Chunky Monkey

Patio Floor Tiling 3 tilers at work, all at once. Wood-like Ceramic Tiles in the Patio Outside the Kitchen. BestView Glass Doors. Floor tiles are levelled with tracks The original water drainage hole is near the Patio Glass Doors. We asked for water drainage to be re-directed away from the house, and so this pipe was put in. This section is still waiting to be levelled with cement, before tiling can commence. Patio Grouting

1 Dec 07 This bout of flu is really different from other times .... makes me weak, and my body aches just wouldn't go away. So you can imagine how frustrated I feel right now. I am not in the mood to get descriptive, so I'll just post photos for now ... Pictures of our new hot-dipped wrought iron grilles around the airwells/voids. Colour: Platinum/White View from the Basement

surge, your fan is so unique! Congratulations!

Sigh. Phamton, you have spoken my mind. I get so irritated with the RMs' sales spiels, and I now have a standing instruction. DO NOT SELL ME ANY BANKING PRODUCTS. DH blew his top one time, when our RM called him at work and tried to sell twin ccy / premium deposits and told him "oh, you can get double digit interest yada yada". The stupid RM did not even check my DH's qualifications. He's a ACA and CFA for goodness' sake. And my DH suffers no fools.

I agree with Phantom. You have got yourselves a very inexperienced credit officer or loan operations staff. Too duh. I would ask to speak with the credit department manager to clarify why the inefficiencies and repeat verifications at your husband's workplace. Or maybe they misplaced your income documentation?! These days, the staff at many of the banks (no offence to some of the bankers on this forum) go through the motion of doing things without comprehending the rationale of that tasks at hand. In a recent home loan application at HSBC, I submitted THREE years of Income Tax Assessments showing stability of income. And you know what the stupid credit officer asked for? My husband's payslip. I gave the RM a piece of my mind and challenged him to get his boss or the credit boss to call me personally, if they have the audacity to STILL ask for payslip when I provided the tax assessments. I really pity the guys not in financial services. So many inexperienced bank personnel these days, and 'bully' the layman. Gets on my nerves. Like what my ex banking boss would say, "look pretty but brain empty" Banks' definition of hawkers is "self employed". By general policy, that means 2 years of tax assessment, and the bank will take the average monthly salary to compute the borrowers' ability to service the loan amount. Your case is very straight forward. The credit officer can and should only take your husband's TAs from his 1st source of income, and completely disregard the source of income from your new partnership. A company letter citing one's partnership fees holds no water until it's substantiated by a TA, which in your case, is not available.

Thank you, lifestyle. I hope to check on things tomorrow. I am just worried that the dust will irritate my throat. So staying away for another day may not be such a bad thing.

28 Nov 2008 No update today. I've caught a bad flu. Main contractor called to say our wrought iron grilles for the airwell have been installed. And some WCs and lights were just delivered this morning. That's all for now.

Why should this concern one's contractor? When homeowners engage pest control, it's their own cost and the contract is with the homeowners directly.

Hope you are able to decide on your ID soon. When I read your subject title of "caught in between", I thought both your IDs were having a fight, and you caught in between.

I have seen pictures and I have to say, they look really bad. No doubt the holes will be patched up but it's still visible. I did my soil treatment before my main contractor started any work on the ground. The ground has just been levelled, and water proofing has just been applied on.

Good luck in your renovations!

Tell me about it! It's so d.a.r.n. expensive but if we want to reduce the risk of getting all new our cabinets and new wiring chewed up, we just have to do it, no choice. The high cost is mainly because of the Bayer chemical that is expensive. The Rentokil guys had to drill holes against the walls and 1 foot apart all over the basement floor, and pump in litres of the chemicals to kill the termites and keep new termites at bay. It does not involve any termite stations or traps. The chemical is just injected into the soil below the house. DH said $4K for 7 years is only $47 per month.

26 Nov 2007 I didn't go to the house today. Instead, I went to Guan Chang Electrical Pte Ltd at Playfair Road to pick up the VIBO (made in Italy) stainless steel pull-out baskets that I ordered. We had a bit of trouble configuring the internal space of our kitchen island because there was one particular model/size of S/S pull out baskets that was out of stock, and I was rather disappointed because it meant that I could not maximize the space like I originally intended. But out of the blue, the salesgirl called me, and told me that she found the last one in her warehouse, and she'd kept it for me for a few weeks till I picked it up today. Under our kitchen island, we will therefore have 1) 100mm bottle rack for sauce bottles etc 2)865 mm pots and pans rack right under the cooker hob 3) 235mm rack for garlic, potatoes & onions & 4) 345mm rack for a bottle of oil, containers of flour & rice bucket. And all to fix in a 1800mm kitchen island we specified in the space we want in the kitchen. Viola!

