Meanwhile, the boys put up the barn in a day.

 

 

The only reason it's not complete is that we ran out of my recycled roof tiles and the local builder's merchant were nil stock. Tiles will be delivered tomorrow for installation on Sunday when the block walls will go up too.

 

The staff enjoy a well-earned beer and a swim (along with the grand-kids) before enjoying dinner of my specialty Korean barbecue pig complete with imported kimchi

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

It's not quite complete, bench No.1 hasn't had it's stain on the seat and bench No.2 is still a kit.

But SWMBO has decreed that tonight it will be inaugurated with a Korean dinner :)

 

By the way, the timber is tropical hardwood of various pedigree, I hate to think what it would cost back home.

When we got it for the chook house it had already been used for at least one house and probably a rice barn.

Now it's a picnic table, I have retained the recycled "features" by not filling any of the nail, bolt, screw or (a few) termite holes. OK, I was too lazy.

 

Table seems to have passed muster, stable and (just) large enough (1m x 2m) it was still groaning under the weight of the food.

 

  

 

 

EDIT I see photo 2 has a very expectant looking Mr Punch (the dog), both he and his sister (yes, Judy) were too stuffed to move by the end of the day

 

One of the nicest houses I've seen over here. I always liked the old style classic Thai houses, with a modern touch.

Compliments.

5 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

One of the nicest houses I've seen over here. I always liked the old style classic Thai houses, with a modern touch.

Compliments.

Thanks, much appreciated. We put a lot of thought and work (and cash of course) into our home. It's not going to be to everyone's taste but we are very happy how it's come out.

 

Of course, like all these things it's an ongoing project, luckily I enjoy a spot of DIY and Wifey's three grown sons are happy to help out with concrete and the steelwork I can't reach.

 

Next job, replace those roller blinds on the downstairs telly area with plantation shutters. Onwards and upwards

 

On 8/21/2014 at 7:33 PM, Crossy said:

I'm still fixing stuff and probably will be forever

I'm a procrastinator, around the house I like putting things off but I'm always surprised most times how quick the job gets done if you have the right gear and tools. 

 

It's rewarding having a few cold beers after job done 🍺

 

3 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

It's rewarding having a few cold beers after job done 🍺

 

 You wait until the job is actually finished??

Since this thread has seen a revival (after 7 years) a few other relevant threads.

 

Our journey into solar https://aseannow.com/topic/1120934-how-about-a-solar-car-port-on-a-budget/

 

 

I'll add others if/when I find them.

 

For those who've not seen how it's done.

Ramps? We don't need no sodding ramps! 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

We don't need no sodding ramps! 

These guys have trust with their equipment. 

 

Just make sure level surface, Looks like the truck, handbrake off and out of gear. 

One of the finials on the teak barge boards fell off when the tenons failed.

It's been sorted including being re-finished.

Madam has, of course, decreed that all the teak is now going to be done so that it matches.

EDIT I have also been informed that the roof will be re-painted too!

She's also getting a new kitchen sink!

Khun Dusit and his crew are doing the job. He was complaining that the old one was very well fixed. I reminded him that it was his crew that installed it in 2011

Sink is done.

The buckets and bowl of water are weights to hold it all in place whilst the "glue" (mortar) sets ovenight. Dusit and the boys will be back tomorrow to finish the silicone etc.

I'm not a great lover of those flexy waste tubes, but that's what came with the sink.

Madam is happy. There could be nookie on the cards tonight

In my real job we have a phenomenon known as "Scope Creep". This is where the Client asks for many "small" changes which on their own are insignificant but when added together become more of a "Scope Leap".

The mended barge-board finial doesn't match the rest of the boards.

So: -

• Easy - re-finish the other barge-boards (all 11 of them) to match.

• The roof won't look nice then, so it needs to be re-painted.

• We had better do the other teak (roof braces, ballustrade, windows, doors) to match the barge-boards.

• Doing the window frames and roof will need scaffolding. Whilst it is there we should re-paint the walls to save putting it up again.

Argh!!

Definitely a case of scope (and $$$) leap.

But the sink installation was "free"!

I love my lady to bits, but there had better be extra "special" nookie!!

I will, of course, report progress with the renovations.

The scaffolding has arrived.

Note the safety flag which is required by law.

The truck's front wheels were barely making contact with the ground, must have been "interesting" on the road.

I knew a big electrical contractor in Southern California that lived in Newport Beach. He had a boat he kept in a slip named "Change Order".

Scaffolding is progressing, slowly!

A bunch of prep work, cutting, making clamps, stakes (in case of vampire invasion). We also had another truck load of bamboo delivered.

Scaffolding clamp, Thai style.

First bits reach for the sky.

Onwards and upwards.

Scaffolding continues.

Including the use of one of Madam's mango trees as part of the structure.

Are you painting they whole house or just the roof and trim?

57 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Are you painting they whole house or just the roof and trim?

Madam decided that since the scaffolding is up we "might as well do everything", my wallet panicked.

Our contractor is very good, same guy built the house and replaced the damaged retaining wall (that he didn't build) but he's not cheap and uses the best materials.

Remember when we had climbing frames at school?

They had a heck of a job getting their assistant up the stairs, Dumbo he is not!

The amount of bamboo that's going up is beyond imagination!

