blue_skies

When you signed the quotation given by the contractor, is it itemised and is there any mention of waterproofing that's supposed to be done? If yes, then he is wholly responsible for the rectification works since he messed up. i.e the waterproofing wasn't done properly after he hacked the floor tiles. This is from HDB website http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/...cument#Bathroom Technical Terms and Conditions - Floor 1. Waterproofing treated pre-packed cement screed or waterproofing membrane must be used in bathroom/toilets areas before laying of new floor tiles. Membrane should be upturned (up to 150 mm) against the walls, kerbs and pipes. For kitchen, the waterproofing membrane is only required around the sanitary stacks for an area of a radius 400mm. 2. Flat owner and registered renovation contractor are advised to conduct a water test to bath/toilet upon completing the replacement of floor finishes. If the contractor has breached HDB's guidelines, can be fined up to $5,000 http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/...es?OpenDocument Do remember to take photos with all the leaks (try to put the date on the photos) and keep them for records. If contractor still doesn't do proper rectification works, tell him that you are going to complain to CASE and file against him in Small Claims Court. I don't think he'll want to go thru the hassle of turning up in court, not to mention what it will do to his HDB contractor's license.

From what I understand, each party pays their own agent. So if you have no agent, you don't need to pay anyone anything. Only the tenant will pay his agent the service fee / commission. One thing to note - if you do not use an agt, make sure the tenant's agent gets the tenancy agreement stamped otherwise you are liable to get fined by IRAS. The stamp duty for tenancy agreement is paid for by the tenant. i.e. name of applicant is the tenant when completing the form. You can read up here http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=2132

Ah, I see. In that case then I suppose that's the only condo to consider. Personally for investment I wouldn't buy a 99yr condo, but either 999-yr or FH. Many units being rented out shouldn't be of concern to you, but rather, in a way, it could be advantageous because if you decide not to stay there in the future, you know that it can be easily rented out Hope you find your choice unit there! Happy hunting

Agree with kardtoon that there are different layouts. Depending on your preference for wanting an open space for gardening or if you prefer the space to be utilised, you can choose to have units with rooms on the rooftop too, i.e. less gardening space. Or, you can opt for a fully open rooftop. I used to stay in a unit with a fully open rooftop. i.e. upper floor area = lower floor area (where the bedrooms are). Stayed there for about 2yrs before we moved, now it's being rented out (with all the plants included!) I had lots of potted plants (those easy to maintain ones and heat tolerant) and we got the gardeners in once a month (approx $50-$60) to maintain them coz it was backbreaking work keeping them neatly trimmed, plus need to spray insecticide etc. My hubby and I just want to spend weekends lazing and relaxing rather than trimming the plants Actually the original plants have been there for almost 4yrs now and still healthy. I only replaced 3 pots of plants recently coz they got disease and died, plus got bigger pots for some of the plants coz they grew larger. We used to get the occasional birds dropping in to nest in the plants, then we will tell the gardeners not to trim or use insecticide on those plants until the eggs have hatched and the chicks flown away. The rooftop will also need the occasional scrubbing to keep the tiles looking clean. We gave it a good scrub once a month using bleach. Need to also keep the drainage area free of debris and fallen leaves otherwise it will choke when it rains, then you got mini swimming pool on the rooftop. Heat wise, it's hot during the afternoon but we are out at work so it didn't really bother us. Plants will need 2x watering a day to remain nice and healthy. Once in the morning before we go to work, and one more time in the evening. We got those reflective curtains to keep out heat for the rooms that got afternoon sun, not too bad lah. Hubby and I used to have breakfast on rooftop on weekends but got to watch the wind otherwise your toast will fly off the plate And we were on the 6th floor, not considered very high, but it was unblocked. Oh and the clothes dry very fast on rooftop - crisp like keropok! Since we had open rooftop, we also got our friends over for gatherings etc (and pray for good weather!) Overall very nice and enjoyable place to live in.

