Rasp

Hihi All, Sorry for all the late replies. Have been busy with our wedding preps. I have just replied all the 'overdued' pm. Hopefully still in-time. Hi silhouette, We got our main gate and fire-rated main door from our reno contractor, Henry. And the digital lock is fron Hanman International. We got the lock during one of the pc fairs so got quite some freebies & discount. Hihi Matchgirl, My reno is already completed for quite sometime. Our contractor told us that it will take around 8weeks for everything before we signed up. By the 5th week, most of the stuff are already 7-7-8-8, so he asked us if we wanted to move back asap cause he knew that we shifted out for the reno. We didnt want to rush the workers so we told him to do it progressively instead of rushing. So the reno went smoothly and ended at around the 7th or 8th week. Er.. I didnt engage Ah soon for my reno. All my room doors come with lever lock, main door lock is also inclusive but we got the electronic lock on our own. Sorry, didnt follow up on your reno. Hope everything is completed by now. Hihi jthk18, I had pmed you about the main entrance. Yes, our contractor is Impress21 (Henry). The workmanship of his guys are quite good. We are quite pleased with the tiling, none of the tiles need to be replaced, no feet cutting tiles too. His plumbers are nice people, they helped us planned the piping route and its very neat. Our wire casing is already run very neatly that its hardly noticed when we didnt do any false ceiling / wall. His service is quite good and easy to talk with. He is also very stringent about the HO date. One of the important criterias for us during our reno search as we need to move back in-time. We just contacted him last week about some rectifications and he's going to send his guys down tomorrow to settle for us. Very responsible chap. Til dated, we are still pleased with his service and very happy that he's still very responsive though we have paid in full already. I'll try to post some of the pics after our wedding next week. Hee.. too tied up to sort the reno pics. Good luck with your reno!

Har? You go 1 round? If they call Annjoy, just tell them to call the ex-owner to settle. If me, I don't deal with them at all. To be frank, cutting sp services doesn't help at all. People can still stay there and they are likely to do more damage inside the house if they still have access to the property. If they cant go in, the most they can do is damage is the main entrance (owner's property) and the outside which belong to HDB. Just to share what I will do if that happens to me.

Ermm.. if the old couple give, then out they go.

Hi Poseidon_gal, Sorry, we using bi-fold door for our common bathroom. No experience with pd door. Maybe someone with pd door can share their experience? How about going down to the pd door showroom to look at their door panel and mechanism? Is there no gaps in the showroom, then they shouldn't have gap for yours? Did you get the doors from pd door direct or through your contractor? I did read some blog last time that the installation by contractor for pd door are not very good. If its through pd door directly, then ask the sales at the showroom why yours got gap but there are none for those in the showroom. I wonder, if its because they made your door panel are too small? Sorry, didnt have any solution for you. Hope it get resolve soon.

Hihi iluvmybeans, I also think many does look at your blog, but didnt comment. Probably cause its just too nice. Hee.. great to know that your reno is very smooth. The only item that I noticed from your pics is.. your laundy bars seems to be very close to your stack (dryer), will your dryer get 'bruises' from the laundry bars' swings? By the way, can your laundry bars come down to your chest level to hang the clothes before pulling them up?

Hihi Annjoy, I think you can tell the ex-owner, you will change the padlock on 10th Dec. And when she hand over the keys, she need to ensure that they/whatever her stuff to be out of the flat, else once you lock the place up, whatever 'remains' inside is your property. Let her know that if that family come back for their stuff after you lock up, you will ask them to look for her. If that family call you, tell them that the ex-owner confirm their stuff is all cleared, any issues they need to look for the ex-owner for where they 'put' their stuff cause you 'don't know'. But if really that happens, I think need to give that 1 time grace for that family to shift out their stuff, but that is in the presense of the ex-owner. Meaning you don't have to speak to that family, arrange with the date/time with ex-owner to come down (he got to liaise with them himself), then open the door for them to shift. You don't have to speak to that family, its their responsibility. As for the old couples, since you consider them as your tenant, pass the new keys to them for the 1month stay.

