RyanYTH

Nope, it was all decided by Jason. I didn't know a thing about aircons at all. So hopefully what i've posted here can be of help to someone. Hindsight is always 20/20 i guess? As for removing cover and replacing piping, i've written in my earlier post. Have discussed with my aircon tech before, removing of piping might cause issues like tile breakage and other stuffs which he pre-empted and I decided not to go ahead. I'm not sure about blowing high to cool room faster tho. One thing I do notice is that Daikin has a more powerful "Dehumidifer" function (that waterdrop icon) and I actually use it to cool the room when I sleep. It is actually cheaper to do this instead of using Aircon. I see savings of about 10-20% or so. That said, was it a contributing factor for my condenser break down? i don't know. In contrast, Mitsubishi Dehumidifer function doesn't feel as strong as Daikin, thus not as cold. but it's Aircon Mode feels colder and cools room faster than Daikin IMO. For some reason, a Mitsubishi 25C somehow feels colder than Daikin's 25C

Having gone thru this myself, I have to agree that choosing an ID is very difficult. Personally, I feel you should choose the ID that you can "gam" with. During your meeting with ID you can take this time to observe closely how they behave." Based on what you described, the ID who is more straight to the point seems more reliable but of course you need to still go with your gut feeling. I personally dislike IDs who seem to be a "Yes Man" which makes me suspicious of them more. Renovation is about proper communication between you and the ID.

Hello there, and very sorry for this late reply. I hope you're still following this. To answer your question first, I'm not sure if the aircon works harder and also not sure if it cools according to temps and fan settings. You will need to consult a Aircon Technician for this i reckon. And now a funny story about my Aircon. It actually broke down and I actually replaced it. This is what actually transpired and I learnt alot of things (expensive lessons lol) Some background: So apparently my Condenser is a System 5 and its using to cool a System 2 aircon. No wonder my Condenser is so big compared to others. It worked fine for about 2 years and I DID NOT DO maintenance for about 1.5 years. The troubles started when my aircon would suddenly shut off by itself and had a blinking light. I also noticed the blown air started to not get cold anymore. After checking, it was found that my Gas Level at my Condenser is very low. So of course I topped it up. Normal Aircon Gas PSI is 160-170 btw. I remembered mine was like 60PSI? And it worked ... only for a couple of months when issue started again. And when we checked, Aircon Gas had fallen alot. This is not normal because Aircon Gas don't usually drop so low at such a fast rate. To cut a long story short, eventually it was discovered that my Aircon Gas is leaking. Now there are 2 ways to do this: 1) You can do something called a Pressure Test (which cost money) that will be able to determine where the leakage is at. Leakage can happen either on Piping or the actual Aircon itself. This is ONLY a test and does not actually solve the problem. It's main purpose is only to let you know whether which is the one that is leaking. 2) You can gamble and choose whether you want to directly replace the piping or the entire aircon. My Aircon tech advised me to skip the Pressure Test as he felt it wasn't worth the money given how new my aircon is. (Only 2 years) He recommended to replace the piping because that is most likely where leakage will occur for an aircon that is so new. He than mentioned even if issue is not because of piping but the aircon itself, I won't need to do another piping replacement since aircon replacement will also need re-piping anyway. I agreed with his findings on this as it does make sense and we proceeded to replace the piping. Replacement of piping is where I learnt alot. (Check the attached image I added) Remember my original piping is in the black trunking? My new piping is now the white trunking. You may wonder "Why doesn't he just remove the piping from the original trunking instead of running a new trunking?" And the reason is the Aircon Tech advised while he could do that, he advised during the course of removal of the original trunking or piping, the tiles on my bathroom might come loose and break. So it is advisable to leave it alone. I accepted this reasoning as this does seem reasonable and I appreciated that he pre-empted me of this situation. So the new white trunking is made. Back to the story, alas replacement of piping did not work and Gas kept leaking. So i guess my gamble failed. In the end, i replaced with a new Mitsubishi Aircon and used System 2 compressor instead of System 5 and it has since worked fine so far (about 8 months now) Isn't it funny how items always seems to spoil right just after warranty period has ended? Had my Daikin warranty still been valid I probably won't have stressed so much hahaha Lessons i've learnt: 1) Regular Aircon Maintenance IS IMPORTANT As i've mentioned I did not do Regular Maintenance for almost 1.5 years. Regular Maintenance IS important. Not only does it clean everything properly, it helps detect problems early too. Had I done regular maintenance who knows maybe I may not have encountered such an issue. As an advice, do regular maintenance at least twice a year. 2) A bigger condenser (Eg: System 5 used to power a System 2 aircon system) doesn't mean it is more reliable or more powerful. Buy a condenser according to what you need. Lets say you have a System 2 aircon and want to turn on both aircons at the same time, if your aircon tech says a System 3 is enough, there is no need to spend more money on a System 5 because it seems more powerful. It doesn't work that way. If you don't forsee yourself turning on both aircons at the same time and a System 2 condenser is enough, it will work. Always tell your aircon tech how you want the cooling to be done, and he will recommend the best solution for you. 3) If you are doing aircon piping and if the piping happens to run along re-tiled walls (like what i have for my bathroom), you need to be prepared that you may need to do a new trunking in order to avoid the potential issue of your tiles possibly coming loose or break. The best is to route your aircon trunking in such a way so that this issue can be avoided. 4) Mitsubishi Aircons cannot have their vent blower permanently lowered. What I mean is, do you know when Aircon blows their cold air, you can adjust the height of the vents so they either blow up or down? I like my vents to permanently blow down because it will directly blow cold air at me. Daikin aircons can set this permanently, but Mitsubishi Aircons does not. For mitsubishi aircons, it is apparently a standard feature that after some time, the vents will automatically move up and will not permanently be locked at the down position. This is a default system feature that CANNOT be changed. (Mitsubishi aircon owners will know what I mean) I thought this is good to know for people who needs this feature. 5) When hiring an Aircon tech, its good to go through a few different ones so you can get a feel of who does a better job. During the period when I first detected my aircon gas leaking, i went thru a few aircon techs. Some of them aren't very honest and some don't even know what they're doing. I went with the one that felt the most comfortable to me as I felt their reasonings and information for what they did felt reasonable and logical for me. In the end, from the day I first started encountering issue till the day everything is resolved, I reckon I spent about $3k+. (This includes replacement of piping, replacement of aircon system, etc etc) It's alot of money, but as a homeowner, things do break down and you need to be prepared for such incidents to happen. Thanks for reading my "Aircon Adventure". I hope what I experienced here can help someone out there. If anyone is interested, my Aircon Tech i can recommend is Yiwan Aircon. Contact - 8868 9878 That said, make your own judgement. While Yiwan may be my preferred Aircon Tech, they may or may not suit you depending.

