Renovating an old rural village house.

[Faz]

And a couple more.

 

 

With the new front entrance doors fitted, it was time for me to start the task of external painting and plumbing, getting the water tank and pump in situ. But first I needed to paint the rear external walls where the tank and pump were to be fitted.

[Faz]

For the external walls, exposed galvanised steel, soffits, fascias and gable ends, we'd already spent time choosing and 90% agreeing a suitable colour scheme.
Our existing family home is a contrast of white, brown and yellow and the wife wanted similar, although more of a bright lemon than yellow.

The external gyproc soffits and ceilings would be painted white using Dulux weathershield (two coats).
Any exposed galvanised steel (firstly undercoated with red primer), and the fascias would be painted with a golden brown gloss.
The external walls would first receive a coat of white sealer/undercoat, followed by 2 coats of (lemon) Dulux weathershield, whilst the decorative gable end gyproc boards would also be painted the same. It was the colour of the decorative gable end boards we slightly disagreed on. I preferred a fawn/caramel colour which I thought would blend and contrast nicely between the lemon and brown, but hey ho, you can judge for yourself later.

For those who've done some painting, or about to do, I found a limited amount of the choice of available colours in gloss paint compared to the UK. For emulsions, everything comes in white, and they mix additional colours, using the mixing machines, to achieve the chosen colour. The mixing service adds at least a 1,000 baht to the existing price of the 9ltr tubs of white, I suppose a main reason why many Thai houses are externally painted white (cost factors).
Of course, prices vary dependent on the manufacturer and the type of paint being used, Dulux being one of the most expensive brands, but a brand I'm familiar with and trust for quality.

The first coat of external rear wall sealer/primer being applied.

[Faz]

Followed by two coats of lemon* Dulux weathershield.
* Sunglasses may be required.

 

[Faz]

With the rear wall and ceiling now painted, I could start to position the water tank and pump in situ and get some plumbing feed runs in place for water supply and waste.

As with everything else, I'd previously drawn up a plumbing schematic plan, complete with isolation valves, just so I didn't miss anything when in came time to start the installation.

[Faz]

Water tank positioned and basic pipe layout in situ for the tank bypass, in-house water feed and external water feed to the tank.

 

[Faz]

Next step was to install the pump and get the basic water feeds/waste in place for the kitchen, bathroom, washing machine, workroom and external hose pipe.

 

 

[Faz]

With the tank, pump, hose, and basic feed pipes installed with isolation valves, I was now able to connect to the incoming water supply, which had so far ended at a temporary tap sticking up from the garden, fill the tank, check the system and isolation valves for any leaks (non), and continue to extend the waste and water feed to feed the bathroom and front room.

 

[Faz]

Internal water supply and waste ready for the kitchen.

The rear hose pipe is now our water supply outlet for the moment.

Although I've fitted an external water tank and pump, we've found the external incoming water pressure very good, so the tank and pump may only well be used as a back-up, in the event of no temporary mains water supply. Only once a shower is installed, will we know if the pressure without being pumped is sufficient.

[Faz]

With all water supply and waste pipes now in place along the ground areas, the builder can now start with the external concreting of pathways and a drainage ditch.
With the sheer volume of concrete required for this stage of the renovation, we agreed ready mixed concrete, rather than hand mixed, was a no-brainer.

 

[Faz]

And around the rear.

[Faz]

And the other side and front.

 

 

 

[Faz]

Then we thought while we're at it and the ready mixed concrete trucks keep appearing, although we'd planned for a parking area later, why not concrete now!

[Marc26]

I really love this thread,,,,,,,,,thanks for posting

[Naanlaew]

Nice job of setting the jambs and hanging the doors.

Nice even margins are pleasing to see.

Keep up the good work!

[Faz]

A couple of hours after laying the concrete parking area, 'Sid' the snake decided it was time to make his break for freedom, or make it his tomb, popped up from the middle of the area and wriggled away, undoubtably to find a new safer burying place elsewhere in the garden, and leaving his signature inscribed for eternity in the concrete.

This was the second time a snake had been covered in concrete, but managed to escape.
Maybe others left it too late.
Both were small snakes, circa 2 feet long and to the best of our knowledge weren't venomous, probably rat snakes coming from the waterway drainage system.

 

[Faz]

That left just an external water drain and ramp to concrete to conclude the builder's external work schedule.
 

This sloping drain flows to a 4" inch waste pipe that I previously plumbed into the external water drainage system that runs approx a metre outside and along the front of the properties boundaries.

 

[Faz]

To recap;

We initially viewed the old village house in April 2022, to assess the scale of the planned project.
The remainder of April and May was spent, externally clearing the garden, removing an outbuilding and a rear crumble extension that previously housed the bathroom and kitchen.

