Reiken

PM sent Thanks alot for your compliment!!

Hello, I think we in the same estate Neelie, saw your posts in our fb group lol... I believe you used Renoguyz? Is your project by Nick? He is good and down to earth guy...

PM Sent

PM Sent I have not do my business yet in the new WC... the plumber did help me adjust water lvl in HDB WC then it was better... Currently using Baron 888, think it was $320.

So today I just came back from overseas to have a discussion with J&E and electrician on how to solve the lighting point issue... When we reached, Electrician is already inside with my lights on the high table... Some lights were installed... Plumbers were also here early, and my WC and basins are up... but... forgot to take out the bathroom accessories from Taobao, and hence dint discuss the placement... Spend an hour discussing where to put what... as the WC was installed before the accessories, we were nearly unable to install the bidet spray in the masterbathroom... Hence i recommend getting everything out, and place near the location you want so at least plumber know what needs to be installed... They are so nice that they put up my ikea mirror in common bathroom as well. Today's works Light Installation Fan Installation Plumbing Tile installation So after discussion with J&E and Electrician, finally came up with this.. the conclusion is below (taken from middle of featured wall and high table).. very very very very difficult to shift the shoe cabinet.. hence shifted the table nearer to the windows, lighting point change to 2, so the middle point is not so obvious (supposed to be 3 with the middle in line with fan point)... Fan point maintain, if not will be too close to the curtain pelmet... Luckily the good thing about this is, the house is more bright, and could even feel the fan at main door... A problem with ikea's pendant light.. too light that it moves when strong wind blows... hence electrician suggested to put shorter pendant at high table... *things that i would not know.. great recommendation* So here are the pics with lights on, and plumbing.. the place is quite bright, just that my camera adjust the colour and brightness... so the pictures does not really show true colour.. Living room Kitchen (still loving it) Bedroom Masterbathroom and service yard Remember the stupid unleveled tiles?? here is the vinyl tile.. It is not FUGLY, but yes, quite an eye sore if you take note of it.. I may put a rug over here... Noticed I hasn't shared the laminate selection process... So J&E passed us a book of lamitak with lots of selections... many in very small pieces which you cant see much of the wood grains (if you are selecting)... they asked us to select a few to shortlist, then they can help to call the A4 size or show the 3D... thats all.. no advice etc... So we had a hard time to select.. We made an effort to go to Lamitak warehouse in Sungei kadut, Twice.. spending nearly 2 hours there to see and select laminate... They could call for A4 size for you to keep, or smaller, and show you the whole piece of Laminate in their warehouse... It is very very very very important for wood laminates, you could see the wood grains on the whole piece laminate.... These A4 size are easy to bring around to match with furniture as well... The number of shortlisted wood grains... Used the first 3 for my Living Room, Bedrroms and bathroom vanity... And the number of greys I got.. Finally its near the end of the reno, only left with touching up here and there, and oso painting.. the rest should be considered 80% done...

Cant send you messages. PM Sent Considered it solved today. Still keep going back to your blog to show for inspirations like Taobao and stuffs.