Congrats on getting your key! Were you given the option to choose a different electricity provider when you receive key? Or was SP services the only one available?

wow...whoever get this 46sqm 2nd bedroom version is really lucky. can rent out for extra side income next time. Downsides: Living room is super small tho Abit wierd to open the front gate and immediately see the toilet.

Sorry i just wanted to post this for fun. There is something really very Special and Magical about being able to bake your very own loaf of bread in the kitchen of your very own HOME.❤️

Hey Bunniboi, Happy New Year to you! Very beautiful 3D renderings! I see you are going for a Scandinavian Muji styled look. Here are my comments: 1) I noticed you have alot of carpentry in your design. Eg: Feature Wall in Living Room, Feature Wall in Bedroom, Custom Wardrobe, even the kitchen floor is wooden parquet? If you are able to still maintain the quotation at 25k, that will be very good. Else, if you are looking to reduce your quotation, you can maybe look into removing some of these. Personally I feel that one of the most expensive things in reno is Carpentry. While carpentry is required for Kitchen Cabinets, IMO i feel items such as Feature Walls are not necessary. One example is the TV in your Living Room feature wall. I'm not sure what size you plan for the TV, but if you are thinking of upgrading to a larger size TV like 55" or 65" and above, you may be restricted due to the feature wall. As for an alternative to custom wardrobe, my recommendation is to make use of your bomb shelter as a walk-in wardrobe. This way, you will free up extra space in your Bedroom. 2) Your kitchen sink is next to your Stovetop. This is very good if you cook. I noticed you have an Exhaust Hood above your stovetop and I feel this is not necessary. Unless you really need this, I would recommend to remove this to save some money. 3) I'm personally not a fan of the Shower Glass Enclosure as I don't like the feeling of being confined (and also lazy to clean it ) I had a friend who also made this but because he is not the diligent type always clean it, it started to get moldy in some crevices after a couple of years. 4) I didn't see any aircon in the 3D, so i'm not sure if you are going to do aircon. But if you do install aircon, do make sure your aircon trunking isn't concealed by any of your feature walls. Next time if need to do maintainence would be very challenging. Sorry for the long post. Just my suggestions.

