Extreme Makeover @ Pandan Gardens

[CoffeeMan 0]

Hi Mae,

One concern is that the utp is usually not run next to electrical cables unless there is some shielding if you wish to meet full Cat6 spcs and get 10GBit when the hardware becomes mainstream. For 1GBit you will most likely have very little problem. Depending on who you speak to, it is usually recommended to leave between 6" and 12" between the two if not shielded. For a retro / industrial look you could run them in stainless steel pipes which would provide the shielding .

Second concern is bending the cables two sharply which will change the configuration of the twisted wires in the cable. The speed is gained as the two cables of a single colour (green / green & white) are used to offset each other. One contains the data and picks up interference along the way, the other picks up just the interference. When they arrive at the network equipment, it takes the interference only signal away from the data & interference signal to hopefully get only the data. For this to work best, both of the individual cables need to very closely follow the same path. Sharp turns can upset this balance as can pulling and tying the cable too tightly. If you can see the individual cables through the outer layer then they have been pulled quit hard. The curling up inside the socket in the picture seems quite tight and if you feel down the cable I bet you can feel the lumps and bumps of the inner cables very easily. A well laid cable will have texture but not strongly defined outlines of the inner cables. There should also not be bulges on the inside of the cable where it is bent. You want smooth snaking curves, not sharp ones following the walls shape.

How much difference this will all make to your signal is debatable but if you want it done right then these are some of the basic rules.

I have a meeting with my electrician this Friday and I suspect he will not like me much afterwards .

Hope this helps.

Oh and like your electrical sockets. Think we could do with some of those .

RB

Rimblock is right. Just met my office contractor yesterday and he told me that CAT 6 cables are not easy to install. 9 out of 10 cables will give problems. And it is not advisable to install them too near to the electrical sockets. Remember to get them check and certified.

[CoffeeMan 0]

Items bought over the long weekends:

WMF stainless steel cutlery set at promo price $299.

Have also bought Sofa & coffee table at Mode Studio (total damage only $1,287).

Sealy Posturepedic mattresses (total spent on mattress $8,800)

For MBR, model Laissex Queen with base Divan, price $4300 after discount

For Bedroom 2 & 3, Mayfair Super Single with C76 Divan, price $2250 x 2 (total $4500)

Bedroom 4, no need to buy mattress as we use back my existing King size Sealy mattress bought a year ago!

I love your WMF cutlery set Always the best!

[mae29 2]

Hi Mae.... how about the following options:

1. Swap the shower area with the basin (maybe too late now)

2. Install the rain shower in the common toilet (at least you get to enjoy it... but you have to Q up w your children)

3. Get a shower enclosure (if there is enough space in your MBR), it has rain shower + hydro massage body jets.

http://www.freeads.co.uk/northernireland/h...-with-roof/view

The only choice now is go for your option #2 - sharing with my children! You can see how cramped my shower area when the 2 plumbers were there adding the extra hot water pipes to the wash basin.

The beam & the pipes....my dream shattered by these culprits!!!

On the hot pipe issue, because of my fickle mind, I nearly broke my ID's nerves & patience yesterday!!! What to do? I am still his customer.....

I know making last minute request is difficult for them to accommodate especially when our plumber had completed the running of the pipes, and at this peak season when all subcons are busy with tight schedule.

Edited January 5, 2011 by mae29

[RimBlock 0]

The only choice now is go for your option #2 - sharing with my children! You can see how cramped my shower area when the 2 plumbers were there adding the extra hot water pipes to the wash basin.

The beam & the pipes....my dream shattered by these culprits!!!

On the hot pipe issue, because of my fickle mind, I nearly broke my ID's nerves & patience yesterday!!! What to do? I am still his customer.....

I know making last minute request is difficult for them to accommodate especially when our plumber had completed the running of the pipes, and at this peak season when all subcons are busy with tight schedule.

How about something like this. I am sure it is not cheap but the inlet end can be in the section away from the beam and the spray section could be attached to the beam meaning its bottom section is only a couple of cm below the beam.

Another option would be to build one with a galvanized / stainless steel plate, thin pipes with holes, junction mount from the main water pipe to the seperate pipes. The separate pipes could be plastic / rubber tubing or stainless steel.

Another would be to modify a thin rainshower head, remove the pipe inlet on the top (saw, dremel, pipe cutter etc), fill the hole (stainless steel patch etc), make a side inlet for the water, attach mounting brackets so it can be mounted flat under the beam with the brackets attaching to either side.

