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[paulchng 0]

Lights, camera, action.

Having Lights in your place is like another milestone in the renovation;

no longer will you be sneaking around with your handphone, trying to figure out what has been been in the dark

Alpha V6 Fan Installation-

Bracket

MBR WIW Pendant Lights

effects of the Pendant Lights (3 modes available :2 halogen, 2ft T5, 2 halogn + 2ft T5)

haha i totally know wat u mean......juz had the lights up a few days ago, now we can go check the works even in the evening time after work, and not worry bout the dark or rushing back, etc

[dexufto 5]

Oh yea, gone are the pitch dark days

Looks like we're on the same phase of renovation; next up should be your kitchen cabinet & carpentry?

Everything looks good

I'd be commencing my laminates floorwork in a couple of days as well. I hope everything will look as good as yours.

Btw, do you experience wobbling with your alpha fan? Where did you get the bracket mounts from?

haha i totally know wat u mean......juz had the lights up a few days ago, now we can go check the works even in the evening time after work, and not worry bout the dark or rushing back, etc

Edited November 28, 2010 by dexufto

[dexufto 5]

Kitchen Cabinet Story

Many a times, i believe most house owners would skim though the layout of the kitchen cabinet. However, should you be intending to use the kitchen regularly. It is advisable you go though the layout, considering the Kitchen triangle, kitchen zones and recommended work allocations(by NKBA). Rather than ended up having to settle whatever (unappropriate) layout that is given by your id/ contractor.

The work triangle (source: kitchen.com):

The “work triangle” is defined by the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) as an imaginary straight line drawn from the center of the sink, to the center of the cooktop, to the center of the refrigerator and finally back to the sink. The NKBA suggests these guidelines for work triangles:

•The sum of the work triangle’s three sides should not exceed 26 feet, and each leg should measure between 4 and 9 feet.

•The work triangle should not cut through an island or peninsula by more than 12 inches.

•If the kitchen has only one sink, it should be placed between or across from the cooking surface, preparation area, or refrigerator.

•No major traffic patterns should cross through the triangle.

Efficiency is the triangle’s main goal, as it keeps all the major work stations near the cook, without placing them so close that the kitchen becomes cramped. The work triangle is also designed to minimize traffic within the kitchen so the cook isn’t interrupted or interfered with.

Your lifestyle should determine the functionality of your kitchen, not the other way around. The work triangle is not a law, merely a suggestion. ;P

Click here some examples of standard kitchen layouts with their work triangle

Kitchen Layout.

There are many layouts you can choose from; single-sided, double sided, L-shaped, U-shaped and Island (drool*)

Our limited HDB pretty much restricts the kitchen space available (unless you choose to extend your kitchen space).

Hence ended up with an L-kitchen Layout (quite typical of current HDB layout) with a tall cabinet+ refrigerator on the opposite side, completing my kitchen triangle.

L-shaped kitchen is a versatile layout. If enough space, kitchen can be combined with dinning area. L-shaped kitchen provide a generous workspace and storage but difficult to optimised the use of space in the corners -Source: Ikea friends Nov issue

The corner space can be optimised by using Blums "space corners" or "Magic Corners", of which are two very costly investments. Have passed this option due to budget.

Lights have been repositioned closer to the kitchen cabinet to avoid casting of shadows, likewise the lights at the rear kitchen is placed beyond the sink for the same reason. The lights have been fitted with coolwhite in place of warmwhite to facilitate the appreciation of food colour.

Kitchen Zone

I got the kitchen zone from Hettich as well as the popular Blum. These are two very useful tools to aid your kitchen plainning.

Blum's Five Kitchen Zones for:

1. Consumables storage
2. Non-consumables storage
3. Cleaning
4. Preparation
5. Cooking

Hettich's Five Kitchen Zones for:

1. Food storage
2. Food preparation
3. Pots & pans
4. Cleaning agents & waste
5. China & cutlery

A bit of both and after much consideration of our size and lifestyle;

here is our kitchen zone:

Edited November 28, 2010 by dexufto

[dexufto 5]

26/11/10 (day 28)

Installation of kitchen cabinet

Our Welmi Spice rack

Our modified "blum-drawer" concept using ss wire-basket in our tall-cabinet

Excel anti-slam runners for drawers

Edited November 28, 2010 by dexufto

[paulchng 0]

Oh yea, gone are the pitch dark days

Looks like we're on the same phase of renovation; next up should be your kitchen cabinet & carpentry?

Everything looks good

I'd be commencing my laminates floorwork in a couple of days as well. I hope everything will look as good as yours.

Btw, do you experience wobbling with your alpha fan? Where did you get the bracket mounts from?

no wobbling so far, its stable.....i think its because we got the baby alpha fan and the blades are pretty short.....

im not too sure bout the brackets...it was installed by my ID so not too sure what bracket came with it, but should be the standard one...

actually we had also bought a ceiling fan for our living room initially, but we realised tat our ceiling was rather low which is which we didnt install one...

but i figured if your fan is above an area where there isnt much walking around, eg. above the sofa then shouldnt pose a problem.....

