LLCC

Hi nuttynut, Angel81 recommended this website to me: http://sunshade.sg/awning_drop.php I've only asked them to come to my place to suggest awning options, have not decided what to install yet. CC

I know what you meant by water scooping place, I think in Malay they called it a "mundi". I used to bath cold water from a mundi in my grandpa's village's common bathroom during my childhood days. I was very tempted to throw spa fish into that area, since it's too big to be used as bathtub, but can't bear to witness the holocust of the fishes after attending to my sister's feet, ha ha! Younger people think my sis room is very nice - cool black color themed with everything within reach (bookshelf, study table, internet, tv, dvd player). But the older folks can't stand it - too dark & crampy for their likings, can't stand seeing the dust on the furniture & wondering whether the black tiled floor in the bathroom has been cleaned properly. Though we were mentally prepared for the controvesy, the criticism from older folks is still very annoying, especially when they say "why so stupid choose black color?" or "why squeeze study table & bookshelf into the room & make things so cramp?". They don't understand that young people like to multi-task (surf net & watch tv at the same time) & have everything within reach.

Sorry for long wait, here are the level 2 photos: My sister's bedroom, knocked down wall to join to level 2 common bathroom, and sqeeze in a very tight space walk-in wardrobe Level 2 Common Bathroom Adjoining to my sister's room Master Bedroom Master Bedroom Bathroom

My unit is very windy during year end so it's not hot. But it was really hot & still middle of the year. During the day, the side of the house where the sun shines directly into the service balcony & living room window on level 1, & master bedroom on level 2, is very bright & hot. Good for laundry but terrible to take afternoon nap in master bedroom if you don't have 100% blockout curtain. But the other side of the house where the entrance balcony on level 1 & 2 bedrooms on level 2 are always cool so that's the trade off. As my flat is 16 years old, the sewage pipes show signs of leak. I changed the S pipes in level 1 toilet & kitchen for safety reason at own cost. Town Council will only be responsible for level 2's roof issue. So I can call them to fix the level 2 toilet sewage pipe if it leaks (side track a liittle here, the walls inside the house & the underside of the staircase in our house is the responsibility of HDB & not town council). Having stayed in 2nd floor of a HDB flat in the past, I thought I will not have problems of ants crawling up from the ground floor when I stay in higher floor, it is only true if you stay in mid floor. Cos' I'm seeing ants in my top floor unit now (from the roof I guess, as Chronograph rightly pointed out). But the good thing is that you don't have to put up with upstairs neighbour throwing curry, used tissue paper, cigarette butts and land on your laundry or the ledge outside the window or flying into the house. And also I realise the ceiling is higher in top floor unit. This is a classic case of greed & selfishness. Some people are just so good in distorting the truth. They don't know what is integrity. They only know that when things are in their favour - it's fair to them. When things are not in their favour - it's not fair to them. It's all about themselves.

Hi, don't have exact figure yet, cos' did many changes to the original quotation. I think final bill should be at least $60K. The house was in "original" condition, no cabinet, doors & windows bad conditions, we practically have to redo everything (except for flooring in living room, dining room, 4 bedrooms, service balcony & staircase which we retained).

Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks, it's the warm lights & plants that created that cozy feel. Here're 2 more pictures: Originally didn't plan to have any door here but when it rains heavily with strong wind, rain water can splash into the dining area. Also, we forgot we have aircon in the dining area & need to have a door to close up the dining area. Hence we fixed a tempered glass door, even though we fear to have people walking right into it. We had 1 casualty so far (a friend of ours). Sticking a soft toy on the glass door is our quick fix solution for now. Originally wanted it as a mirror cum shoe rack (specifically for our boots) but the wall recess is too shallow. Hence we converted it into a fishing rod storage. We've yet to figure out the roofing solution for this recess area (entrance balcony). It can get very wet when it rains with strong wind. Didn't want to a roof that blocks the skylight in that area permanently. But the shoe cabinets & mirror cum fishing rod cabinet need be to sheltered from the rain. Haven't taken 2nd floor pictures, lazy lah! Will try to do so soon.

