house was built with concrete blocks and there is no way that we can make more windows here and there or collapse parts of the wall to make more entrance like the house built from bricks.

A gas powered disc cutter is your friend

please tell more crossy? what is that?

check out the areas between pattaya and bangkok, sriracha, bangsaen, chonburi city, bang na, then you have access to all the courses within chonburi and theres heaps of them. pm me if you want some accom info.

cheers guys. keep em coming, would like to hear from some people that have done such steps and exactly what products you used, especially for insulation. w

NAAM - thanks for input, appreciate it and understand what your saying that there is of course a limit to how cool you can make a house in this heat but any little steps to make it even a few degrees cooler inside will help. well i wouldnt live here if i didnt like the heat but i like to be cool and comfortable in my house so it has nothing to do with acclimatising.

cheers

hi, im looking at building a new house within the next year or so and just trying to gather as much usefully info as i can before i start. What i mainly want to know is what are the best materials and methods for building here to keep the house as cool as possible without the use of air con all the time. Back home we say its best to build facing north, should the same be done here? im interested in building a modern, single level style house, so would brick or those concrete blocks be the best option? i read having the long axes of the house east to west and most of the windows on these sides?

anybody know what the prominent wind direction in chonburi area is? does a certain style of roof tile help, roof insulation etc?

my current house is like a sauna during the day and spend a fortune on air-con to cool it so just want to make sure i do everything possible make the next place alot better.

thanks for any info or advice, your time is appreciated.

you will have to venture out of pattaya to find the better ranges, few in chonburi area are Amata Springs - awesome range but can only hit off matts unless a member, can pay 50 baht to use the massive putting green but cant use the chipping bunker area unless member. Another is Thai Country Club-not sure their policy on non member tho. The last is Bangpagong riverside-cheap, decent, balls a bit old and scrappy but have a chipping area, putting green and some grass can hit off and matts are quite decent.

just to update, did my china tourist visa today, only needed to fill out application form, attach photo and submit passport, nothing else needed. still have to submit in the building next to the main embassy, which is about 50m down the soi before the embassy. easy.

did you get the visa back on the same day?

anyone know? is same day still possible? thanks

yes you can for an extra 1200 baht i think it was, i wasnt willing to pay that and luckily my brother in law lives in bkk and got him to pick it up for me.

i own some apartment rooms and get this problem all the time, those liquid products or soda stuff from the homeware shops wont help if its really blocked which your must be. Ours gets blocked from tennants always putting food scraps and just about everything else down there and clogs where the pipe bends. Try putting some hosepipe down there as far as it can go and just keep pushing/pulling it, also works well if you can attach some wire into the end of the hose which will get down the pipe further and should be enough to dislodge whatever is blocking it. if the pips runs outside and is visible you can cut it where it bends and do it from there and then just fix the pipe. If neither of those work your only option will be to get a proper plumbing service {if they exist here} with an electric eel. have fun with it, i know i do.