[manutd1972 1]

but i figured if your fan is above an area where there isnt much walking around, eg. above the sofa then shouldnt pose a problem.....

best not to place a ceiling fan above the sofa, lest kids jump up and down on the sofa and stretch their arms upwards in an attempt to touch the fan. dun wan to imagine the possible consequences should the fan be on when someone tries to do that.

[countblessings 0]

dexufto @ Nov 27 2010, 07:31 PM Post #194  


You're welcome.

And this post is for you.

As requested; my bathroom stuffs from AOS.

Thanks so much, Dexufto. Really appreciate it! Again, lots of very useful info in your posts.

Your sanitary wares look beautiful. Wow! Grohe Euromart Brand for basin mixer, rain shower system, bath mixer! Did they cost you a bomb?

The square tiles on the wall behind the hand shower, where did you buy them, how much per sq ft?

Your kitchen cabinet looks beautiful and very glossy. Is it high gloss piano finish? The accessories look beautiful too. Who did your carpentry? How much did they charge you?

Your fan blades look very close to the ceiling (the pole looks short). Does the fan produce a lot of wind?

I have a friend who lives in a landed house with very high ceiling. She had ceiling fans and they produce a lot of wind. She had no false ceiling. One day, she installed false ceiling. Disaster! The fan blades were very close to the ceiling. The distance between the fan blades and the false ceiling was halved. Now there is hardly any wind when she turns the fans on.

I am in a dilemma. Should I or shouldn't I install fans as the distance between my floor and the ceiling is only 2.4 metre and I am going to install false ceiling. (The distance between the false ceiling and the ceiling will be 6 inches I think) My main contractor said fans with 3 blades are OK. I wil get a lot of wind. I have no idea. I am not sure whether to believe my contractor or not. Could fellow forumers with fan knowledge/experience please comment. Thanks.

[countblessings 0]

Today, an electrician came to do re-wiring site survey of my house which is a 12-year-old executive condo. I bought it recently. It needs major reno. I told the electrician I would want to be able to access the internet for the whole house. At every position where I said there is the work station and I will have a computer there (in Hokkien as the electrician does not speak English, i said computer to mean laptop and desktop.), he would say I need to have a telephone point. In the end, I have 3 telephone points in the 3 bedrooms. I more in the living room and 1 more at the TV console area. Altogether 5 telephone points! I may want to have only one telephone set in the whole house.

Please advise, do I need 5 telephone points in a 3-room condo?

Do I have to connect my laptop or computer to the telephone point when I want to access the internet? In my old house (landed), I can access the internet using 5 laptops at the same time without connecting any laptop to the telephone point.

There is open-net in my condo. Do I need to have a wire connecting my lap-top and computer to the open-net point?

Where is the best place in a house to position an open-net point?

What are the uses of the open-net besides the internet access?

To think of it, since there is open-net in my condo, and if I have open-net access, do I need to have telephone points to access the internet?

What is the cost of open-net access?

I did not ask the electrician all these questions because, I was very dazed by then. First the water-piping people came. Then the air-con people. Then the false ceiling people. And last the electrician. By then, I was knocked out already

I am wiring and IT illiterate, lah

[manutd1972 1]

I am in a dilemma. Should I or shouldn't I install fans as the distance between my floor and the ceiling is only 2.4 metre and I am going to install false ceiling. (The distance between the false ceiling and the ceiling will be 6 inches I think) My main contractor said fans with 3 blades are OK. I wil get a lot of wind. I have no idea. I am not sure whether to believe my contractor or not. Could fellow forumers with fan knowledge/experience please comment. Thanks.

Use a floor-standing fan.

With your low ceiling, by the time u install false ceiling plus a ceiling fan, one only needs to stretch one's arms upwards and one can touch the fan blades liao. dun even need to jump.

and if there's no space between the fan blades and the ceiling, den there won't be much air in between for the blades to draw in and "blow" downwards. u will experience the similar thing as ur friend.

[neubie 2]

Not sure if the spice/condiment/sauce rack is correctly placed, but what i tink these items should be easily accessible while standing near the hob and need not squat down open cabinet, pull out wire basket to take them....

[dexufto 5]

dexufto @ Nov 27 2010, 07:31 PM Post #194  


You're welcome.

And this post is for you.

As requested; my bathroom stuffs from AOS.

Thanks so much, Dexufto. Really appreciate it! Again, lots of very useful info in your posts.

Your sanitary wares look beautiful. Wow! Grohe Euromart Brand for basin mixer, rain shower system, bath mixer! Did they cost you a bomb?