Just curious, is there a particular reason for purchasing a unit at Regentville? It's a 99-yr condo and there are also other 99-yr condos in the nearby area, such as The Florida, Rio Vista or Evergreen Park - these are near Upp Serangoon Rd and also 99-yr condos with full facilities. Did you consider any of those condos?

You ever tried cutting a small red plastic bag into strips and put it on a wire and place it near your window? i.e. the plastic strips will move when the wind blows. And it moves very easily coz the plastic strips are light. It works for my mums place and keeps out the mynah birds. No crows there so dunno if it works with crows

If you want to DIY or semi-DIY, you really need to have a good idea of what comes first, second etc. Sometimes even simple things that are not done properly can mess up your place big time. And you need to be there at the reno site almost every alternate day, at least, to check on the progress and make sure the people turn up. If you deal with contractor, just call them and ask them what's going on. And you can go there when you are free, maybe once in 3 days still ok. One other disadvantage of co-ordinating the work yourself is that it will generally take a longer time for the works to be completed coz these sub-cons will sometimes fly kite and although they are supposed to start today, they only come two days later etc. In the end, your reno works will be something like 2-3 wks overdue if everyone comes 1-2 days late. If you cannot tolerate this type of thing, then better to let contractor handle the work. Otherwise sure to get high blood pressure and sleepless nights! I got a contractor to handle plumbing, hacking, tiling, L-box, windows and electrical works. Then a separate carpenter to do my carpentry stuff for kitchen cabinets and bedroom wardrobes. So far everything on schedule. Total reno time approx 1 mth.

Hi We recently bought a flat from a couple who were divorced. The husband was staying in the house but not the wife. The seller's agent actually got the wife to sign on the blank OTP with a stated selling price and showed it to us together with the husband. i.e. the sale price had been agreed btw the husband and wife already. The OTP just needs husband's signature but we cannot negotiate price. It was reasonable anyway so we went ahead with the purchase and signed it on the spot. In our case, the flat was jointly owned by both the husband and wife so it needed 2 signatures to proceed. How much do you trust your agent? Can the judge really sign on the wife's behalf? Perhaps you could ask the agent to show you the court order? Otherwise it looks like it's going to be a $500 learning experience..... Normally in the case of a divorce, the proceeds of the house would be divided between the husband and wife depending on how much each one contributed to the financing of it. I know of someone (the husband) whose wife had no say in the sale price or financial proceeds from the flat because the husband was the one who financed the flat all the way. The judge passed the order that the husband had the final say over the flat. If that is the case for yours, then it'll be more straighforward lah.

Yup but first of all, you need to take some measurements of the space in your toilet where you intend to put the bathtub, and see whether or not the tubtub can fit in there. This bathtub that I mentioned (1220mm x 760mm x 370mm) is the smallest sitting bath I have found available so far, and is from Nan Wah. The brand is Wilton (Carina). After you buy the bathtub, you need to inform the plumber (before they start doing anything) that you are planning to have a bathtub. You should also inform your contractor before they do any re-laying / overlay of toilet flooring as they will run your outlet drainage accordingly to where your bathtub will be placed. If you are installing your bathtub over existing toilet flooring then you'll probably build a kerb along the bottom edge of the toilet walls to hide the drainage pipes.

Hmm, my parents place has two built-in bathtubs used for 10 over yrs already. My current place also have two built-in baths, used for 2.5 yrs, no problems. So I'm going to also install built-in baths in my new home. You won't get problems if you get it set by a proper plumber. Setting a bathtub is a skill coz they need to set it with the hollow blocks first and ensure the tiled sides slope inwards so that when you shower, the water flows into the bath. Plus they also need to do the plumbing of the pipes & drainage properly coz everything is running below the bathtub. It will look very neat coz you don't see pipes all over the place. What possible problems do you see with a built-in bath? Piping problems will also occur with a portable tub if the plumber doesn't do a good job... Leakage of tub - this can happen with both portable or built in tub if it is damaged / cracked. The built-in tubs I've used are made of a plastic / acrylic type of material and I've washed everything in there, from children bicycles to prams / strollers and no cracks lah.... The bathtub has served like a multi-purpose wash area for us because it's really easy to clean - you only need a sponge and some Cif, and you can clean it in less than 5 mins

