Opening A New Chapter Of Our Lives ... 2nd Home In 7 Years

[Chunky Monkey 2]

We have a void (airwell) which we are reinstating. The previous owner bought additional GFA from SLA, to get permission to seal up the airwell. We felt that it not only cuts out the light and air circulation to the basement, it was not maximising the livable space in the house.

So we hired a PE to get approval from BCA to reinstate a void that is half of the original size. It took us awhile to decide how big a void we wanted. Admittedly, it took us 2 submissions because we did have a change of heart during the process.

Anyway, steel rods were drilled into the walls and then a cast made of wood was installed, and the workmen poured cement/concrete mix into this cast, to get a new concrete slab as shown in the picture.

We will have to wait a few days before the cast and temporary structure under this new slab is removed. It's nothing more than waiting for the concrete to set.

Then the tilers can commence to lay the outdoor tiles in the patio, build the kerb, and we can install the grills around the void. I can't wait for this to happen. I think this is the most exciting part of the house, in terms of unique work to be done.

[applefreak 1]

can't wait to see how the airwell turns out

must be really nice to have something that brings you closer to nature

[ms_white 0]

I also noticed that the tilers slip in between the tiles little strips of paper (reminds me of litmus test paper). I am actually puzzled what the paper is for, but am willing to hazard a guess that the strips of paper is to keep the tiles apart, to make the grout lines.

hi Chunky Monkey, pretty major reno going on for your home! Cool!

yeah..mine had the strips of paper in between tiles too..esp when they were tiling the bathroom wall.

hope ur reno will proceed on without hiccups~!

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Thank you, ms white for your well wishes.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

13 Nov 2007

Nothing much has changed as it has been raining. And it's stalling some works. The workers were waiting for good weather, so that they can proceed with the waterproofing of the patio area.

The good weather today was received with cheer. I didn't visit the house but I called my main contractor and spoke with him over the phone. He said there's so little going on, and said it would be better if I pop in tomorrow. And so I took the opportunity to have my mani/pedi done. Long overdue treatment indeed!

There seems to be a technical glitch with ImageShack, and I cannot post some of the pictures I took on Saturday.

Basically, with the new requirement of adding LAN wiring, my main contractor had to hack the channel on the wall as well as the cement floor in the Attic, to conceal the wiring. I am thankful that my main contractor is willing to accept this new requirement. Alot of contractors I know, would have given the homeowner a shelling for adding new requirements and 'spoiling' their progress. This contractor is not perfect, that is, he needs a lot of hand-holding (not literally, please) but he is very enthusiastic for an old guy in the trade. Thumbs up.

I am retaining the floor and wall tiles for the children's bathroom, and have only changed the bathtub. I am impressed with the installation of a brand new bathtub without messing up my floor or wall tiles. My main contractor was so sweet ... he went to hunt for the closest matching tiles to wall the bathtub area and of course he couldn't. Those old tiles are at least 8 years old. So I told him to get glossy white tiles instead and his tiler did a beautiful job with installing the bathtub. I am very pleased.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Called my main contractor in the evening and asked about his progress. He replied to say that the living room tiles are completed and that the skirting has also been put up. *I must remember to check the plastering above the tile skirting to see if there are smooth and even*

I was also told that due to the good weather today, the workers have managed to level up the Patio ground and waterproofed it, and so tiling can commence in a day or two. (I pray for good weather again tomorrow, so as to allow the cement to dry better. Please, please, please)

Decorille is scheduled to deliver and install the Aluminium frame for our Patio doors tomorrow morning. I am cancelling my gym PT lesson, so as to witness the installation. I hope I will like what I see.

I am so looking forward to the tilers tiling the kitchen floor. I wonder when they can do this bit ... DH and I spent a few hours over the weekend tinkering how we would like the tiles layed. I hope the pattern we want can be done. *fingers crossed*

More update tomorrow ....

[Chunky Monkey 2]

14th Nov 2007

Good news and bad news today.

The good news are that the Decorille frames have been installed and I liked what I saw, and that the tile skirting is done beautifully. The tilers used a polisher to round away the sharp edges, so now I don't have to worry about these skirtings cutting or scratching my children. Thumbs up. I was just thinking that some contractors these days don't even spend the effort to round away the sharp edges and just plaster the wall. Thank goodness there are still these 'old guards' around who take pride in their work.

The bad news is that the 2 support walls, where my top hung timber doors with glass are going to be installed, are too narrow (only 3") and the door installer cannot install the track that is 6" wide. And the surrounding floor has already been tiled. So, we will be needing some rectification works over the next few days. My main con will have to extend both walls out by 3", and replace a few of the floor tiles in that area. Only by so doing, can the door installer recess the top hung frame and flush it against the walls. I guess pictures would help to explain what I am describing her but I forgot to take pictures.

DH and I spent a couple of hours guiding the tilers how to lay the kitchen floor tiles. We have in mind the layout we want, and when we tried it in the whole kitchen, the results is satisfactory. The tilers, however, cannot proceed with tiling just yet, as the cement bases have to be made first. Once the bases are done, I will go on site and guide them to lay the tiles piece by piece again. I don't mind spending time to help them. Because I know the result would be great.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

15 Nov 2007.

We received confirmation from Classic Furniture (Tg Katong Complex) that the final site measurement is going to take place next Tuesday, 20th Nov. With that, the factory can go into production of my kitchen cabinets.

I instructed my main con that he will have to make sure that the false ceiling in the kitchen is done by Monday, and that the concrete bases have to be in place as well. That will help in getting an accurate site measurement.