The Boss actually gave me the leftovers from a condo project, definitely cheaper from buying off the rack previously.

However I noted that the Grohe sales ending some weeks ago has better deals for certain selected models.

The square tiles on the wall behind the hand shower, where did you buy them, how much per sq ft?

You must be refering to the mosaics? It's a pretty little expensive thing. a piece of 1 ft x 1 ft costs about $12 bucks plus.

This added to some $350 to my renovation bill after the labour charges.

Your kitchen cabinet looks beautiful and very glossy. Is it high gloss piano finish? The accessories look beautiful too. Who did your carpentry? How much did they charge you?

Thank you. Yap, the Basin cabinet is the high gloss piano finish. I love my bathroom.

I got the Basin+Cabinet+WC package from AOS.

When you mentioned carpentry, are you refering to kitchen carpentary? I costs about $74 pfr I think.

Market rage ranges from this to $85. ID may even charge up to $120 pfr.

Your fan blades look very close to the ceiling (the pole looks short). Does the fan produce a lot of wind?

Yes, I've trimmed the rod by some 10cm; as previously my bedroom was 0.75cm lower than the hall before I level them (which i forgotten).

I was told by the supplier that I should retain a minimum gap of 6" between the ceiling and blade for the ceiling fan to be efficient.

I'm uncomfortable with the original length as it's to low for my liking, hence I trimmed it.

It is quite windy. having some issues with the fan now as it is wobbly when I blasted full speed.

I have a friend who lives in a landed house with very high ceiling. She had ceiling fans and they produce a lot of wind. She had no false ceiling. One day, she installed false ceiling. Disaster! The fan blades were very close to the ceiling. The distance between the fan blades and the false ceiling was halved. Now there is hardly any wind when she turns the fans on.

You are correct, There should be certain clearance between the blades to the ceiling to allow air to circulate.

From "answers.com". how does ceiling fan work?

The result of the angled blades turning is that air will be gathered by the leading edge of the blade and forced to the trailing edge and a breeze is felt coming off of the trailing edge. Within an enclosed environment such as a room in a home or business, the ceiling fan can be used to accelerate the distribution of warm or cooled air within the defined space, reducing energy bills and improving comfort. In the winter, when a warmer interior is required, it is generally considered the most effective operation of the ceiling fan is to "push" the air up toward the ceiling, the lower edge of the blades will be leading as the blades circle. The fan will compress the warmer air in the ceiling forcing it to desend down the walls and pull the cooler floor air up, thus mixing the air within the room and balancing temperature floor to ceiling, creating a more comfortable climate and reducing energy cost by moving the naturally convected warm air in the ceiling into the living space. The fan operating in the "up" mode also reduces drafts. Because the temperature within the room is the same due to mixing, the controling thermostat will be reading the actual room temperature, not just the stratified temperature at its mounted height. For cooling the opposite applies, the fan should turn with the upper leading edges leading as the blades rotate, causing the air to be blown down, this will pull the hotter air in the ceiling into the cold dense air on the floor and mix it, again balancing floor and ceiling temp, the fan is "pushing" the air down and causing drafts, moving air has a cooling effect on the body, by promoting evaporation. A ceiling fan operating by itself blowing air down will provide some relief on a hot day. A ceiling fan operaing in conjunction with an air condintioner will reduce the run time of the AC unit and allow higher temperatures to be set because moving air is "cooler" than still air.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_ceili...k#ixzz16dveqULX

I am in a dilemma. Should I or shouldn't I install fans as the distance between my floor and the ceiling is only 2.4 metre and I am going to install false ceiling. (The distance between the false ceiling and the ceiling will be 6 inches I think) My main contractor said fans with 3 blades are OK. I wil get a lot of wind. I have no idea. I am not sure whether to believe my contractor or not. Could fellow forumers with fan knowledge/experience please comment. Thanks.

Do not install ceiling fan on top of your false ceiling, especially you have this current height of 2.4m

Look for those "hugger fans" should you still love the idea of having ceiling fans. Have them installed on your ceiling instead.

Use a floor-standing fan.

With your low ceiling, by the time u install false ceiling plus a ceiling fan, one only needs to stretch one's arms upwards and one can touch the fan blades liao. dun even need to jump.

and if there's no space between the fan blades and the ceiling, den there won't be much air in between for the blades to draw in and "blow" downwards. u will experience the similar thing as ur friend.

Edited November 29, 2010 by dexufto

[dexufto 5]

Having 5 telephone points sounds ridiculous.

Unless you are telling me that you wanted to plug your all these 5 desktop to internet?

Should you be using laptop, chances are, you would be connected wirelessly via Singtel/ starhub.

If you are connected wirelessly using a wireless modem, (I'm using a singtel modem 'MIO" e.g), you just need one tel point (which this one can be connected to desktop) and (if you need, a router to enhance the signal to the rest of your residential area) so that you can surf wirelessly.