Very inappropriate. And the couple could have thought it's cute. Young people often forget we are in an Asian society. Even western societies will keep to traditions at weddings, especially when the church is involved. Favours are for guests to remember the happy occasion by. Favours are not supposed to be thought-provoking. Poor couple - alot of flak they will receive island wide when it's supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

We found termite infestation behind built-in cabinets on the 2nd floor of the house. Ironically, the house had a maintenance contract with Rentokil. But months before the handover, the old contract expired and the previous owner decided not to continue (for obvious reasons since he'd also sold the house to us). I asked Rentokil and was told that it's very probable for termites to move quickly during the time the house was not checked for infestation. We undertook the soil treatment using a product by Bayer that comes with a 7 year guarantee. It was $4K. We also treated the roof beams for another $500 as a precautionary measure. For the soil treatment, it has to be done after all the floor tiles have been hacked up (A&A) and debris removed. The guys have to drill deep holes into the ground and pump the chemicals into the soil. If your renovation does not include removal of floor tiles, then you will see holes all over the floor times even though they will be patched up by the pest control buys. With regard to the infra-red gadget, it's called Thermatrac. An infra red machine that picks up wall movement, should there be termite infestation. It's more accurate than the surveyors knocking here and there. It's however more time consuming (more thorough actually) and expensive.

With regard to the tiling in your foyer and tiling in your kitchen, you can pretty much insist that the flooring be levelled. I'm puzzled how the tilers got this effect in the first place? It might be a work error i.e. wrong estimation of kitchen flooring height. It depends on how far you want to pursue the matter. You can most certainly ask your main contractor to rectify it. Is that cement screeding in the foyer? You can get them to re-do. But it's definitely a lot of hassle. Not sure how your main contractor would take the news. As for the grout lines, you can also ask for them to be colour matched to your floor tiles.

The 2007 models are currently being phased out. Since your house will only be ready in March 08, you only will have to consider the 2008 models. Because even if you want the 2007 models, they won't be available. Based on past experience with De Dietrich, Eldric Marketing never ever has a sale. I even tried to buy my steamer and microwave at the GSS but there just wasn't any discount, nor freebies. If you are decided on the model you want, make sure you put your money down to secure a unit. There are many new high end condo developments going on, and the project managers buy in bulk. You may not get a unit if you do not place a deposit for your ovens. You might want to think about the placement of your ovens. I am going to place all my ovens in a single column, with my multifunction oven right at the bottom, microwave and then steamer right at the top. And make sure you tell your main contractor and electrician that you need 16 AMPs power points for each oven. 16 AMPs power points cost more than the normal 13 AMP power points.

There was a water feature with a filtration system and we chucked it out. Only because it does not fit into our lifestyle. We appreciate quality but we much prefer simple things, and having a water feature is not part of our plan. It's there to look at and all, but we rather have the outdoor space for the children. And it also means less cleaning and maintenance on our part. If you wish to install a pond, I think you need to consider child safety if there are children in the house (now or in future). And also, in place of the pond, what better use of the space would you have. For intermediate terraces, there really isn't a whole lot of space for entertaining AND having a pond. Just my 2 cents' worth. A lighting point refers to a spot in which there is electrical wiring, to install a light, be it ceiling light or wall light. $25 for a lighting point is VERY cheap, by any standard. Is it for concealed wiring or external wiring with trunking? And does it include hacking and patching of walls if it's concealed wiring? Is it extension or relocation OR brand new wiring from the DB (distribution box)? We will just be using ordinary Clipsal white switches and power socket casings. We are of the opinion that designer switches have fantastic asthetics but the function of a switch remains unchanged, and that's to turn on and off lights. So, we're keeping it very basic. My husband reminded me time and again, that over the years, we will completely forget about the colour of the switches, and the feel of the switches etc. So we might as well channel the renovation budget to other things that matter to us more, and that we can't compromise. Decisions about renovations have great variances. So, it's to each his/her own. I am just sharing how we derived in saving on some stuff, and go all out in others.

Here are some random pictures I took around the house yesterday Worker smoothing out the edges for the skirting in the Attic Another worker tiling the wall where I would place my fridges Another worker patching up the gaps with plaster, in between the ceiling board and kitchen wall tiles.

