Brainstorm

Its all up to you. My ID told me Homo tiles still can drill, but will need special drill and have to drill very slowly. For me, I choose not to drill as I find latching the top for door/gate is stable enough. And when I open my door fully (the big and small door/gate), the floor looks nicer without the holes. Cheers.

If I remember correctly, my hb went to check the price of the wood strip at Rocher area before, each strip cost ~$15. Our door used 15 pcs, so total ~$225. This is excluding the cost of painting the timberlac thingy on the wood and cost of mounting tape. My ID charge me ~$350 with design plus 3D drawing, painting and workmanship. Thought its quite cheap to get ID to do it... But the door is quite "interesting" cos everyone come to our house will be tempted to go and open the door... asking "this door leads to where?" "whats behind this door?" etc... then they will say "oh I see... its the home shelter/storeroom...the door very nice hor..." Think they expected something nicer behind that door, not storeroom. Ha ha ha.. !! Those not very observant ones didn't even notice its a door, they thought is a design on the wall to match our dinning table.... ha ha.

Actually its quite easy. My painter first paint the steel door, wait for a few days for the paint to dry, then my ID get the carpenter to match the colour and paint the wood with something like timberlac on the wood strips and stick on using the thick black color double side mounting tape. Below is the bigger version of the photo. Cheers.

Yes its still the original HDB steel shelter door. My ID just use solid wood strips to stick onto it and choose the correct color paint to go along. (i.e. the HDB shelter door is not drill, screw or nail. So no problem with HDB regulations) Can have many types of design too. The good thing is its much cheaper and also it does not take up a lot of space like feature wall. Cheers.

Check out my blog on downlights lobang! About 40% cheaper. Hope it helps. Cheers.

My ID give us 5 years workmanship warranty.....

Well, even if there is wall tiles behind the cabinet, after you tear it down, the wall tiles will be damage... you can see lots of holes and chips on the tiles.... it will not look as nice thought.... Maybe he is worry that when you see the workers just hack the cabinet down and say that they very rough and damage your tiles..... ???

Its quite normal as the toilet tiles can't be hack and the ID will usually make the bedroom kerb higher.. My old house also like this.

Cos my kitchen cabinet back-splash uses frost glass, the left/right height dimension + top/bottom length also different by a little. Also need to cut it slant + with slot, curve and holes to fit in the power points, etc. The glass guy came and measure here, measure there, took a lot of dimension before cutting the glass. For glass door I don't think its an issue. Its weather the ID & glass guy wants to custom make the door for you.

Glass can cut slant, curve etc. Where got glass can't cut slant!! Its the glass guy didn't measure properly. Your ID don't want to change for you, cos additional cost to him! Don't believe, just check yellow page for glass sheet seller, call and ask them if you want a 841mm top and 846mm bottom glass they can make for you, they will be happy to do it for your $$$$. Go try.

If you are buying a lot of down lights, consider going to those electrical hardware store (but limited design). Only a few of these shops are around. But the cost is about 50% cheaper or more as compared to any lighting shops. Plus you get the ultra bright Philips bulb instead of those cheapo bulbs. Try to get those that uses Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (screw on type, no need additional ballast, save electricity) instead of the usual Fluorescent Light Bulbs (four pin socket, needs ballast, which generate a lot of heat)

hmm... why so hostile? Actually all the power point is still in parallel connection, not in series. They just parallel all the power point by "hopping" the wires from point to point, so you see it like series, if you don't believe, try drawing your house wiring circuit out, then simplify the schematic, you will see that its parallel. If its in series, you will need to on all the lights and fans together. Cos if you off anyone of them, you will break the circuit.... cannot be right? So don't worry. Its parallel. For your case, because you disconnect one of the "hopping" wire and effectively you disconnect all the rest of the parallel power point tapping from this "hop". Cheers.

Ha ha, that's new... IDs receive so many people asking for quote every now and then, if they want to mess up those who drop them, they will be super busy. Think they will spend a lot of time doing that then to earn $$$.

This is the standard way of wiring for all flats. Electrical points are cluster in groups, each group is control by one breaker in the Main breaker box. Within the group, they not only share the black (N) wire, they also share the red (L) and green (E) wires. If all electrical points have wires straight from the breaker, you will need a very big white wire trucking to house all the wires coming out from the breaker. Its normal, don't worry.

