Flimflam

I am just trying to be helpful, and give you the plain honest truth from my own experience with spoilt homogenous tiles. If you do not believe me, it's O.K. Just go ahead and try to solve it your own way. You will soon see the enormity of your mistake.

This problem is very hard to fix. I bought over a house once with the homogenous tiles really "destroyed" by the prev. owner. Ho Bee Renovation -- Patrick, they saved me. But I warn you: takes 2-3 days to do the job. Very laborious and time and man-hours intensive.

I have just retuned from a shopping trip to Unlimited Tile. Bought one case of mosaic tile for $90. I think one case contains something like 4 square metres of mosaic tiles. But I am sure they will sell you any quantity you want.

Thanks a million. You are a real life-saver. It seems, nobody uses those 17mm to 20 mm size tiles anymore. Impossible to find in the Tile Shops. Makes it really hard if you buy an older house and need to replace some broken or missing 1960's -- 1970's mini-tiles. Well, thanks to you, I can start work soon. Unlimited, here I come!!!!!!!

Re: "heard those(China) are the better ones in the market......" Then you heard wrong, I am sorry to tell you. All China tiles will screw up in the long run. Often, no need long run. In a few months, sometimes, weeks, they will screw up. I have managed and owned apartments more than 30 years old. Every tile in them is still perfect original condition. Look like new. None are China tiles. Some of my friends in Condo's 3 years old have their tiles fading, chipping and cracking already. These are China tiles. "Tou Kong Jian Liao" Inferior workmanship, substandard materials. That's China-made for you.

I just bought one 28 years old one, the wiring is so old, Singtel could not start up phone and broadband. They had to call in the whole Rewiring Team. I am sure the Electrical System is in same bad ancient shape as the Telecommunications System. When I leave the place, I make sure to Off the power at the Mains. First thing Monday, I am going to go out and buy Fire Insurance. Don't laugh, my friend's office caught fire last month...... fire originated from a lightswitch. Poor quality wiring.

Just let it go, man. Give up and don't waste any more time & thought on it. Grouting is a lost art in Singapore, man. They have forgotten (1) how to find & mix the right material, (2)how to apply it correctly. If you can find a good grouting specialist in Singapore, let me know. I will be the first one to queue up outside his doorstep!!!!!!!!!

When people are stuck after making a bad decision, they will go out and try to rationalize their mistake. I think your friend is one of these people. For example, I know one friend who works as property agent. For past 3 months, he has been saying market is good. Even now, when all sales(private property) have slumped by 95%, he still says market is good. How to believe this type of people? He is either a liar, or he lives in a dream world. Either way, you do not want to believe this type of people.

I was told by my friend who is a property Developer, homogenous tile stains easily, even in a non-greasy, non-kitchen environment. So, the only tiles I specify for my own house are ceramic and porcelain. I do not know whether my informantion is 100% correct. For all I know, there may be 1 or 2 "stain-proof" homo. tiles out there. I just follow the experienced folks.

Thanks. Stunning photo's. I just fixed a "pop up" tile problem. 2 years old job, still popped out. I thought if it can last 25 years, sure OK already, lah. Now, I will be on guard to expect surprises popping up from my floor after 25 years!!!!!

Jaren, my experience is quite similar to yours. My family's original flat(private), is more than 35 years old, we have not lived in it for more than 25 years, we just rent it out. The floor is red ceramic tiles, original floor, it was sold to us with these tiles. The red ceramic tiles look so fantastic, no-one who visits and view the apartment can believe that they are the original issue tiles, never changed, never replaced. They do not have a single mark on them, despite being rented out to many "havoc" people over a span of 25 years. By contrast, when I bought my 2nd hand resale flat last year, the homogenous tiles in the living room looked like a terrible mess. The white had turned dull, rough, stained grey. The contractor had to work for 3 full days to polish and restore it to an acceptable condition. To this day, I have to wash the floor every other day, and polish it every week. Very "su-zhang", or "Dirt Absorbing." That is the reason I always specify Ceramic Tiles today. (but I am not so brave as you. I would never dare to drop a big set of keys or a padlock on my tiled floors!!!!!)

According to my FS master, the outside is more important than the inside. Stuff like, got sharp roofs of adjacent buldings pointing at your flat? Mountains, hills, rivers in good position relative to your flat? Got cemetary, temple, church near your flat? All these are much more important than the inside of the flat. Fyi, I just purchased a house of which the interior is like negative image of yours. You know, like reversed, or mirror-image. Lot of sharp edges and corners. But it was right for me, so I buy it without hesitation.

Too **** right, David. Exactly my own feelings. No place in Singapore is not hot. Every place is searing, broiling, barbecue-hot. Even $3 MM landed property bungalow is searing hot. Just no getting away from the hot weather in Singapore. That is why the Tour Agencies sell so many tours to Europe, US, Japan, etc.

I have lived in about 12 different houses over the last 35 years, and regardless N, S, E, W facing, if the weather is hot, the house will accordingly be hot, too. The only difference I notice is that certain facings are hot for a longer period of time in the day, other facings are hot for a lesser period of time. But it is a very small difference, almost insignificant. Like, East facing may be ot 4 PM to 6 PM, West facing may be hot 2:30 PM to 7 PM, as the sun heats up the block. My girlfriend lives in a 5-I that is completely shaded by the surrounding buildings: no direct sun at all. And yet, it is unbearably hot. It is low-level, too, not top-floor. If you want to totally avoid a hot house, I suggest you look for a different country instead of a different house. Canada and New Zealand look to be good choices.

Singapore property market, cannot afford to wait so long. If you see the right price and right place, must write the cheque and give it to seller right away. We bought our 4 'I' in December/06 and barely 7 months later, we were getting offers in excess of $100,000 of what we paid for it. It is a top floor unit just outside CBD, unblocked panoramic views. We turned down all offers, saying we will never leave our place. If we had decided to wait then (Dec. 06), we would have to shell out much more money to buy, and even then, cannot get a place as nice as this one.