cleong

Congratulations - are you going to be my neighbour? There's quite a few EM clusters in Serangoon North, along Ave 1, 2, and 4. I noticed some housing agent activity last two weeks in the block facing the park, is that what you bought? Anyway, to answer your query: 1. Window changing can be done even if you're living in it - with enough planning and manpower it can be done in a day. Your most critical windows are only the corridor facing ones. If its a Gen 1 EM, most of the windows are set back and shouldn't get exposed to rain so much. 2. No, aircon involves going through walls and wiring. Recommend doing it together. Its $4,000 for a system 4, maybe high $2,000 for a system 3. 3. If its parquet, it can be repaired/refurbished. 4. If you don't wish to be living amongst a construction site, get it done before you move in. 5. No. You might be better off living in its as-is condition and save up enough money to do it up properly. If you look at the in-progress renovation pictures you will get an idea how messy and disturbing it can be to live amongst it even if you could isolate between upstairs and downstairs - the construction materials, the dust, the smells and also service interruptions. Not to mention security of your belongings while the doors need to be wide open for renovation work. Hope it helps.

Relocation of piping within your own unit is much much easier than relocating of piping that involves the unit downstairs. Thus, it is much easier to exchange the position of the toilet and shower for the upstairs bathrooms than it is for the downstairs one. I switched the position of my upstairs common bathroom shower and toilet as such. How about shifting your upstairs bathroom to suit your downstairs instead?

Regulations expressly state that we may not increase floor area by means of platforms in voids, so HDB wouldn't allow, if you ask them. http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoNotAllow?OpenDocument Examples of Renovation Work Not Allowed Hacking and removal of structural members such as reinforced concrete wall, columns, beams, slabs, staircases within maisonette flats, etc. Excessive overloading of the floor slab with a load greater than 150 kg for every metre square of floor area. Plastering of ceilings. Partitioning with combustible or toxic emission materials (e.g. plywood, plastics, asbestos etc.) Raising of floor level exceeding the allowable thickness of 50mm (inclusive of floor tiles) using concrete. Extending floor area by covering over void areas (e.g. covering over void areas within maisonette flats) Constructing water tank in bathroom except ready-made fibreglass bathtub. Repositioning or enlarging bin chute opening. Painting external part of building (e.g. common corridor walls and ceilings) Installing awning or other fixtures outside flat. Installing casement windows where flat's façade is facing common corridor. Laying floor finishes outside entrance door without having recess area or step. Replacement of full height windows or 3/4 height windows or bay windows. Removal or tampering of safety railings/grilles (internal & external) originally provided by HDB/Developers. Removal or tampering of safety railings/grilles (internal & external) installed in the flat and/or at Full Height Windows (including 3/4 height and bay windows located at Utility Room, Space Adding Item) during the Main Upgrading Programme (MUP). Partial or total enclosure including installation of external grilles on air-conditioner ledge. Partial or total enclosure including installation of external grilles at planter box. No permanent sealing of planter box. Installation of overhead grilles (ie. caging up) at interaction balcony. Change of use of planter box and air-conditioner ledge. Placement of reflective film (exceeding 20% reflectance) over existing window's glass panel. Open Terrace at Loft Units - Partial or total enclosure. - Installation of a roof or fixed/retractable awning. Relocation of sliding door at balcony where windows installation is not allowed. Removal or replacement of sliding door different from original provision at balcony where windows installation is not allowed. Removal of pitched roof ceiling (be it partially or fully) at topmost floor unit as it is part of the building's metal roof system.

This is by far my favourite-test EM layout. Look at all the square rooms, without *any* funny corners or protrusions. I viewed this configuration of unit before, and loved the airy feeling, as you step into the unit, you have the balcony in front of you, and if you turn right, you look straight down the hall at another set of windows. And you have four normal sized rooms, each bigger than what you get in new-build BTO flats, which the ground floor one can be used for aged parents or a maid (since you're lazy). The only such unit that came up during my time searching was in Serangoon Central, and hence asking silly money, which I couldn't afford...

Not sure about the others, but the generations to me simply mean different design cues - there are at least 2-3 minor design variations in the 1st generation already - I call this the long rectangular balcony type, with access via the living room. 2nd generation has a square balcony, dual access via kitchen and living room. These do not have bomb shelters, and corner units are configured quite differently from corridor units. 3rd generation - no more rubbish chute within the unit, using common rubbish point. Slightly smaller floor area. I am not sure how the corner units look like. I get the impression the corner units in 3rd gen EM blocks are probably single-floor Executive apartments. I would hazard a guess that the 4th generation you refer to are actually a subset of the 3rd generation.

Goes to show that not all EMs ask for ridiculous prices - all it takes is a serious seller to meet a serious buyer and a deal can be done. What you save on COV you can spend on renovation and that is something tangible. Good for you!

So binka, from your vantage point, is the unit still vacant? In general not good to leave units vacant for too long...... Imho.

