Please Help Me

[EMacP 0]

I am my way in getting a resale 4A (104sqm) cos staying with dad who is no longer working anymore. Downgrading from my beautiful 5I. Unfortunately I am the only person paying for this house and reno. So....whoever kind soul out there I need some advice and help what I should do first to that house. Juz said that I doing the makeover in several phase.

First let me describe the house. The seller did not do anything to the house. I mean nothing. Neither bedroom cabinets nor kitchen cabinet. Have ceramic flooring but one of the bedroom floor have a very big crack. Kitchen tiles are old school (you know that white square tiles that is juz half the wall). Electrical wiring + lighting..hmmm...super terrible. Both bathroom, old tiles. Almost forget, the windows and the grilles.....rusted.

So the challenge is..... at hand say that I can fork up 10k first. What should I get started with? Do tell me how much it cost you to do whatever you suggest. Plz also, dear kind soul recommend me your contractor for my consideration.

So confused and desperately need advice.

[yokine9a 1]

Wah, looks like a total makeover is needed for your resale house leh.

10k for reno definitely not enough, at least 20k. To do it in several phase might be difficult unless you can bear the dust and noise. To start with, at least do the flooring, wall tiling, electrical wiring. Carpentry work can be done later. Changing of windows and grilles can be at 3rd stage.

I suggest you hack the tiled flooring since its condition is no good. Can consider to lay new tiles or go for laminated flooring.

Do you have in mind what you want to do to your house? If no, you should start going to ID shops or read thru reno magazines for ideas. You should also look thru this forum for ideas, or in blog section for nice pix. For ID, can let he/she to plan the theme for you, you just sit there and say ok not ok blah blah. For contractor, you must know what you want to do, cos contractor doesn’t do design work, they follow instructions from you.

When I gotten my house, I didn’t do anything to the living hall floor, kitchen wall, toilet floor/wall to save $$. My flat is a 30+ yrs old flat. I used Ho Bee as my reno contractor.

[EMacP 0]

You are rite Yokine9A.

This house is 15yrs old. Anybody out there knows how much will it cost be to overlay or laminate the flooring. As I said 104sqm. What is the advantage and disadvantage of doing this? I heard some said the maintenance is difficult.

I need to do flooring. Do you think I should do re-wiring now or later. How can I know the piping is still ok?

My budget is really very tied. So need to be wise on this.

Your suggestions and ideas is appreciated.

By the way Yokine9A, how much u spend for ur house? What did u do? Your house is very old.

[yokine9a 1]

Quotation is usually in sq foot. I am weak in Maths, so you need to convert yourself Convert your floor area into sqf and you will have a rough idea when people start quoting you their pricing.

To overlay, you save the hacking fee. But if your floor condition is no good, suggest you hack it. Cos if the bottem tiles crack further, your top tiles will be affected. I spent $180 to hack my kitchen floor tiles. $800 to lay new tiles. $150 for water proofing treatment.

Difficult maintenance for what? Laminated flooring? I find it pretty easy as long as I am careful with water when mopping the floor. I have laminated flooring for bedrooms, spent $4.30psf.

15 yrs old flat doesn't really need rewiring. Can do it later.

If there is no rust on your piping, I guess it is still ok.

I spent $11K excluding laminated flooring work but including electrical work.

I know that, but what to do, cannot find any newer 3-room flat in TPY liao

These are the main things I did:

Hack kitchen floor/cabinet/sink support/basin

Lay new kitchen tiles

Install new cabinet/sink+stove support/basin

Repolish living hall terrazzo flooring

Laminated flooring for 2 bedrooms

Painting/rewiring/piping

Install new toilet bowl/water heater/refuse chute

[donut88 1]

I am my way in getting a resale 4A (104sqm) cos staying with dad who is no longer working anymore. Downgrading from my beautiful 5I. Unfortunately I am the only person paying for this house and reno. So....whoever kind soul out there I need some advice and help what I should do first to that house. Juz said that I doing the makeover in several phase.

First let me describe the house. The seller did not do anything to the house. I mean nothing. Neither bedroom cabinets nor kitchen cabinet. Have ceramic flooring but one of the bedroom floor have a very big crack. Kitchen tiles are old school (you know that white square tiles that is juz half the wall). Electrical wiring + lighting..hmmm...super terrible. Both bathroom, old tiles. Almost forget, the windows and the grilles.....rusted.

So the challenge is..... at hand say that I can fork up 10k first. What should I get started with? Do tell me how much it cost you to do whatever you suggest. Plz also, dear kind soul recommend me your contractor for my consideration.

So confused and desperately need advice.

with yr budget, u will do the minimun that u can.

my suggestion:

The toilets must do.... this is No. 1 priority, because of hygiene purpose. but leave the wall tiles alone. Wall tiles are very expensive to do. do the toilet floor tiles (if can overlay, do overlay, change the WC, basin. The water pipes if not rusty, leave it alone. Give a new paint over them)

Kitchen cabinet. See if can keep the old one. if cannot, then change it. For hygiene purpose again. dun do those fancy ones like you read in this forum. Remember the cheapest material for table top is postform. Just do postform table top.