How about something like this (very quick visio sketch).

Really depends on how far you want to go with it and how much clearance you have under the beam.

RB

[mae29 2]

Dear RimBlock

I sincerely thank you from deep bottom of my heart for your valuable advices and constructive feedback to the 'rain shower' issue arisen from the beam hindrance.

As much as I like to adopt your suggestion, but at this peak period of time when the contractors are all so busy rushing with handover to meet CNY, I guess there is little I can do now, to do the modification. Even my ID had to BEG the the plumber to return to add piping for hot water to my wash basin!

How I wish I have somebody as capable as you to rely upon, giving me all the guidance.

How about something like this. I am sure it is not cheap but the inlet end can be in the section away from the beam and the spray section could be attached to the beam meaning its bottom section is only a couple of cm below the beam.

Another option would be to build one with a galvanized / stainless steel plate, thin pipes with holes, junction mount from the main water pipe to the seperate pipes. The separate pipes could be plastic / rubber tubing or stainless steel.

Another would be to modify a thin rainshower head, remove the pipe inlet on the top (saw, dremel, pipe cutter etc), fill the hole (stainless steel patch etc), make a side inlet for the water, attach mounting brackets so it can be mounted flat under the beam with the brackets attaching to either side.

How about something like this (very quick visio sketch).

Really depends on how far you want to go with it and how much clearance you have under the beam.

RB

[mae29 2]

Progress - yesterday 04-Jan-2011

MBR Toilet - WC bowl installed.

Common Toilet - WC bowl installed

Common Toilet - Sink Cabinet. Not that ugly as I thought. So decided to get another one for the toilet @ MBR

City Gas came to install the Rinnai Gas Water Heater (the green tint on the right side is due to window reflection). The pipings are well connected, not that unsighty as I thought!

All accessories in stainless steel material are not installed until chemical washing is done. Very thoughtful of my ID and the plumber.

[mae29 2]

Rimblock is right. Just met my office contractor yesterday and he told me that CAT 6 cables are not easy to install. 9 out of 10 cables will give problems. And it is not advisable to install them too near to the electrical sockets. Remember to get them check and certified.

Both my friend & Mr L concurred that the minimum requirement is that both electrical cable and & data cable must be separated.

I did a CSI scanning through the bags of debris and found this .....I guess this is trunking used for laying the 2 types of cables.

Further, the electrician is aware that I asked for Power Supply testing and certain requirements have to be met. He therefore knows well that he cannot mixed up the cables.

Edited January 6, 2011 by mae29

[RimBlock 0]

Dear RimBlock

I sincerely thank you from deep bottom of my heart for your valuable advices and constructive feedback to the 'rain shower' issue arisen from the beam hindrance.

As much as I like to adopt your suggestion, but at this peak period of time when the contractors are all so busy rushing with handover to meet CNY, I guess there is little I can do now, to do the modification. Even my ID had to BEG the the plumber to return to add piping for hot water to my wash basin!

How I wish I have somebody as capable as you to rely upon, giving me all the guidance.

Your welcome. I am an analyst by trade so I enjoy trying to resolve issues like this . i agree that if you wish to go down any of these routes then better to have a 'round 2 reno' where some fixes and additional items can be added. We are doing this as we cannot get everything we want in to a single reno both time and budget wise.

Both my friend & Mr L concurred that the minimum requirement is that both electrical cable and & data cable must be separated.

I did a CSI scanning through the bags of debris and found this .....I guess this is trunking used for laying the 2 types of cables.

Further, the electrician is aware that I asked for Power Supply testing and certain requirements have to be met. He therefore knows well that he cannot mixed up the cables.

Good, I would confirm the trunking though through the apartment as the first picture I replied to looked like two sets of normal trunking stuck together. Separation in a single trunking should see you fine up to 1GBit. For greater speeds it is still advised to leave 6"->12" between power and unshielded cat6 cables. I would imagine you will not see an issue, certainly at the moment and hopefully fibre will come in before too long with the new superinternet installing fibre to the door (FTTD). Fibre is far more forgiving in the laying but very fussy in the termination .

Just as an aside, I was also informed that crimping Cat6 patch cables by hand you will not meet Cat6 specs and it is much better to buy machine made cables which are usually now pretty cheap. Whilst I am going to use some of the Cat6 cable and crimp it for patch cords (have a 24 port patch panel and switch) I will buy new machine made cables when I need 10Gbit speeds. All cables and sockets will be to Cat6 spec though .