Today, an electrician came to do re-wiring site survey of my house which is a 12-year-old executive condo. I bought it recently. It needs major reno. I told the electrician I would want to be able to access the internet for the whole house. At every position where I said there is the work station and I will have a computer there (in Hokkien as the electrician does not speak English, i said computer to mean laptop and desktop.), he would say I need to have a telephone point. In the end, I have 3 telephone points in the 3 bedrooms. I more in the living room and 1 more at the TV console area. Altogether 5 telephone points! I may want to have only one telephone set in the whole house.

Please advise, do I need 5 telephone points in a 3-room condo?

Do I have to connect my laptop or computer to the telephone point when I want to access the internet? In my old house (landed), I can access the internet using 5 laptops at the same time without connecting any laptop to the telephone point.

There is open-net in my condo. Do I need to have a wire connecting my lap-top and computer to the open-net point?

Where is the best place in a house to position an open-net point?

What are the uses of the open-net besides the internet access?

To think of it, since there is open-net in my condo, and if I have open-net access, do I need to have telephone points to access the internet?

What is the cost of open-net access?

I did not ask the electrician all these questions because, I was very dazed by then. First the water-piping people came. Then the air-con people. Then the false ceiling people. And last the electrician. By then, I was knocked out already

I am wiring and IT illiterate, lah

Opennet is base on running on fiber-optic (FO) cables.

I'm not exactly sure about how the implementation is going to be in the future;

but to prepare for this, you may want them to install the opennet point near your TV area.

Click here for more details

[gimz63251073 0]

Today, an electrician came to do re-wiring site survey of my house which is a 12-year-old executive condo. I bought it recently. It needs major reno. I told the electrician I would want to be able to access the internet for the whole house. At every position where I said there is the work station and I will have a computer there (in Hokkien as the electrician does not speak English, i said computer to mean laptop and desktop.), he would say I need to have a telephone point. In the end, I have 3 telephone points in the 3 bedrooms. I more in the living room and 1 more at the TV console area. Altogether 5 telephone points! I may want to have only one telephone set in the whole house.

Please advise, do I need 5 telephone points in a 3-room condo?

Do I have to connect my laptop or computer to the telephone point when I want to access the internet? In my old house (landed), I can access the internet using 5 laptops at the same time without connecting any laptop to the telephone point.

There is open-net in my condo. Do I need to have a wire connecting my lap-top and computer to the open-net point?

Where is the best place in a house to position an open-net point?

What are the uses of the open-net besides the internet access?

To think of it, since there is open-net in my condo, and if I have open-net access, do I need to have telephone points to access the internet?

What is the cost of open-net access?

I did not ask the electrician all these questions because, I was very dazed by then. First the water-piping people came. Then the air-con people. Then the false ceiling people. And last the electrician. By then, I was knocked out already

I am wiring and IT illiterate, lah

there is wireless for opennet as well, similar to normal broadband, u would need a seperate device --> router

its crazy to have 5 telephone points in this era. In the past, people have telephone points in all rooms so that every room can have a telephone in it. (Can chat in private) Now, most people use cordless phone already, or simply use handphone.

Opennet is quite ex, i think M1 has the cheapest option (in cheapest, i mean lowest subscription rate, may not be the best value for money deal)

U gotta check their website for more details for pricing and installation.

[countblessings 0]

Dear Manutd1972, Dexufto and Gimz63251073

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate your kindness very much.

My reno started today. I have been very busy today, and am dog-tired now

Tomorrow morning someone from Tan Chiang (place where I bot my marble) is coming to measure the floor of my living room, dining room and passage. This is for calculating the size of the marble pieces he will cut from the marble slabs I bought.

The first electrician quoted >$9,000.00. Another electrician is coming tomorrow. He said he can do everything - plumbing, air-con, re-wiring ...

I have not bought my tiles yet, although I have been to a few places. Got to calculate the number of tiles needed and buy them fast.

House Reno is NO JOKE!

[manutd1972 1]

The first electrician quoted >$9,000.00. Another electrician is coming tomorrow. He said he can do everything - plumbing, air-con, re-wiring ...

I have not bought my tiles yet, although I have been to a few places. Got to calculate the number of tiles needed and buy them fast.

House Reno is NO JOKE!

>$9000!!!?? What are u doing tt's costing so much? I've so far only heard of $5000+ for electrical works. $9000 definitely takes the cake, for me.

my reno is completing soon and i'm quite happy wif my electrician's work, helpfulness and quote. very reasonable price and the switches are very nice. using Clipsal aka Schneider Electric's Vivace series. can PM u if u wan his contact.

u dun hv a contractor? u're coordinating ur whole reno urself? why nd to calculate quantity of tiles required and buy them urself?

Sorry dex, OT in ur t-blog.

Edited November 30, 2010 by manutd1972