yokine9a

Frankly speaking, I think you should still mind if your ID or contractor wish to charge you $200 for applying the reno permit. Applying the permit from HDB is FOC, how can the ID/contractor charge house owner for a fee? Not reasonable, isn't it? Even if there is an annual licence fee of $500 to remain so-called "licenced". This amount grants the contractor to be authorised to carry out reno work in HDB flats. It is a T&C set by HDB. Why should house owners like us force to aborb their licence fee? This cost should not be passed down to customer. I am sure your ID/contractor would definitely make profit from doing your reno work, even with a $0 permit fee.

Talk to your town council. Be prepared to share the repair cost with your upstairs neighbour.

I don't think so... Since we only need to pay $1-$2K for the upgrading work... The most I think is one can ask for $5-$10K more when selling. Most of the 3-room flats in TPY near to the central are sold for > $300K now... All the 3-room flats in TPY are very old with age > 35 yrs.

Saw it at TPY HDB Hub NTUC Fairprice outlet... On the shelf that sells party stuff like paper plates, plastic spoons etc.

I took less than 3 mths to find one... I came back to Sgp in Oct 07... started house hunting in Nov... saw a unit I liked & signed the OTP in end Dec. Good luck to your house hunting

Can't advise on changing wood colour using the wood paint, though I am a bit doubtful about what the the professional painter told you. DIY in western countries is very common, not bcos those angmohs like it, simply bcos getting a service man is very expensive. Simple things like sandpapering & painting their furniture is not hard to do, just time consuming. And you probably won’t achieve the perfect result compare to professionals. I bought a can of clear varnish from HomeFix to give a layer of coating to my shoe cabinet, it is an untreated wooden cabinet. Maybe what I bought was the quick-dry varnish paint, it is not as thick as what I expected. I did 2 layers of coating but the feeling is still a bit rough. Will just leave it as it is. Might use sandpaper to smoothen the surface when I can find time to attend to the cabinet again.

Yes, it is possible. Pay a visit to the Homefix stores or DIY stores. They sell clear varnish paint & different colour of wood paint. The sales person should be able to advise you further on which to choose.

Ho Bee is not cheap. Try getting a few quotes (including Ho Bee) & compare yourself. I used Ho Bee for my house last year. After I encountered a few problems & read up more on this forum, I find their standard not as good as before. For eg. one forumer who engaged Ho Bee said the painter did a great job for his house, but for my case, merely 4 mths I moved in, the paint on my kitchen ceiling started to crack & paint on my copper pipe in the bathroom peeled off too

oic, I know where you are living now... my sister is living in your area too I like my current area, pretty quiet yet not far from TPY central... wah, really many people taking the bus just for a stop to go to the interchange? I have not take one so far, even during rainy days... I am on high floor but still cannot see fireworks leh... being blocked by neighbouring 20/30 storeys flats liao... but I can see those aeroplanes during NDP flying above Philips factory from my kitchen... not too bad lah. Well, the taste of a house is really up to individual owner... if they are willing to & can afford to redo everything, this is their decision... I would rather keep the $$ in my pocket to save for future... Whatever we spend on the reno can never recover when we sell the flat later on. As for the casement windows that slam shut with strong wind, you just need to tighten the screws... your reno shifu might know how to fix them, don't need to change lah. You should change that leaking water cistern, else you are just paying unnecessary water usage. It is good that your reno shifu seek your preference on what to use... my reno contractor didn't ask me what door handle I want for my stove/sink cabinet... in the end, I have a stainless steel frame glass door cabinet but ugly PLASTIC door handle!! I was quite pissed off by him... it was impossible to replace them unless he redo all the glass door... so I have to accept it Pls post more pic of your house

Hi, welcome to Toa Payoh, though I still have not figured out which area you are living I live in Lor 1 with CHIJ just behind my block. Initially was worried it would be very noisy... except on my MC days, didn't really notice the noise at all except their school bell rang every say 45 mins... Wah, towards end of last yr still need to pay 40k COV. Your flat is very nicely renovated by the ex-owner, save you $$ to do an overhaul, good choice