Good Morning gantan88, If only allow to either go for kitchen wall tile and the glass door, I will definitely go for kitchen wall tile. But that will also depends on the distance between the kitchen and living room as well as the time period that you intend to stay in the house. To me, the wall tiles in the kitchen really make a difference to the maintanance part. Just to share, I tried some baking last weekends and somehow alittle of the butter mix got splashed on the wall as I wasn't used to the new mixer. I was so glad that the wall is tiled, I can just easily wipe off the butter mix. You might want to consider tiling the wall if possible. For the slanted window, I also think it might be a structural issue. Even if you change the window, the new window will still got to fit that 'hole'. Ummm.. unless you are able to hack the hole bigger to fit. If the contractor suggest to do a 'smaller' window frame and cement the hole 'straight', you might want to question them if they are able to ensure no leaking issues. I have 2 weird small windows are my balcony which the window contractor promised to block off for us using aluminium blocks, but because they are not the real wall structure from hdb, the water tends to seep in. It took several retification for the window contractor to make sure the water doesn't come in. But we feel that its just a matter of time the seepage will come in again as the retification is to use silicon all over the outside. Currently, the window slant look obvious because the tile happen to just end off at the window with a little more to go. I feel that it might not look that obvious if the ending tile is not just that little bit but at least half of the tile. But that would mean retiling the whole thing, which the contractor might not want to do. To be honest, like you mentioned, these are window in the toilets, don't think it will affect much and if budget is an issue, I'll just leave it. The only thing that I felt is very important is the functionality of the windows, that is any water seepage from the current window. Your progress looks good. Hope everything goes smoothly til the end.

Hihi Amrasenelya, Glad to know that your reno is going on smoothly. Hee.. we got alot of similarities. Same contractor, same shop suppliers for the toilet fittings and same aircon installer. If I didnt see wrongly, you also bought Toshiba a/c. So we got the same A/C too. Good to know that your experience with GC is ok. Eh.. about the floor trap, I didnt install s/s one. Didnt have any experience about s/s drainer also. My thoughts are.. I think s/s is not that easy to maintain. And once stained/ dirted, it will look very obvious on a s/s drainer and because s/s drainer is not that common, it become one of the 'focus point' in the loo. So got to do regular washing/cleaning else very obvious.

Hi Doremon2009, Sorry, I hasn't been regular at renotalk recently cause busy with my wedding preps. Er.. I cant really recall those pricings from my reno now. Need to check with my hb cause he's the one keeping tabs of the finance. For our curtain, we didnt do much research, just went for the popular Jimmy textiles. I think the prices of curtain depend largely on the material that you choose. You might check with those curtain suppliers on the material when getting the quotes from them. Some might give a low quote but limited selection on the cloth. Hope everything goes smoothly for your reno.

Good Morning Kopi, I also browsing your thread for pics.... but didnt see any. Hee.. you might want to take some pics though its just foundation. Because sometime you might capture something which you won't noticed while there. Or good to use as reference if there is any questions in the later stage after the other works is added on it. Just to share, I took alot of pics during my reno and they are really useful when I want to find out now, how did they lay the bricks/ start the tiling from which side to result is this and that. Just my thinkings.

Good Morning Wonderbeezz, The big planning... er... still in progress. We kinda just started our planning. Hee.. shaking legs for too long.. Your reno progress looks good. hee.. your black & white bathrooms look very different from mine. Look very neat too. Mbr bathroom with vertical wall tiles and common one with horizontal wall tile.. different effects for each bathroom. Foyer area also different, hee.. even the overall layout plan is different cause we built and hack different wall. Hee.. seems like everyone who start with this layout, all came up with different layout plan. Really look forward to your final outcome. By the way, you changed your wardrobe location? Looking at your layout plan, I thought your bed is suppose to be at combine store area. Umm.. then no wiw?

