schiz0id

Hmmm... Seems like no one's ID/contractor actually makes the trip down everyday. My ID, during our first meeting, told us that he will go down everyday. Every single day. After signing, when we asked him again, he said every other day. Now, after renovation works have started, it's when necessary....

Thanks for sharing, offshore! Thought i'd add on with http://interior-affairs.com.sg/ Been to their showroom and was totally blown away by the many different ideas for bathrooms and kitchens. Worth a trip down if you're looking for ideas too. You'll come out like I did

Apple store? I know they take pre-orders before launch date. But of cos, that's without plan.

TILING WORKS This is the final lap of the tiling works for the walls. Wall tiling in my parents' bathroom is complete. Now left the floor tiles. Tiling in the common toilet is all complete, even the floor tiles have gone on! CEMENT WORKS All the walls have been given their 2nd layer of cement (the smooth mix). Even the kitchen wall where the full-height cabinets are going to be, has also been given the complete works! [Notice the things have now been shifted here because the floor screed will happen in the living area tomoro ] FLOOR TILING The floor tiles for the bedrooms are being measured and marked. Should be happening tomoro! There are some lil hiccups here and there and now with the water leakage problem I hope there won't be any delays. Brrr.....

OLD ESTATE PROBLEM I had hoped it wouldn't come down to this but since it has surfaced during renovations, I guess we're lucky it's not immediately after renovations... Found this today while on-site. I was immediately taken aback by the green spots. A closer look at it. Sure looks like water leakage problems from upstairs. When I compare with the Before Reno shots that we took, it's evident the brown patch was there but not the green algae-looking spots. Will be calling up town council tomorrow. My ID says he will try to see if the upstairs owner around before I speak to town council. (Note: Upstairs and downstairs all doing renovations) Anyone knows how this matter will be rectified?

Thanks Exodus, so nice of you Yup, iPhone 5 supposedly has an all-new design. Can't wait for it And yeah, their fibre is really no faster than their broadband. Not significant enough to warrant that change. Lucky i'm shifting to a place with no fibre yet, the last I enquired, I can go back to broadband without incurring any penalty...

Wow, eden! I'm blown away by your detailed updating of your cute lil ones! Love the colors! Don't they just add more color to your life?

Hi dinobros, Thanks for sharing Hope you got the issue ironed out already. How did you deal with your contractor? I've come to realise that HDB actually works quite fast cos everything is now done online - immediate. Another HDB officer was telling me, that for very minor permits, they usually need just 1 working day to approve. I don't know why ID/contractors want to delay hacking works when that's one of the earliest things they should get out of the way for the rest of the works to proceed smoothly.

The uncles are really so nice. I think i'll miss having people to talk to when i'm there. The plaster people look like a bunch of stressed up young dudes. Probably seeing alot of them next week

TEMPORARY DOOR Not much happening in the house today. One uncle was unwell so not around. Grouting went up onto the kitchen today. Some new walls had the 2nd layer of cement on. My parents' dry bathroom area was almost all tiled up. Will take the pics tomorrow when less people are walking around (aircon people came to do the water pipe). Anyway, the temporary door came today and was put up during lunchtime. New temp door that was very w i d e. Under the uncle's request cos he said it was easier for him to do the door frame area instead of knocking against the temp door. It even comes with a makeshift handlebar! How innovative. Ha! Mid-week tomorrow. I doubt the floor tiles will be done by this Sat. Stil hoping!

Yeah.. nothing new.. but they really are getting from bad to worse! Anyway, in keeping to topic, if you guys are looking to get the iphone 4s, my personal opinion is, if you don't use the camera too much, iphone 4 is really good enough. Siri is no big deal (unless you're into funny answers) cos iphone 3GS and iphone 4 have voice control capabilities that allow you to do similar things that Siri does, like dialing a particular number or playing music etc. Processor speed is a tad faster but not worth the price tag. So all in all, no biggie if you're currently holding onto a iphone 4. You're better off waiting for iphone 5, trust me.

