jumbopanther

Shoe cabinet:

Wife's wardrobe: Thid is my own personal wardrobe:

Wardrobe for kids:

Have been off the line for a while, someone pm to ask about carpentry, ok, maybe its time to wrap things up with my carpentry works: My dry kitchen: Another angle:

Since on the topic of fan, just show the fans that I have installed, bearing in mind that the blade of the fans do not extend below the ceiling lightings, otherwise, you will experience flickering shadows when the fan operates.

Good choice. Tiles got too many grout lines, and difficult to 'finish' at the edges. Moreover, stepping on tiles feel hard and cold. For teak, u can get full piece on the steps, slight protrusion (over the concrete steps)at the edges and it will look beautiful. And for long term, walking up and down on the woody steps, you will appreciate the soft impact on yr feet.

One more matter to note abt door frames and skirting, so suggested sequence of works is floor tiling first, then door frame. However, the tiler will also do the skirting when he is doing tiling. But the last piece of skirting tile near the door frame got to do later. Let the door frame install first, the cut the last tile to match the remaining size to full the gap, then you will get a nice fit for the end product. Please note: don't cut the door frame to match skirting. That's unsightly. This is nice fit

Thanks lancified. Yes, it's equally important that the electrical works are properly installed. What you said is correct, to ground the light fittings; beside that, my main water pipe and DB are also grounded, as well as new lightning protection tape grounded front and back yard. My electrical contractor probably is even more 'protective' than I, making sure everything is done properly.

Hi drillbit, depends on whether you are submitting electriical works for authority testing and approval. If you are changing yr electrical, eg upgrading to new 3 phase, snd changing the meter to the gatepost, then yes, you should comply and get psb certification. Otherwise, Everyone has different risk threshold. Well, yr concern is yes, some equipment from JB may not be psb certified, well yes, suay suay if got fire, maybe insurance could likely will have an issue with that, .....,the possibility is there. But I am not sure abt the probability. Meaning how often these electrical causes fire? ( Then again, Of course, just 1 time is already quitedisastrous.） If anyone knows of the number of cases, electrical equipment causes fire, please share. That also means if true, houses in JB will face this problem too. Anyway, I am a risk taker ( calculated risk )

Hi Drillbit, to answer your question, right, I did not employ an ID. 2nd question, was it tough making all the creative/aesthetics decisions, well, not really, because I have already in my mind what design I want. This is actually the reason why I don't get an ID, because I don't need an ID to tell me what I like. And very often, what the ID designs, is usually not what I want. So for me, I would rather spend the $ on ID to $ spent on actual renovation for my house. But please let me qualify, ID has got his or her merits too and could be useful for other owners, who are usually new to house renovation, but it just does not work or apply to me. As for your situation of whether to use the regular contractor you trust or shop around for others. My take is depend on your risk appetite. If you have budget constraints and conservative sort of person, i would suggest go for the lower risk, your regular contractor. However, if you try others, you may get surprises ( maybe good or bad too), no risk, no gain. But for your own benefit, you can get your regular contractor to quote, then get other contractors to quote as well on the same requirements, so that you have a fairer comparison instead of accepting whatever amount your regular contractor quote you, just because he knows he is the only one.

Hi I have already pm you my contractor's contact

Hi singing bird, of course the door is frosted, she can change inside, no problem. Haha. I wouldn't dare try see through. By the way, though the photo shown above is for my domestic helper, but i have also installed this same door design in all our other bedrooms as well. The beauty of this door is its mixture of dark wood contrasting with light glass, majority is glass, most importantly my intent was to make this door a natural 'light box', bringing more light through as well as keeping privacy in place. Perhaps this angle is better

Personally prefer the lever type than knob type of handle, easier to open and close. Do specify stainless steel ironmongery, meaning the handle and lock set, and not forgetting stainless steel magnetic door stopper. Magnetic door stopper

All the room door frames and doors installed in the past whole week, today doing touch up and lacquering. Important to check thoroughly and make sure all doors and door frames properly done. The door to the room for my domestic helper

Hi sunbird, thanks for your kind words. Too many things to learn in construction/renovation. I am still learning too, looking out for new things. Now I am at the last phase of my A&A, having installed all sanitary wares, lightings, aircons, switches etc. carpentry will soon be up and final coat of paint. And also checking for defects as work progress so that I can get the various trade contractors who are still around to rectify the defects ( thank goodness, actually minor ones found so far) while they are still working at my site. Otherwise, if they shift out of site, quite difficult and cumbersome to get them back. So advise is, if possible, near the last phase of works, while you still have contractors working, do spend a bit more time to check for defects, if any.