Leave all wall tiles alone. Changing wall tiles will be expensive.

The flat floors - you can do laminate flooring. Laminate flooring can overlay old tiles. no problem. This will save you money. and laminate flooring can last as long as tiles.

For furnitures, just buy from those neighborhood shops. they should be the cheapest of all. Ikea stuff is not tat cheap and i doubt their quality.

Lightings - just buy those normal lights (about $30-$40 each) and the contractor will change for you. Ask for FOC for this.

No need to change switches and wirings. Wirings can last a long time. See whether the switches are broken or unworkable. if broken, then change.

Give the whole flat a fresh coat of paint. This will transform the whole flat.

To save even more $$, buy all stuff by yourself. dun ask contractor to buy for you.

Stuff you can buy on your own:

1. WC

2. All Basins and taps

3. Switches

4. Lightings

5. Water heater

6. Air con

7. Gas stove

8. Door handles/locksets

You say windows/grills are rusty. Paint them over with new paint. They will look new and white.

Remember to leave some $$ for fridge & washing machine (these 2 will add up to at least $1000 -$1200)

if you want my contractor contacts, PM me.

[MaCe 3]

if it is me

1) rewire

2) just get a contractor try to find similiar size tiles and patch it.

rusty windows all can wait. touch the toilet = 3k !!!

[EMacP 0]

Hi Donut88,

you said abt laminate flooring, one of the bedroom have a big crack on the flooring. Will this cause a prob?

This house has no cabinets at all include kitchen cabinet. You talk abt postform, how durable is it? I can say I cook often.

Anyone else there any suggestions to help me. $10k is cater for reno alone and not inclusive of appliances or accessories.

[yokine9a 1]

Let me answer on behalf of Donut88 hor

It dpends what causes the big crack on the flooring. If it is due to poorly done cement below the tiles, ie. too dry cement layer, then it is possible to crack further in future. See your contractor for expert advice on this. If it is due to heavy object dropped onto the floor that causes the crack, then use cement paste to touch up and cover with laminated flooring is fine.

Postform is just like any tables or cabinets you can find in the market, a piece of wood with some trimmings. It can be pretty durable if you are careful with maintenance, ie. no leftover liquid/water stains, always wipe it clean. This is bcos water can sip thru the wood layer and cause it to warp.

How do you cook? Like those hawker's style? Then postform is not suitable for you unless you are very hardworking in cleaning work. However, postform is the cheapest option if you have budget constraint and willing to take care of it. I cook everyday and I have granite tabletop. Go for China granite as it is cheaper, if this is your choice. Indian granite is $100psf.

If you just do what we suggested above, $10k is enough for first stage of reno work.

Remember, don't think of doing tiling work for kitchen and toilet walls, they are very expensive. Hack the old tiles if you don't like them, and do painting or plain cemented walls.

[EMacP 0]

I seriously love this website. I manage to get some items from garage sales that are new and unused (This alone help me to save much).

I check with few contractors, they don recommend me to laminate the flooring becos the cracks is rather a lot. So it means need to hack the floors......so sad....budget run already

I think it when up to $15k now to get the main thing done up.

Now I need another set of help. I have this chandelier a present given from my US fren, this is the website where u can see how it look like and the dimension......http://lightingbygregory.com/lighting/product/wi-wi325661.html................It still intact in the box becos when I got them, my current house have complete lightings. So expert out there, do you think this chandelier is too big for a 4A resale flat? my hall is rectangular. If not, how can I position this chandelier? Such a delima again. This chandelier is expensive.

[alan26 2]

EMacP, Your house condition is abt the same as mine also. I believe your kitchen & toilet flooring is mosaic (SMALL green type) , your rest of your hse flooring should be terazzo rite.

15K should be enough to do a not bad reno liao. you interested to know?

[alan26 2]

living room, bedrooms all don't touch.

kitchen & 2 toilet Epoxy Coating- $1950

Whole house rewiring - $1400

Lighting - $400 - $600 (depend on design)

Kitchen Cabinet - $4500

Bedroom Set furniture- $299 (New)

Basin & Kitchen sink optional

[megko 0]

It's cheaper to overlay the tiles, than hacking and laying new tiles.

Most wise to just do the wet-works first with your budget - flooring, kitchen and bathroom/toilets.

kitchen cabinets usu costs about $2000-$3000. but if you don't it cheaper, don't built the top cabinents,

just do the bottom, with stove. Save a lot.

Painting - to save cost, do it yourself. If DIY with friends, can be less than $200/- . Rather tough but

save a lot. Then if you want character and style, can use wall-decals to decorate....very fashionable.

room doors - can do a paintover yourself with nice wood paint, so no need to change.

window grilles can be done later, but aluminium grilles are usu not too costly.

Taps/showers/curtains rods - drill yourself, and go get ready made curtains from spotlights or ikea ,save a lot.

Built in cupboards- very expensive, can do it later. Anything custom-built is expensive.