morganwu

Hi Terence, So sorry, i am no longer working in Singapore. Morgan

for budget, my favorite is the 3M purple microfiber mop.

i cannot PM. please email me at morganwu@evergreenforest.com.sg

to darken the wood, you can sand off the existing clear coating and apply dye/stain. then apply a new clear coat and you will get a darker color. to lighten the wood, the only way is to bleach it. you cannot dye it white as the original color will still show. you may bleach it then dye it a color lighter than its original wood color. but oily timber like burmese teak is not suitable for this method as the natural oils tend to leach out and spoil the look.

total area is approx 435sqft. 3200/435=$7.40psf Do you have information on the size of the parquet pieces going to be installed? if the timber is burmese teak 11x50x200-300mm, its ex 11x73x300-1000mm, its cheap

how many sqft is your bedrooms. not possible to gauge expensive or not without the actual area.

Hi all, i dont know what happened, but i cannot read my PM since last friday. Please send your PMs directly to morganwu@evergreenforest.com.sg Sorry.

do you have timber floors, and if you do, did you recoat them? if not the smell is probably the contact glue being used. yes it is harmful as its solvents evaporating. like others said, leave your windows open for ventilation till smell goes away.

why use this instead of real timber?

@denimart, ya the whole house was in white oak stained black. the balcony color matches the color of the oak floor inside the house. @NeoBy, i dont do it already. at that time i am wary of white oak's durability outside also. it was a tedious job as i got to make sure my guys coated all sides of the timber properly, and constructed the deck properly. the owner also agreed to no warranty for this deck, that's why i did it. the price though, was quite reasonable. think i charged less than 2k for it. However i attribute a large part of the longevity of the oak to the black color chosen. black color blocks sunlight really well.

denimart, you may be interested to see this. one off project using american white oak as deck material in SG. just went back recently to see, almost 2 years already, still looking good.

nice house full of timber floor you got there.

lol, the main reason is because i kiasi. its rare to have the old owner to ask , of coz i ask mah.

hmm, if its spread manually then i got to check the flatness liao.

Taichipanda, last time when your cement screed is done was it self leveling screed or a worker manually spread it out one.

by the way, to all friends who has PM-ed me, i deleted my inbox while in a sleepy state of mind. please PM me again if i didnt get back to you. Thanks.

a great art teacher i had once said if you can draw an egg you can draw anything.... so very true and it applies to timber decks too. if you can install a round deck well you can install any decks.

now you are making me nervous.

looks like my turn is coming soon.

Nice blog denimart, i am surprised to see you maintain a blog here haha. Hi all, i am the timber flooring supplier for denimart. he whatsapp me just now regarding some of the reservations brought up by fellow posters here, and sounded kinda worried, so i think instead of replying only to him, i post it all for everyone to see. First, i need to clarify some stuff, dont feel paiseh btw, as i make a living selling wood, i would like to think its natural for me to know more than my customers. @denimart, the photo you posted with the triangular shape floor. the light brown colored one is white oak's natural color. the two black triangles at its side is white oak stained black. the two black triangles are not teak. "Hi denimart, just to share that i was also bent on white oak initially. But was advised by contractor that although it is widely used in western homes, it is not suitable for our humid and moist climate as it is very soft and prone to problems like termite infestation or rotting. I did some research on my own, and true enough, I decided on practicality over aesthetics and took the strong Burmese teak in the end. Hope to add value to your cons" @fishponder, hi sir, i wonder why... but your contractor clearly gave you misinformation. first thing, white oak is harder than Burmese and Indo Teak. As stated in this wiki page for Janka Hardness, Wiki Janka Hardness, White Oak is ard 1300 while Teak is ard 1000. Golden Teak and Brazilian Teak are not real Teak, those are commercial names. secondly, White Oak is actually pretty resistant against rot. i used it as a planter box material, and after 2 years, it showed no signs of rotting... yet. White Oak is also MORE durable than Teak, as stated in this wiki page, Wiki White Oak. White Oak was used in the past to build ships. I dont think a timber than is prone to rotting would be used to build ships. "White oak has tyloses that give the wood a closed cellular structure, making it water- and rot-resistant. Because of this characteristic, white oak is used for barrels for wine and whiskey production since it resists leaking. It has also been used in construction, shipbuilding, cooperage, agricultural implements, and in the interior finishing of houses." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- okay, back to issue whether white oak is suitable for use in Singapore. i will try to analyse the whole situation from a few perspectives here. all the analysis here are done on the fly while speaking to denimart to determine if white oak is suitable for him, and generally speaking Singapore. Installer's perspective. installers usually discourage home owners from using temperate species. main reason boils down to we are lazy. Burmese Teak and Indo Teak are tried and tested species to use in Singapore, and they are the sort of we install and forget timber floor. they require MUCH LESS care to install, and can tolerate MUCH WORSE site conditions. for white oak however, there are quite a few more issues installers have to take care of. white oak should be delivered at least 1 to 2 weeks before installation to let it acclimatize to denimart's home humidity level. the standard period in US is 1 month. but i dont think any home owners in SG have the luxury of letting the wood air for 1 month before installation. i would insist he on his aircon for at least 3 nights before i sand, so any warp-age to may occur due to the aircon would happen before sanding. care has to be taken with regards to the type of glue used. waterbased glues, the most commonly and easiest to use, is definitely out. next i have a choice of Poly Urethane, MS Polymer, 2 Components to choose from, all 3 of which is HARD to use. the site should be clean. denimart you are lucky in this aspect. because of the above considerations, you will commonly hear installers dissuading home owners from installing white oak. i am also guilty of this, but seeing denimart's passion to have white oak in this dream home, i thought, whatever, help him out and take it as 积点公德. Homeowner's perspective. suitability. like i said above, white oak is actually a very very durable timber, contrary to common conceptions. it's only main issue, in my opinion, is its tendency to warp compared to Teak. however as long as care is taken during installation and denimart take some precautions like having mats outside his kitchen, bathroom and dont wear shoes, it shouldnt be a problem. as for termites... its a calculated risk for denimart. the white oak to be used are kiln dried and fumigated in the USA, hence is free of pests. however termites are usually brought into high rises by the wooden door frames/plywood imported, so denimart does have to make effort to purchase better quality wooden door frames and plywood to be used in his home. cost. white oak is usually more expensive to install because of more complicated installation procedures. aesthetics. this is very subjective. but if the home owners like it, why not. maintenance. white oak have very deep grain lines. this deep grain lines have a tendency to trap dirt, causing it to look very dirty. this is the main reason why white oak floors look dirty. the trick to this is to fill up these grain lines by the installer. many methods to achieve this, but the method i will use in denimart's house is more straightforward; fill them up with the waterbased varnish he chose by applying an extra coat. rest of maintenance is same as all other timber floor, felt pad under furniture legs, dirt mats at main door, mats outside bathroom, take care to close windows, wipe up spilled water ASAP, dont mop with water dripping mop. follow the principle never to get your timber floor wet and it will probably outlast you. okay... i have to go now. feel free to ask questions.

for a planter below 50sqft installers dont go by psf. but expect around 1.5k for accoya wood.

okay i was just curious. back to your questions. i thought hard about it, i dont think there is any practical method that can protect your existing laminate from water and doesnt alter the appearance of your laminate. in short, you can only resort to closing your windows. hope this helps.

why would you want to leave the windows open if your aircon is on?

There are lots of concealed piping in condos. You should ask your MCST to obtain the drawings for the piping first before hacking anything.