New Home Build "LET THE HEADACHES BEGIN"

[maaka]

will be looking for a good tiler myself come New Year, so if your lot are over Phen way, give me a yell..

as for colors..IMO light colors make the room feel bigger and brighter, and dark colors will make it feel small, and gloomy..so out of your last two photos I also prefer the last one..

[dogger]

I came around for a look see, yesterday, or last year I don't remember actually, but it looked good. Partic the lighter colours you have used, pity you were not there, I could have done with a Fag, not the American fag, the English type.

[Baht Man]

will be looking for a good tiler myself come New Year, so if your lot are over Phen way, give me a yell..

as for colors..IMO light colors make the room feel bigger and brighter, and dark colors will make it feel small, and gloomy..so out of your last two photos I also prefer the last one..

Yea it is a bit dark, but it's the office. I'm planning on putting white wainscoting up to the windows and white base board trim and white chair rail if I can find it.

If not, it's not a big room and easy enough me me to re-paint.

Thanks

[maaka]

Not a problem Bahtman, it was only my opinion..
as long as Ardy and I have tested your liking of the colors, and you are happy, thats all that matters..
I am sure once the fittings and furniture, and white trim are put in the darker colored room, it will look more homely than just bare green walls..

any pics of the kitchen and toilet?? or have we already had them..

[Baht Man]

Not a problem Bahtman, it was only my opinion..
as long as Ardy and I have tested your liking of the colors, and you are happy, thats all that matters..
I am sure once the fittings and furniture, and white trim are put in the darker colored room, it will look more homely than just bare green walls..

any pics of the kitchen and toilet?? or have we already had them..

As you'll see in the following pics the "green" room is not so green.

[Baht Man]

The painters wrappped up their work last week.
If anyone needs any 1L paint samples, IV'e got plenty to give away, especially if yor into reds. I was going to do an accent wall but nothing moved me. Maybe later.

After the scaffolding came down I was quite happy with the look. All neutrals, nice and open with clean lines. The builder is telling me crown moulding would look nice but I'm on the fence with that one.I'll by a few sticks and see what they look like. The rear speaker wires lay along the soffit and I can drop them where I need to in the future.

You can see the green room on the left is not as dark as the prior pic. Guess it it was the lighting.
As the tiling was nearing completin in the baths, he wanted to work on the kitchen. Ok, back to town, pick some tile, lay it out, and take it back.

I've been to the stores so many times, I picked up on some ideas from the displays and pics. The problem with most of the tiles I liked and the amount I needed, most of the time I was told "No stock". Mosiacs were a problem also. Whenever I found what I liked, I bought a lot more than I needed anticipating the future "No stock" problem. Live and learn.

I ordered the granite tops after careful consideration and was told it would take 8 days. We settled on 6. I stopped at the shop a few days after the deposit to check on the progress, I'm glad I did as their idea of rounded and polished edges differed from mine considerably. "Ok, we can fix that". They arrived on time, as ordered and the tile man rounded the edges they didn't. He wanted to them himself after the layout. He'd assured me he had done granite before and rather than pay the shop for the install, he did it as part of his job. His counter top work was as good as his tile and I'm glad I let him do the install. The shop wanted 250 baht/m so I saved a bit there for a few more beers and tranks.

The tops went in quick enough and he made easy work of bullnosing the edges. I've a "U" shaped kitchen with a bar counter facing the open area and a seperate counter on the rear wall to break up the space and give me more storage. I can build wall cabs in the future if I need to.

As soon as he finished the tops he wanted tile and mosiac for the faces. Back to town, "No stock", buy more samples, take back what I don't like. Same story, different day.




BACK SOON

[Baht Man]

With your steep roof pitch, all you need are ridge vents (4 or so on the main section and fewer on other sections) at the apex and a gable on the eastern-most side. Nature will do the rest. Turbines will certainly be spinning like crazy with so much heat coming out. I wonder about noise long-term as they wear and the friction when the wind gusts. That roof will be quite the echo chamber.

Lots of space there in that roof. My vote is still for some kind of storage.

We've got those tiny birds living in our roof edges. All they need is a 2-3 cm gap to get inside. Amazing how they managed. The insulation rolls keeps them at the fringes and not actually inside the roof proper, but something to think about with all that space. Ditto for bats.

You'll also want to have a way to get up there and lay poison for the roof rats. They will make it. I planned for it and they still made it inside. Just one or two over the past 4 years. Dealt with them, though. I heard them when they killed and ate a bird. Spread some poison and no more scurrying.