DH is contemplating changing some of the balcony doors to uPVC sliding type. He loves the profile and value of uPVC so much that he makes me regret getting BestView aluminium ones for the kitchen.

I am quite confident that even if we have a mixture of BestView aluminium doors and uPVC doors, the house will still look ok. Oh well ...

[Chunky Monkey 2]

16 Nov 2007.

I received the quotation from Fascina and almost fainted. Geez ... they are expensive. But you know what, Fascina's uPVC is still cheaper than BestView's aluminium. But admittedly I am not comparing like for like, because with the BestView installation is going to come with lami glass whereas the quotation from Fascina is with single glazed plain glass.

I'd thought that there wouldn't be a need to visit the house as things like simply just chugging along, and not a whole great lot. But late afternoon, my main con called and said that I better go and check if the false ceiling cut outs are correct for the ceiling cassette aircons in the living room. I zoomed down.

I was surprised to see that the concrete bases have been made in the kitchen. Hooray! Now there is more time for them to dry properly. I was also pleased to see that the U channel for my fixed glass panel has been recessed into the wall. My peeve about frameless glass panel installation is the U channel just glued onto the surface wall with silicon, which is so not pretty, and shows a complete disregard for proper co-ordinated installation.

I had to leave fairly quickly to take my kids out for their evening activities and called DH to pop in from his office, to help guide our main con to lay the floor tiles in the attic. From my DH's description, our main con was cutting the tiles whilst he was on all fours laying them in the pattern that I want. Main con exclaimed that it's super 'lay chey' but nice, and he will go along with it. YEAH!

I was told if we go back to the house by 1 pm tomorrow (today actually), the attic tiling would be finished! Another Yeah!

[applefreak 1]

pix pix

[Chunky Monkey 2]

I am still having difficulties with imageshack. So I am now trying photobucket.

Here are some pictures taken over the week which I didn't manage to post.

Tiler polishing the edges of the tiles to round them down.

Tile skirting completed

Workman extending both sides of the stairwell walls. Rectification work as mentioned above.

[applefreak 1]

the skirting is very nicely done

[Chunky Monkey 2]

I haven't had the time to post the last few days ... but I am back now, and with more pictures.

Frameless Glass Doors

We were considering between Glasspoint (contact: Jasmine) and Dorma, and we decided to go ahead with Dorma.

There are pros and cons in this decision. By comparison, Glasspoint was very fast in their response and they have done many, many more home installations than Dorma has. And these guys know what they are talking about. The track system that they are using is from Switzerland. I don't wish to offend other home owners, but I have no confidence in Taiwan made tracks. Both Glasspoint's and Dorma's tracks are telescopic tracks, with makes opening and closing much easier. Without telescopic tracks, each moveable piece of glass is slided piece by piece. Whereas with telescopic, there is a chain reaction when you move the first piece of glass. So movements are smoother and easier.

Cost wise ~ Dorma is a bit more expensive. The service from Dorma is lacklustre. I suspect it's because they hardly do residential installations, and as such their response time is much slower than Glasspoint, and the sales guy who's attending to me, is quite clueless. And I shall tell you in a minute what I mean. Photos speak a thousand words.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

My peeve about glass partition installation is the visibility of the U channel. I find that many contractors can be rather indifferent to U channels being concealed versus U channels adhered to the wall with a bond/silicon gel. They simply have no idea how ugly it is. But because so many contractors are doing it, that it has become a norm, no one complains about it, and accept it as an industry practice. It so displeases me.

As expected, I told the Dorma sales guy that I want to recess the U channel, and he sent his courier over with the U channel. And guess what, the U channel is not the right size. Secondly, when I asked him about the thickness of his tracks for 2 pieces of sliding glass panels, and he was not confident enough to provide me the information, and as such it was not straight forward in determining the "reference line".

The Dorma sales guy assumed that I wanted to slide the 2 glass panels in front of the fixed panel. And therefore, told my main con to hack the groove on the wall as depicted in the photo. But we want the 2 glass panels to slide behind the fixed glass panel and in between the fridges and the fixed glass panel. So that the glass doors open into the kitchen.

When you look at the picture, you can tell right away where the mistake was .... I now have to get my main con to hack another groove further on the left for the new U channel to be inserted.

Because my main contractor no longer trusts the Dorma installer, he asked him to fix the ceiling track up first, and then let him gauge where the new U channel should be. Which you can see in the picture, that is marked out by pencil lines.

Here's a picture of the Dorma tracks that are already installed on the concrete beam above. Very clearly in this picture too, that one is able to see the original U channel position is incorrect.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

There was something else that my main contractor did for me which I really appreciate. He does not want to have the concrete beam exposed (i.e. seeing the grey colour of the beam) when someone looks up at the tracks, so he secured a piece of white gypsum board over the concrete. And the Dorma tracks were fixed over it.

I learnt something new in the process. I'd wanted the glass sliding door to be flushed with the kitchen wall on the opposite side but it's not possible. The reason is that each track holding onto a glass panel has a certain width, and the glass is clamped in the middle of this track. And as such, flushing the glass against the wall is not possible.

But getting the track to be installed as close as possible to the edge of the concrete beam above, the glass will be indented by about 15 mm.

Here is a photo to show that the glass will end about 15mm inwards, from the white tiles. See the black pen mark.

PS: Sorry, I can't seem to rotate the picture above.

Edited November 24, 2007 by Chunky Monkey