Renovating an old rural village house.

[Viggen840]

20 hours ago, Faz said:

The labourer arrives at 0805, but by 0830 the builder is a no show.
The old guy, fed up with waiting, walks across to his home to enquire. 10 minutes later, he returns to advise us he's gone to watch the Moto cross rally being held near the village !!!

TIT - This is Thailand!

[Viggen840]

On 3/25/2023 at 7:04 PM, Raugh said:

With all due respect Sir. The problem, if i am reading correctly, is that you are not supplying 1 bottle free Lao Khao at the end of each workman's shift. Certainly with the approach of Songkran you would be well attended to if free booze is offered as a perk to the werk.

Sorry. It was a poor attempt at humor by a fellow inmate of Wondrous Thailand!

Best of luck with your project and have a super visit to the ol' Mother Land :)

Say Hi to the Queen for me.

There might be something solid in what you say. I don't wait for the end of day, but slip a bottle in mid-afternoon.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Faz
removed reference to royalty

[Faz]

It's been a while since I posted any updates on progress.

We had a break of several weeks due to our UK trip, but since we returned, (as in the wife and I), have been busy continuing with the internal painting and shopping for the next phase of the renovation project, namely choosing kitchen cupboard units, floor tiles, wall tiles and bathroom fittings, which is very time-consuming when you have an idea of what you want, but finding it is a different matter.

To refresh memories, before we embarked on our trip to the UK, the builder had just finished and prepared the ceiling in the front room ready for painting, and was two thirds of the way boarding the ceiling in the main living area, which measures 10.5 metres x 5.5 metres, with a half dividing wall.

Our first task was to paint out the front room, the builders to finish boarding the main living are, scrimming and filling and sanding down the joints ready for painting.

Everyone has their own technique for painting and in my case I prefer to first mask up around door frames, window frames, sockets, trunking before starting to cut in with a brush around these areas, before rolling the large open areas. Once the second top finishing coat is applied, the tape can be removed, leaving nice clean lines. Tip, don't use any old tape, I use low Scotch low tack painter's tape, which can be left for days, even weeks, then removed cleanly without leaving any adhesive residue, or damage to surfaces.
Available from Home Pro in 3/4, 1.5 and 2 inch widths.

 

[Faz]

Each and every room is receiving two coats of Dulux Inspire (matt emulsion) to the ceilings and also used as a single base coat to the walls, before the top coat of Dulux Easy Clean sheen emulsion.

The wife is applying the finishing touch to the front room, at which point I then remove the masking tape.

 

 

[Faz]

And again when the masking tape is removed.
Job completed.

 

 

[Faz]

The builder returned to complete boarding the living area, scrim tape and fill the joints, although it took him 3 weekends of hide and seek to complete. Even then, after he announced he'd finished, I found enough areas not properly skimmed or sanded and totally unacceptable, in order to recall him for a further half day.

We fitted a hatch in one corner for access to the loft area at a later date if required, and I've already fitted two fluorescent light fittings within the loft space. I ran the loft light switch through another switch, so both have to be in the 'on' position. This will hopefully prevent the loft lights being accidentally left on and not visible.

The next phase of the project for the builder is to start tiling. The bathroom and kitchen being the priority order, so I can start fitting the bathroom and kitchen fitments. One problem is that we still have a few pieces of furniture that are full of junk from 25 years ago, so that needs bagging, to be sorted at a later date, and to make remaining furniture lighter to move around as the areas get tiled.

We decided to initially move as much furniture as possible into an area of the living room. If I had my way, I'd discard most of it as junk, but understandably it holds sentimental value for the wife and her family.
I had to convince the wife it would be a good idea to first paint that area out to avoid moving the furniture twice, so that's what I was doing last weekend.

After the builder finished the living area ceiling.

 

 

 

[Faz]

Ceiling area painted and base coat ready for a top coat on the walls.

 

 

[Faz]

 

Rather fortunately and good timing in our situation, the annual 'June' sales are upon us once again.
Although not required for some time, we thought we may as well take advantage of the savings while they are available.

 

One L&G Fridge/freezer and washing machine for when we're ready to install.

[Faz]

Those weren't the only items delivered this weekend past.
As previously stated, 'we've been busy shopping'.

The problem now is all 3 bedrooms are full of materials for the jobs at hand, so the kitchen and bathroom are the priority, so fittings can be fitted to clear other rooms for tiling.

Kitchen fitments, bathroom ware and the previously ordered Win Favour fan/lights for the bedrooms.

 

 

 

 

[Faz]

Then in another bedroom, floor tiles, wall tiles and trims.

For all floor areas, except for the bathroom, we both agreed to a matt non-slip, darkish tiles.
We spent hours searching before finding a choice of suitable tile, we both agreed on, that complimented both the white walls and brown doors.

Time will tell!

Due to weight, they could only deliver half of the floor tiles this weekend, the remainder to be delivered next weekend.

 

[Faz]

Choosing bathroom tiles was easier. The wife liked a simple white and dark grey patterned wall tile, which I went along with. The floor tiles again, darkish, matt non-slip, so a dark grey and white was the obvious selection to match the wall tiles.

Floor tiles.

 

Bathroom wall tiles - oops, one was broken in transit.

[Faz]

The third and last bedroom are full of painting and plumbing equipment.

[Marc26]

Awesome, always love an update on this thread!

 

Can't wait to see the finished product

[Gord]

On 6/26/2023 at 11:44 AM, Faz said:

It's been a while since I posted any updates on progress.

We had a break of several weeks due to our UK trip, but since we returned, (as in the wife and I), have been busy continuing with the internal painting and shopping for the next phase of the renovation project, namely choosing kitchen cupboard units, floor tiles, wall tiles and bathroom fittings, which is very time-consuming when you have an idea of what you want, but finding it is a different matter.

To refresh memories, before we embarked on our trip to the UK, the builder had just finished and prepared the ceiling in the front room ready for painting, and was two thirds of the way boarding the ceiling in the main living area, which measures 10.5 metres x 5.5 metres, with a half dividing wall.

Our first task was to paint out the front room, the builders to finish boarding the main living are, scrimming and filling and sanding down the joints ready for painting.

Everyone has their own technique for painting and in my case I prefer to first mask up around door frames, window frames, sockets, trunking before starting to cut in with a brush around these areas, before rolling the large open areas. Once the second top finishing coat is applied, the tape can be removed, leaving nice clean lines. Tip, don't use any old tape, I use low Scotch low tack painter's tape, which can be left for days, even weeks, then removed cleanly without leaving any adhesive residue, or damage to surfaces.
Available from Home Pro in 3/4, 1.5 and 2 inch widths.

Faz you are a true craftsman.

Painting is my nemesis. I can do it but i just don't enjoy it. Kudos to you on your strategy for taping etc.

I remember a couple of little situations where i was somehow involved in painting and watched in horror while the others applied paint in equal parts sloshing and slapping.

Taping?

They laughed at my attempts while drops and drips slowly descended in agonizing slow motion.

I put down my brush and politely walked away. That was when i understood why painters drink.

[MarryBell]

The most important thing to fix first in an old house is the sewer. I think it is very important to do the sewer replacement first, then you can avoid big problems. The best way is to contact Trifusion Plumbing & Foundation Repair and they will take care of everything properly.

Edited September 5 by MarryBell