Installation of Lights & Painting The electrical wiring of my place has taken close to 3 weeks. Shocking but it was very time consuming. My electrician did the lighting points, power points and SCV points. The telephone wiring was done by someone else. He is very patient and does things the right way. I appreciate that he uses the right coloured wires, and not the same coloured wires that the electrician at my mother's house tried to use. That was not such a good experience, and my father ended up quarrelling with him over that matter. I can most certainly understand that when a job drags on for too long, because they still cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, their energy levels dip. Towards the end, the electrician kept asking me if it's ok not to hack the wall, to conceal the wiring. I relented for those wiring that go behind my built in wardrobes. My main contractor was the one who insisted that he conceals wires even after I'd said it's OK. It is moments like this that I know my main contractor has my interests at heart. And in case you're wondering if the electrician is my own contact or my main contractor's contact, it is the latter. I actually overheard him saying in Hokkein that "you want fast, I also want fast. But must do ho ho, and swee swee mah!" That day, I bought lots of packet drinks and biscuits for the workers. I ordered all my lights from National Electric in Geylang (these people use emails too) and the manager I am dealing with is Priscilla. I told her that my electrician asked for the delivery of the lights that I had ordered, because they were ready to cut holes in the false ceiling. So I expedited that and in 3 days, the lights were delivered to my place. I was pleasantly surprised that Priscilla had marked on the Delivery Order, what lights are for which locations ~ just like the way we indicated to her in the store 2 weeks ago! The lights were all very well marked and packed, so it was a no brainer for me to sort out the lights in the house. To make the job easier for the electrician, I sorted out the lights by location and so they know with any guesswork. Despite having given the electrician the drawings showing the positions of the lights at the beginning of the installation, I went down to the house and stayed the whole afternoon when they were marking the ceiling. It was an eye-opening experience for me. Mundane for most people, I guess. But enriching for me, because I never would have expected that was the way it's done, and it's from watching them that I know I can never do their job. These guys are good guys, and thank god for them. The electrician asked me if he could go ahead and install the wall sockets, light switches and also the lights. I was about to say OK but my main contractor said it's not proper; that he should wait for a week to let him paint the ceiling. So the sequence has become >> 1) cut holes for light points 2) paint ceiling 3) install ceiling lights 4) paint walls 5) install wall sockets & switches. My main contractor is obviously one of the old guards. He refuses to be hurried into doing something that is not right. And he is certainly no push over. So, the electrician has no choice but to make repeated trips to my house over the next few weeks. Here are some pictures I took My electrician and his assistant marking on the ceiling with a blue powdered string. Close up of the lighting point marked on the ceiling Holes being cut in the false ceiling in the Basement What it looks like now in the Living Room, ready for the painters to move in in the next few days. In the process of marking the positions of the ceiling lights, we've had to make changes because there were locations where the support of the false ceiling was in the way, and the electrician couldn't saw away.

Thank you! How long have you had your BestView windows? What do you think of them?

The waterproofing of our outdoor patio was done today whilst I was there. It was so easy to do, with the workers rolling over the waterproofing solution. That's my main contractor, overseeing one of his workers, by the way ... Some other photos showing the waterproofing all done! When the floor is all dried properly, the waterproofing becomes a water-tight membrane.

24th Nov 2007 The guys from BestView came to install the windows and glass sliding doors as arranged. I witnessed the installation process from the start to the end, piece by piece and I was thinking to myself that I would have regretted it, if I hadn't gone to the house today. For the 1st time, I saw what the Bestview tracks look like. They were covered up the whole time until today. The tracks are layered down. I guess in this way, water will not trap inside the tracks??? There are also bristle-like things (grey colour) which I believe help to improve the air-tightness Here is a picture of all the glass panels stacked nicely against the wall. The installer was marking on the frame where to drill the aluminium arms of the flip-out windows:- Here's a close up photo of the bristle like stuff all around the flip-out windows. Just can't find the right name for them. Close up photo of the flip-out windows when closed. Close up photo of the flip-out windows when open. I like how the window flips out 90 degrees!! Maximum air-flow. Some more photos of the installation process ... What the BestView doors look like when they open out - Close up photo of the mechanisms/frame when the doors open out - What the BestView doors look like when they are all slided shut.

De Dietrich ovens have controlled pricing. And you can only get from authorised dealers. You will not be able to get from the general electrical retailers. I got my microwave, steam oven and multi-function ovens from Eldric Marketing at Centrepoint. Please note that there is no stock for some 2007 models, and the 2008 models have already been released but the stock will only arrive in Singapore some time in Jan/Feb. I cannot wait for the 2008 models mainly because the handle design is different from my existing multifunction oven, and I want matching handles. So I went to the old 2007 models instead.

I am using MetalWorld. They have a website by the way, and they are a pleasure to work with. I ordered my wrought iron grilles during their sale a couple of months ago. I like it when suppliers are fast in their responses and will communicate with me via sms and emails. This is the efficiency that I appreciate. MetalWorld sent me drawings via emails for my approval, so it was really great seeing it on paper first instead of doing guesswork. The guys I am working with are George and Chua. And I was told there are various grades of wrought iron and galvanising. In areas where you expect harsh weather (i.e. hot sun and rain), the grilles need to be hot-dipped, and this will be more expensive.