manutd1972

as far as i'm concerned, if it's going to be used in any area where it would be exposed to water, moisture or high humidity, i'll spend the money to get 100% stainless steel(SS). reason why Song Cho is so ex compared to the others is cos they use 18-8 grade SS. this is the best possible grade that offers the highest resistance to rust. next grade, which is commonly used in a lot of SSl applications due to lower cost of material, is 18-10. for toilet accessories, wat i knw is that it's either 18-8 SS or chrome-plated brass. as far as i knw, chrome-plated brass is the next best thing to 18-8 or 18-10 SS. the cheapest alternatives are chrome-plated steel. really cheap too. but a big word of caution. these WILL rust in no time. the chrome is applied not to give it rust resistance, but rather, to improve its appearance. hence, it does not have any rust resistance properties at all. tt's also why some chrome items from IKEA rust within a few months of usage. cos these were essentially chrome-plated steel.

does she restrict herself to a certain area of the island or she can go anywhere? does she also do the clothes as in iron, fold, keep?

does anyone still have Jimmy's contact no? can PM me pls? tks in advance.

basically to protect everyone (sellers, buyers, agents), the CEA shld have instituted 2 rulings. not guidelines, which dun need to be followed strictly, but rulings which MUST BE followed. 1) each agent can only represent one party. 2) should the 2 agents involved in the deal come frm the same company, this fact MUST BE made known to both sellers and buyers before signing of OTP, and only when and if both sellers and buyers are comfortable with this fact, should the deal be done, OTP signed and money changed hands. 3) all agents shall be due an agent's fee of 1% of the transacted price of the property, payable only by the party they represent. however, the client is entitled to, but not obligated, offer their agent more than the 1% accorded should the client so wish to. so no under the table money, no cutting of corners, no double income and hence unethical practices, no conflict of interests, and no under-cutting. make it a fixed percentage, solve so many problems. den agents will have to differentiate themselves thru their service levels. this will help to improve the service levels of the industry, weed out half-past-six agents and those who're not willing to put in effort to serve their customers properly. so that those agents left still practising in the industry, can really be called professionals in their line of work. hence, we consumers wld also not begrudge them their agent's fees. in fact, some of us may even be willing to pay our agents more than 1% if u're really impressed by their service levels. these 3 rulings are something that i had hoped the CEA would have implemented. but alas, such g*** agencies still prefer to cover their a**, instead of getting their hands dirty involved in the nitty gritty of stuff and do their part to try and pre-empt potential mini-minefields, if u can call them mini-minefields.

think u can check with the various agents' institutes such as IEA, on whether the agent contravened on any code of conduct n ethics codes, and whether u have any recourse if he did. to me, i feel he did. as he did not disclose to u fully and honestly that he was also acting for the seller. u could also charge that he misled you as he lied about the seller's agent (himself), as in, claiming the agent was ill, as well as did not agree to ur request for re-valuation, thereby impressing on u the notion that there actually was a separate agent for the seller, wherein there wasn't one. so to me, he acted un-ethically. whether his actions went against any code of conduct for a property agent, i don't know. and if he did, whether u have any legal recourse, i also don't know. my best advice to u, if u like the unit and u feel price is reasonable, and request for extension is acceptable to u, den forget it. just blacklist this agent and spread the word to everyone u knw. and if u hv evidence to back u up, u can "announce" it on the net so others won't fall prey to his unethical tactics. but if u object to any of the above, as in price, extension of stay, his failure to appropriately and adequately look after ur interests, den u better go check on ur available recourse, if any.

personal opinion and my own course of action: if engaging a real ID for ur reno, den dun buy anything 1st before u finalise ur design theme & concept wif ur ID. Else u could end up spending a few thousands on stuff whose design might not go wif ur eventual reno design scheme and end up spoiling whatever u spent on ur reno. it's like buying a 2k item to destroy a 30k-40k design. if using typical contractor who just basically builds stuff for u and not too concerned abt real design themes and concepts, den u can more or less just buy watever u like, whenever u want. to a real interior designer worth his salt, who sticks to his guns on the intended design theme & concept, even the design of a little faucet (aka tap, mixer etc) matters when it comes to matching to a certain design theme for the house. everything must work together to pull it off and the sum of the parts, in this case, is usually more than the total value of the individual parts combined.