They are supposed to start cleaning the roof tomorrow. We shall see as there's only one lot of roof scaffolding up.

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

The amount of bamboo that's going up is beyond imagination!

They are supposed to start cleaning the roof tomorrow. We shall see as there's only one lot of roof scaffolding up.

"Quantity has a quality of its own."

Busy Sunday.

Roof cleaning has started.

And the termite people are here to re-charge our anti-creature system.

They pump this stuff into the underfloor area (the actual underfloor kit is shown earlier in this thread).

What's going on with the barrel of what looks like charcoal?

26 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

What's going on with the barrel of what looks like charcoal?

It's a barrel of charcoal.

Madam uses it for the barbecue and her charcoal-fired stove. It also powers our Korean style table barbecues that visiting kids really like.

Made from renewable wood (forestry thinnings), burned in the traditional way and delivered by a man on a bike! Pretty carbon-neutral.

It lights amazingly easily using some dry wood kindling (from our own pruning activities) and the blowtorch, no messing around with fluid or the like and definitely no cut up old flip-flops. Ready to cook in a few minutes.

And yes, the food really does taste better!

On 7/10/2011 at 4:50 PM, Crossy said:

OK, it's been a considerable time since we had a blow-by-blow construction thread, so muggins here has decided to reveal all.

This will be a real-time thread (we started yesterday) although updates may become sporadic when I'm out of the country earning the cash to pay for it all.

The Missus has a point-and-shoot so she'll be doing the piccies when I'm not around. My step-son who lives about 100m away will be the primary watcher (I really don't want to call him the supervisor, that will be Wifey), he dotes on his Mum so the contractor will have a hard time if all is not to my our her standards.

After a delay of some 4 years since we acquired the land mainly due to not actually having the cash to build something we're finally in a position to get going. Wifey had some specific requirements regarding the house form (particularly the roof) which caused us some difficulty finding a contractor (they all want to build moo-bahn rabbit hutches, we had something different in mind). We finally went with a local chap who lives in the same village, he's confident he can build as the lady wants and the price was in budget after some hard negotiation by 'Er Indoors We've looked at some of his work which seems to be pretty good, certainly acceptable.

So Saturday (9th July 2011) was go day.

Khun Contractor on the left (actually K. Dusit) discusses the plans with his site manager (name as yet unknown) and my good lady wife.

He's got all the gear (at least a laser level) and the guys certainly seem to know how to drive it.

After some adjustment by the Missus the corner datum goes in, it's 6 metres from the boundary so we're not impinging on anyone's light.

Need to trim the grass (jungle) a bit, no tigers but a couple of snakes were disturbed.

Task 'A' get the workers accommodation sorted, power and water will be connected on Monday.

Things are going to be somewhat basic for the scheduled 6 month construction period, they do have a separate loo though, I will not be testing it.

She Who Must Be Obeyed checks one of her young mango trees, her somewhat random planting of trees has dictated exactly where the house is positioned and oriented.

This will be very interesting to read.

I will come back to this, in due course.

(We all think about building a house, and wonder what it might be like to do so.)

21 hours ago, Crossy said:

It's a barrel of charcoal.

Madam uses it for the barbecue and her charcoal-fired stove. It also powers our Korean style table barbecues that visiting kids really like.

Made from renewable wood (forestry thinnings), burned in the traditional way and delivered by a man on a bike! Pretty carbon-neutral.

It lights amazingly easily using some dry wood kindling (from our own pruning activities) and the blowtorch, no messing around with fluid or the like and definitely no cut up old flip-flops. Ready to cook in a few minutes.

And yes, the food really does taste better!

The only bummer about the "Thai" charcoal is that it does not seem to last long.

We've had few of the clay ovens that the pot sits on at previous houses, it's the only thing the mother-in-law cooks on.

When I was working, I imported a nice gas grill but ended up giving it away when we moved to BKK. I might build a new one with the new home.

8 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

The only bummer about the "Thai" charcoal is that it does not seem to last long.

Yeah, it starts easily and stops equally easily, great if you're only doing one load of whatever but otherwise one must keep re-fuelling.

Meanwhile, the boys washing the walls etc. carefully covered our IP65 outdoor light switches and lights with plastic.

Unfortunately, they didn't do the same with the lighting controller which was then pressure-washed. Said unit was not IP65 let alone IP68, it also now appears that it's no longer a lighting controller either. Grrr.

So, the 15 year's worth of pigeon carp that was on the roof is now on our patio, they're going to re-wash tomorrow ready for roof paint.

No action yet on the teak re-finishing!

Yet more bamboo goes up.

15 hours ago, Crossy said:

Yeah, it starts easily and stops equally easily, great if you're only doing one load of whatever but otherwise one must keep re-fuelling.

Meanwhile, the boys washing the walls etc. carefully covered our IP65 outdoor light switches and lights with plastic.

Unfortunately, they didn't do the same with the lighting controller which was then pressure-washed. Said unit was not IP65 let alone IP68, it also now appears that it's no longer a lighting controller either. Grrr.

So, the 15 year's worth of pigeon carp that was on the roof is now on our patio, they're going to re-wash tomorrow ready for roof paint.

No action yet on the teak re-finishing!

At least they're starting at the roof and working down.

Do they not just oil teak?