You can try my ID from No: 2. Very nice guy and reasonable pricing. Check out my blog for the work done. Cheers.

Hmm... there is only 18/8, 18/10 stainless steel... 18/20 is not heard of.... or you meant 18 to 20% Chromium?

HDB stated for the SS pipe to be minimum grade 304, also known as 18-8 stainless steel (18% Chromium and 8% Nickel). But now most installer uses 18-10 grade SS, which is of better grade (18% Chromium and more Nickel, 10%). 316 is used for marine application (18% Chromium, 8% Nickel and 2% Molybdenum), it cost more then double the cost of 18-10.....

Oh one more possibility, if your contractor has include another new drainage point in your toilet, hope he connect it to the water drainage (which has U shape pipe below the floor to prevent smell from coming out) and not the WC drainage (which does not have a U shape pipe below....) ooppss

There is two possibilities. Check for the easy one first, make sure there is no breakage of sewage pipes, not just leakage (leak should not have the problem you describe), look at the top portion of the pipe as well (my old flat's sewage pipe break a hole on top, so got smell but no leakage, suspect the workers accidentally break it and act blur). If you are sure the pipe has no problem, then there is only one reason. It is the WC's pan collar problem, this is the hard part.... either the worker didn't put properly, put wrongly or the rubber seal is spoil. Pan collar is a plastic+rubber adapter between the floor sewage hole and your WC's exit pipe. It allows some adjustment and also will seal the gap. To check, need to remove the WC, yes the whole WC seat, then on the floor you will see this white plastic adapter with black rubber on top. Make sure the rubber is intact and the bent is position properly.... difficult to explain in detail. You may want to get your contractor to solve this for you. Hope this helps.

Actually its better to do the window change during the reno period if you are redoing your kitchen and toilet wall tiles. The windows/grill must be changed after the old wall tiles are hacked and before the new wall tiles are lay. This allows the tiler to close up the gap between the wall and window frame. Nicer this way. If done after also can, but not as nice. To change the whole house windows plus grill to white powder coat will cost about high $2k to $3k depending on how big is your windows. They charge by surface area (length x breath), so if you have tall windows, means more $$... Think many forumer indicated only the cost of grills which is a few hundred dollars. For grills only usually cost around $600-$700 for bronze colour and ~$900 for white colour, again depending on the window area. I know a window installer quite good and he charge at factory direct price. Nice chap, good after sales service as well (my mother like to hang her cloth on the window handle to dry, so her handler corrode quite badly and after 5 years it broke. Ask him to come and he still will come change FOC plus give us a few more handlers as spare.) My previous two house all done by him. No problem encountered. Even my present house, I get my ID to tell me the date to install and still get him to do it for me. Even my ID say his price is really cheaper. His shop is "Kia* Ho*g Alumi*ium"... PM me if anyone keen to get the contact.

Yes. Just get the correct electronic ballast model depending on the type of light you use (T8, PLC, etc.) Ask the shop people to give you the correct one.

Thanks. But after comparing the quality of those chrome (non-stainless steel) steel basket sold at those hardware shop and Ikea's Lacquered painted steel. Those chrome ones looks better, the steel rod is much thicker, plus the price is also cheaper.... The shop owner badmouth Ikea's basket.... saying its thin, not as tough, his chrome is much better then the lacquered paint.... But when we ask about stainless steel, he say the price very high, about double of chrome type, not worth it.... Anyone know where to buy cheap and good chrome or stainless steel basket?

It depends on your usage then, if you only on for 2-3hrs at night before sleep, then it should be fine. Give (some cold air will escape) and take (some fresh, but hotter, air will enter). At night still ok as outside temperature is lower. If you usually on for long hours.... then better seal it up.

Its quite impossible to find a good contractor at that price for all the works.....

Electronic is the newer technology and it consume less power, generate less heat, provides instant start, don't require "starter", support flicker-free light as it operate around 25,000Hz as compared to magnetics's 60Hz, does not generate the soft "huming" sound, makes the same lamp 10% brighter ...... But need to make sure you get a reliable electronic ballast as most cheap ones will spoil within 6 months due to cheap electronic components used. If it can last more then 6 months, likely this ballast will work for a long long time. Good local brands are Philips and Elbiru. Cost is around $12-$18 depending on how many tube it can support....