donal5

Hi steelze, nice seeing your house almost done. Congratulations... you can have a nice new year in your new house. I will be getting my keys tomorrow. Excited... BTW, have you bought your furniture? I was thinking of getting from JB, not confirmed yet. Dunno can really save or not.

No problem, that's what I thought also as the tornado may not fit in 2 bulb socket. Thanks for sharing the info. I think I am going with Philips even at a higher price, as I only have 12 downlights.

Hi neubie, so you are using the Philips downlights with built-in ballast in the bulb. I am wondering if this can last long or not? Mind share your exp, how long have you had this? I think the bulb is roughly double the price of the regular ones, ard $6. Is this correct? Thanks

Hi All, I am wondering if any of forumers use Philips downlights (without ballast)? Any recommendation whether to use downlights with or without ballast? The Philips downlights are more expensive, about $38 (2 bulbs 6 inch no ballast), whereas other brand with ballast cost $20+. I talked to the person in lightnings.com.sg and he mentioned that ballast also consumed power, so talking about saving energy, without ballast is more energy saving. But I am wondering whether the one without ballast will cause the bulb not to last long? Any experience with the ones without ballast? Thanks

Yea... I went to lightnings.com.sg and see the philips down light socket, there is no ballast one, directly screw the light bulb. No need ballast. This is more exp, about $38 for 6" 2 bulb one. Dunno reliable or not...

Hi All, I am wondering if any of forumers use Philips downlights (without ballast)? Any recommendation whether to use downlights with or without ballast? The Philips downlights are more expensive, about $38 (2 bulbs 6 inch no ballast), whereas other brand with ballast cost $20+. I talked to the person in lightnings.com.sg and he mentioned that ballast also consumed power, so talking about saving energy, without ballast is more energy saving. But I am wondering whether the one without ballast will cause the bulb not to last long? Any experience with the ones without ballast? Thanks

Hi All, I am wondering if any of forumers use Philips downlights (without ballast)? Any recommendation whether to use downlights with or without ballast? The Philips downlights are more expensive, about $38 (2 bulbs 6 inch no ballast), whereas other brand with ballast cost $20+. I talked to the person in lightnings.com.sg and he mentioned that ballast also consumed power, so talking about saving energy, without ballast is more energy saving. But I am wondering whether the one without ballast will cause the bulb not to last long? Any experience with the ones without ballast? Thanks

Hi maxwell, I did look at Englander at the Expo in December. Their hotel collections are quite nice, but end of the day buy Spring Air frm Courts. The turn off point to me are - the promoter kept pushing us to pay deposit. - the promoter also keep mentioning hotel collection are sort of limited, which I dont think so. - all the materials and assembly are from Malaysia, even though it is US brand. I think bed, you need to sleep on it to get a feel. My friend always told me not to get a too soft one.

Hi mae29, I like your socket plug, this is very useful, especially for my wife. I noticed quite a few forumers here install network cable. Just curious, wont wireless router solve this problem, instead of putting LAN cable connection to each room?

Hi Roblon, welcome to RT. Yes, indeed... owning a house is the greatest thing. So you are still house hunting? All the best...

Bro, i think older hdb has quite a few prob with the wall. Bo pian lar... I agree with some of the forumers, my colleagues told me, sometimes we get excited over new things and tend to look closely. After some time, we just let it be. Even new reno also, ppl tend to pay attention to scratches and details, after some time, dont care any more. I noticed wall problems also in the hdb I am renting now. A few walls are like below, so you can notice weird things. \\ || || ||

Thanks leechaorui, looking forward to getting keys... getting excited...

@steelze, yes the one went up to do measurement is the confirmed one, but I have not signed yet He said signed after choose materials and get keys. Btw, thanks for the referal on the wood door. I went down there to get our doors done also. Now only need to source for iron gate door. @lazybum9, yea, you are correct. As long as I feel the price was right at the moment, it does not matter, just have to move on to other items. We did go to Sungei Kadut and got a good deal on customized wardrobe. Also saw a nice sofa for 3+2 half leather for $1.7k, still thinking about it.

Hi bro steelze, i have not gotten my keys yet, just that the tenants were nice enough to let me bring contractor to do measurement. The pics I took during that day, as I realized only at that point also. You are right, plastering is not cheap. My contractor may not be able to waive it off for me... as my house have these lines on 3 walls. These can easily cost a few hundred bucks. How's your reno? Almost done? I read you are seeing some issues with your ID. I hope things can close smoothly later. I am crossing finger on mine. I will be getting my keys in 2 weeks time, getting excited. My reno will start after chinese new year.

Hi mistgun, it would be nice to have feature wall for the whole wall. But due to budget constraint, this is not an option I guess I may have to live with it. wondering if most of the hdb wall have this kind of lines or not for those original hdb wall. A bit difficult also as the lines are not in the middle of the wall. Thanks for the input

Hi All... just realized that the wall in my house has lines as shown below. Any suggestions on how to fill the line? I asked my contractor, but he said even if I fill it up, after some time, a crack line will show up. Help please... thanks...