In my opinion, bathtubs with hollow blocks and tiles are easier to maintain and clean, and also saves space. My parents have a sitting bath which they have used for 10 over years and hasn't gieven any problems. The size of the sitting bath is about 1200mm (L) x 760mm (B) x 370mm (H) and fits nicely in the corner of a HDB toilet. I have not used a portable tub (option 1) before, but I can imagine these are some issues that might arise with a portable tub: - Height would probably be higher than a built-in bathtub, so getting in and out might be more tricky - Most portable tubs are full length tubs (about 1500mm in length) and you might have some difficulty squeezing it into a HDB toilet - When you bathe in a tub, some water will spill over the sides etc, if you are using a portable tub, you got to clean the sides and underside of the bathtub too. For a built in tub, cleaning is easier since there is no underside, and the sides will be tiled and flat surface. - Not too sure how stable a portable tub is also. A built in tub is supported below by hollow blocks so it is really stable. I'm currently installing a sitting bathtub in my HDB toilet, PM me if you'd like more info

Oh I see - I was wondering what those korean words meant, and I thought your lizards started having a liking for Korean stuff Hahaha! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Belated merry x'mas to you too!

If you suspect your cupboards may be damp, maybe you could try drying it with a hairdryer? Would imagine the critters aren't very tolerant to heat....

Does anyone believe in the significance of waterways? I heard that waterway in front of your house (flowing towards your home) is good, but not at the back of your home, coz that would mean money flowing away. I wondered how this would apply to HDB, asked a friend and was told that the front of the block would be where the main block number is stuck on, and not where your front door faces. And having a pond of water in your house is good only if you put it at the back of your home (to keep the wealth in the house).

Eh? Kimchi eating lizards?

I think that question is like playing roulette Personally I hope that the pte pty prices will drop next year after CNY. I think HDB prices may hold, unlikley to drop below valuation, after all COV also dropping now. Any guesses when the next General Election is going to be? Am guessing that pte pty prices may dip after GE. Just a hunch, not based on any hard facts.

Interesting chart. Must have taken whoever did it quite a bit of effort!

Hi, Just to share, if you are doing carpentry (e.g. wardrobes, kitchen cabinets) from another party and not from your contractor, it needs a bit of co-ordination effort between you, your contractor and your carpenter coz the contractor will probably be laying your kitchen tiles and you need to make sure that they build up your cabinet base properly and to the correct dimensions for your kitchen cabinet. I'm also doing reno without an ID and that was the most challenging part so far coz I'm doing an open concept kitchen with a bar counter top. The reno sequence for my EA so far (still halfway thru) 1) Hacking wall, kitchen, dining room floor + toilet flooring 2) Lay kitchen & dining & toilet floor tiles 3) Electrical re-wiring 4) Plastering whole house 5) Plumbing works 6) L-box (The L-box is not meant to cover up air-con trunking) 7) Air con trunking installation Still need to do: 8) Whole house painting 9) Kitchen cabinet & bedroom wardrobes installation 10) Painting touch up 11) Install lightings 12) Cleaning Your contractor should be able to advise you on the sequence too, and they can also advise you on when your fittings should be delivered by etc. Good luck!

Are those "booklice" you mention brown in colour and about 0.5mm in size? They can also "jump" right? I had something similar in my home previously because of mould on the walls. They thrive on mould so you see them congregated in areas where the wall is slightly damp too. The only way I got rid of them was by getting rid of the dampness and mould which involved reapplying a sealant on the affected areas and repainting the walls.

