Chunky Monkey

It depends on your lifestyle and expected daily usuage pattern. So you can plan your load balancing. For your bedrooms - will all 3 bedrooms have the aircon units switched on at nights? If yes, system 3 will not be advisable. You will strain the compressor. If I were to be in your situation, I would like to do the following. But do check with your aircon contractor to enquire if that's the best thing to do, in terms of cost & installation, electricity cost and cooling efficiency:- Assumptions:- - MBR aircon switched on all night - one other bedroom switched on all night (bedroom 1) - bedroom 2 + bedroom 3 (only occasionally) 1) MBR single unit 2) Bedroom 1 + Bedroom 2 + Bedroom 3 >> System 3 3) Living + Dining >> System 2 If 2 bedrooms are expected to have aircon switched on all night, then I would suggest:- Bedroom 1 + Dining Room + Bedroom 3 >> System 3 Bedroom 2 + Living Room >> System 2

MummyLee, I don't know of HDB's architecture history well. But I did have the impression of these point blocks being the premium HDB flats competing with the then HUDC. No more new point blocks these days .... it seems like HDB is moving towards those mega tall flats like those in Bukit Merah area ...

Light, you take really awesome pictures.

I like HDB point blocks. Looking forward to reading your blog for updates in your reno.

I can never do it. So much politics. If you have children and want them to get into good schools, I think being a grassroot leader et al, will help catapult your application to the top.

W1 is waterproofing. Was the crack sealed up? Hope your walls won't have water seeping through again.

Thank you for the contact of Carlton Glass. I just called to enquire and spoke with a lady by the name of May. She said Carlton is only the glass supplier and they do not do installation. The good thing is that she quoted me $400 for each panel of glass 70cmx280cmx1.5cm. The next thing to do now is to find someone to supply the track and installation. Does anyone have a contact?

Thank you, waileong. It's so pleasant to receive your PM and also your comments here. The irony is, this renovation "uncle" is someone whom I have used over and over again over the past years, and he did an A&A for my mother 2 years ago. His prices had always been reasonable and I feel it's only this time around that his prices are getting kind of out of hand. The momentum of the reno market? Contractors getting greedier? Rise in costs of raw materials and labour? Whatever it is, it's a really bad time to do renovations, I feel .... I am too far into the reno, to want to make a change in contractor. I still want my handover in mid Dec. In fact, I am also very realistic. I am not insistent on a drop-dead date. I just want work to be done nicely, and so I do not pressurize him to hurry up. I went over to my new place and had a look at what's been done from the time I left yesterday, and this morning. What I saw lifted my moods. I wasn't expecting any nice surprises but I received one. I'd asked for an angular false ceiling in my roof (following the shape of the pitched roof). At first, both the main con and sub con were both uncertain it could be done, because I do have alot of piping and wiring to conceal. Surprise, surprise! They did it! The steel frames for the false ceiling are all up, so it gave me a pretty good idea where the ceiling would be. Bravo, for giving me something to smile about.

When electrician charge ONE point, it means it cost him $xx to run electrical wiring to that ONE spot, for ONE lighting point. It is immaterial whether you choose ONE downlight with one tube or ONE downlight with two tubes. The electrician charges for ONE lighting point. Two tubes is brighter than one tube, that's all. You just gotta ask yourself if your downlight in the position you want is bright enough to illuminate that spot.

Thank you, renoGirl for your post. May I know the name of your supplier?

^^ My emphathies. I ask myself why do lighting shops knowingly supply customers with inferior light bulbs that don't last? It's such a horrible thing to do! I am using Phillips energy saving bulbs, and they have lasted me 7 years! It's only recently that some bulbs startedt to burn out.

Find the matte ones. I chose all my times from Soon Bee Huat - a wholesale supplier. Ask the staff for recommendations.