It has been 2 months since I moved into my EM but I've been so lazy to take photos to share with you all. LL & I just bought a Christmas tree to decorate our place. The crispy fresh scent of the tree & the warm lightings in the house triggered off the mood to start taking some photos to share with you all. I've included the photos of how each area had looked like when we first took over the place for comparison. More photos...

Same here, I always wonder how they can survive those obnoxious carbon monoxide day in day out. Very few bother to put on the mask to cover their nose & mouth. Perhaps it's cheaper to employ Malaysians & hence the quotation I got from this contractor is much cheaper than the other quotes I got.

One of the lessons I learnt regarding reno is that getting a contractor with good service attitude doesn't guarantee that things will get done smoothly. It's more crucial to engage a contractor who is the boss himself, or really has the say in things. My contractor is the Account Executive whose company has various teams - Wet Works/Tiling team, Plumbing team & Carpentry team, etc. The Wet Works/Tiling & Plumbing teams are ok. But the carpenters have attitude problem & bulit things without thinking whether it make sense or at least confirm the correct measurement. At the very least, they could have been more careful when fixing the wardrobe & wooden sliding doors cos' a few were badly scratched up after the installation and we had to insist they replace them. And the carpenters only turned up once a week, so we have to wait one week for reactification work to be done. If they forget to bring something, we have to wait another week. And the supervisor & workers are all staying in Johor. They usually arrive at noon time (earliest 11am), finish work at 6pm (latest 7pm) cos' they say they have to rush to beat the jam to get across the SIN-JB custom. The supervisor is hardly around to oversee the carpenters. The carpenters take instruction only from the supervisor & not the contractor. Then we found out why, the supervisor is also a shareholder of the reno company, so our contractor has no power against him (to get him & his team to work more deligently). The carpentry team can make faces (standing behind my contractor's back) when we reproached our contractor for not finishing things on time and for shoddy carpenty work, can you beat that? I feel so sorry for the contractor, but LL & my sister say we should feel more sorry for ourselves since we have to endure the grieve of waiting for them to correct their mistake & complete their work even after we've moved in for 2 months! The very last bit of carpenty work left now that need rectification is my sister's walk-in wardrobe - the design is such that one side of the wardrobe is for hanging clothes (inside the walk-in wardrobe) & the back of it acts as a feature wall for mounting the LCD TV (outside the walk-in wardrobe). Instead of building 2 layer of wooden backings such that the wires for the TV can be hidden in between the 2 layer of wood, they built only 1 backing such that the wires come out from a hole & get in contact with the clothes in the wardrobe & run all the way diagonally down to the bottom of the wardrobe where there's a space for the wire to be connected to the back of the SCV box & DVD player on the bottom rack. A neater way would be to let the wire run vertically down & drill another hole on the wooden back to run the wire back into the SCV box & DVD player, but then drawer beneath the hanging compartment at the bottom cannot close completely cos' the wires are blocking at the back. Guess some carpenters can only build standard wardrobes & cabinets, and cannot handle custom designed stuff since it needs more logical & creative thinking. On hind sight, we should have insisted that they run through their plan on how they propose to build the thing with us before they go ahead & build it, instead of assuming they know what to do just because they didn't ask us any question. And we learnt that our contractor is also renovating his house & the carpenters has went ahead & installed the feature wall in his house when he told them not to install yet cos' he has yet to tell them how he want to integrate his sound system. In the end he has to reap off the entire feature wall & rebuild & pay double for it (his carpentry team refused to compensate him). Guess their relationship is strained as a result, and we're caught in between their "politics". The more they don't cooperate with our contractor, the more our contractor will get scolding from us, and the carpentry team enjoy seeing him suffer. But for me, I'm just happy I have a bigger house, new furnitures & bathroom accessories, oven, etc. I'm thankful & feel blessed. Just wish we didn't have to meet such nasty people.

