ejszaka

I used to see a lot of copper being used in the good old days. But lately I see a lot of stainless steel. I know copper definitely will not rust, but steel can rust ya? Stainless only! But I suppose stainless steel is silver in colour so easy to blend in for decor purpose. Cannot imagine classy decor being marred by copper brown colour. My wild guess.

Yah, that's an excellent idea. Cos we access the dry toilet area a lot more than the shower area. Shower at most twice a day... but pee and poo more than that... hehehehe.

The water pipes for the bathroom, toilet and sink will run right behind the kitchen beam and boxed up. Boxed-up pipes from previous owner. After plumbing guy ripped out the existing pipes.

Saw how my neighbour's gas and water piping ran, and also checked with CityGas and the plumbing guys. It's a YES from both parties, that the pipes can be moved just below the beam. Neighbour's pipes So mine will be re-positioned this way, and all will be hidden within the full height living room cabinets.

DAY 5 Visited the flat with a relative to assess the corrosion for the waste pipe. It was so badly corroded, he blew his top, called up the contractor and scxxxxx him upside down over the phone for even suggesting that it can be salvaged. Final decision... all waste pipes are to be replaced, regardless of price. Kitchen pipes. Yuck!! After a discussion with the ID, this is the tiling expert's rough sketch of what masonry structures need to be constructed to accomodate the fridge, washing machine and suspended kitchen cabinets. He is very experienced, I must say, suggesting dimensions and what should and should not be done so that it looks nicer. Kudos! Assured me I will get my gradient in the bathroom and toilet for proper draining of water. Also advised minimal gradients in the kitchen as it will look awful. Masonry workers busy at work on Saturday morning to prepare the bathroom and toilet for tiling. Poor fellas, had to witness the earlier outburst.

Thanks for the advice and wonderful suggestions, people!

Maybe can push the dining area further back into the kitchen, shorten the kitchen, so that you can free up more space for a slightly longer living area? My Mom's kitchen in Bedok is also like yours... HUGE!! Hahaha.

Went to scrutinise the drainage pipes today and was wondering whether I should get them changed. The kitchen ones look kinda corroded. Does anyone know: How much is cost to replace the pipes with PVC ones? How long does it take? Any HDB permit required? My ID says can be saved and need not replace. But somehow I am not quite comfortable with it especially for bathroom and toilet where I will be boxing them up, but I am worried it will affect my reno timeline. Just trying to get some opinions.

I will just keep my plans fluid at this point, and get ideas from everywhere. Decide only when I have to make a final decision.

Thanks for the wonderful suggestion. Hmmm.... if water no flow... re-tile.. I like that! Haha. AS for the paintings, I will definitely go check it out.

DAY 3 The debris has been cleared and hacking completed. Tiles, cement and sand were also delivered. The true excitement and trepidation begins tomorrow.

No updates, cos when we discussed the reno plans and designs, we knew the beam was gonna be there. The glass shelf idea is a good idea. But I am not such a glass person, so I am more likely to just leave it and make the pillar a 'feature pillar' with a nice clock or perhaps photo frames. I want to be able to access the tv area from both sides. Will just box up the tv antenna pillar since it is not that obtrusive.

I was also very worried about that. Kept asking my ID. He said the hackers are usually quite experienced. It's critical that the areas to be hacked are marked out. If they hit some support pillar, they will see metal railings. A signal to stop or the ceiling will collapse I suppose. Anyway when I went to visit, there were only two bangla workers doing it on Day 2, and I double-checked with them. Seems like they know exactly where to stop. Phew!

You mean a glass display cabinet? Able to get a photo from your friend to show?

I know a bit early. No harm go walk walk look see. If find some unit with the layout you like, go buy the floor plan online lor. I suppose by looking at it, you would know which one can whack, which one die die cannot. But with most older HDB resale flats, bound to have some small surprises along the way. Then once you know which locale have the layout you like, you just need to monitor listings there lor. Otherwise very siong.

Thanks!

Rover, how's your house search coming along?

aegis, the toilet window can be the push out kind ha? so i no need to restrict myself to the louver windows? i absolutely hate louvers leh. need HDB permit to change? My existing one is louver.

Dropped by again after work last evening to see the extent of destruction... I must say.. it's complete!! Nothing's left of the kitchen. All gone. The bedroom door (extreme right) has been re-opened and restored to it's original position. The big gaping hole in the centre is where the other bedroom was. It will be opened up to be the living area, where the TV will be. Should have been one continuous big open hole all the way till the end, if it weren't for one support beam/pillar which I can't hack off. Have to live with it. But heng ah.. looks like besides the horizontal beam in the kitchen, there are no other beams in the living room liao. Good thing the beam/pillar is narrower than I expected. View from my main door. Gotta dress up this beam/pillar when reno is done.

Very nice enlargement. Your place will definitely look much more spacious.

DAY 2 The destruction continues. Most of the hacking is done. Only down to the last wall that separate the front bedroom from the living room, and the floor skirtings. They will clear all the debris tomorrow and the raw materials for construction will come in. It also means have to pay up another 40% of the bill. 2 bedroom space combined. Kitchen and living room.

Seems like from your maindoor can see peep into your house and see what you are watching on TV. Are you the sort who keeps your main door open all the time? If yes, would it be an issue? Can consider moving the TV to the opposite wall.. although a bit slanted.. but can mount the tv on a rotating console.

I agree with strikingreality. Storeroom very important leh. Which means you have to build in a lot of storage spaces, and be very organised, and cannot hoard things. Like me, I want also don't have.

That's great. Current position very awkward and downright weird if you asked me.

Now that I'm midway through the hacking, I am able to appreciate better where the pipes, beams and trunkings of my home runs. My biggest bugbear, .. how they do the toilet pipings in the good old days!! Also scrutinised properly how the gas and water pipes enter the home... and frankly, I don't know what to say. Can someone with more experience with this enlighten me please??? .... is it possible to relocate the entry points for the unsightly gas and water pipes? Got any HDB ruling that says CANNOT? As you can see from the above photo, they enter pretty low, which is so illogical. Wondering if I can move them upwards (as high as into the light box area), and then move the power DB slightly to the left, so it can be hidden in my full height cabinets. As worst I create a very shallow box to up the two pipes.