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There are in general two main categories of perimeter walls: the 'heavy duty' concrete block constructed perimeter wall and the less heavy duty wire fence.
Wire Fence

You might consider this option if you're trying to fence of a large area and just need something quick and cheap. Normally these are made of prefabricated posts that cost about 100 Baht each, some cement and wire, the total cost being much less than a cement block wall. The wire used can be barbed or straight. This won't work if you are going to add fill dirt up to the border of your land, since the wall will not function as a retaining wall.

Cement Block Wall

Walls that are built from concrete blocks are great. They are durable and help hold in the fill dirt. Some things to be on the lookout for are: 1.) Poured fence posts and much stronger than prefabricated ones. 2.) The fence post should be poured around the rebar structure after the cement blocks are laid in-between. This binds the structure together and is much stronger than if the posts are poured first. 3.) The ideal distance between posts is about 2.5 meters (the inside measurement from post to post). 4.) The main ingredient which makes the cement blocks themselves strong is the application of the cement stucco. The stucco application should be at least about 5 millimeters thick.

Various Options
Wall Examination

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Considering building a house or having trouble with your water supply? These days water is of primary concern no matter where you are. Not to worry, there are a number of options as follows:

If you are in the city area you can hook up to city water. This is the easiest and cheapest (at least to set up).

Some housing developments outside of the city area will have communal wells which serve the entire development. Water charges are up to the administrator of the well and can be very expensive.

A regular ?€?dug?€™ well. These wells are hand dug and are normally 7 or more meters deep, depending on the underlying water level.

A deep water well. A truck will come out and ?€?drill?€™ a 4 inch hole for pipe placement. The well is much deeper than a standard well, normally 30 or more meters.

City Water

City water is the way to go if you are in a covered area. The cost is 3.5 Baht per unit per month. A unit is one cubic meter. Cheap and relatively high quality. If you are building with the city, you will first need to apply. Hookup cost will vary depending on the convenience of the water main. Service and quality can vary by area. In some areas of Chonburi I've heard that there are long periodic water outages with city water.

Communal Wells

This can be like being caught between a rock and a hard spot. My brief experience with communal wells has not been pleasant. When renting a regular house in a fairly nice area I found the water service to be terrible. The ?€?administrator?€™ of water in a small area with about 50 houses claimed the water was not sufficient and would turn off the water periodically, with no notice, for periods of up to 1 week. There is no regulation, so everyone complains but nothing happens. His reason for shutting down the well is vague (pipe broken somewhere in the system) and there is no time table given for repair. Then it has gotten even worse with the water going offline virtually all the time except for 1 hour a day in the morning.
the full Info->Water Article

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For the most part getting a metal gate and metal security fencing made and installed is a pretty simple process. Make a trip to a few different metal shops to get bids. They will come out and measure the area before giving the bid. As far as the style, they have books with hundreds of different styles to choose from. From ornate to simple, it is just a matter of picking out the design. The simpler designs save on labor time and can be just as attractive. As I describe in the cool gate write up, in my particular case I had day laborers on-hand who were skilled in metal work and could do the job. If you find yourself in this situation realize that normally in this type of case the gate and metal security fencing cannot be very ornate. There will be limitations on bending metals and shaping design work. In the stated case all materials needing to be specially shaped were purchased from a shop who sold prefabricated designs.

As far as cost and style, the most basic decision is whether to go stainless or not. Stainless is better quality and will not rust. Except for the detail highlights stainless isn't painted, so there is no paint to wear off. The downside is that stainless is very expensive, probably at least twice the cost of using regular metal. Not only that, on less than large luxury houses I don't think it looks that good, being that it is kind of pretentious and gaudy looking. Besides, if regular metal is properly primed and painted, rust is not that much of a problem.

The most critical part of the gate, in my estimation, is the wheels. I've been in rental houses with the cheap 1" wheels, and they are produced to last about 6 months. After that the bearings start to go, and it is a painful ordeal to open the gate. If you going to the trouble to put it together, use good wheels. The really good wheels are made from stainless and are difficult to find in and around Pattaya. I bought the ones in this example on Theppasit road, and paid a really inflated rip-off price. Then later I saw good quality 3" stainless wheels at Homepro for under 400 Baht each, less than 1/2 what I paid.

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Neat add-on projects can spruce up the appearance of a house. Here are some ideas.

Planter Boxes

Planter boxes can be built from a number of different materials, and of course in any size desired. The can be designed as a natural 'separation' wall, as in the example shown here. In this case we separate the patio from the carport and front of the house. The materials used are red bricks, cement and metal rebar for strength.

Paving Stone Walkway

Paving stones like these come in various shapes and colors. In this example we use sand to level the area in front of the patio that was for the entry path. Then the paving stones were placed on top of the sand to complete the walkway.

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There are many specialty companies that do metals and specifically gutters. They carry 4, 5 and 6 inch width gutters. In the example shown here, 6" gutters are used, which is normally the recommended width. The normal galvanized gutters run about 180 Baht per linear meter (installed), the gutter and downspout counting separately. When you move up to stainless, which is rust proof, the cost goes up to about 400 per linear meter. The galvanized is slow to rust, in has a life span of probably 10 years or more.

The company will come out and measure your roof. They then bring all the materials and assemble the gutters on-site. They basically weld different sections together to make the required length. Then brackets are set and the gutter is laid in appropriately. The gutters are sloped at about 2% to allow the water to run down and out the downspout.

Gutters are often used in combination with water tanks to capture and store rain water.

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