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Hahaa... initially I had started a community blog but then decided a T-blog here seems more fun as the useful input from people (who are more experienced than I am when it comes to home renos) is more instantaneous and that would really help to guide me along in real life as I'm battling through my crazy renovations. So... here's the story. I had initially set out wanting to DIY my bathroom renovations. I had lofty ambitions of doing it as I'm in a 'transition' period at the moment so have some free time on my hands to, err, do something with my hands. Also, my budget is(was!) very small... I was only able to afford to comfortably fork out $3k max for these renovations, which I reckoned would mostly go towards the materials and only in the case of really needing the professionals to do stuff I really knew I could not do (i.e. plumbing and waterproofing) would I use part of that small budget I had squirreled away for engaging them. I am very confident in my own dexterity and my skills; on top of that, I am also someone who never ever thinks anything is beyond learning and doing. I was adamant I neither wanted to use an ID nor a contractor, as I have done some brickworks and other cementing work before in my life. Plus, I've been spending the last few months watching Youtube videos so am now suitably qualified as an armchair contractor! However, after several heated arguments with my parents (neither of whom was forking out a single cent for this reno), I gave up and was forced to engage 'professionals' for this job. I calculated, albeit naively, it would cost me 'a bit more' than my initial budget, probably in the region of $4k, which from my extensive research was a general estimate for most bathrooms. I thought that since I simply wanted a very SIMPLE and industrial theme, it was not at all like all those expensive showy bathrooms with gold taps and other such nonsense. I mean, my name doesn't start with TT Boy was I wrong. And stupid/naive/egotistic/narcissistic to not have seen this from the start! Sure, some of you are saying "If you don't have money, why waste it on something so useless and impractical as a bathroom renovation?". I know we don't spend most of our time in the bathroom, that not everyone who comes to the house will use the upstairs bathroom and besides, here's the funnier thing-- I don't even live in the house! But. Sadly, I have always hated my family house because the design, colours and funishings are so puke-worthy fugly. Every time I use the bathroom (and I don't even go back that often! Like once every 3months??) I am reminded of how it looks worse than the kampong toilets I've been to in my lifetime. Kampong toilets are actually decent looking, even though they aren't too hygienic. Anyway my bathroom is so fugly until I cannot stand it. I don't know what Keppel was thinking when they built the place-- was the designer a 5000yr old Englishman stuck in delusions of the 17th century? It's that bad. So, anyway. The fact that I was so adamant to do this is testament to my deep hatred for the bathroom, and to the fact that I'm not doing this to 'show off' to people but instead this is a real personal issue I have with the bathroom. I want to go in and feel "Ah...such a nice, clean, modern bathroom. I feel so relaxed, happy and peaceful...", not "OMG this place is so fuglyyyyyy, this would be the perfect place to hang myself in!". Basically too much of the spaces I do use when I go back are very shamefully fugly, and such an eyesore especially when nobody bothers to take care of anything. It's bad enough that fugly is not something you can wash away with bleach... imagine fugly and years of willful neglect. So I decided to take remedial action as soon as I had saved up enough. As a result, I am now almost $8k out of pocket as the cost of this g-**** reno keeps escalating by the day. And when I say I really, really, really cannot afford it, I mean it. I'm not one of those people who always claim they're broke but in their bank accounts there's enough money to feed the entire continent of Africa for a week. As an entrepreneur, I have no savings. Zero. The first time I saw more than 2 zeroes in my bank account was when I was 29, when I got a good project that paid well enough for me to save a little rather than live from hand to mouth. And now, because of this bathroom reno, I am back to square one

Hi guys, renovated my BTO flat 2 years back. so back then i did an overlay of the floor tiles over the hdb tiles. however i recently realised that there is a corner of the toilet where there is ponding during to floor gradient problem. So now i am considering to re-do my bathroom floor ties to solve the ponding issue. is it possible to just hack the overlay tiles and keep the original hdb tiles intact? will my waterproofing membrane be affected? or if i were to really re-do my flooring i have tp hack everything away, re-do the waterproofing as well? anyone done this before?

Request for Quotation 1. Hack 1.9m drywall and make good (broken red line) 2. Relocate the electrical points and cable TV to new partition. 3. Erect 4m double sided partition wall panel inclusive of rockwool. (Blue lines) 4. Clear glass swing door 80cm width 5. Paint partitions incl. Sealer paint 6. Dismantle a tv cabinet and clear all debris 7. Weather proof material barrier at balcony 1.68m (like those garden type. See second pic for example) WA me at http://wa.me/6587678374 with your rough quote first. Thanks.