It's coming to 2 months after moving into my EM & rectification works still not completed I have happily taken pictures of my place before & during the reno, but I can't seem to find any desire to take photo of the result cos' I'm so tired of the whole thing! Carpentry work is the major cause; in the process of fixing one problem, they created another problem. Especially my sister's walk-in wardrobe & custom-built bathtub (her room & bathroom are all black). I've no more energy left to deal with contractor, so my hubby LL takes over the coordination of rectification works (even though he teasingly went around telling everyone in the beginning that renovation is a woman's job). Thank God for a supportive hubby This is our 1st attempt at house reno (I don't know if I ever want to do this again), but we would love to share our experience so that you don't make the same mistake we did. Anyone who's doing reno now & keen to see how the furniture & cabinet will look like in a real setting (versus seeing them in big showroom), let me know and I'll arrange a time on one of the weekends. Rdgs, CC

Thanks! I can't find the awning in your quotation. What material is that? Is it retractable? How much was it?

I just installed a wall-mount laundry system with 6 extendable poles for $490 include delivery & installation. The cheapest quote I got for wrought iron staircase rail was $1460 but I opt to paint over the existing rails in the end. Can't remember what's the measurement of my staircase rail. The cheapest quote I got for wrought iron gate was $250 include 3 computerised keys, delivery, dismantling existing & installation. Additional duplicate key @ $5 each. For those moving house, you can ask for free supply of carton boxes (mixture of new & reused), masking tapes, clothe racks (for clothings that you don't want to pack into boxes & have to iron again) at no extra charge. PM me if you want the contacts of any of these. Can someone share the photos of the awning they did for the roof of their balcony, and the estimated cost? I can't decide what to do......

Hi, is your awning up already? Can show a picture of it? I'm deciding what kind of shelter to put in balcony area....

During my reno planning, I came across this big tiles showroom that provides walls showcasing the effect of mixing & matching certain type of tiles. Those who can't visualize design well like me can go there for an awakening of your visualization senses, ha ha! They have really really nice marbles, tiles & vanity top, pricey but nice. Read in today's paper they're having a clearance sales till 7 Sep. Those of you who have not decided on your tiles, or looking for a 2nd or 3rd tile design to contrast your main tiles can go check it out. They have a cafe in the showroom itself, can choose to dine indoor or alfresco. Stile Stones & Tiles 11 Changi South St 3, Builders Design Centre #04-01, S(486122) Tel: 65455225 opens daily I'm not working there nor know anyone working there, just hope the sale really offer good bargains & can help you design your house without burning a big hole in your pocket.

It's an EM in Hougang Ave 7 http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singapor...nt.jsp?id=32465 http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singapor...nt.jsp?id=32454

The seller told me the recess area is part of the original HDB design, he didn't have to buy over from HDB. I call it the entrance balcony, since it's within the house compound. The windows of my lower floor bedroom is parallel to the windows of the entrance balcony. I bought it at $438K, valuation was $400K. The disadvantage of top floor EM unit is that if the lower floor sewage pipes is leaking, owner has to replace it at own cost, so says the Town Council. They only bear the cost for the upper floor sewage pipe, since the roof top is maintained by Town Council. Oh one more thing I've learnt is that Town Council is responsible for cracks on ceiling & the sides of the wall that is behind the outer wall of the building, while HDB is responsible for cracks on staircase. Sure, will recommend my contractor if reno done is good. I went through 3 quotes & selected this contractor which was the cheapest amongst the 3. I know the agony of having to make tons of decisions when renovating house, so would love to share my experience with those who're about to embark on renovation. As for retail shops, so far all delivered things without much fuss, with the exception of Red Apple furniture & Co'zy bedding shops. In both cases, the salesperson who took my order resigned by the time I called to confirm delivery date. When I called up to confirm delivery date, both companies said the same thing - "we have many orders all rushing for delivery so cannot deliver yours on the date you want, you gave too short notice" (even though it was at least 1 month advance notice, as advised by the salesperson). Don't expect the delivery team or customer service team to follow up with you voluntarily based on the tentative delivery date you put on the invoice, they don't honor based on that tentative date, but WHEN you actually call them to confirm. It's better to call them & give a delivery date & then move that date if you have to.