An update of the current status of my reno.. nearly all is done except plumbing and painting I guess.. Today my Kitchen door and window is up. J&E's calculation for the door is good as well. The problem of me shifting entrance, may cause problem with the door and bomb shelter, but J&E kinda solve this issue After a long wait, my Taobao stuffs has finally arrived. Will update on the stuffs I bought after I have more time to blog. I have used Oops forwarding services. As a noob in Taobao, this is my first shipment and I'm glad it turns out to be alright. Taobao is actually quite easy and addictive. For the past 2 days, I have been unboxing and testing the lights. I did not buy a lot of stuffs, mainly lights and bathroom accessories, bar stool and some misc stuffs. Hence my shipment was 0.85 cbm.. kind of wasted, but I definitely find my freight cost well spent from the savings... I got the philips light at 150+ sgd (i think) where philips singapore is selling at 300+ sgd. Theres a major miscalculation, hiccup and problem found after I returned from overseas. I do not know how to classify as whose fault, I think is a miscalculation by all parties. Looking at the pic above, everything seems fine. A closer look will show, I am standing in the middle of the Island. The lighting point is also in the middle of the Island. My TV is going to be in the middle of that grey wall.... So... you see the problem... My lighting and island is not aligned to my TV.. It was a miscalculation by many parties involved. I guess I am one of the culprit. The wall is around 6ft plus, same as my sofa length. The island was suppose to be 6 ft plus also, but to sit 3 person comfortably, James suggested 7ft. Which is true, it is more comfortable. Subsequently, while discussing the lighting fan point etc, we did not take into consideration of the grey wall, but use the wall behind the island as a guide. and hence, the fan point and pendant are all measured from the center of tat wall and our island. When everything was up, no one noticed, although my parents, my wife, J&E prospective clients, my wife friends, neighbors etc etc... Except me, just before going home after seeing how good J&E workmanship is, feeling very satisfied and happy, standing in the middle of the island, looking at the wall.. Something is not right.. Initial thoughts was shifting the shoe cabinet and build a bigger partition wall, but something came to my mind and I looked tru my old pictures and notice this. There is a lobang between my wall, which is covered by the shoe cabinet. J&E carpentry is so good that, they fit nicely into the lobang. I am 90% sure they are not able to shift the shoe cabinet, though I told everyone to meet up on monday to further discuss this problem. I myself went down to measure 2 times, all the length, minimum clearance for fan etc, to get a feel of how to make things better... Everything will be put on hold now till Monday I guess. May all god bless me, I believe I can come up with something to solve this bugging problem.

Does James take charge? Cos mine also handled by Edmund... lol.. and yes, just found a major problem..

Hi Honeylee, glad your house turns out nicely. Yes, hiccups are sure to come up along the way, glad James came to the rescue ^^

So here I am.. as I am not around for one of the most important part of things, I really do not know how should I go about this entry. Over the week, the followings are done 1. Aircon Installation 2. Carpentry Installation 3. Window at service yard and window grills Do note, as I am not around, my wife has to make alot of decision on the spot by herself, or thru discussion with me on whatsapp. I am kind of sad, as I think I miss out on quite a lot of fun things, but I would really like to thank her for being there. So here are the pics thru the conversation and updates from her when I am not around. 2nd Aircon Installation I got a bigger compressor from starmex.. Apparently its made in japan. Dint know it was so difficult to move the compressor. Carpentry Installation Over the few days that I am not around, almost all (which i think all), the carpentries are installed. It was so fast and furious, I did not had a chance to see the carpentry in its loose condition. Too fast to my liking as I dun feel very involved, but then again, shows how efficient J&E is. These may be the only loose carpentry pic I have. I will try to give my best of before and after picture MBR wardrobe/study/dressing Masterbathroom Vanity and Mirror Cabinet Bedroom 3 Kitchen Shoe Cabinet Island. Heard it is a little shaky to the left and right, maybe its too long or high. Will work with J&E to solve the issue. Kompacplus / sink / Hob installation Grills and service yard window installation My electrician got some grey plugs / sockets to match with my kitchen cabinets. Never request or say anything from my side, they just think is more visually appealing. That is of cos, but what I like about them is how "auto" they are. To end of this post, my wife say she learns a lot a lot this week after chatting with the carpenters, installer, sub contractors. She says the team from J&E are all very very nice people, guiding her, teaching her (which is quite wasteful cos she may start to forget the information she learnt ), which is why I feel sad of not being around. Over the weekend, Edmund brought some of his prospective clients to come take a look. I am okay, infact, glad with the arrangements, as I feel, their carpentry and work are really quite top notch (comments from my wife as I have not seen or touch the stuff). My neighbours came and take a quick look and feel, and they commented that the carpentry are really very good. Really glad I signed up with J&E, though yes, Edmund may be forgetful, but I think he managed my project quite alright (as of now), and both J&E are very nice people.