Yeah, I have no doubt it'll be hacked. I'm just upset about time wasted and the fact that it was such a simple task of submission. Oh well, looking ahead! Hey neighbour! I also want.. But my ID so scared die. Even when I've gotten verbal confirmation for widening door, he still wanna wait for official letter before hacking. This one needs QP, you think he will hack? Ha!

Sigh.. Thanks.... They are complacent cos they think they are the leaders. Poor us - the consumers.... Bleah

PROBLEM STIFFENER Okay, since it's a wet Tuesday afternoon, I shall share a lil about this problem we are currently having, bearing in mind we already have a time constraint before works even started. This pillar here is a stiffener (HDB lingo). And on HDB's original floor plan, it's a solid black line. By right, it cannot be hacked. But my upstairs neighbour and downstairs neighbour both have had this hacked away. How this could have been missed during the first application for hacking, is really another long story. So anyway, if we want to hack this away, we will need a QP (qualified person) to come in to endorse that this wall is safe to hack. My dad, being in the construction business, knows someone who can endorse for us. When I spoke with HDB, HDB says we need to apply to hack this first, then get QP to endorse then they will approve. Since the HDB TO (technical officer) already knows me (he even knows my unit number now after I tell him my name), he said he will expedite for me to HQ to get it approved upon receiving our application to hack. When we told the ID two weeks back to submit for us, I even told him that QP side and HDB don't have to worry cos I already cleared with both sides. All I need is for him to submit. Been chasing him the past two weeks to submit, he told me on two separate occasions that they have already submitted. But each time I call HDB, the TO is so nice to check for me and tell me not yet received. The last straw came yesterday when HDB TO called me to tell me still not yet submitted. I sent my ID 2 harsh-toned messages and ask for a decent explanation. No reply. One more this morning and he's finally doing something about it. No word of apology, no word of explanation. Just asked to meet my QP to sign some forms then they will submit today. He got the forms mixed up and insisted the form came from the QP. Nevermind, so my dad sent him down to meet the QP to explain the form should come from QP. But actually, the form could be downloaded from HDB. That's what I found out simply by googling "HDB QP form". If he'd done his homework as well, my dad wouldn't be making another trip right now to pick up the form from him to give the QP and send the form back to him. HDB TO just called me again, cos I wanted to make sure that only 2 items needed to be submitted. He checked with his colleagues and got back to me. Hopefully after this, things will go smoothly. I'm just pissed because if all these had happened 2 weeks ago, my flooring won't have any delay. Right now, when the uncles do the floor tiles this week, they have to work around the pillar because hacking that stiffener will damage the floor tiles around it. The uncles know i'm pissed with the delay so they try to be nice and say it's okay, they just work around it while we wait for the approval. So nice right? But all these are time wasted and works delayed, albeit only slightly (i hope). And lots of legwork and support from our end. That said, the workmanship and scheduling works are still not too bad considering ours is quite rushed. Everyone has their bad days (in the case of the ID, it's weeks ). I will cut the ID some slack and hope the big guy above will cut me some if ever my time comes.

Singtel asks customers to register interest. According to one of their customer service assistant managers, from this lot, they specially select a pool of customers to sell the new phones to. While the rest of us who registered interest are left refreshing on a page that doesn't allow us to apply for our time slot to go down to buy the phone, those select few are given a URL from which they can order from. Customers rush to get online on 26 Oct at 10am to book their time slot to collect their phones. After 1.5 hrs, they say they are fully booked and closed that booking page. All the time slots for launch are snapped up. These are people who supposedly got ahead of everyone else and can pick up their phones on 28, 29 and 30 Oct at Suntec City. Later that same afternoon (26 Oct), don't know how come, they opened their online shop for people to purchase the phones online. This time round, these people can get their phones delivered to them on 28 Oct from 2-5pm. Home delivery, FOC. So, why ask people to register interest? Why make people rush at 10am to try to book a slot in the morning? Why have the launch at Suntec when you can do home delivery for everyone? Tsk.... Very disappointed with Singtel and how they handled this whole iPhone 4S launch. Screwed up management. Total waste of my time.