Hihi Dmay.. Hee.. managed to find our bi-fold door pics. They are just normal looking kind, simple and neat look. Not sure if you meant this kind. If they are what you wanted, you may show these pics to the contractor for reference/ easier explaination. By the way, the pics are exclusives... hee.. not exposed in my own blog yet.. Front view (outside the bathroom) Back view (inside the bathroom) Opening the door.. (top hung with no bottom tracks)

Good Morning Dmay, We also got a 2 panel bi-fold with top-hung tracks from my contractor. Nope, we don't have that small ring. Its also the 1st time I saw this 'ring handle' bi-fold door on this forum. I was trying to search my blog for my bi-fold and realised, I cant find it. I must have missed out that pic. I'll try to search my photo album for that bi-fold door. Hope can find it and show you later.

Hihi All, Er.. I was away for these 2 weeks and surprised to read all the postings about this ex-superstar contractor. Didn't wanted to post until reading the recent few postings. Here's what I felt... for those who are NOT ah soon's existing or ex-customer or potential customer, please try to refrain from posting here unless you can offer some helps. I see no reason why those existing customers need to provide supporting evidence, who are we to ask for those also. Who are we to judge? And please don't prey for information just to satisfy your own kaypo-ness/curiousness. And for those debates on pointing fingers on who should be blame or whether the ex-supporter should be answerable to the current situation, what's there to debate on? So what if you won the debate, especially for those who DID NOT engaged Ah Soon. Please try to be understanding. There is no meaning / points in winning the debates. I did raise a red light previously in this thread and just leave it. I see no point now to keep harping those existing customer that its their own decision. I believed they don't need such comments at this point. Why rub salts on their open wounds? Those existing customer of ah-soon is already very frustrated with their reno. I found that instead of offering help, some forummer here still questioned the authentity of the comments, challenge them to continue the debate, start pointing fingers all over. Com'on.. Let us all try to be empathy and help if we are able to. Im sure no one want to be in those shoes, ask yourself, how will you feel if you are in that shoe. If we are unable to help, then at least don't create more nonsense or trouble here. To Trev, Fini, Seashell, Jess, and the other existing customers, Hope your settlement/discussion with Ah Soon will go smoothly. God bless.

Hey Wonderbeezz, I hasn't popped into renotalk recently. Hee.. didnt realised you have started your t-blog until princessdella dropped me a message. Hee.. must come & support your t-blog~!! Er.. I think we are the first few around to know your reno started... but still..... CONGRATS!! And may everything goes smoothly til the end. We look forwards to seeing the final results~~ must invite us over, okie? PS. We noticed that your main door is removed, so peeped in through the gate over the wkends... your white gloss floor look pretty nice.

Hihi Matchgirl, Hee.. seems like you really spent on the aircon. We didnt sign up for the extended warranty and servicing. Initially, we wanted to get the extended warranty, but later we think that if we didnt sign up for their servicing, probably the extended warranty won't work well. Because there are quite a number of issues that can void the warranty, e.g. lack of servicing (if the a/c spoilt cause we didnt service), or poor servicing (the external service tech spoilt the parts during their servicing). We cant make up our mind during the a/c purchase on whether to go for the extended warranty & servicing. Hence, the nice salesman advise us to go back and consider as the offer on the extended warranty & servicing still applies until 1-2weeks after the installation. We can call back to sign up for it later. However, once our reno starts, we got so busy that this just slip off our minds. So I think that its good that you signed up for both servicing & extended warranty.

Hi Silhouette, I cant recall the shop name. We got it at the IT show that time. Hee.. I need to check the shop name on the invoice which is filed in my hb's file. Hee.. will pm you once I check with him. Hi jthk18, Yes, both our wooden main door and frame are fire-rated. You can refer to the link below for the pic of my fire-rated door. For the cost, I need to check with hb as he's the one keeping tab of finances. Hee.. will pm you once I check with him. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=447167

Errr.. i have already pasted that particular post link. Its the 4th pic in that post.