Hi maxwell207, welcome to RT and congrats on your house. During the 1st app, the owners agree to hand over the keys on Jan 25th, getting excited... Yes, after looking at quotes from several IDs, I dont think I can get an ID with a price close to the contractors. Plus getting really tired also. Maybe I am not fated with IDs, cause most of the IDs I went to did not get back to me and the ones get back to me is quite exp. Yea, we got our bed while looking for other furniture... got a king size bed w/ frame for $2.3k frm Courts. My friend told me that I can get cheaper price in the furniture warehouses in Sungei Kadut. Too bad... alrdy pay deposit... Maybe some other furniture I can get from there.

Hi Mistgun, just curious, you mentioned you drove to JB and did some shopping. I was wondering if you need to declare anything? I thought if you drive back, how did they charge for gst. Thx

@Steelze, we have shortlisted a few contractors. Did not go any further yet, both my wife and I are falling sick. Going for 1st app tomorrow, then can ask seller when are the tenants moving out so we can bring the contractors to do detail measurement. Bought a bed last weekend though... hahaha... How's your reno? Pls post some pics of the progress. @Mistgun, we bought it for 412k total.

No problem Steelze, in fact, thanks for all the info. Now, after talking to DX and Basic Image, we are going to drop the idea of getting ID. Some IDs really dont have technical background on what can be done or not. Anyway, most IDs, or I should say almost all the IDs we went (around 6) do not get back to us until now (2 weeks alrdy), except Plush Living. We are getting tired of going all over Singapore for IDs, also getting sick some more. The quotes from contractors I got is about 33k plus minus here and there. This sounds quite ok for us. Going for 1st app next Tuesday, hopefully the owner say the tenant have moved out alrdy or moving out soon, so I can ask contractors to go in and measure. Getting excited How's your reno going? I bet it is almost halfway right?

@neubie: So I guess we have to see what the ID can cut down. He is going to revise the quotes for the excessive carpentry work (cabinets, shelves, suspended study desk, a lot of ceiling work) and the glass doors. BTW 45k is without electrical wiring. @gals_mama: Yea, we are waiting for a few more quotes from contractor (DX and Basic Image). If things work out, I guess this is the better route for us. Getting very expensive, I guess if we keep the same it will be close to 50k with the electrical wiring. Wah yours goes to 42k? Yours is a 4-room right? Do you have a lot of carpentry work?

Met with my ID from PL today, the quote is a bit too high more than 45k, of course with a lot of unnecessary stuff and glass doors in kitchen and bedroom separation door, which we dont like. The homogenous tiles for living and bedroom is quoted $7/sqft with labor. This is expensive, I told him this is too much. I think I can get better price. Maybe some forumers can give some advice if this is expensive or not. We also met with Edmund from DX today. We told him roughly what we want and he is very experienced. He told us what to do and what cannot be done. Hope to get better quote from him. Looking at the quotes from the ID, I am a bit doubtful if I can get anything below 40k from IDs.

Hi All, we recently bought a resale flat at Yishun after a very long search. First appointment: 14 Dec 2010 Second appointment: End of Jan 2011 or Beginning of Feb 2011 So reno will have to start after Chinese New Year. Here is the floorplan: Currently still looking for ID/Contractor. We went to a few IDs (PL, Ideal Hse, A&D, Vogue) and Contractors , so far IDs not very impressive as we bump into young or new ones most of the time The first impressions are mostly asking how we want to do the design. I thought they are the pros At the moment only 2 quotes came in, one from ID PL and one from a contractor recommended by my friend. The quotes from PL is kind of high, will meet the ID today to see the design. So far, we have a feeling that contractor maybe more suitable for us since our budget is tight (around 35k), although this budget may seem a bit tight for the floor size we have. What we intend to do: - Electrical rewiring - Plumbing - Total reno of 2 bathrooms and kitchen - Create a doorway between bedroom 3 and master bedroom - Hack and change all the tiles in living room and all bedrooms to homogenous - False ceiling or L box in living room and bedroom 3 (This will be where the bed is) - Built in wardrobe in master bedroom and bedroom 2 Thanks to bro Steelze, who has been helping us with advice here and there. We have a lot of similarities in floorplan and budget

Bravo for the good start Steelze. For some reason, I like the view of the hacking at least it shows a beginning of a new plan. Hope everything will go smoothly and can get finished before CNY. Thanks a lot for all your inputs. I really appreciate that. I will do my own post after more quotes coming in and after the first app. Nite...

Hi Steelze, I hope everything will go smoothly for you. I agree with you that the furniture design based on the 3D is ok only. I think you should ask them for redraw. I also agree with the other forumer's comment on laminated flooring and shower screen. My rental flat right now is laminated flooring in the master bathroom and it needs a shower screen to keep the water splashing out at least the area near the door. This will help you maintain the laminated flooring in the master bedroom. I went to Plush Living and A&D interior over the weekend. Still waiting for quotations. I also emailed my fp to a few contractors recommended by my friends. Eager to know the quotes. I guess now is still early for me since my first app is mid of next month, so a lot of IDs told me my case is not urgent yet. I guess I am a bit too excited to start alrdy.