Yes, if you look at HDB's building regulations, you are not allowed to build into that void. When you posted your "before" photos, I was quite curious that your previous owner did so, even passing the scrutiny of HDB's pre-sale inspector.

Actual usable space in an EM is actually less than the quoted ~150 square metres due to the void in the second floor being counted in. That would be the staircase and balcony void...... an EA or a jumbo flat is actually comparable.

It appears to be on a relatively low floor - you may wish to select laminates and paint colours, even furniture that contribute to a light an airy effect, as the low floor/greenery will filter out some of the daylight into the house.

Just curious, are there any algae or humidity-related issues?

Hi, your floor plan overlay, the master bedroom's representation of the bed is too small. I notice you intend to have a partition at the foot of the bed? You should recheck the dimensions of the bed? I have the same intended lay out as you for the MBR and find that the space is barely enough.

The fact of the matter is, when they are aware their potential clients can afford six figure COVs and commit to near-million dollar properties, they of course want a slice of the pie lah.

Make sure previous occupants have cleared out everything. Otherwise you or your renovation contractor may end up clearing their bulky items.

When I was flathunting I passed up making an offer on a unit in your cluster... I can only hope my EM cluster would be the next one making the news for record-breaking COVs!

I have both - dark marble kitchen counter top and white solid-surface for the bathroom counters. I regret dark colours because it makes it hard to see spills, stains and ants running around. Given a choice I would go for white. Dark colours just hide stains.

If I recall and estimate correctly, each toilet including wetworks and plumbing and fittings ranged from 2-3k. Painting the whole unit is around 2k also. More difficult as scaffolding is needed to get at the stairwell and the balcony.

Just to share, we've seen renovation quotes in this forum range from 30-ish k to over 100k depending on what is desired and naturally how much work needed to be done. I've also advised potential EM owners to keep in mind this figure as it comes out from the same pot of money that you have. A selection of some of the notable budget renos: Soichiro's 39k renovation of his 5 room EM in 2011: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39428&view=findpost&p=643740 Potatoes's 42k renovation of his EM in 2011: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=1172&showentry=7340 It is notable because they managed to do quite a lot on a fairly reasonable sum of money. Now that you've already splashed out on COV the best you can do is bite the bullet and keep as much of the original structure that you have got instead of aiming for a full makeover. Keeping the flooring, staircase, windows/grilles will already net you between 10-20k in savings. Some people keep the existing airconditioning and that's a 4k savings right there (that you don't have to buy a new system 4 aircon). Avoid the temptation to go for cove lighting, spot lights, because electricians charge by the lighting point. Limit your carpentry to the essential. Make your design as simple and easy to build/implement as possible. Time = money. If its easy to build the contractor can do it faster and possibly charge you less. Costly ideas like building an island kitchen sink/cabinet, funny staircase glass designs (I am guilty of that), shifting entrances, knocking down or building walls are relatively speaking more complex and contractors who are unfamiliar would sometimes charge an additional "safety buffer" on the task. Big unit, many windows means more curtains, and you can try to source from Malaysia as it is supposed to be a lot cheaper. There will be a myriad of materials that you can select, such as cabinet laminate, door hinges, new locks, more money of course buys you better and more attractive designs. Its relatively easier to slip into the mindset that a tile is only $1 more costly per tile, but when you realize you need quite a lot to tile up (in my case the kitchen, and all the bathrooms, etc) the price difference will be significant. It all adds up. Do a recce of the things required, from bathroom fittings to tiles, paints, lights and so on, establish a price range, choose the low/affordable end, and set a limit that will fit with everything else under your budget. Under, because with almost all renovations, variations occur and this will cost you money. Your mileage may vary, but I find 10-20% allocated for cost overruns will put you in a comfortable position. A limited budget means you would have to do a lot of your own legwork to find cheap+good. Getting someone else to do it inevitably means directly or indirectly paying him for his troubles. I sourced my own items such as cabinet handles, door locks, curtains, taps/showers, air con system. Plan on being a regular customer of Ikea, I bought soft-close Rationell door dampers from there for all my cabinet doors instead of buying branded Blums. I did buy them for pull out drawers though.

Huat ah!

Just a little comment on the living room feature wall, maybe the mirrored surface below the TV would be a bit hard to maintain from kids fingerprints and such... raised platform may also be a stumbling point, literally.

So it really is you! Congrats on getting the keys, and best of luck tackling the renovation headaches. I've been through it before...

Based on the article, it would seem that renovation is already factored into the valuation. If seller asks for a ludicrous COV on account of the renovation, in effect, buyers are paying twice for renovation.

Hi nick34, I find your nickname familiar...

Sin Ming drive has larger than average EMs.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the current crop of double storey seems even more premium as only the top floor unit gets a double floor configuration, whereas older generation EMs have the entire block in a double storey configuration?