Yea, maybe ridge vents would have been a safer bet, but I never found any for the flat tiles and time was of the essence. The ones I had in the US worked without a hitch, and maybe still do. But then again TIT.
Besides I like a good strong suck rather than a weak draw that mother nature would provide.

The only storage available in the roof space would be above the dropped ceiling in the kitchen. Access was limited and it would have to have been reframed to support any weight.
I have an additional 4x7m storage building not so far away, so it was really not a concern of mine.

Thanks for the input.

[Baht Man]

Last month I found the floor tile I thought I'd like and as I knew it would be coming up soon went on the hunt again. Same place, No stock. I finally found a place with an acceptable tile, asked about stock...lucky me. 240 boxes in house and I only needed 130. A small deposit was made to have them hold more than I needed and problem solved.

Kitchen tile work continues and I couldn't be more pleased with the workmanship this guy puts out. I asked for a diamond patter in the baths, but it woldn't have mattered in one as the joints were so tight it would't have mattered.

Most of the last window frames were installed. The basic shaped ones went in without a hitch but the two at the top posed a problem and at the first go round and were taken back to re-do. The second time wasn't much better and they grinded out the opening to make them fit.
I always thought the frames were made to fit the hole, not the other way around. None the less, they went in and a bit of touch up paint on the rendering will be ok.

The builders "standard" is 5mm green glass but the installers were pushing for 6mm as a much better energy saving glass. I posted here and there about the differences and understand the the 6mm is laminated with a film inside or on the surface and need to have another look to see if that's the case. If so, I'll go with the 6mm. Another option was "Solar Tek (Tech) glass. 6mm and slightly reflective, with a darker tint, the cost was quite a bit higher than the 6mm.
As it turns out I've learned that the only difference between the 5mm and 6mm glass, is 1mm. No film, no laminate, just 1mm of glass.
I doubt very seriously if 1mm is going to give me "so much better window" for the up charge so as of now, it's back to the 5mm.

As the kitchen tile was completed as far as he could go, he wanted to start on the floor. 90 boxes of 60 x 60 were delivered and off he went. He strung his fishing line on the diagonal for the diamond pattern and marked the wall perimeter for the elevation.

He'd wet the floor, put down a thin layer of cement, then the dry mix. He'd lay the tile, pound it down, remove it and fill in any low areas. Then flip the tile over and coat it with a thin layer of cement, sprinkle the dry mix and re-lay the tile, pounding it dowm until level and on-line.

He made quick work once the first row was down and was laying a tile every 5-6 minutes. Dead on accurate, tight joints and was capable of making trim cuts very precise.

Prior to him starting, I laid the speakers wires I'd probably use in the future, or not. At least the were there when the time comes. I also ran the wires up to the soffit thru some conduit I had embedded in the wall when they ran the electric.

As I knew the quality of his work, I left him alone to do what he did best, without my watchfull eye. The only decisions I had to make before was tile and mosiac color and size. As I mentioned prior, he knows what he's doing once he has the product and design
However...... leaving him alone for two days led to a huge error, not entirely his fault.

I'd mentioned in the past, my conveying instructions without him passing on the info to the workers.

Looking at the floor after two days work, something didn't look right......after pondering a bit, I realized that he forgot to cut in the 4" diamonds at evry other joint.

It meant a lot in the overall look as the area is so large, tile alone looked to plain. I asked the tile man if he could cut them in and he said no, the tile might crack. The Ms. called the builder who talked to the tile man and after the conversation he decided that it could be done.

He's going to have to in-lay 38 - 4" diamonds and I told him if it was going to look like nonsense, leave it alone. He assured me it was no problem and if anyone can do it successfully, he's da man.

I'll get back in a few days to see how he progressed and how good, or bad it looks.

[qon]

Hmm! this is very typical of tile laying technique; lots of dry mix mortar. Often people don't cost the bags of cement in on a job or the costs of retro leveling the floor. If the floor is so bad it will be additional cost to tiling. I prefer my guys using thin layer of cement glue on nice clean leveled floor. The dry mix can be a problem, causing tiles to crack when the dry mix shrinks or crumbles. You can also forget about fixing screws to dry cement floor, it will have no grip.

[maaka]

hey Bahtman, if your tiler turns out to be a good one, then I might get him over on my job, as I have some tricky designs planned for my floor and walls, so I need an expert..if he has a phone number, can you throw it my way..Taa

[Baht Man]

hey Bahtman, if your tiler turns out to be a good one, then I might get him over on my job, as I have some tricky designs planned for my floor and walls, so I need an expert..if he has a phone number, can you throw it my way..Taa

Will do.

