Rasp

Hi natgw, Your toilet wall tiles are very cool. Look like those egyptian symbols on the walls. Very interesting choice.

Wow.. nice wallpaper. Slightly look like pebble-wash. Is it textured or smooth with print-look alike? By the way, how's your marble polishing? We checked with the contractor already. Mine only going to be polish after all the carpentry's up. Still got to wait few more weeks.

Updates on Recess area: The workers had started to build the wall and main door frame at our recess area. Hee.. quite small area and definitely darker after the wall is up. Think hardly any spaces left after they put up the shoe cabinet.

Hey Forkie, Your living room look real spacious after the balcony 'merges' into it. Very big space for your dotter to run around. And your kitchen gives me the refreshing lime feel each time I see it. Seems like your place 7-7-8-8 already. With the fridge & washing machine in now, you can bring our luggage over soon. Btw, we got the same fridge.

Hi Tuababy, Your reno seems fast. I also like your kitchen cabinet red with silver concept. What colour is the granite top? Black galaxy? Guess you can shift in next week after the furnitures arrive.

Hi red_devil, Nice progress with your reno. You seems to be doing alot of false ceiling. Are you doing false ceiling for your whole house? By the way, will you be plastering the whole house? If so, you might want to get them to smooth out the walls before nailing the wire casing, else those areas behind the casing will not be smoothen out.

Updates: We noticed that most contractors will leave the wall behind the kitchen cabinet alone if the owners are not tiling that section as this part of the wall is going to be covered by the kitchen cabinet. As we are not tiling for the top and bottom wall behind the cabinet, my contractor also leave it alone. However, both of us thought that the uneven section of the wall is going to be great for the ants to use as 'expressway' to access our kitchen cabinet. So hb communicated our concerns with Henry as well as check if his worker can cemented it for us. The pre-cemented pic... can you see the holes on the wall? I think its scary to build the cabinet infront of it. We were at site when Hb rang Henry about this. And shortly after, we saw the worker start working on it. However, the worker only cemented the bottom section and left the top untouched. We were puzzled and hb ask him about it. The worker told us that its ok to leave the top part alone and if we want to cement it, need to call his boss. so hb got to call Henry again. Henry said he will settled it for us. This is what I see the following day.

Updates on Aircon installation Here's the heavy compressor before it goes out of the window. This is the aircon unit at our new mbr. Hb increased to 12,000 btu due to our room size. This is the smaller aircon unit at the other room, having the normal 9,000 btu.

Updates on Aircon installation Here's the compressor bracket before mounting the heavy compressor. The technician climbed out of the window to do the installation of the bracket. We were so worried for him. They sealed up the exterior portion using a metal sheet. From what we understand, most of the shops will only provide wood blocks to seal up the exterior, and with constant contact with rain, the wood tends to rot and leave lobang on the wood. The technician was out of the window for quite sometime to secure the metal sheet nicely and silicon the border. Quite nicely done up. This is how the inside look like.. the support of the bracket is actually behind the wall and not just mount on the hole. We thought its much safer to do it this way as the compressor is really heavy. I think I saw the compressor box indicated the weight as 47kg. So heavy... The casing is also cut out neatly to give allowance to the wire plug. Last by not least, they boxed up the whole thing. Look quite nice, guess it will look better after our painter paints it.

Updates on Aircon installation The insulator for the pipes: Our previous aircon trucking had condensation and water leakage issues. Hence, Hb went for the upgrade on the insulator and pipes thickness. This explained why the casing look so big. The copper pipes for the gas: New pipes were used, not leftovers from previous job. The pipe thickness is 0.7 instead of the usual 0.6. Getting ready the insulator + pipes:

Updates on Aircon installation The Aircon installer was early on Tuesday and rang hb up to check if we can meet them 1hr earlier than the scheduled appointment time. We only managed to reach there around 30mins earlier. And before we enter the house, the main door frame installer intercepted us at the entrance to check about the placement. Oops.. but the aircon technician is very nice and patient. He didnt rush us and stood outside the house with us while we looked at the door. We did some homework earlier and found that our aircon trucking is going to be pretty tough as our compressor will be located next to the old mbr which doesn't have any unit. And there is alot of beams along the way. The day before our aircon installation, our contractor also helped us take a look and he thinks the drainage is going to be an issue for the 2nd unit. In addition, he commented that our installer might have to hack the external wall outside the mbr bathrm (yes, outside) for the drainage pipe to run back to the bathroom. Our 2nd unit is a big challenge as it is across the walkway and surrounded by beams. The easy way out for most installer will be to run the trucking across the walkway under the beams, which was what our previous owner did also. But its quite ugly to do that as the big trucking will be seen from afar since its under the beams. During our discussion with the technician, we found that he is quite good and patient. He explained the trucking route to us on all those locations that we are thinking of placing the units. He suggested some area of placement which we have not thought of it and really like it but later cant make it due to our carpentry works. Both of us can see that he is trying his best to make the trucking as neat as possible for the owner. Think he really got put his heart into his work. And due to the difficulty of our trucking, he told us earlier in the afternoon that our work might not be able to finish by half a day and called his office to inform them that he might have to come back the next day to complete it. But around 4pm+, he came to us to check when will we be leaving the house as he hopes to finish everything that day so that we don't have to take leave etc for it. As we are not in a hurry, we told him to continue so long as there is sufficient light for him to work and not to worry that we are leaving. End up, he managed to finish his work around 7pm and the workshipman is quite good. During the last part which is to connect the compressor plug to do testing, he also suggested to us not to connect the compressor plug as he thinks that the workers are likely to use the aircon when we are not around. And this is not 'healthy' for the units as the air is full of dust during reno. We are ok to go ahead with his suggestion but wonder how to test the unit now. He then connected the compressor wires to the extension cord using the wire casing. And our units are all powered up for the test. He on the units for us to test while they clean up the area. He later gave us his personal mobile no. and told us to phone him when our reno is around 80-90% completed. And he will come down to help us connect the plug and help us test the units again. And the reason for waiting until the reno is around 80-90% was, incase of any issue (touch wood!), our contractor can still help with the touchup such as painting etc.. He's a really nice and thoughtful guy for the owners. Both of us are all thumbups for him. Pics! The barang barang from the aircon guys... the casing look real big right? Its 3 by 4 inches. I almost fainted when I saw it. My compressor: My system 2 units:

Updates: This few days were quite hectic for us. We spent every min thinking about the carpentry and electrical works. Below are the works done over the past few days: a) Discussion on electrical works and confirmation last thurs. b) Plumbering works for both bathrooms were done on Friday. c) The electrical works started on Mon, we were both at the site to look at how the wires casing were ran. And we also made some changes to the original discussion, so got to communicate to the workers. d) We also had the carpentry discussion on Mon and the designs were confirmed right after it. But later in the evening, we found that we missed out on certain areas as our carpentry discussion was interrupted by the window installer who was there to check with hb on some issues. So hb had to tell the carpenter about those stuff over the phone on tuesday. Hope he got the changes and praying real hard that the design come out well. e) We also confirmed the painting selection on Mon. f) Aircon installation was done on tuesday. The bi-fold installer also came over to measure the door width. Phew!! Seems like we have confirmed most of the stuff already. Meanwhile, we can relax abit. I am uploading some pics which I have taken these few days, will post them in a short while. Hee..

Hi kthc, Thanks for picture. We have leveled the kerb for the bi-fold. Seeing yours affirms our decision. The renovated pictures of your house look good. Your blue backing at the kitchen is a fresh thing. I have not seen any RT blog with blue glass backing for kitchen. Its very original and .

Updates: These are the new floor protection at the living area. The main door have been removed earlier to protect the marble flooring at the entrance. The main door frame will be removed after the new one is built at the recess area.

Hi Luckable, THANKS!!! THANKS!!! THANKS!!! Really appreciate your pictures. Your 'roll-in' mechanism is very neat and its good as the doors can be kept away when the doors are open. We cant go for this mechanism as the internal height cant fit our electronic gadget. So we are still doing flap-down for the doors. Hence, we got to stick to the original design due to the hinges. And for the glass part, hb is worried that if the remote controller cant go through the black mirror, we would have to keep the doors flapped down each time we used. This might pose a danger around that area. Hence, we got to stick back to glass. We hope the design turn out well. We are crossing all our fingers for it.