Congrats! End Feb is a good time because all the workers and companies should have returned back to work after the CNY holidays. Looking forward to your key collection! Oh btw, Cranberries just got her key and here's an additional tip to prepare when doing Key Collection: Bring a Door Stopper! If not, it will be quite irritating to keep having to kepp the door open as it is always trying to auto-close.

Thanks for your reading my blog! Hahaha ya that soft closing door can be abit of an annoyance. But that said, is already not bad HDB give us soft closing door. Last time the door i think isn't soft closing. Slidearm still works nicely for me now close to 2 years and I still recommend it. If you are tighter on budget tho, you don't need to install it. A door stopper or a ball/magnet combo will still do.

Congrats on your key collection!! Yes discrepancies between floor plan and actual unit can occur, but 500mm difference is quite significant. I would recommend get an actual measuring tape to measure out. Don't worry, last minute changes and amendments is very common in renovation, and its still fine since you haven't started renovation yet. Take the time and savour your door opening moment! Gratz to your door opening too! Don't worry, don't kan cheong. As I replied to Cranberries earlier, last minute changes are very common in renovation, pre-reno, during-reno, and even post-reno. You have not got an ID so you don't have to worry. ID is supposed to sort these measurements for you if you are unsure what to do. Best of luck!

Oh you can still stir fry if you get a induction capable wok, although it will be like a light stir-fry, not vigorous stir-fry like using traditional chinese style wok.

Hi, i've been using induction cooktop for cooking for close to 2 years now, and I can vouch for it being very nice for cooking. Its safe (no open flame), and super easy to clean (just need to wipe it clean with a cloth) Whichever induction cooktop you decide to buy, do ensure that it's made of something called "Schott Glass" The downsides of induction cooking are: - You need to of course buy pots and pans that are induction-capable - You are unable to cook dishes that need open flame (eg: claypot dishes, chinese-styled wok cooking) You can still do frying tho, i've made Char Kway Teow before lol. - Your electricity bill will be higher - Because an induction cooktop is made of glass, do be careful when handling your pots/pans so you don't scratch the glass. As for steaming of dishes, there are electrical standalone steamers available on the market. Some rice cookers have steaming functions too. Or you can use DIY method, get a deep enough induction capable wok, fill it partway with water, put a metal wire tray on top and than your dish on top of that. (Same like old school water steaming using chinese wok + water) of course you will need to top up water as it boils down. Hope this helps

Not bad, LRT is near so is convenient. But hope you chose a high floor otherwise scared LRT noisy.

hehehe i remembered when i was doing my renovation, it was during Lunar Ghost Month imagine that lol. As im the not pantang, but abit pantang type, i did the usual roll pineapple, throw salt procedures etc, but i didn't do any elaborate rituals or anything. So far touch wood, been staying safely and happily for the past 2 years already. Try not to think about it too much ba. If you were advised by your elders (grandparents or parents) to do a procedure, just follow lor as a mark of respect. Superstitions are culturally important, but don't let them rule your life. Just my 2 cents.

Oh your shower enclosure is probably fine.I was refering to my aircon trunking which lead into the bathroom.The original idea was to do box-up to cover up the trunking, and than lay tiles over the box up.The idea is to hide the aircon trunking which may look ugly.But this is a BAD idea, because if one day my aircon trunking needs to do servicing or replacement,i literally need to tear down the tiles and box up which as you can imagine would be a huge nightmare.Wooden Skirting (as you can see circled in red in the attached picture) is this panel of wood that HDBwill do as an effort to hide any imperfections between the wall and floor tile. Mine was reddish in colour.Some other BTOs may have different colour. I forgot to take it into consideration and should have removed it and replace it with nicer tiles or at least paint it in a black colourwhich will better colour match my apartment's black and white theme. I've since gotten used to it tho, so I guess its alright now. If you opted out of OCS and doing cement screeding, you can do tile skirting like the below example picture instead of wooden skirting which IMO looks nicer and more resistant to wear and tear compared to wooden skirting but of course, it will cost more lah.