The valuation of my current 4 room flat in Hougang went up by $20K in 3 mths (from Mar 08 to Jun 08). So looks like the trend is still "valuation going up" but "cash value going down". My buyer's agent was smart in the sense that he asked to lock in selling price & allow them to do a 2nd valuation since the 1st valuation report is expiring in a week's time (at the time when they offered to buy). My EM reno should wrap up in 2 weeks time. My target move in date is 12 Sep. So far I'm quite happy with my contractor who has good attitude, hardworking, punctual & most importantly can correspond with me via email, sms & mms, cos I travel oversea for work quite a bit so can't always meet face to face or talk on the phone. He is handling a few reno jobs at the same time, so many people renovating their house this year (could it be due to the many enblocs?), and he got his reno jobs mostly through word-of-mouth recommendations (he was recommended to me by my friend who's also renovating his house now). However, I reserve my full comment until the entire reno job is completed & job variation price is settled. Carpentry works not fully installed yet at this stage. Have taken the before reno & work-in-progress pictures. Will take some pictures of my renovated EM once the chemical wash is done & post them altogether here soon. Rdgs, CC

My contractor quoted me: $2700 for plastering whole house, wall & ceiling (balcony wall max 8 ft high) $2200 for painting with sealer (if opt for oil based sealer will cost slightly more)

Dear EM Folks, This is CC writing here, LL is my hubby, hence, our user name is LLCC. I've been pm-ing some of you to make some enquiries but have not shared much in this forum thread. Now I'm ready to share more ...... Working out the Design We collected the key to our Hougang EM since 29 Apr but waited quite a while for our architect friend to help us with the design & space planning. It's FOC, therefore can't chase too hard. It's also not easy when you're staying with your mom, younger sister & husband, and each has his/her own likes & dislikes. We tried to accommodate everyone's requests for certain things or features, so it's hard to identify a design theme. In the end, we opted for cosy & comfort, which is so long as we can stay comfortably together, ha ha! Can't wait to see how it'll turn out. Search for Contractor When the design was finalized, we had problem finding a contractor who is responsive & can give us a reasonable quotation that fits our budget. Besides reasonable costs, our basic criteria for a contractor is someone who has a good customer service attitude & can communicate through email & sms. It was a huge relief to us when we finally decided on the contractor & placed the deposit last Sunday. The contractor got his men to start hacking our EM on Friday, and we'll be meeting him this afternoon to go through the plan for the electrical points. We've taken some "before" reno pictures of our place, and will post it together with the "WIP" & "after" reno pictures, to share our reno journey with you. So, wish us luck! Rdgs, CC

I was quoted $7180 for 2 Daikin System 3 Inverters, include steel brackets. Anyone can advise if this is expensive?

I was quoted $7180 for 2 sets of system 3 Daikin inverter wall mounted with stainless steel bracket, etc. Also include supply + install + transport + 1 year workmanship warranty, 1 year spare part & 5 year compressor warranty by manufacturer. Is this reasonable?

I just bought an EM in Hougang St 51 too. Collected key since 29 Apr 08 but hasn't start reno. Not hiring ID, that's way slow cos' no experience with reno. Thank God I've an architect friend who's willing to offer me advise, but he's so busy..... CC

Dear PorkyPig, Thanks for the PM. I went to Poh Joo yesterday. For the same model of HOBZ cooker hob, the shop in Jln Besar quoted me $130 lesser than the shop in IMM, without having to bargain at all. I will buy it if my mom is game enough to try out glass hob. She cooks everyday, and loves to boil soup.