Hi All, I was thinking of doing overlay of Vinyl Tiles on my existing on Terrazo flooring for my 3 NG resale flat. However, as the existing skirting is the curved kind (common for Terrazo flooring), it is necessary to hack off the existing skirting right . Was quoted $700 just to hack off the skirting for living room and 2 bed rooms. Need advise to know if the charges are reasonable. Also, I also prefer if its possible to overlay without any hacking. Appreciate all good advise. Thanks all !

hi, recently one of the contractors quoted me for overlaying the floor tiles in our 5i resale bathroom (both toilets). however, we prefer to hack the floor tiles altogether as my best friend experienced a problem when she initially chose to overlay. the neighbour's bathroom ceiling started leaking. so they had to stop work and then redo the entire thing by hacking, thus incurring double cost. so which would you suggest? overlay floor tiles or hacking? this is for a resale flat. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

We are the hacking and demolition specialist to every contractors and home owners. We have completed a few projects with contractors home owners. You may wish to contact us directly for our service. Try us! Whole Unit or by parts. Let us know!

Hi, I'm currently living in a condo. My neighbour is considering selling his unit and I'm thinking of purchasing my neighbour's unit and renovating the two units into a single large unit. I want to do a complete makeover and renovation of the two units and the most important is to be able to hack down the partition wall separating the two units. If not, I will not proceed with the purchase. Hence, before I proceed to close the deal, I want to know if it's possible to knock down the partition wall between our two units . I have got some plans and details (structural plans and wall details) and need advice to understand if the partition wall can be hacked, or how much of the partition wall can be hacked. From what I understand, the partiton wall is a prefab RC wall. I'd be grateful if someone can help advise whether I can knock down the partition wall (or how much of the wall I can knock down). Thanks for your help! Cheers, crmum

Hi, i need to few bits and pieces to do some mending so if you know anyone hacking their original marble flooring, please let me know. thanks a lot!!!

Hacking away and dispose existing fixtures and fittings for new interior design and fittings. One of the basics things to do in the beginning of renovation process. Share with us your difficulties in hacking as we will like to talk about it!

Hi! I've been lurking around the forum and t-blogs for information for my new place and figured, now that I'm halfway through (maybe more 1/3 way) my own renovation, its time to share my story too. Here's my original floor plan My place is a resale condo and this was the only floor plan I could find of it. Its abit oddly shaped in the living room and my HTB and I really wanted it to be spacious feeling. Its just going to be him and me and my dog. Its our first place together and we're really excited. There's that huge patio too, that we love (and am pretty sure my dog will love too) We spoke to some people and finalized on our interior designer. He's a really interesting person but thats another story altogether. Anyways, here's the floor plan that we have now. Thats it for now. I'll try to upload some pictures we took before we started hacking everything down later on today. Thanks for viewing! I'm so excited I've been making my poor colleagues listen to me go on about the renovations and every decision that we've had to make so far. I think they're tired of it. So this may be a better place for me to share.

Hacking away and dispose existing fixtures and fittings for new interior design and fittings.One of the basics things to do in the beginning of renovation process. Share with us your difficulties in hacking as we will like to talk about it!

Hello everyone really need your advice on our situation. We are doing some major Reno work for our new place. We are living somewhere else at the moment and will only move in August. Our Neighbour who is staying right in front of us happen to be part of the condo's committee. He has been making a lot of noise and came and spoke very rudely to the ID and contractor. Saying that he is going to have a meeting with the committee to put a stop to our Reno. We have never soon him before cos we haven't moved in yet. Then he do things like park at the lot designated for contractors to collect the rubble just to piss them off. Then he talk to security Guards and told them not to let them in until 11am! So our ID told Contractors to make less noise and the neighbour was ok. Only for a while. Now is the phase where air con get installed, plumping works, electricity point so again noisy and he has threatened again to stop our Reno. my question is: -can he do that? -what are our rights? im very stresss with work and now with the possibility that our Reno will be halted means that we must extend our rent at current place or find service apartment if our landlord don't want to extend. Only means more $$$$. please can someone help with the legal issues of our situation.

Hi all, I want to buy the corridor outside my flat. Any I.D or contractor has experience in such matters. I have checked with an electrician once and he mentioned that it was difficult to do rewiring because my neighbours at the lower floor who have already bought the corridor, rewired wrongly. I am not too sure in such. I believe anything electrical should be easy to overcome. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

Hi all, I want to buy the corridor outside my flat. Any I.D or contractor has experience in such matters. I have checked with an electrician once and he mentioned that it was difficult to do rewiring because my neighbours at the lower floor who have already bought the corridor, rewired wrongly. I am not too sure in such. I believe anything electrical should be easy to overcome. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

Hello everyone, I am a newbie here, and hope to ask a question to the renovation veterans on this forum. I am thinking of buying an HDB, and plan to do the renovation as indicated in the figure below. What is my chance of getting HDB to approve this renovation plan? I need to know my chance before buying this flat -- if the chance is too low, I might give up on this flat -- since I really want to have a 1.7m long bathtub. I really appreciate your expert opinions on this. Thanks! Alan.