It was a great day yesterday. Was totally distracted at work after lunch after E start to send me pics of the carpentry. My wife took some after work as well. It was super exciting, looking to see how things turns out, the colour we chose and everything. Hopefully everything goes smoothly with not much hiccups. E told us that he will start with the Kitchen carpentries and toilet vanity first, as they need the measurement for my table top. Really love the grey colours. Im having a darker grey trimming and lighter main for more "defined Lines". This was suggested by J. This was requested by my Wife. She loves the cutlery trays from Ikea, so we have alot alot of discussion regarding the length and depth of this row of drawers.. and Tada!!! J makes things happen. I know some of the fellow renotalkers have to resize the drawers to fit these in.. J ask us to buy beforehand so he could fabricate the carpentries accordingly.. Really Kudos to him My vanity top and mirror cabinet And my shoe cabinet / storage. Wife put her shoes to see the amount of space.. -.-... she say not dun think enough.. I think she is crazy...

Yes. My place is at CCK.. but my estate I think he doing 3 project including mine... 1 is done... mine and my neighbour's still ongoing... PM you his contact

So today I think could be the most hectic and tiring day for my wife and I. Dunno should I say Edmund's planning is **** good or should I say is **** rush.. but I kind of understand why.. 1. My carpentry is ready and is hanging around James's workshop 2. He wants to meet my deadline promised 3. No work on Sunday 4. Carpentry day 5. Too long the delay held up by BSC to work on the chipped tiles in the toilet.. Hence... Today there are 3 jobs arranged concurrently by him, and one from me... Total of 4 parties at one point in time... 1. AO Smith Installation (arranged by me by slot) - Bought a digital storage heater. In my honest opinion, I think I overspent on this. Hopefully really can save electricity. comes with a digital panel to control temperature (set lower to save electricity), and timer to on off the heater.. 2. Tiler - Came back to build the shower kerb in the common bathroom. He was the first to reach (before my wife and I at 10.20am). He done the cement kerb but I feel sorry for him, cos E forgot to tell him got Storage heater installation at the common bathroom today.. so after the installation of Storage heater, he need to redo the cement kerb again, cos the installer spoilt his kerb... wasted his 1hr plus... he ended his work at around 4 plus 5pm... could have been done by 2pm.. he also filled up the "stupid weird area" between the 2 rooms. See that cement screed there?? cos it is not balance (shown in previous posts), cannot put tile, can only put a vinyl piece there. Thanks HDB..... Maybe I will put a piece of floor mat there to cover... haix.. 3. Electrician - Talk through the final electrical points and lighting points. He also discussed with AO smith regarding the wiring, which end of the day, he scared drill or cut the wall till hit something. So let AO smith handle since they have a device to check whether got piping or stuff inside the wall a not. Also shifted my Lan/phone port nearer to TV as I heard from neighbours that Starhub now uses the lan port for the TV.. quite dumb actually.. 4. 1st Round of Cleaning - The guy is the 2nd to arrive (around 10.40), but is the last to leave, even after I left at 6.30pm. He started cleaning the rooms at around 1pm when everyone is done, and wait till the tiler leave, then he start cleaning the kitchen etc. I feel for him... He say he may clean till around 8pm.. He was cleaning the window before I left... Yes, he needs to clear the floor protection, sweep the floor and wipe.. Really a tough job for one person.. sanding away cement / plaster stains along the way.... Edmund say need to clean up, relay the floor protection before carpentry which is on Monday. This is something to praise regarding J&E.. I dunno about other ID / Contractors, but my neighbours' contractors did not clean up before carpentry.. Dunno which is industrial practice.. To me, clean twice > once... Mentioned to Edmund that some of my friends, carpentry got bugs fly in before sealing or rotten wood then got bugs. Yes, more than one friend kena. Edmund ask me to rest assured that their wood has been "treated" with insect repellents or something, that is why their carpentry got a smell at the beginning to destroy possible eggs / bugs from making home. Dunno true a not , hopefully it is true, because both me and my wife scared of bugs.. YES I AM SCARED

Definitely like the way your house turns out.. very very beautiful...