Haha yeah.. Managed to nip quite a few problems in the butt. Always good to go up daily so can identify problem areas on the spot and hope they can rectify immediately. I'm lucky I can go up everyday while they are at work. Else I wonder if there will be more delays... I think i'll miss my 'lessons' more than they miss my company.

OVERALL UPDATE Okay, so we are here today at the 3-week mark. I think it’s apt to post an update on the works done and yet to be done. DONE & DANDY - All floor/wall tiles hacked Walls hacked (11) Walls erected (8) Wet kitchen tiling Dry kitchen tiling Grouting for both kitchen wall tiles BR4 bathroom tiling Windows (all areas except wet kitchen) New door frames for all bedrooms PENDING WORKS - Floor tiles Sanitary installation Electrical works Plumbing works Lighting works Ceiling works Plastering (Whole House) Carpentry Window Grilles Main door & bedroom doors Furnishings Initially thought we had quite a few things done already. Now looking at the Pending Works, I'm really wondering if we can finish everything on that list in 4 weeks... See... GARGANTUAN......

I'm going to give up on that "sore thumb" soon. If give up due to time constraints, I'll the ID. He hasn't given me a satisfactory answer to our delay yet. I'm Haha I agree with the painted white walls, that's the problem when the "pattern" cannot be seen. Well, our hiccup is not minor nor really major, depending on how you see it. Will explain when I come to flooring cos that's where the delay is going to really affect us. There'll be a board up before the main door comes. Hope it comes soon!!

No wonder you say your reno and my reno timing is similar. We are also left with those items, except we still have electrical to do too. Expected handover in 4 weeks. Rush rush... Zoom zoom!!! Looking forward to see your carpentry!

Haha.. That emoticon is so apt for your open concept bathroom! Your reno progress is looking good too! Hope everything goes zoom zoom

TILING WORKS Wall tiles are beginning to go up on my parents' dry bathroom. Should be done by tomorrow since it's only a small area. White grouting making its way between the tiles in the kitchen and the bathrooms. Looks like a white wall now without the ugly gaps in between CEMENT WORKS Floor being prepared for the tiles at my youngest brother's room. Also preparing for the floor tiles to come in my room. Our 3 bedrooms with the new walls all done and floors screeded. Was told that most (95%) of the works by these uncles will be done by this week. Floor tiles should most likely be laid (except a small part of the living area - will get to that part and explain in due time) by this week. Can't wait!

MAIN DOOR WIDENING After waiting almost 3 weeks for the approval to come through, we are finally hacking the main door and widening it! The main door as it stood this morning. Looks puny eh? The guys came and in two shakes, both sides of the wall were felled! Right side couldn't hack all the way cos that's the external wall facing the main road. [see the pillar on the left there? The one that sticks out like a sore thumb? Having problems with this pillar now with my ID Hoping it gets settled soon. I'm running a tight ship here!] A different view of the now super-gaping hole in the entrance to our unit. This view gives you a clear idea of how my 2 other neighbours have their main doors after the right turn at the end of the corridor. The hoarding that you see immediately outside the unit shows the lift upgrading in progress. Now all we have to do is wait patiently for our wider main door!

Hi Reiki! Never too late Thanks for reading! After factoring the number of people staying in the house, our population density is still higher than most households! So it's not very huge. I love the way you did your house btw. And I love those dining lights! Enjoy your stay here

Uncle said the flooring will be completed by this week. After which, next week onwards I won't see them anymore They are such nice people who don't mind me hanging around to watch them at work. Will miss my 'lessons'. Having minor hiccups here and there. Still reeling but shall keep it in till everything is over then i'll post a review of my whole renovation works.

Hmm.. I'm not sure if it's allowed but I suppose it's okay cos it acts as a viewer only. No recording unlike CCTV that kind. I got it from this website http://ncnshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=19&zenid=30c4f539796d1601f4336d3ea0b6c959 when they were having a huge discount. Got this for less than $100. It's now $178. If not because I bought this, I'd have gotten the one with intercom and multi screens.