Hi all, Does anyone know good and trustable contractor with HDB license for small renovation? I'm planning to hack a wall to create connecting door between two bedrooms, replace kitchen door, replace common bathroom door, etc. Most of contractor I know do not want to work with small job like this. Cheers,

Hi everyone! After 30 years of staying in my parent's flat, we've decided to have a makeover to our kitchen and living room. The idea of renovating our kitchen was that the floor tiles given by HDB in 1985 was already popping out and doesn't look modern anymore. While the idea of renovating the living room concurrently was due to our thinking: " Since doing kitchen already, might as well do living room too. During the planning phase sometime in May 2015, I had been reading many of the blogs here and appreciated all contributions big or small by the friendly people here. Through this forum, I make myself to absorb and learn about renovations to help my parents while at the same time learnt from the process as my BTO will be ready sometime in 2018. This project is taking place real time as we've just selected the company to do up our house, and I'll share about the ID we selected in the next post. First up, here is the floor plan

hello we are looking to doing renovation on new house. but when we get quote, we see that there is a big bill of 8000$ only for doing removing of tiles in kitchen, 2 bathroooms and hall, removing of old kitchen cabinet and hacking of a single wall. is this common?... or is this big charge bcoz of cartel by licence holder for hdb work thanks

Hi! I am interested to do a refurbishment of my apartment at The Parc Condominium. I say refurbish because I had a renovation done just last year when I moved in and it was a really crappy job. This and because my puppy had totally destroyed my doors, I would like to do a change. 1. 1st bathroom - Reno, includes Hacking of bathtub to convert to shower area. This will include changing of the tiles/wall/bay windows 2. 2nd bathroom - Reno 3. Change of bedroom doors (including doorframe, there are 3 doors) 4. Hacking of low wall between kitchen & clothes drying area 5. Painting of whole house Can anybody recommend me a good contractor or ID for the job? I have a tight budget for the above.

Hi, In my HDB 3I, where there is only one bath and one WC, the previous owner have hacked off the wall at the back room to create an opening for the room to access the bathroom. Besides sealing back this door by the convention way of recreating the wall using concrete, is there any other method I can temporary sealed this door using any other material? I don't want to permanent seal it because might need to re-open it in near future. I was thinking of let the bi-fold door remain and then use a large piece of acrylic board to cover up the door entrance from the bathroom side so I won't be looking at the door in the bathroom but the white acrylic board instead.... I'm not sure have anyone done that before.... thanks for any ideas contributed.

Hello everyone, I am a newbie here, and hope to ask a question to the renovation veterans on this forum. I am thinking of buying an HDB, and plan to do the renovation as indicated in the figure below. What is my chance of getting HDB to approve this renovation plan? I need to know my chance before buying this flat -- if the chance is too low, I might give up on this flat -- since I really want to have a 1.7m long bathtub. I really appreciate your expert opinions on this. Thanks! Alan

Hi experienced forumers, Are these prices reasonable? General Works 1 Hack off existing foyer,living,dining and 3 bedrooms floor tiles cum skirting $900.00 2 Hack off existing 2 toilets floor tiles $280.00 3 Hack off existing 2 toilets wall tiles $400.00 \4 Hack off existing kitchen floor tiles $300.00 5 Hack off existing kitchen wall tiles $500.00 6 Discard existing kitchen and 2 toilets sanitary fitting $80.00 7 Discard existing kitchen cabinet and clear off site $180.00 8 Discard existing 3 bedrooms wardrobe and clear off iste $450.00 9 Discard existing living and dining room cabinet and clear off iste $300.00 10 Supply sand and haulage material to door step $750.00 11 Clear debris off site $180.00 12 Acid/General washing 2 times for whole unit flooring $180.00 total for general work: $4,500.00 Mansonry Works 1 Supply and lay foyer,living,dining and 3 bedrooms 600mm x 600mm $6,300.00 2 Apply 2 toilets flooring 3 layer waterproofing treatment c/w $800.00 3 Supply and lay 2 toilets ceramic/homogeneous floor tiles $1,000.00 4 Construct both toilets shower kerd $200.00 5 Supply and lay 2 toilets ceramic wall tiles till ceiling height $3,000.00 6 Apply kitchen flooring 3 layer waterproofing treatment $300.00 7 Supply and lay kitchen ceramic/homogeneous floor tiles $1,250.00 8 Construct kitchen cabinet base $250.00 9 Construct washing machine base $100.00 10 Supply and lay kitchen ceramic wall tiles till ceiling height $3,200.00 total for masonry: $16,400.00