Internally, the house was full of old decayed furniture, old clothing, bedding and large amounts of useless broken bric-a-brac, as well as the floors being half inch thick with dust.
It was literally a case of clearing as much as possible to gain access and room for the bigger project to come.

We split the project into two stages, the exterior, then the interior.
I didn't place a time limit on completion, but estimated probably a 2-year project, due in part to the amount of work I was undertaking to do myself, and the fact the village house is roughly 74Km from our permanent place of residency, therefore my labour would be restricted to only working at weekends.

Stage 1 - The builder's work schedule.
Remove old wooden external window frames.
Removing old external and internal doors and frames.
Extend the rear building 4 x 9 metres to accommodate a new bathroom and kitchen area.
Remove the existing front porch structure and replace with an extended porch 4 x 9 metres.
Remove the old (damaged) tile roofing, replacing it with an alloy painted and insulated roof covering 9 x 22 metres.
Fitting new external fascias and soffits to the roofline.
Build 3 perimeter boundary walls at a height of approx 4'6" with a total length of approx 75 metres.
Form and concrete external pathways around the external of property.
Build 2 new internal walls to divide rooms and brick up 2 windows.
Fit 10 x new UPVC external windows.
Fit 2 x new external frames and doors.
Fit 6 x new internal frames and doors.
Rendering (plastering) external boundary walls and making good all alterations.

Labour cost estimate 95K THB.

Stage 1 - My work schedule.
The complete plumbing installation.
The complete electrical installation.
The complete external painting.

As it transpired, I ended up fitting all the external and internal frames and doors as they often didn't turn up as promised. The concreted car parking space was an afterthought, not in the original estimate, which they paid for and laid the concrete to compensate for the fact I completed works that were in their schedule of works.

[Faz]

Constant rain delayed forming and concreting external paths, and we were into November before the builder completed his schedule of works and I, rather than continually giving instructions and advice, found some solitude without disturbances (and rain) to continue my external painting.

I had so far completed 90% of my plumbing and electrical installations as well as managing to paint all the roofing soffits, extension ceilings and the rear wall of the house. Now having external paths, it was easier to plant my steps or mini scaffolding on some solid surface, from where I could continue painting.

The external walls were all to receive one coat of white sealing primer base, followed by two coats of lemon Dulux weathershield, however harvesting the rice crops delayed me for yet another weekend.

The wife for the first time in years had planted a rice crop in one of her fields, not knowing for sure what it would yield. As it turned out, she was pleasantly surprised considering the awful weather and many villagers had their rice crops ruined with flooding.

With the builders now off site (although getting them on site was sometimes a task) and delivery trucks ceasing to invade, and now a front wall in situ, to stop the soi dogs and wondering cows from entering the garden area when we weren't there, we'd ordered a gate and was pleasantly surprised when we were advised the gate was ready, and he could fit it that day.

Hey presto, a new gate.

[Faz]

Another photo of the gate, which for once I'm impressed with the workmanship!

For those not familiar with harvesting rice crops.
The rice is at first appearance brown, but covered inside a skin.
It's laid out on nets and continually turned to dry it out - I know because the garden and house were full of the stuff all weekend. Once dried it's bagged, then when ready it's taken to be unshelled, leaving just the white rice. The shelling are sold to pig farmers for food, nothing wasted.

Much has now been given away to other elderly villagers and the local Wat, whilst 20 bags still remain in the house. I thought they may attract rats, but so far I've only seen one rat in the village, and that didn't last long.

[KaptainRob]

3 minutes ago, Faz said:

Another photo of the gate, which for once I'm impressed with the workmanship!

For those not familiar with harvesting rice crops.
The rice is at first appearance brown, but covered inside a skin.
It's laid out on nets and continually turned to dry it out - I know because the garden and house were full of the stuff all weekend. Once dried it's bagged, then when ready it's taken to be unshelled, leaving just the white rice. The shelling are sold to pig farmers for food, nothing wasted.

Much has now been given away to other elderly villagers and the local Wat, whilst 20 bags still remain in the house. I thought they may attract rats, but so far I've only seen one rat in the village, and that didn't last long.

That gate was a bargain Faz, nicely fitted too.

[Faz]

OK, so onwards and upwards with the painting, and I do mean upwards as you'll see.
The builder said I was 'fussy', I'd call it being a perfectionist 
Although I'll 'cut in' at ceilings and do prefer to mask off using low tack tape around doors and window frames to get that crisp clean finishing line. It takes time, but a professional finish IMO.

The white base coat.

And down the side.

I use a brush for cutting in and around door and window frames, before using a roller for anything in-between.

[Faz]

After the base coat, starting to cut in for the first of two coats of lemon.

 

[Faz]

And the finished result;

 

[Faz]

Then the other side;

[Faz]

Getting there;