Thanks for reading. Most of my thoughts are already in what I wrote for the 1 year retrospective posts. Things like wishing my oven was standing height instead of squatting height, wishing I did something about the wooden skirting around my living room etc etc. Here are some tips I'll give to newcomers: - Remember to always plan ahead. This is very important. - Do post any questions you have while renovating, especially in Mmo's 2-roomer thread. It was her good advice that saved me a future headache if I had done Box-up in the bathroom. - If this is your first time doing Renovation, it is better to get an ID instead of Contractor. Instead of needing to liase with multiple people, you only need to liase with the ID to coordinate everything. - If you can do a 3D planning using the Planner 5D software, i highly recommend to do so. Having this 3D Plan doesn't mean your ID gets an easier job, it means he/she is very clear on what is the direction you want in your renovation so there aren't any misunderstandings. (Its also very convenient to show this when you look for your prospective ID) - When you first sit down and talk with your prospective ID, watch out closely for warning flags such as ID forgot the time and date, ID seems very busy attend to other things while talking with you, etc etc. Be especially careful if an ID is a "Yes Man", everything also "Yes". I can't really explain it, but you need to have a "connection" with the ID. - For renovation budget, everyone have their own comfortable zone. For me, I personally feel that my quoted $25k is a max limit for a 2roomer. Anything more, I feel it may be too much. Your mileage may vary of course. Also, always add an additional budget of $5k to your quoted renovation. - Renovation is a very draining and mentally stressful process, especially for 1st timer. You really need to learn how to calm down and assess situation calmly and objectively when things go wrong. My way of calming down was writing the blog lol. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster ride. You will feel you have grown as a person after you have completed your renovation.

Very nice. I like that your cooktop is right next to the sink. For people who cook, this is perfect. ? Also, if you get your measurements right, you can also make like my customized mini dining table. Shouldn't be an issue. I notice they put wardrobe in your bedroom. If you don't mind a little bit of stuffiness, i highly recommend do walk-in wardrobe in Bomb Shelter which will free up alot of space in your bedroom.

Wow nice to see your blog!! Looking forward to your Key Collection day! It should be the most magical moment! All the best for your renovations!! ?

Yea me too. I also didn't want to sit on high bar chairs just to eat at the place. The kitchen dining area was something I had the most discussions with my ID. I'm really glad it turned out ok in the end. Mind posting your hdb plan layout so we can take a look at how yours looks like?

Since Christmas is coming soon, so I thought i'd decorate my Computer area to make it a lil more festive lol. The wire mesh thingy and the wire shelves were from Daiso, and I hanged them up using 3 x 3M Hooks. RGB led strips i bought cheaply from online shopping sites. Decided to not have a traditional big xmas tree and change to a mini one because it takes up less space, easier to store, i think it looks cuter too lol. ? Christmas is the perfect excuse to let loose and enjoy an explosion of RGB rainbow colour don'tcha think? hahahaha ? Merry Christmas Everyone!! ?

This is a very good question! Yes my customized dining table is not the same height as my kitchen countertop. The dining table area height was measured for the general sitting height needed for a dining table. Kitchen countertop height was measure to my standing height I'll take some photos to show the height difference when I get back home later today. Edit: Ok i found an old picture when my Kitchen Carpentry was still being made that can show the difference in height between Countertop and the custom Dining table. Red Arrow shows the height of the Countertop, Blue Arrow shows the height of the Dining table. Hope this helps!

Was there a rule that restricts the installation of water storage tank in the bathroom? There weren't any restrictions when I installed mine. In fact, my flat by default already have the U-shaped pipe pre-installed specifically for Water Storage Tank in the bathroom. Maybe its a new rule now? You might want to clarify with your HDB officer if thats the case tho.

I'm so sorry to hear of this terrible experience you went thru... Renovation is already quite stressful and its shocking to even have your contractor threaten you like this...unbelievable.

Thanks man, actually for me i myself had alot of help from mmoh, andotang and many others who guided me while I was doing my reno. Actually thats what this forum is about, folks helping one another lah, Likewise, i'm sure your reno will in turn help another person! This circle of support I feel is especially important for 2 roomers because most of us will be going at this alone unlike married couples who can rely on each other for support or help lol. Personally i'm really interested to see the DIY projects you have done. And as you have mentioned yes, Singapore doesn't have a strong DIY culture unlike in USA. Really interested to understand your thought process when you DIY a project. Are you technically trained? Or is it a personal interest you already have?

Hahaha you won't like reading my blog than because it has many decision process or physical journey.