Hi sunbird, oh you still following my blog? Ha, ok, have pmed you my builder contact. Wish you well and enjoy your reconstruction.

Sequence of works for flooring and door frame. Whether laying of tiles or laminated flooring or parquet, it is advisable to do the flooring first before installing the door frame. In this way, for example, the laminated flooring can be laid to the edge of the wall, leaving a gap of abt 10~15mm for expansion, and the door frame can then sit nicely on the laminated flooring. Then you will see a nice interface. If the door frame is laid first, then have to cut the laminated floor accordingly to the door frame edges, leaving an unsightly gap of silicon sealing. Below is an example of frame sitting nicely ontop of laminated flooring. Left side of the frame will be sealed off with skirting. The door will be laid last after flooring is done, so can measure nicely and fit the opening and closing.if flooring is done after the door,, there maybe a possible need to cut the door lower edges to prevent scratches.

Tiling for stairs: Laying of tiles for corners and edges. Never like the round PVC corners with different colours, so do 45 degrees cut. But for flooring, if cut to edges 45 degrees, there is a high risk of chipping. If that happens, got to replace whole tile, very troublesome. So suggest still do 45 degrees, but leave 2~3 mm at the edge to keep the edges 'hardy' and prevent easy chipping. Prefer to have straight edges rather than curve PVC edges. Below shown is example of completed stairs with straight edges. No need to be too eager to peel off the top plastic, keep it until final coat of painting is done.

About tiles laying, it's important to run through in details with the tiler where to start and end, this is important as it will determine where will the full tiles begin and where the cut tiles will show up. Usually fthe principle is for main entrances and where first line of sight starts and obvious, this is where full tiles begins. As such, where there are split steps, these tiles should start first and move to the rear and not start from the rear towards the steps.

It's simple, you can do so if you have gutter or existing rainwater down pipe. Just cut off the vertical section, and let the water free flow down like a spout. No need rocket science.

Rainy season, will be good to harness rainwater from nature and save water. Water collected can be used for gardening, wash car, wash toilets, front porch or backyard. Did some modification to collect rainwater:

Yup, my new gate, its width is about 75 cm, just in case I grow much fatter in future, haha.

I am back. Ok today talk about external main gate. Some prefer no auto, meaning manually open & close, it's ok too, can save some $, and need not have to worry about breakdown. Some prefer auto gate, because more convenient, every time whether drive out or return from work, or raining heavily, can auto control and need not have to get out of the car. For auto, can use sliding or swing open, depending on site conditions. Generally for swing type, have to take note of the internal ramp height so that it will not 'knock' onto the higher slope. If tiling is in progress, please note to arrange for the autogate vendor to come in and install the 'sunken' pits first on both sides of the swing gate, then the tiles need not be hacked and can wrap around the sunken pit neatly. Would also suggest to have a manual swing open gate for general walk in and out ( for domestic helper or children especially) so need not have to always activate the autogate every time. This gate can be 'gate within a gate and strongly suggest that the main gate should be at least 1.75~1.8m high so that anyone going in and out will not knock his or her head against the top fame. A gate within a gate:

My area also has got cat problem.....frustrating.

On the topic of false ceiling and box up, it will be important to determine where is the location of the fans; where or not to mount the curtain tracks or roller; and where to install sliding doors etc. All the above works are done by different contractors, so important to coordinate so that the false ceiling contractor will be able to pre- install additional 'wood support' inside these false ceiling or box up to 'hold' the fans, curtain tracks or sliding door tracks.False ceiling itself will not be able to hold these items. Cracks will appear. Eg of wood support for fan Eg of wood support for for future curtain track (within and below the box up for aircon) installation