wah....the previous ower's fridge is kind of small yeah? base is thick, but seems a little narrow and shallow. and also a pretty "weird" spot to place the fridge. effectively blocks off 1 panel's worth of cabinet space and curtails the opening of the adjacent panel's door, thereby restricting the size of the items one can put inside. and if the fridge is really tall, the top cabinet also affected. for my personal preference, i feel that placing anything bulky next to the kitchen entrance gives a claustrophobic feel to the kitchen when one transitions frm the hall to the kitchen. as u walk into the kitchen, u immediately get hemmed in by a wall on one side, and the bulky item on the other side.

melamine, if i remember correctly, was the chemical found in those tainted milk powder and canned foods from China. remember the babies who suffered after drinking from those contaminated milk powder? even if the chemical was mildly used to treat the wood, can anybody guarantee that the wood did not absorb any of the melamine during the treatment? and if it was absorbed into the wood, would it den not vaporise into the surrounding air, ie. air in your bedroom where your wardrobe is situated? i know i wouldn't want it...

ok, but who will know whether a licensed electrician is engaged or not? for eg. suppose my relative has all the necessary technical knowledge to do the job but cos this is not his profession, he did not see the need to have the proper license. so if he does the re-wiring works for my house, as long as I don't request for PUB testing, who will know? How will HDB or PUB know whether the electrician we engage is a licensed one?

wat's the implication? for HDB flat. if no PUB testing to be done, is thr still a need to engage a licensed electrician? wat's the difference?

i think wat he's trying to refer to are those square-shaped wash basins. if the basin is not slightly sloped towards the drainage hole, den water will collect at the four corners of the basin and hence, accumulation of dirt or water stains.

dun u have an agent to help u wif all these things? at least give u proper advice? as far as the 1k is concern, i understand that u didn't accept it. but u knw, if there's no official record of them paying u this 1k, u are still in a position of advantage. they cannot claim that u did not pay the full 5k option fee to purchase the flat. anyways, notwithstanding the 1k payment, if seller insists on backing out of the sale, u can choose to take legal action against them, or draft an official document stating that they are willing to pay all penalties arising from the abortion of this sale and compensate you against any loss, financial as well as non-financial. Your financial loss will be the difference between the COV and buying price of another unit that you eventually will buy due to the cancellation of this sale. In other words, because they backed out of this sale, whatever replacement flat that you now decide to buy, they will be have to pay for the difference in the price as well as the COV. Eg. u bought their unit at 25k COV. now aft they back out, u find another similar unit but the deal-closing COV is 35k. If u choose to buy this unit, u will only need to pay COV of 25k. they must bear the remaining 10k COV. And tt's not all the financial compensation to u tt they are liable for. U can also claim for time delay as u nw have to go thru the whole 3-4mths sale process again, extra cost of paying for alternative accommodation if u're currently renting, and if u engage a lawyer, whatever monetary compensation u wanna seek, provided the courts agree to it. overall, so long as the original sale was done in proper order with all paperwork properly done, they are at the losing end should they back out and cancel the sale. U can only gain from this. but if u really like the unit, and are hampered by time constraints, perhaps better not to agree to the cancellation. mayb best to ask why they wanna cancel or want an extension. open communication and mutual give-and-take can solve a lot of problems and avoid a lot of ill feelings towards each other.

perhaps ur ID was trying to reflect the view out of the windows. cos it appears to me tt d view out of d windows is unblocked and wif d horizon so far away, the reflection will indeed create an illusion of space, as well as afford ur dining guests a wonderful view whichever direction they look. bt i think it'll only work wif the second mirror design, and not the 1st. cos the 1st design has too many bevels and grooves criss-crossing in the middle of the mirror. if cost is not an issue, use a gigantic single piece better still.

u can try the banks and see if u can get a higher loan. but u cannot take a bank loan together wif HDB loan. the difference between the HDB loan amount and the price of the flat can be paid for using ur CPF funds. so u dun need to find a higher loan amount if u have enuf CPF.

hi, can PM me ur carpenter's contact pls? tks.

gohhuishi, who's ur ID? PM me if not convenient to say in public. in case same ID. den i can mentally prepare myself....keke...