It's a Black Friday for me today. I am aghast that there are dishonest contractors around. Firstly, I required my City Gas pipes to be relocated because I am going to have an island in my new kitchen. The first contractor found by my main con quoted me $1200 to do the job. I was totally shocked and I called City Gas to verify; only to be told that they have now outsourced the jobs to the private sector. So basically consumers are at the mercy of ridiculous pricing. I asked the customer service rep if she knew of the ballpark price of such a job, and she said it should be in the range of a few hundred dollars. That answer made my blood boil. I asked for another contractor in their approved list, and he went down to my new house to meet my main con. I was then told that the gas pipe cannot be concealed under the kitchen floor tiles. And so for the purpose of my kitchen design, I should not use City Gas but to fall back to using a gas cylinder instead. Wait a min, I thought. So the 1st guy was going to do an illegal job of concealing the gas pipe and then charge me double the price?! I was also told that submission to City Gas is needed for alteration of gas pipes. And I thought to myself, what was the 1st contractor going to submit? A false submission?! Enough was enough. I told my main con to seal off my City Gas pipe, and that I am not going to use it. Still fuming. Second bombshell ... we have an existing solid wood cabinet which we would like to move to our new place. It has a width of 142cm. And therefore, we asked my main con to build an enclave of 145cm (this is in the door way), so we can fit this cabinet in. After the brick wall's up, and plastering done ... guess what, the actual space in this enclave is now 140cm. Looks like the workers placed the bricks at exactly 145cm, without making provisions for the thickness of cement and plaster. Duh. Do I need to kill somebody, or what?! So what do I do now? Get the contractor to chisel out some part of the beautifully plastered wall? MAN! Such wasted efforts and energy. Why can't people get it right the first time! Thirdly, I asked for a quote to install a set of 3 pieces of top-hung, frameless glass partition, separating the living room from the kitchen. 1 fixed panel + 2 pieces of sliding glass panels. 70cm (width) x 280cm (height) x 1cm (thickness). And how much was the quote I got? 5 bloody thousand! Daylight robbery! Why do people do this?! Just because it's a renovation boom market right now? It does not give them the right to fleece homeowners or be there to con them! I must be a dinosaur who still believes in honesty and integrity. Doesn't look like these people have it anymore. I have no choice but to call and ask a few glass merchants directly myself. And I am going to fax them the dimensions and get a quote by fax in return. I cannot let them quote based on site visit. My mum tells me that the moment they see that I am overhauling the whole house, contractors will want to fleece me. I am disgusted.

I knew that picture is showing the inside of the cabinet door. Like I said, my contractor calls it postform. He does not call it membrane. So that's why I am also confused with the terminolgy. Forget about terminology for once. Let's just talk about the "wrapping" of the laminate around the sides of the cabinet door (at least we can agree on this, right?). h4happy, normally, the carcass of the cabinet is just glued with laminate, and it shows the black edges of the laminate. So long as the glue used it good, the laminate won't peel. What my contractor does is, he fixes a door panel on exposed sides of cabinets, so the sides have a better finish. Only cabinet doors can have ABS trimming. And these trimming should match the colour of the laminate. These days, it's harder to find suppliers to make postform doors. Most carpenters now prefer to do doors with ABS trimmings.

Sliding doors with wooden frames are not advisable for outdoor use. The harsh sunlight not only dries up the wood, which makes it shrink and crack, the wood stain will also be bleached by the sun. Aluminium is best for long lasting use. Fascina is a reliable brand but they are expensive. Have you approached Decorille (Bestview) to quote for you? These are of very high quality, but expensive too. I am not familiar with Fascina's features but I know Decorille's is water-tight (so great for outdoor use) and because of their glass, sounds are cut down significantly. I will be installing glass sliding doors from Decorille. Boy, are they expensive. Feedback from friends say they are worth every cent. We shall see ..... (my fingers are crossed) All the best, whichever you decide.

Check out the furniture stores in the basement of katong mall. there is one shop there that sells very pretty children's furniture sets. reminds me of alice in wonderland.

That's not entirely true too. Just don't use the version direct from Apple. Wait a couple of weeks each time for the hackers to figure it out, and then I think all will be fine again. Whatever it is .... just join the iphone group in Facebook for all the latest updates.

^^ Sorry, I meant I helped her get them through someone visiting Singapore. She paid for them!

Go to Facebook to join the iphone community in Singapore. A bunch of genius hackers have broken the code, so you can use iphone in Singapore. Just DO NOT upgrade your software using the software upgrade from Apple. Use the version that's been modified by the hackers. Apparently Apple found out that hackers have broken the code that locks the phone to be used only on AT & T network, and inserted a code in the software upgrade to freeze the phone sets, which makes them completely unusable. Just make sure you do not use anything direct from Apple until you check with the folks on Facebook. I got my sisters 2 units of iPhone directly from the US for USD865. So, it's approx S$650 EACH.

House warming.

Geez ... I can't believe where this thread is heading. The white is king nonsense is getting on my nerves. I can shut up on this. It's afterall a Kopitam Corner. I certainly cannot possibly belong here. It is the old man whom I care about. Not this crap that is blurring the sentiment here.

No, I do not know the contractor. And neither am I a friend or relative of the contractor. Just because I am vocal about my point of view or choice of action recommended towards this matter, does not mean that there is any relation. Good grief.

Someone has made contact with me. Let's see what happens. Regarding the cases cited above - our law is not so blind, and we are surely not cowards to the whites. It's offensive to think that our court of legal professionals are bias. Please keep the racist innuendoes out.

A friend is using Randy from Zong Architects to build her house for her at Wilkinson Road (Katong). She sounds very pleased with Randy. Hope this helps.

We'll see about that. I've emailed a few folks. It's a senior citizen's dignity. It's a Singaporean being humiliated. One more email to a friend who's a district judge, and see if anything comes out of it. I pray for justice.