The Great Wall

This all started back when we bought this double shop house this spring. There was nothing on the second floor of this concrete, three story building. We thought is would make a great master bedroom and master bath.

We had almost everything done before we left Thailand, for the summer, except one wall. The reason we did not do that wall is we wanted the wall about three feet from the support beam. Everyone here kept telling us not to build the wall out of masonry as the concrete floor was not strong enough.

I said lets build it out of metal studs and dry wall just like we do it in America. I said metal because the bugs here eat up wood is a short time and wood is very expensive in Thailand as all the trees have been cut down.

Well, no one here had ever seen what I'm talking about and the metal track and studs were not available.

When we came back to Thailand this fall we spent a few days in Pattaya were a high number of Expats live. We visited a HOME MART and they had the metal and the wall board called "Smartboard". They also told us that the HOME MART in Chiang Rai carried everything. That is only about 50 kilometer south of us.

When we took Daeng's sister, "Mon", to stay with her brother last month we stopped at HOME MART in Chiang Rai to buy the 5 lengths of metal track, 21 studs, 26 cross members, 11 sheets of Smartboard, 500 screws for the metal fabrication, 600 screws to install the wall board, 25 kilograms of plaster, four rolls of joint tape and a few tools to make it happen.

They had everything except the screws to put the metal together with. The man keep trying to sell me regular sheet rock screws. If we used those the head stick out and the Smartboard will not fit correctly. Any way we did not buy the other materials as we were afraid we would be stuck without the correct screws.

I spent at least 10 visits to hardware stores and everyone tried to sell me the sheet rock screws and they are about 1/5th the cost of the correct screws so no one here uses the correct ones.

We are talking about $9.00 USD more for five hundred screws. 3/4" dry wall screws are 75 Thai Baht for 500 and the 3/8" pan head zip screws are 375 Thai Baht per 500. When a skilled tradesman works for 350 TB a day it's a lot of money.

Even our friends in Chiang Mai, Brian & Noochy, tried to locate the screws without success. Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand. They got the same story about using sheet rock screws over and over every hardware store they visited or telephoned.

I talked to the lady at the HOME MART that I usually do business with here in Mae Sai. She told me that they now carry the metal studs and the Smartboard but gave me the same story about the screws. I sat with her and explained why the sheet rock screws don't work well.

She said she would get the correct screws and would have them in three days. I have had her order things before, like the 8" pipe we installed, and she has always been right on with things.

We gave her an order for the metal studs, track, cross members & screws. She said she could delivered everything that day except the screws.

I watched to be sure they loaded the correct stuff for delivery as my order was the first order out of their warehouse. I got laughing as the metal stud come two together which makes it easy for storage. That means they had to separate one set as I ordered 21 studs.

After watching seven men try to take apart the two studs for about 10 minutes I showed then the trick of leather gloves and a screwdriver to start the separation at one end.

It was like the question: "How many Thai men does it take to take apart two metal studs?" The answer: "One Farang!" Farang is the term for a non-Thai.

I'm only kidding as now that they know how to do the separation it will be easy for them to do the next order.

We started installing the track with special concrete screws that we brought from the USA.

The special screws have a coating on them so that all you have to do is drill the exact size hole in the concrete and they run in the screws. No anchors have to be installed. These special screws worked great.

I'm old and work slow so it took me the three days to put in the track on the ceiling and floor myself. I knew the screws would take the full three days so I didn't push very hard,

The screws came in on time and we started putting the studs up and installing the redwood door jams. They use really heavy duty door jams here as they usually are installed in block and concrete walls. The jams have to hold up the masonry over them.

Also the wall we're putting up is thinner than a block wall that has been rendered so I had to have the door company cut the jams down to the correct size.

Things went well. I had never put up a metal stud wall but I had framed in wood walls before. I framed it the same way as a wood wall and doubled the fire stops, the cross pieces, to make the wall stronger as a heavy Teak & Redwood door was going to be in the middle of the wall.

Daeng helped me do most of the studs. I also learned a few tricks like using a set of locking pliers, like the Vice-Grip brand, to hold the metal together while running the screws. They work like a third hand.

After running almost 700 screws to put the metal together we rested for two days as my hands were sore.

We also had some fun. On Sunday, after church at Childlife with the kids, we went with our friend, Pastor Lota, to his "Akha" home village to a Thanksgiving celebration. We eat too much but had a great time.

Daeng and I then put up the inside of the wall using this Smartboard. It is a concrete/fiber board that looks like Asbestos Cement but does not contain Asbestos. It is .8 cm, about 1/4 inch, thick and a 120 cm x 280 cm (4' x 9') piece weighs about 88 pounds. We cut it with a 4" grinder using a diamond saw blade. That worked great but very dusty.

I used tricks that I had learn from working with Merle Cage, a builder in Vestal, New York, when I was a youngster of 17. We put 510 screws in the Smartboard. Now my hands are really sore.

I installed the electrical wires, boxes and everything needed for the switches for the two lights in our master suite and plugs on both sides of the door.

After the electricial was installed Daeng, her nephew Kit and I installed the insulation. We installed the insulation for two reasons. First, to cut the cost of cooling and second to help make it quieter.

We had been talking with a furniture maker about making built in furniture for our master bedroom. We called him to see if he could help with the other side of the Smartboard wall and hang the door. He came the next day and hung the door just like a professional. He also helped cut and put up the other five sheets of wall board. He returned the next day and finished putting in the 557 screws.

Yep, 1067 screws for the Smartboard and almost 700 screws for the metal fabrication. That is a lot of screwing!

Now, the Smartboard needs to be taped and plastered just like dry wall. Gypsum is a name also use to describe dry wall as it is a brand name of the company that makes it. Thbis is like "Scotch" brand tape. The reason it is not used much here in Thailand is Thailand is a very wet climate most of the year. Dry wall does not hold up to water very well, Smartboard does.

Daeng talked to a friend that told Daeng her husband is a plaster/painter. He came and looked at our project and we talked him into taking a little vacation from his present job and doing our work. He did not want to contract the job so we agreed to pay him and his Burmese helper a thousand Thai Baht a day, about $33.00 USD. He was happy with that as that doubles his pay working for us.

I'm glad with hired him as he works very clean and put plastic curtain to keep the dust down in the rest of the house.

We will post pictures of the completed Master Suite when it's completed.