[Baht Man]

Hmm! this is very typical of tile laying technique; lots of dry mix mortar. Often people don't cost the bags of cement in on a job or the costs of retro leveling the floor. If the floor is so bad it will be additional cost to tiling. I prefer my guys using thin layer of cement glue on nice clean leveled floor. The dry mix can be a problem, causing tiles to crack when the dry mix shrinks or crumbles. You can also forget about fixing screws to dry cement floor, it will have no grip.

I may agree but you cannot lay a level on a floor 7m wide. Sure, he ran the water level around the perimeter at the walls then strung fishing line, but the occasional highs and lows are what case the problems and I've read here and elsewhere that this method is prefered and I've seen it done at every other build I've watched, except small ones.

And really, I don't see anywhere in the future where I'd be putting screws into the floor.

[ronan01]

I really enjoy this thread and watching your house take shape - and what I have seen so far looks great. Congrats Baht Man. Cant wait to see the final product. I think at the beginning you estimated 150 days for construction? Are you about on schedule and when do you expect completion?

[fatbob]

We use 'Webber' tile adhesive and have done for years, the days of dry pack are long gone, why raise the floor 50mm and all the extra cost?

[Baht Man]

I think at the beginning you estimated 150 days for construction? Are you about on schedule and when do you expect completion?

I'm now at 253 days and counting.
I've dealt with no workers on site quite often, and often accompanied by excuses. Fortunatly, when they do show up the work is great. For the last two weeks the tiler has been finishing up and is about 80% finished with the stone cladding on the face.

During this time, the elec. and plumber could have been inside, but that's to easy

Current state?
Outside: Cladding almost finished, primer and one coat of paint on the walls. A few gutter leaks to address
and minor corrections to be made. Glass needs to be installed in the frames

Inside: All surfaces primed and painted twice. Final re-paint on all the walls to come. Elec. and plumbing stubbed out.
All tile work completed using 50/50 super cement and Weber mix.

I made the window sills (stone products to costly) and ended up with 7" sills on the double block walls. I'm currently installing the finish trim at the door openings and floors.


Work needed:

Final electrical and plumbing fixture installation.
Re-paint interior/exterior. Hang the doors and cabs. Glass install.. Front porch surface covering and handrails.

His guesstimate yesterday was a month but I'm not holding my breath.

New pics and uupdate to follow.

Thanks for the follow.

[Baht Man]

hey Bahtman, if your tiler turns out to be a good one, then I might get him over on my job, as I have some tricky designs planned for my floor and walls, so I need an expert..if he has a phone number, can you throw it my way..Taa

He works (and lives with) the builder and as such may want to consult with him.
No english spoken but the wifes name is Jeed.

He really should strike out on his own with the demand for quality workers.

Good luck.

0822361254

[Baht Man]

We use 'Webber' tile adhesive and have done for years, the days of dry pack are long gone, why raise the floor 50mm and all the extra cost?

Well, on my end there was NO added cost to the build using 50/50 weber/super cement as it was included in the price.

Water came in a few days ago during the BIG rain as there is no glass in the frames yet and the floor was amazingly flat across that span.

And raising the floor 50mm is insignificant to me when I have 5.5M ceilings.

[maaka]

thanks Bahtman for the phone number..

can I ask what Province are you in, or the nearest town..as the tiler is probably no good to me if he is 1000kms away, but then again, if he is an excellant tiler worth his salt then....

will look forward to your pics here..
I am also snavelling ideas off CoolTH, where I see you have left a thumbprint or two...
Big Ups..

[ronan01]

I think at the beginning you estimated 150 days for construction? Are you about on schedule and when do you expect completion?

I'm now at 253 days and counting.
I've dealt with no workers on site quite often, and often accompanied by excuses. Fortunatly, when they do show up the work is great. For the last two weeks the tiler has been finishing up and is about 80% finished with the stone cladding on the face.

Still an excellent project, and not many builds come in on time. Even if it takes about 300 days it will still be a great outcome

[Barney]

Baht Man,
Thanks for showing me through your house last week, looks good and gave me a few tips on what to expect when I build in the next 12 months.
The large area tiles looks good and the post tile laying and cut in of the black diamond looks like it was done originally with the main tiles.

Well done and Good luck with the final fit out.