jumbopanther

I have pm you a contact, call him to quote you.

No, the extension is at the back at Level 2, not above.

Talking about tiles, whether is it floor tiles, wall tiles or roof tiles, please make sure the contractor keep aside some spare tiles for you, and not totally remove them from site. These tiles will come in handy if future tiles broken or chip off, then you have ready ones to replace. Otherwise, some time down the road, the particular tiles may had stopped new production and you will not be able to find exactly the same tile to replace.

My current Hse is using laminate for whole Hse (excluding kitchen and toilets of course), for the past 12 years, no major issue.

Short of seeing the drawings and fully understand the detail scope and area of works, my first impression : For renovation or A&A costing $650k, is expensive. My friend tore down old Hse and rebuilt, also spend $650k

It's homogenous tile, 600x600 from hafary

Dry laying of tiles: I dry lay the tiles myself and went through in detail with the tiler, how i want the tiles to be laid, and also which wall start with full tiles and which wall end with cut tiles. It's important to let the tiler know exactly what you want so as not to end up with surprises. For wet kitchen top:

My painters are working real fast these few days, primer/sealer + 1st finishing coat have been completed, for both indoor and outdoor:

My wife wants to sell: Lots of almost new (hardly wear, some not even worn) children clothes for sale; suitable for 2 to 12 years, both boy and girl clothes available. Selling at $8 per piece only. First come first selection basis. If interested, please contact mailto: or call/sms for viewing of clothes. Too many to post all, below are some of them only, nice clothes that cost us big sum when we bought, now kids overgrown, so letting go at flat $8 per piece.

One important aspect of external work; applying water proofing membrane to the external wall, to prevent water seepage.

Someone asked me about sharing of storage heaters. My advice would be: 1) OK to share heaters bewteen 2 toilets (maximum) on the same floor and these 2 toilets are situated near to each other. 2) Try not to share more than 2 toilets. 3) Not recommended to share toilets between 2 different floors. Reason: For 3 or more toilets, you will probably need a bigger heater storage tank. Not only size will be bigger (meaning take up more space in your toilet or lower false ceiling), with more water storage capacity, this will take longer time to heat up the tank and/or bigger heating coil, either case will consume more electrical power. 2 toilets will be fine, tank need not be too big (more compact to conceal in the toilet and ceiling), and not everyone will bathe exactly at the same time. Heating will be faster due to smaller tank, and the built-in thermostat can cut-off the heating elements when water temp reaches the requirement. Therefore save energy. To me, its a no, no to share between 2 toilets at different floors, because every time one bathe or stop bathing, one need to go to the other floor to turn on/off the heater. 2 way switch is a solution but it is costly to install a 2-way switch for heaters.. Hope the above clarifies.

When lighting holes are opened in the ceiling, a good electrician will align them neatly in line with fan and other lightings, can check whether they mark out the lines on the ceiling itself to know whether they are detail or not. My electrician also added a U-hook to hold the fan at the centre of rooms.

Oh really? That's something I didn't know. Thanks. So now 'cheap and good' stuff have to be more cautious.

Nope, I am not an architect.

Screening is good but make sure not too close and the gap not too small, the fan needs to discharge the hot air out in order to cool the refrigerant. Too close a cover or too small a gap will cause 'short-circuiting' of hot air, then yr compressor will work harder and not so efficient. Affecting the indoor aircon temp.

Thank goodness you are observant.

Short brief of how aircon works( minus the very detailed processes) Each outdoor compressor to each fan coil unit in the Hse has 2 pipes: gas & liquid lines. Liquid out from compressor and gas into the compressor. These are for heat exchange, (stage 1) removing heat from the room via the gas line, (stage 2) use compressor and fan to discharge the heat to outdoor, (stage 3) has becomes liquid and liquid flows to the Hse indoor fan coil unit, then back to stage 1-liquid becomes gas when heat from room is removed, and so on. So it is very important to insulate the gas and liquid lines thoroughly to prevent heat loss or heat gain. In short, yes, it is good and standard practise to insulate all pipes right into compressor

Check out this article about landed housing in the link below, it was also published in Business Times: My link Below are just snapshots of the first and last paragraph regarding landed housing future, for full articale click the link above

Well, if the big glass is full height from the slab, yes, you are right that is possible to walk straight into it, but if you install it above a low parapet wall, it shouldn't be a risk, For my case, the big glass is installed 1 m above the low wall. And moreover, there are plans to put sofa against the low wall, thus forming another barrier: example

Hi Lauer, you notice those openings too? Yes, specially opened by me. The top 2 long openings were actually used to be small RC vents in the original Hse, which serves very little purpose, worse they collect dust and web, so I design it by hacking them down to create big openings and allow light through. Especially so for inter-terrace Hse which is long with openings at the front and back only, so in order to brighten up the central part (which is usually dark), one can either open up skylight or cleverly bring light in from the side. As for the big opening hole in the wall beside staircase, that was added on as part of my design. I wanted big glass to add visibility and therefore make the central area (where the stair landing) not so claustrophobic. Will post the photo when ready.

Yes, me too. Hope it finished soon and well. Maybe for today, share about how I install glass within a wall. Ths big hole in the wall is where I am going to install one big piece of glass. Some contractors will lay the C-channel on top of the cut-out rc ledge, for me, pefer to conceal the C-channel, so only the glass portion is exposed. This can be done by cutting the slot onto the rc ledge and insert the channel inside the ledge. The glass can then fit easily into the c-channel. This conceal c-channel is located top and bottom only. Glass not delievered yet, so will show the photo upon completion of installation.

Yup, primer/sealer paint completed, now doing 1st finishing coat, follow by 2nd final coat by next wk. Tiling should be finished by next wk too. Then can concentrate carpentry. Then plan for TOP inspection in Nov, and shift in dec to celebrate Christmas! So far all fall into my planning and as per schedule.

Wish you get good contractors to do your house. Save a lot of headache and heart ache.

Hope I have not scared you ok? Not my intention. Just wish to give some factual pointers for you to consider.

Actually opposite, check the chart posted above 19 Sep., during downturn from 1Q 2008 onwards, the chart shows non- landed drop more than landed.