inthechouse

Thanks, Makanology! Legrand is a bit rounder, right?

Hi, We're now deciding between Legrand and Schneider switches and powerpoints. Was trying to look for photographs online but couldn't really find pictures of the powerpoints. Any of you guys using these brands? Hope you guys can share some photos and reviews!

Oh! Thanks for the lobang! I was actually referring to S&C Furniture. But I googled Ho Soon Lee after reading your post, and yes, the pix look good! Will probably ring them before dropping by sometime soon.

Went back to Hupfarri yesterday to exchange a tap. They were happy to do so as long as the item is in its original, pre-sale condition. Spoke to a relative who has some knowlege/background in construction about the slanted wall. The only way to fix the situation would be to take out the skirting and L strips, then add cement, make the walls parallel, and redo. When people say that HDB walls are not straight, they mean the THICKNESS is not uniform. That doesn't affect newly hacked doorway openings. When the thickness is not uniform, you see a slant/wavy wall when you stand in between the doorway and stare at the side of the wall itself. As for the opening which Alan's workers hacked, which is seen from the front of the wall, the 2 walls should definitely be parallel to each other. Do take note of this if you're thinking of hacking a new doorway. We'll be meeting Alan tomorrow morning. Then we'll update again.

Well for us, the date was agreed upon way back in Nov. And that was a big part of the reason why we chose to sign with Alan. At this point we don't know if it will materialize.

Thank you, vicx1234. You're right, it's pretty amazing. But that makes it all the more difficult to find the right ones. We've been shopping for a sofa and cushions for a long time coming, but nothing has caught our eye. We're not going for the high end range, and apparently nobody makes 1.8m-wide sofas anymore! Size is imperative here, because our living room is long, not square. There's a shop in AMK that offers custom-made sofas at 900-1K, as opposed to the 1.6-1.9K quoted by some places in Tai Seng. But the guy does not have a showpiece for us to sit on/sink in... so we're a lil hesitant about it. There are also quite a lot of nice cushion covers available online, but we'd really prefer to have a touch and feel before buying anything. So search goes on.

Question: Is it really ok to use a faucet without a WELS rating? One of the three faucets we bought has zero rating. The salesgirl said it will work fine as long as we get our plumber to do something to the valve.

Maybe it's time to finally post a few photos of what we deem to be our inspiration. I don't think we can fully achieve this look (due to myriad reasons) but one can always try.

Happy new year, everyone. Here are some pix taken yesterday afternoon. Plastering works: Spotted two slightly protruding bits of one wall. Pictured below is one. Will tell Alan about this when we see him in person. We've finally nailed down a date and time to meet. Alan suggested Saturday morning and that's fine with me, since I cannot take time off work on Thursday and Friday. Not sure what defences he will be pulling out when we meet. So far he's been reluctant to do anything extra (starting from the drain hole episode) and he has yet to rectify anything although he said he is open to it. We really hope these wall issues get rectified before the painters come in. Anyway, our bathroom hardware + kitchen sink and mixer were delivered yesterday. Everything you see here is from Hupfarri @ Changi Road. We had called them up 1 day after our purchase to ask for an exchange of 1 bathroom sink, and they were happy to comply. Everything went smoothly. We've yet to check if the kitchen sink mixer is of an appropriate size for the sink. They were displayed separately at the showroom. Hope the sales people will be ok with us bringing it to the shop for an exchange if we have to. We've yet to purchase other accessories. Instant water heaters have also been purchased: 707 Princeton and Mistral (Full Copper Inner Tank). No space for a rainshower whatsover.

Thanks, Tessina! I will ask my contractor about this. He may just ask me to pay for the coating material. Your bathroom is gorgeous! Where did you get that mirror?

Only if he agrees, I guess. Everything's at his mercy. Technically, it won't cause an issue. It's an eyesore indeed and nobody will be happy paying so much money and end up with a slanted wall which can (seemingly) be rectified easily.

Dropped by for yet another visit. Met the wall guys for the first time and I asked them about the slanted wall. One of them said they can't plaster it straight because the skirting is already completed. The result would mean no skirting (since the re-plastering will cover up it up). He said whoever who made good the opening after hacking should've patched it straight. That was my initial guess too. Interesting.

Yes, it's all the way through. Suspect it's for a pipe too. But I think we'll ask him when we see him.

Found some chips in the master bathroom wall yesterday. Alan said he would check on it. These were first spotted before grouting was completed. Back then, Alan said the chips will not be visible once grouting is completed. Pardon the appalling resolution! Macam liquid paper-ed! By the way, does anyone know if this hole in the hollow block sink support wall serves a purpose?

Thanks! Looks good.

I see. So what finishing can we request from our contractor? Is "just varnish" good enough? Thank you. Can't say I didn't lose some sleep over this last night though.

Journey of a door opening Phase 1: Looks ok. Phase 2: Looking back at this, it was already dodgy back then. Phase 3: Since the painters are coming in soon, we really don't know at this point if Alan will indeed rectify the wall. He seemed to be going in circles during last night's conversation. And our Mandarin is as good as his English.

Unfortunately true. As we are installing a sliding door here, there is no frame required. Do you reckon they would cement or plaster up the frame properly if we were using a classic door? Would the frame even fit in this opening?

That's right. Well for sure, we are not disputing the fact that there's some structural flaw here. We just want to know if it's possible for the plastering or whatever to rectify it a little. So we told Alan about it and I think he thinks we're harping on the strutural flaw. - First, he said they plastered that wall according to the water level. And that's the right thing to do. - Then we asked if he could meet us today at the site to discuss. He was fine with meeting but just not today. He wanted to meet up only when the plumbers are coming in (next phase), perhaps to kill two birds with one stone. Since the wall guys would've left by then, we did not want an indefinite date to meet. - Next, he asked us not to worry because they know what they are doing. He said they can still do touch up. - Then, we said we've never doubted their professionalism, but we would just like to know when we can meet up to discuss this in person. - He said he has made himself clear that they will still do some plastering. They cannot do "100% workmanship" if there's structural flaws. If we don't believe, we can call HDB to ask why is the wall uneven. - At this point, it was even more obvious that not discussing this in person is a big mistake. He still thinks we don't believe that there's a flaw. - Still no date and time to meet. - He ranted on a little about how from now on they will ask us before they do anything. Not sure how this applies to the situation. Would it have helped if we had been standing there watching the guys plaster that wall? - The conversation ended with him saying he will let us know when to meet.

For that, I think it's the lighting. We were looking at something else. For the record, Alan did specify that the beam is inherently not straight.

Visited the flat earlier this evening and saw that wall plastering works is almost completed. THEN... we spotted something amiss. Do you see it? This is a photo of the new doorway opening between my master bedroom and bedroom 3. First it was hacked, then made good, then plastered.

Hi and thanks for sharing! Fine lines and cracks are ok, I guess. Have you seen any blotches yet? Do you cook often? Have you tried washing the walls in your toilets?

There's tile backsplash behind the hob. No top cabinets but the wall above the tiles can be painted. It is the opposite wall that we thought we could have it concrete. Decisions! But meanwhile, there's a crisis with a wall somewhere else.

Personally, I would choose Option 1, solely because Option 2 may look a little too similar to my floor tiles. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, if you want some "flow". Both are really nice. How much does it cost?

LOL. Ain't got any mountain! Good thing the workers worked this out for us without much fuss. We got lucky there. Thanks for sharing about your wall. Would it better for us to coat the wall from the start? We once asked Alan about it and he said all they would do is to apply a layer of varnish. Is that as good as epoxy or resin? Perhaps not?