It doesn't matter what proportion you put down. Where rental income is concerned for tax purposes, you need to calculate the gross rental income (i.e. rental of ppty + furniture & fittings). However, if you replace any furniture or fittings etc, this can be offset in your earned rental income. You can read up more on what is deductible from the iras website under the section "How to compute rent" http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=160 Hope this helps!

Have no complaints about Scanteak service or quality of their furniture. I actually bought a second hand set of Scanteak funiture and I must say that the furniture is very very hardy! Not easily scratched, and very easy to maintain. The furniture was looking a little dull when I bought it at a garage sale, then just went to Scanteak and ask them how they maintain it, got a bottle of wood oil from them and slowly rubbed it all over the furniture and it looked much nicer after that. The cushions are really good too. I had to replace the bottom cushions for the 3 + 2 sofa set but it was worth it. The back rest cushions have very good lumbar support. Btw the model I bought (from a garage sale) was this one http://www.scanteak.com.sg/Collections>...s>LivingRoom Model no. 13808 Teak sofa 3 seater (plus 2 of the 1 seater sofa) Model no. 13808 Teak coffee table plus a TV console that isn't in the current catalogue anymore. I notice also that there are slightly different sofa cushion designs now. The newer cushions are not as firm as the older models. But I guess it's also personal preference lah. After sales is ok and staff are polite and helpful. I had to go down to Sungei Kadut to pick up my cushions (coz I didn't want to pay for delivery charges). I ordered a new set of sofa covers which would only be ready in 4 mths time and I got them to send it to another outlet which was more convenient for me to collect it from. No problems with it at all.

Don't worry lah, you aren't the only one who's gone through this. Count it as a lesson learnt and luckily you didn't end up paying through your nose for that unit. I really hate it when seller / agent keeps asking for more when we have already agreed on the price. My hubby and I turned down one unit which did this to us, we told them to sell it to the other buyer "who was offering a higher price". 2 days later the agent asked us if we are still interested and we gave them one piece of our mind - that we do not buy rejected goods. They even wanted to drop the price slightly but we firmly said no. We told them that even if they wanted to sell below valuation we were also not interested already. Btw, we took 6 mths to find a suitable unit and saw more than 30+ units. Don't give up!!

Hi Just to share, I've previously recommended my carpenter to build built in wardrobes for my 5 rm flat and a huge louvered door shoe cabinet. I'm using his services again coz I've moved house again! In case anyone would like to contact him, these are his details. He has a factory doing all the cutting himself and he's very meticulous so your furniture would be in good hands. Chin Jun Furniture Amk Tech II 5 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2a #06-03, Singapore 567760 (Ang Mo Kio) Andrew Chin. Hp 83839339 I may not check this thread often, so if you'd like more feedback on what he has done for my place, etc, do drop me a PM.

Not sure if you are looking for full length or sitting bathtubs. My parents have used one which I believe is acrylic, the type that has to be set and tiled. The brand is Wilton, it's made by Nan Wah themselves. It is a sitting bath and is used everyday, and it hasn't given any problems (no cracks etc) and is 12 years old. Price is about $300+ each and can fit into our HDB bathroom with a bit of space planning. And no problems with scratches too - ours is off white so you can't really see it. Plus it's easy to maintain with some Cif and a normal sponge.

Possible, but very torturous and very dusty especially if hacking is going to be taking place. The dust is really bad even if you "seal" the bottom of the doors with cloth. My parents renovated our old home when I was still schooling. All 4 of us camped in one room for almost 2 mths, mostly ate out and sometimes had to bathe with cold water when the water heaters were removed and make do with bulbs dangling from the ceiling. We hacked the flooring in the living room. toilets and kitchen, and also redo all plumbing and electrical wiring in the house. Only the bedroom floors were untouched. It's not for the faint hearted and definitely not suitable if you have elderly or very young children in the house as it can be quite dangerous with all the debris lying around. Plus we slept on foldable mattresses coz we kept all the other furniture in the other bedrooms while the reno was on-going. I wouldn't go through it again if I had a choice