Updates: The electricity meter box was shifted out last Thursday. Still have abit of loose ends to tie. The electrician will continue tomorrow and yes, the rewiring of the whole house also starting tomorrow. Here's the pics:

Good Morning! Wow.. we only hack 2 wall. How many walls are you hacking.. then your layout will be different from mine also. hee.. so excited.. can see another version of the layout. By the way, there are several RT blog with house layout similar to ours. I will pm you their links. You can check them out. Thou our layouts are similar, all the kitchen layout came out differently. Very interesting. I think you can post those items which you think is quote very high and check with the RT folks. They are quite good with it.

hee.. yes yes.. start a blog!! I also want to see your place. My reno progress is quite ok, plumbling 70% done yesterday, starting electrical works on Monday. Hee.. cant wait to shift back.... So your layout still not finalised? Need help? Umm.. 7th month just started.. 1 more month before your reno start.. Hee.. by the way, will you be hacking alot of walls? Just to share, the technical officer of our block quite nice man. He approves things quite fast and trust the owner quite abit..

Hey Adeline! How's your reno plan? Confirm your ID already? By the way, we noticed that your balcony lights are on last wed and thurs.

Updates on plastering: Hee.. there's alot of corners and beams in my house. So they used alot of the material which is used to 'sharpen' the corners. Previously, I think the material is made of metal. Its only yesterday that I learnt that its actually rubber. The plastering uncle said rubber is lighter and won't rust, so its a better material to be use for the plaster. Learnt something again. This is the rubber thingy used to 'sharpen' the corners. Here's the rest of the plastered walls. Taken from near entrance: Taken from living area: Taken from the new door: Taken from the bedrm window:

Updates: These are some of the pics which I took on the first day of plastering. Hee.. this wall got selected and had the honour to be the 1st smoothy wall. Before the white paste, the plaster guy was sweeping some liquid on the wall before the plastering. Being curious, I asked him why does he need to brush those liquid. His reason was quite cute. Because the wall was too dry and thirsty, so he must brush these so that the wall won't suck off the liquid from the plaster paste later. Hee.. Work-in-progress..... the wall after the brushing of the white liquid... 1st wall to be smoothen out....

Thanks. Your layout is also and squarish. Actually, my recess area look small in real. You are so lucky to escape the application process. We will be changing the main door and gate so requested our contractor to provide fire-rated door. The door is not installed yet, so cant check if there is any sticker/marking. But I also read somewhere about the sticker for certification for fire-rated doors, not sure if its true.

Hee.. I think our progress really very close. Because seeing your pics reminds me of my house again. Hee.. mine also just finish plastering today... a little deja vu again huh..

Hehe.. I see i see. So far, we didn't face problem with molds during our previous stay there. Hence, didn't cross our mind to install one. But this time, our wiw just beside the master bathrm. Not sure it may pose a issue. Will monitor after the reno. Hee.. thanks for bringing up to share with me.

Hi Satinchris, Ummm.. for the reno work so far, we are happy with it. Hopefully it stays this way til the end of it. Are you hacking alot of walls? We hacked 1 wall to open the new kitchen, 1 wall to 'open' up the bedrm and going to hack 2 door frames. For these special areas, my contractor will instruct his team to cut the floor tiles before hacking. I think this is to prevent those marble tile nearby to be 'injure'. And after the hack, those area that are previously under the walls and door frame will need to be patch with new marble tiles. And like what the other IDs told you, my contractor also told us that the new marble tile may look slightly different in the colour tone as my marble flooring is quite 'old' so the colour will look 'older' than those new clean ones. I am not sure if my contractor had a hard time looking for the replacement. From what I understand from him, every marble have a special name. He told me mine previously, but I forgotten. hee.. I guess they will locate the marble tiles with their name. And yes, the new ones which he got for us are not 100% same as the old ones. This new batch came with more 'black' lines. My contractor showed us the tiles first before he instruct his team to tile them. Lastly, for constructing the pipes bases, its to ease the washing of the bathrms & balcony floor. Hee... without the bases, dust/dirt/hair will usually flow behind these pipes during washing and its not easy to sweep them out. So building the bases will prevent these. Hee..