Buying A Pool Table

[TheGameJustIs]

1. living in a condominium, do you think itll be too loud and drive the neighbors insane?

2. can they even get it up to the 20th floor? or does it come in pieces?

3. links to sites or info on stores that sell em.

much appreciation my friends.

[John K]

Contact ‘Ball in Hand’ on Sukhumvit soi 4 in the Raja car park near ‘Sin.’ I understand that they also sell tables or at least give you the best information. They also have a pool hall in the Time Square building near the Asok BTS.

[submaniac]

1. living in a condominium, do you think itll be too loud and drive the neighbors insane?

Since when did anyone in Thailand care about noise pollution on the neighbors?!?!?!?!

[Bluelotus]

They can assemble it in your room , I recommend the 3 piece granite top a balance of value and quality

[grantbkk]

Contact: Hans Kuiper at [email protected] He is a very honest distributor of locally made tables in Thailand.

[Payboy]

you cant go wrong with sovereign

call Pattanakarn Co., 02 2355411 to 5

[tasasc]

Well, I wouldn't want to be underneath you when your balls are bouncing on the floor

[Spee]

1. living in a condominium, do you think itll be too loud and drive the neighbors insane?

There are lots of ways around this concern.

First, order a table where the balls stay in the pockets rather than coming to the end of the table in a ball return. Ball returns make more steady noise than the occasional break, especially when the balls fall out of the track and into the gathering space at the end of the table. As for the breaking games like 8-ball and 9-ball, keep those to the normal daylight hours and play something like 14.1 straight pool during the quieter times.

Where the balls fall into and stay in the pockets, you can either buy a table with leather pockets, which are very quiet. Or if the pockets are hard plastic, you can put some pads in the bottom and around the edges, so the balls don't make as much noise when they go in.

You could also ask the neighbors for their opinion, or even invite them over for a game once in a while. There is always a way to socialize something like that. Also, I would make sure the landlord or condo group has no issues with it.

Make sure you cues have rubber bumpers on the butts so they don't make noise when you knock the butt on to the floor, as will happen when you are holding the cue waiting for your next turn at the table.

2. can they even get it up to the 20th floor? or does it come in pieces?

Any decent table is going to arrive in pieces and be assembled on the spot. Decent slates will be three-piece and at least 3/4" inch thick. The rails, legs, etc. will all come as separate pieces and be assembled in place. Make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing with the cloth installation and pay the extra money to get some decent cloth instead of something that will wear out in a few months.

If you are a serious player, then pay extra for a top flight table mechanic to assemble and balance the table and do the cloth. A nice tip for a job well done will ensure that you get good service down the road when you want the cloth to be replaced.

Expect the delivery and install to take the better part of a day, so you will probably need to plan to be off work and on the premises for the whole day. When it comes to the install, most of the real money is in the slate. Make sure the slate gets up to your flat without damage. Inspect it carefully before it is installed on to the frame. The slate should be immaculate. A top mechanic will treat it like fine glass, but the laborers moving it may not.

EDIT: During install, for security, you may want to have a reliable friend around. You're going to have between 2-4 strangers in and out of your home for several hours. You may need to be down on the street at the loading dock for part of that time. You should want to have someone in your flat at all times, or at least around to help you with another set of eyes.

Even though the table will arrive in pieces, you will need to make sure the pieces will fit in the elevator, through the door, around the corners, etc. I would make sure to bring the seller and installer over to your place for a look-see. Make sure they agree that what you are about to buy will actually fit. Find out in advance what the largest and heaviest individual pieces are and make sure transit places can accomodate them. That should include the packaging material. Be very careful around someone who wants to remove all the packing material on the ground floor "because it is easier" or "because it is the only way it will fit."

Make sure your table is sized for your flat, or vice versa. To play comfortably, you will need 4-5 feet in any dimension from the rail edge. So a mediuim sized 4ftx8ft table actually needs a minimum footprint of 12x16ft or preferably 14x18ft.

Any decent table is quite heavy, because of the weight of the slate. A very well made table can easily go over 1000 pounds, or 400-500 kg. Make sure that your floor structure is satisfactory to handle the load of the table. Normally, this would not be any issue, but with the lax or lack of building standards in LoS, you never know.

I used to know a lot about this kind of stuff at one time. Feel free to PM me if you want an independent opinion when you are looking at options, table models, cloth, etc.

Edited February 22, 2008 by Spee

[thedi]

In 'my' village near Khon Kaen lives a Thai man who bought a pool table and installed it in his house. The next day, he was visited by the police and forced to return the pool table to the seller, because a special permission is required for playing pool.

This was about 6 years ago.

I don't know, if the police was just making troubles in hope of some tea money, or if there really is such a law. But the Thai man returned the pool table and plays Boule with his friends ever since. Boule is OK with the local police here.

Regards

Thedi

[kalasin]

In 'my' village near Khon Kaen lives a Thai man who bought a pool table and installed it in his house. The next day, he was visited by the police and forced to return the pool table to the seller, because a special permission is required for playing pool.

This was about 6 years ago.

I don't know, if the police was just making troubles in hope of some tea money, or if there really is such a law. But the Thai man returned the pool table and plays Boule with his friends ever since. Boule is OK with the local police here.

Regards

Thedi

In Kalasin a similar rule applies to table football.

What a shame.