Interesting to see the Citygas heater. I am used to the storage heaters (boilers) which are much bigger in the UK. The small ones here look almost like instant showers . No Citygas to us in Tampines though so cannot use .

RB

[CoffeeMan 0]

City Gas came to install the Rinnai Gas Water Heater (the green tint on the right side is due to window reflection). The pipings are well connected, not that unsighty as I thought!

All accessories in stainless steel material are not installed until chemical washing is done. Very thoughtful of my ID and the plumber.

Why is there a copper pipe?! Is it a gas pipe installed by the City Gas technician.... no choice :|

It seems that you are using an instant water heater instead of a water storage heater. You may have a temperature issue in using the rain shower because an instant heater may not be able to heat up the water to the desired temperature (if the water flow is fast) before supplying it to the rain shower. I may be wrong (b'cos you are using a GAS instant water heater and its heating is supposed to be faster than an electric), remember to test your heater and shower once they are ready

Edited January 6, 2011 by CoffeeMan

[mae29 2]

Why is there a copper pipe?! Is it a gas pipe installed by the City Gas technician.... no choice :|

It seems that you are using an instant water heater instead of a water storage heater. You may have a temperature issue in using the rain shower because an instant heater may not be able to heat up the water to the desired temperature (if the water flow is fast) before supplying it to the rain shower. I may be wrong (b'cos you are using a GAS instant water heater and its heating is supposed to be faster than an electric), remember to test your heater and shower once they are ready

Hi, CoffeeMan

Thank you for your concern. You are really my si-fu on reno works too!

The copper pipe is for the gas inlet to the heater. My ID told me that the painter will paint the copper gas pipes, but not the stainless steel water pipes.

I changed from storage water heater to gas water heater to save energy (cheaper using gas than electric), especially the children always forgotten to switch it off after they bathe, and most important is the instant supply of hot water.

When we used the storage water heater, we installed a switch with timer, but the plastic cap for the switch breaks frequently. We were like changing 2-3 times over a year (each cost $29.90 each).

After some consideration, decided to change over to gas water heater.

During our renovation, as mentioned in earlier post, I have to ask the Power Supply people to come and dismantle the gas pipe which was obstructing the wall tiling. I was told that once I get the pipe removed, I have installed the gas meter inside the house, per new SCDF regulations. Hence, as seen in this picture, the gas meter will now be installed inside our house (at our service balcony) and cause abit of inconvenience because I have to send in the meter readings ourself.

[mae29 2]

Progress photographs - 5 & 6 January 2011

False ceilings installation started on 5-January-2011

False ceiling design at the new Bedroom 4

The false ceiling at dining area

......and completed yesterday

Edited January 7, 2011 by mae29

[mae29 2]

Progress photographs - continued

PVC bi-fold doors installed at common bath & toilet. FOC, included in reno package from my ID's firm.

Can imagine the amount of ceiling works for our extreme makeover!! My house was flooded with materials yesterday....

....and the aircon piping installation began yesterday. The aircon boss called me in the morning and asked me to check their materials which they supplied according to what I have insisted!! So, went back during my lunch time and saw these....

large chunky casings...

Armaflex Class 0 insulators

[mae29 2]

Progress photographs:

Delivery man seen here uploading the materials from the back entrance, while front main entrance was already flooded with aircon trunking & insultation materials....

....also at the cramped common corridor where the Lift is currently upgrading in progress for our block.

aircon guys at work in the MBR....

The guy in blue is the contractor installing the mirror sliding door at MBR toilet.

....and the senior aircon guy at work in one of the bedroom

[mae29 2]

Interesting to see the Citygas heater. I am used to the storage heaters (boilers) which are much bigger in the UK. The small ones here look almost like instant showers .

RB

The gas water heater is smaller than the water storage tank I used to have for 25L.

Showing here is the full view of the gas water heater and the pipings....in our service balcony

[CoffeeMan 0]

Hi, CoffeeMan

Thank you for your concern. You are really my si-fu on reno works too!

You are most welcome.

Progress photographs - continued

PVC bi-fold doors installed at common bath & toilet. FOC, included in reno package from my ID's firm.

I got the same PVC bi-fold door as you. If your shower area is near to the door, I would advise you to put some opaque material on the door panel. My shower area is near to the door and whoever taking a shower at night (with the toilet light switched on), the person's shadow will cast on the door and it can be seen from the outside (and the door is facing my neighbour's service yard) . I only realised this when the house was handed over to me :|

Edited January 7, 2011 by CoffeeMan