Omg!!! yours so fast liao... And I am still waiting for BSC to solve my toilet chipped tiles....

Done abit of electrical and now painting 1st coat I guess.

Lol true... Need go tru the whole process of BSC/HDB again... cos its common toilet tiles... if J&E do, will void warranty... stupid rule... then my estate need to have joint inspection even if they just come up see less than a min... next slot is friday.. very very stupid rule

Guess we are using different Tiler afterall Glad that it is back on track for you again.. Mine got delay again due to crack HDB tiles in bathroom.. haix...

Hi, can PM me your ID name as well?

PM sent

After a few days, my curtain pelmet is up, so is my kitchen wall. Tiler had the sink support done up and is currently laying my subway tiles.. Chose Length 30cm rather than 20cm, thinking with less grout, less things to clean. Left the place to purchase the Bathroom basin, taps and laundry sink from Hoe Kee. After making payment with Hoe Kee, received a bomb from E. Hiccup #2 As I have demolish a small opening in the wall between MBR and Room 2, they are suppose the make good the floor and wall. However, because HDB tilers tiled room by room, MBR and Room 2 floor is not leveled. A big headache that E cannot make decision and need to discuss with J. Rushed back from Hoe Kee, and understand the options available to solve this problem... Now I kinda regret taking flooring from HDB...

Pmed you

Hello, Really very sorry, maybe tiler doing my house now (only toilet and kitchen).. Guess they are really very busy nowadays... J says that he paused his own house reno until he clear the jobs on hand... It is going to be done soon.. Hang on

Today is a day of 2 extremes.... First I was happy as the bathroom was nearly done.... "prep" for aircon installation... Then my aircon trunking came with the very nice guy from Gain city... He is very nice cos he explained alot, and he try to contact me when I am away discussing with J&E on carpentry.... He try to go the extra mile, send me pics and talk to me on phone to make me understand what is to be done for my Masterbedroom... seems like J&E needs to box up the trunking with some wood material to hold the aircon, cos it overshoot some wall... Then it became much clearer after I see the after installation... Cant blame the nice guy from Gain City... But I blame the architect of HDB... seriously... haix... the pictures below will explain why I am so upset...... My house is a mess... which is good in a way, cos it just shows everything is moving... still on schedule... Kitchen Base in done up with cement sink support (that will be tiled later)... Strongly suggest cement sink support, in case water leaking or what, your carpentry won't kena... many ID does not recommend, but most good contractor / older pple that I met strongly suggest... though extra cost, I believe in buying insurance... My aircon guys and tilers working together lol... Cover their face cos the aircon guy keeps complain about online pple, say his colleagues and frens keep kena from complains from online pple... but he seems like a nice guy to me... hopefully his workmanship is the same as the feel he gave me... pray hard no leaking or trouble...anyway I bought extended warranty from gain city (pay alot higher to buy insurance again)... And my sadness came... this is the got "feel" wall... It only last a single day... before the got "feel" became a my "sadness"... notice the black / cement coated wall at the top left? it is a unhackable / drillable beam that stretches from my Masterbedroom to living room... tru the Master toilet and common toilet. Try drilling this beam, leak may appear inside the walls (my neighbors kena)...This beam is around the same depth as the "cage" that hides the pipes in the toilet. Because of this freaking beam, and the pipes that nearly occupy the cage, my trunkings cannot go into the cage... hence the only and possible way to run the pipes is tru the wall... J&E agree with the aircon guy, say really bo bian.. it is really really really sad... this discussion went on for nearly 30 mins to try understand how to make it nicer... At the end of the day... it looks like that and E say maybe paint a colour close to the tiles.... J tried to console me say his house worst.. so sad... my heart breaks... FIRST RENO HICCUP - HDB Architect.. THANKS...

Pmed I'll still get maybe track lights from TB... but the pendant... really haven found the very very very nice kind...