How to renovate a condo on the cheap? Need flooring, wallpaper etc

[Nickkbh]

A friend of mine does renovations, and interior decorations.

Good with lighting and electrics as well.

Rates are reasonable, and communication is in English.

PM me for his Number.

[Nickkbh]

Btw, getting real wood flooring is nice, and i found a place that has mai daeng for thb 1.000.- sqm.

But getting it laid is expensive.

[eyecatcher]

Btw, getting real wood flooring is nice, and i found a place that has mai daeng for thb 1.000.- sqm.

But getting it laid is expensive.

It is......but as you know if you lay it well you can walk all over it for years.

(bit of advice from the wife)

[Ricardo]

Cant i just put plasterboard against battons say 3 cm from the wall. I cant see how rats would get in there. Plus its on 5th floor i dont think there are rats in the building

I'm sure that the termites would love your battens, and I've also heard that they can eat the paper, on the plasterboard !

Regarding wallpaper, we shipped out 50 kgs of wallpaper to my M.I.L, before she discovered that it doesn't like humid tropical conditions, it peeled-off and also grew lovely mildew !

Edited June 18, 2014 by Ricardo

[tracklayer]

Cable ducting. You can buy hollow plastic skirting boards, architrave, etc etc I.e. disguised ducting. The Thais tend to render with cement based materials not Gypsum. A real pain to cut into. Go the easy route.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sophon]

Just been to tile shop near Payap university, its a large tile shop and have lots

of tiles on show, including many wood effect tiles that look really good,priced

from 250 bht sq mtr,will cost less to lay ,be harder wearing,and will be good enough

for the tenants i think you are looking for.

regards worgeordie

Home Sukkapan.

Sophon

[beau thai]

Many rooms are small here yet furniture oversized. Example 4'6 beds are standard in UK yet unavailable here.

Now found where to get beds and mattresses made to 4'6 and also good quality box spring sofas to my size and a choice of covering-all at modest prices.

PM me if interested as I dont want to be perceived as ramping businesses- in which I have no interest other than as a customer.

Some very suspicious souls on TVisa!!

[ThaiSmarterThanYou]

Hello,

It seems difficult to find cheaper than 15000 to paint a 30 sqm condo (i'm speaking about perfect quality job).

Any information ?

Thank you.

[eyecatcher]

Hello,

It seems difficult to find cheaper than 15000 to paint a 30 sqm condo (i'm speaking about perfect quality job).

Any information ?

Thank you.

Difficult?

This is your budget guide.

A 30m2 condo....tiny bijou will have a wall area of about 70m2 incl say one bathroom.

1 litre emulsion covers 14m2 so thats 5 litres per coat.

Lets say 3 coats= 15litre.

Ceiling 30m2 thats 2 litres per coat so 6 litre total.

You need 21 litres.

The large 20litres tubs of emulsion range from 1000bt to 4000bt depending on manufacturer and application for inside or out but myself i usually choose TOA branded as 4seasons as a good quality all rounder and reckon on 1800 for a tub.

As for labour well you can diy and do a perfect job in your own time or you can be really extravagent and pay a man 2000bt for 2 days.

Either way your cost is going to be between 2000 and 4000bt.

Unless you did a typo and your condo is 300m2. In which case cost wouldnt be an issue!

[haybilly]

Easiest thing in the world, it's only thermalite.

Not if it's one of the many older condos--they use hard concrete blocks and the dust created is amazing--I have just done some cable chasing and the place was covered in dust. It does look better than trunking running around everywhere, though.

[cheeryble]

Actually most teak parquet floors here are the smallest tile size (there are three main sizes.)

Go look in a good woodyard it's amazingly cheap in the very low hundreds per sqm. It's only really made from offcuts or small wood.

Of course it needs laying and sanding a lot of work but that is a well known craft here shouldn't be too dear.

Make sure the substrate is rock solid.

Also make sure they don't use the old fashioned red colour to grout as this will be rubbed in all over the surface go for a yellowish hue (there are three colours commonly mixed for floors and furniture making).

Another option is to lay the teak tiles then use two part bleach several coats it really lightens up though the dark knot wood will retain its colour.

BTW what's the present surface if it's tile maybe you can just go over it with ceramic or even parquet if you can accommodate a slight step somewhere.....do not use cement based adhesive you need proper glue.

Edited November 10, 2014 by cheeryble

[onthedarkside]

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[Konini]

Actually most teak parquet floors here are the smallest tile size (there are three main sizes.)

Go look in a good woodyard it's amazingly cheap in the very low hundreds per sqm. It's only really made from offcuts or small wood.

Of course it needs laying and sanding a lot of work but that is a well known craft here shouldn't be too dear.

Make sure the substrate is rock solid.

Also make sure they don't use the old fashioned red colour to grout as this will be rubbed in all over the surface go for a yellowish hue (there are three colours commonly mixed for floors and furniture making).

Another option is to lay the teak tiles then use two part bleach several coats it really lightens up though the dark knot wood will retain its colour.

BTW what's the present surface if it's tile maybe you can just go over it with ceramic or even parquet if you can accommodate a slight step somewhere.....do not use cement based adhesive you need proper glue.

You sound very knowledgeable on this, I hope you won't mind me asking a couple of questions.

We have parquetry floors, currently stained very dark and varnished over tiny paint splatters - I spent hours with my thumbnail trying to get the paint off before realising that most of them were actually underneath the layer or varnish. The building owner is willing to get in a sander to bring them back to bare wood and be done again as we are currently negotiating a long lease. I would really like to have the floors a bit lighter - they look fantastic but the dust shows up so badly I go around with the dust mop twice a day to keep them looking respectable. The wood is either teak or rosewood, he told me two different kinds were used during construction. Would they have to be stained lighter before varnishing, or just varnished? I think polished would fall into the too hard category for me.

Secondly, a few of the floor tiles in the bathrooms have smalls chips, and anyway aren't to my liking, but I wouldn't consider taking them up because I know that is a horrible job. From a comment you made it seems it may be possible to lay new tiles over the top? I suppose it shouldn't be a real problem because the surface is obviously nice and level - I was going to post a question on this last week and got distracted, so my timing may be good.

[cheeryble]

1. Parquetry

Bleaching is nice but the dark knottier areas on each tile stay dark making quite a big contrast, maybe too big for some tastes.

As for just a standard sand and varnish I had that done too but unfortunately was not there to see.

Fact is it changed from the old fashioned reddish hue to something very attractive and more natural but sorry that I can't tell you exactly how they did meaning not sure whether they just used a different grout rubbed into the wood or whether maybe (likely) the varnish used to be stained with the red hue a decade or two ago.

I'd probably recommend a standard job but ensure you tell them you are not keen on the red look (unless you are) and to finish with regular lacquer.

Matt varnish may suit your taste better but that last job was gloss and it looks terrific.

A nicely varnished floor should be very easy to dust regularly if you buy the right thing to do it.

2. Bathroom tiles

Again I am no real expert.

It is certainly possible in general to go over tiles BUT we have to be aware of leaving voids in the adhesive in a bathroom which could fill with water. The grout needs a solid base.

What I'm saying is I don't think you should use an adhesive gun for a wet area, I would say it needs a spread adhesive which then gets a "combing trowel" (I think it's called?) used on it so there are rows of raised adhesive for the tiles to be nicely bedded in and would provide base for the grout.

Fact is I'm not sure about a thin bed adhesive for the bathroom and suggest you google that one to check further.

If you can raise the level a wee bit extra maybe a quality cementitious adhesive compound can be used.

Sorry not to be more helpful.

Edited November 11, 2014 by cheeryble