Updates on Main Entrance: Continue from above.. As mentioned above, our gate came with a metal plate to help us hide/cover our main door lockset. The reason for having to hide our lockset was.. we bought the Samsung electronic lockset for our main wooden door. Hence, we didnt want any outsider to play/meddle with it while we're away. The electronic lockset was one of our earliest purchase for the house. We went for this electronic lockset, mainly because we noticed that the usual lockset for main door nowsadays doesn't lock when the door is closed. We need to use the keys to lock it when we are going out. Hee.. unlike the lockset of olden hdb, once the door slam, its locked. Both of us are not used to turning the keys to lock the door when going off. Hence, over the past 2 years of staying there, we only close the main door and lock the main gate which can be quite dangerous. Now with this electronic lock, we just got to slam the door and yes, the door is locked. And in the event, we missed out something after the door closed, we just got to enter the pin and we are in again. Hee.. pretty convenient. Unlike most, we got the lockset from a local dealer/shop to have a peace of mind. We're glad that we did so, as the door installer actually came down twice with the lock, the first time to meet with the gate installer to ensure that the metal plate will be done up nicely and the second time to install the lock at the end of the reno. The lockset wording/instructions etc, are also in English, instead of Korean if we had bought it from importers. For our recess area, we didnt do any fanciful stuff. Just kept it simple and cluster-free with a suspended shoe rack. We had it suspended as our recess area cant be leveled to living area floor height due to HDB regulations and hb is concerned about the wood contact with water during the monthly block-washing. Hee.. Here's the pics of the main entrance / recess area.. This is what the external parties will see from outside. Hee.. can hardly peek inside, plenty of privacy, we like it very much. Our shoe rack tucked nicely at the corner. Hee.. we managed to pick a laminate with beautiful strips that kinda of matches our floor tiles too. The laminate is slightly 3d but cant see much from pics. Here's the full view of the shoe rack. Nothing fancy, just a simple suspended shoe rack to prevent flooding from the monthly block water and ease of cleaning the floor. And we done some gaps within the shelves.. hopefully.. can help with the circulation of the internal air to prevent molding of shoes and lighten the smell. Our main door lockset and gate. (I forgot to upload the front view of the lockset. ) Ok... here's the view of my opposite neighbour. Pretty good distance between our doors. Hee..

Good Morning Elaine, Thanks. Our main gate is from our contractor. Err.. I guess its not so-call custom-made, cause we picked from the catalog. We only asked our contractor to add the center metal plate so that our lockset can be hidden. Because we shifted our entrance, we actually widen our entrance. Hee.. and of course, the cost of both the gate & door also widen abit. Im not sure about the cost, need to check with my hb. Will pm you about the cost once I check.

Hi elfettucine, I pm you.

Hihi Amrasenelya, Hee.. I cant recall the bus no. already. That time Henry passed us the EDL book, we searched on the route using the postal code on it. Hee.. just did a brief search on it (without the book), if not wrong, the service no. should be 925. You might want to do check check on it, incase I got it wrong.

Good Morning Mickey_M, Glad to hear that you managed to resolve the issue with your ID. Your design is really unique. And I concur with you, the table do look like a casino table in shape. Hee.. really excited to see the final look of your house.

Good Morning Reiki! Hee.. okok.. will welcome you abit more into the house.... er.. recess area first hor.. cause I have only clear the mess until the recess area.

Hihi matchgirl, The price to upgrade the insulator & pipes is $120. The total cost of the aircon is around 2.4k. Hb went for toshiba as he done some research and reading the reviews online. My bil is using sanyo, but he feedbacked to us that it wasn't good and he had service it quite a number of time etc, hence hb drop it off the list. The last 2 brand that made it to hb's finalise stage was toshiba & mitsubishi, and he finally went for toshiba cause he doesn't want to be reminded of jack neo each time he on the a/c. For the btu, you may want to bring your floor plan to check with the salesman. Hb calculated on his own as the 'formula' was available online. We went for a 'larger' compressor as our mbr was quite big after the 'expansion' (around the size of my living rm). I think the btu for my mbr is 16k btu and the other normal room is 9k btu. The salesman actually encourage us to go for non-invertor so as to save more, plus we are also not frequent user of a/c. However, hb was quite set on getting invertor as he's concerned about the noise from the compressor. So we went for the toshiba invertor.