i tell u....if ur ID is smart and really really wants to kotok u, he will come here, look at the average prices, den work out the difference between the average here and his quote, and tell you his "management fee" is that amount. so even though u can save eg. $1000 by engaging ur own electrician, ur ID will charge you $1k for his "management fee". end up, u dun save at all. i tell u, if i were u, i will not accept his reasoning for management fee. wat coordinate? nvr mind. my electrician will do the coordinating. I myself, will tell the electrician where to run the wiring. based on ur agreed layout, u would oredi know where to put ur lights and all the necessary points. so just tell ur own electrician where got wat, and let him do his job. go back to ur reno contract and check, is the electrical works quoted inside? as far as i knw, almost all reno contracts dun include electrical works. tt is a separate cost and they usually dun hv a contract. just a basic quotation b4 commencement of electrical work and den aft finish and payment, just an official receipt frm the electrician. so thr's no contractual obligation for the customer to follow reno firm's electrical quote or things like management fee. my argument to ID will be: i engage u to do the whole project, its ur job to coordinate everything. whether i buy products frm other suppliers or subcontract other un-contracted works to other contractors, his job is to coordinate everything wif everyone. and the contracted total project fees oredi covers for all such work. toilet equipment not listed in contract rite? so i go n buy toilet stuff, he also coordinate delivery n installation rite? electrical appliances like cooker hob n hood, wall-mount TV etc, he also coordinate rite? so hw different is an external electrician? dun come and give me crap reasons to try and make a quick buck from me. if u dun accept my reasoning, den u can leave the project. finish up watever i've paid u for n leave. i will engage another firm to complete the project. - this is wat i will say to my ID if i were the one in this situation.

how much did u pay for this lighting fixture?

ehh....pardon my asking....wat's AC4, AC5 and EPLF?

my advice, u shld not be seeking such advice here. the only advice u shld be seeking is that of ur brother-in-law's divorce lawyer. u can't be sure any advice given here by anyone is the right one with proper legal regulations behind it. anyone in the virtual world can claim to be a lawyer. and mind you, a conveyancing lawyer is probably not familiar with the rules and policies of the Family Court and vice versa. so it's best that u have a detailed discussion with your BIL's divorce lawyer. if you're not convinced of what his divorce lawyer says or don't like what he says, den seek a second opinion from another experienced divorce lawyer. they will advise you accordingly.

my personal opinion, gas heater is always better than instant heater. i'm currently using the Rinnai REU-55CG frm Citygas FOC abt 8yrs back. They were giving it free to promote the use of gas heaters back then. Pros of gas heaters tt i've personally experienced: 1) Cheaper utilities bill as gas is cheaper than electricity which instant heaters use. 2) Hotter water temperature achievable compared to instant heater. 3) Even during monsoon months when incoming water supply is already very cold, the heater is still able to produce very hot water. Instant heaters just can't do it even at the max temperature setting. Cons of gas heaters: 1) Water frm gas heaters takes longer to heat up. As in, when you first turn on the hot water from the mixer, the water coming out is not immediately hot water. Cold water flows out from the mixer for a while before it gradually becomes hot water. It takes about 30-40s before u get hot water. 2) Unless u design the pipes layout well, u will have gas pipes running all over the place. And potentially water pipes as well if you're also intending to use tap mixers and kitchen mixers. Of cos, if ur area dun hv Citygas (like my new place), no point looking at all the above comparisons. You either use an instant heater, or a storage heater. Both run on electricity

i know. i also thought of that....but it's colour is very different from my design theme. my theme is white and black (or wenge, or black-brown) and the current broken marble flooring is peach. how to match like that? unless i can bleach the broken marble and turn it white. dun think it's possible....unless someone dealing with marble can correct me on this?

noisier bedrooms? what do u mean? how is it noisier?

hi all, has anyone in here hacked off the floor of their place and re-did the floor with marble? which kind of marble is the most suitable and cost-effective (if there is such a thing for marble) for use as a flooring material? i know nuts about marble, so i need some advice from experienced users. and i can only use a white-biased marble. can't use any other shade of colours. if can, i'd be able to save a ton of money on flooring as my new place has peach-coloured broken marble flooring. (can i bleach this to become almost near-white?) i've only heard of broken marble, cultured marble and normal pure marble (which is super-ex!). other forms of marble that can be used for flooring, i don't know liao. also the dos and don'ts, the pros and cons, and the countries of origins and their relative quality. hoping for some kind souls to share and advice. thanks a mil.

if it's only going to be switched off for less than a day, den there is no need to switch it on 6hrs before u using ur aircon. only if u're leaving it off for an extended period of time, eg. a week or a few days at the very least, den u would need to switch it on 6hrs before using the aircon.