Read thru this, http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1142

Write to Straits Times forum. This is the last thing every company wishes to see, ie. telling the public that their products/services su..ck

I used bleaching solution a few times on my tiles. The smell was so strong, made me felt sick I stop using it & go back to soap+toothbrush. Hi donut88, pls feedback after using baking soda, thanks. If it can do the same job as bleaching solution but without strong smell, will consider the switch

Redoing the gout is very tiring... I did that for my utility room, toilet & bathroom before I moved into my current place... it took me several days... Everytime till the skin on my fingers worn off by the cements, I got to stop, else very painful... How to dig out the dirty areas? Using a screw driver?

PVC is plastic. True authentic leather sofa can fit well in a non-aircon living room. But it is costly. I bought my wardrobe & bed frame from S&C too. Somehow the aftersale service from them was not that fantastic. After few weeks of using, both of my wardrobe doors unable to remain in closed position & keep retracting few inches, I made several calls to them on this problem. They claimed that my floor was not flat (one side up & one side down), so they couldn't do anything to fix the doors. I insisted they sent their contractors to come over for a look. Eventually, 2 guys came & did something. The condition was ok for a mth or so, then back to square one. I didn't bother to call S&C again. What I did was to use tissue paper to lock the doors so that they will not retract. Next time, I won't go for sliding door wardrobe liao

Hi, is the fan strong enough for her house? I was told that 3-blade fan can't produce strong wind compare to those 5-blade fan. Some say one can only feel the wind when you are right below the fan, once you are out of the fan diameter, no more wind liao

Can't advise you on this though I am using the T-joint pvc type for my house. It is used at the edge between my living room's Terrazzo flooring & bedroom's laminated flooring. This T-joint is chosen with the same colour as my laminated flooring, which makes it not so obvious. If you were to choose s/s, will its silver colour match with your laminates & tiles? Also, as s/s is a kind of metal, even a blunt edge will cause blue-blacks when your toes knock against it. PVC feels safer IMHO.

I have gone thru the catalog of Crestar, all their fans come with 5 blades only, no 3 blades fan.

Since you have already closed the deal, any comment is too late now I also paid 15K COV for my 3-room flat in TPY in Jan 08... Corner n high floor... 10mins walk to TPY Central. That was before the financial crisis... I feel that one should be able to bargain & buy lower now. Anyway, hope you like your resale flat & enjoy staying there Bro zirhk3355, like your comments

I would say all 5-blade fans come with 4" rod for HDB flats... And my bf is not short, he stands at 1.78m tall. Not all HDB ceiling height is 9ft, mine is only 8ft without false ceiling or L-box... As my ceiling is pretty low, a 5-blade fan with 4" rod will probably not look nice in my house. Hence, my only option is those 3-blade fans with shorter rod.

I am looking at Fanco 3 blade now, after bf made so much noise abt installing a 5 blade in our low-ceiling flat Not sure what blade length it offers, though the brochure says 48". According to the KDK website, the only low ceiling fan model that is approved for HDB flat is 44". IMHO, 44" is quite weak under our hot weather. I think at least a 52" is more suitable, depends on your room size.

I use plain water. Didn't even bother to buy cleaning detergent for it

This is an interesting subject, cos from my research, some say they have this flickering feeling whilst some say no such thing for them. I think the problem is due to the fan blades are of smooth reflective surface eg. aluminum/acrylic, so any upward lights throw onto the fan blades are reflected down to the floor, hence, causing flickering feeling on us who are standing/sitting below the fan. Do I sound logical Hi ongbpr, so have you bought your ceiling fan? I haven’t ordered mine, still cracking my head to go for 5 blades or 3 blades.

Well, I read in this forum that someone did that But I think what most people did was, mounted the ceiling fan onto concrete ceiling, then built the false ceiling around the fan. Not sure if this will work out nicely but I reckon this is a safer way.

Try Daiso @ plaza singapura. Was there last nite & noticed they sell long bamboo sticks. Don't know what they are used for