A Place To Call Our Home @ Amk

[guy77 0]

congrats on getting work start. update with more pics

[growler 0]

Day One

After 3 days of frenzy including this morning, my renovation finally started at 10.15am when uncle finally appeared in his green van. I was getting very worried when he promised to pass me the FINAL adjusted quote on Friday evening, but to no avail. I waited till Sat evening to call him, and got worried when his phone was off. The agony of calling into a mailbox got the better of me on Sunday evening, when i couldnt reach him to confirm the timing for today at 9am (as promised). FH tried to calm me down, to have some faith that he will show up at 9am, sui sui as promised on thursday evening. HOWEVER, Much to my dismay, i couldnt reach him STILL at 9am and we have been waiting at my block since 8.30am!! oh GOD!!!

9.05AM ***RiiiNNGG*... WOW..finally it got thru!!! i really felt like i was calling Class 95 for the CANON camera clicks contest, i was totally DELIGHTED.. told uncle i am waiting since 8.30am and womdering if he REMEMBERED our appointment at 9AM. he told me..."AIYA,, where are you now... AIYA, i can only be there at 11am....." HURHHH??? 11am? I definitely did not apply any half day and thought that it would take probably an hour for the prayer and ding dongs, but looking at how it has been going so far for the morning, i have no choice but to take half day URGENT leave, (gosh cant afford to take too many, need them for honeymoon and the rest of the year.) FH was concerned that i shldnt blow too many leaves and told me not to, but , its my virgin flat, i want to be around for the first day.

ok, to story short, uncle finally appeared in his green van at 10.15am, much to my delight . we went through the whole quotation and all and finally, people started streaming in .

My project will be handed over to Alan (guy in white), (i hope he is good, must have FAITH), i told uncle i have a very tight dateline and the maximum ding dongs allowed is 35 days for handover, as my wedding is in early Aug, and i need the month of July to clean up and prepare. The final quotation is SGD28k which i blew SGD1.3k on plastering the whole unit. Hubby wasnt too pleased as we needed to cut costs, unfortunately for me, I tend to have very very miniminal tolerance for inconsistencies with the walls as it IS AN OLD flat. Finally, my dear dear relented.. PHEW... (thanks dear, you will NOT regret it!). Alan and Elder Goh and team of demolitions came up respectively at 11am. The latter was responsible in the simple prayer ceremonial and the 2 ah nehs ( elder gohs calls them that! ) dutifully startd the process of dismantling the cupboards. The symbolic knock on the marble floor came about at 11.45am, and the one of the AH neh started DRILLING!!!

Before the damage

the Aftermath

gosh, i was ESCALATED.. finally!! the pieces are FINALLY coming together!!!! i'll post the pics up later, as i do not have a sd card reader available in the office. thanks everyone for your well wishes. i am crossing all my toes and fingers that everything is SUI SUI nowonz uncle left my flat with alan at 11.30 to someone else, and the sky's starting looming, looks like its a heavy downpour in the city area. uncle came up and said he LOST HIS VAN KEYS! oh oh.. now he's stuck at my place..i wonder whoz going to be delayed next...

***btw, i also passed some messages to uncle that he's wanted by everyone, and he says :" so scary, i am being tracked!" ahahahaha.. i said, we are your LIVE GPS, ***

5.30PM

FH went back to spot check, and found that no workers were in sight. Whats left is the debris left outside my flat, the main door dismantled, and neighbours could literally see the mayhem from outside, and the LIGHT WAS ON! we diligently off the light to save electricity, i should will remind FH to warn Uncle about this.

9.30PM

Popped over after work to check if the debris has been cleared, hmm... much to my dismay, all the debris (whats left from the dismantling) are still outside my unit!! wonder if my neighbours will complain...

Only the kitchen floors and partial living room has been hacked today... i'll update my blog tomorrow and hope the walls are down by then..

Based on HDB regulations, drilling must stop at 5pm. That's probably why your FH cannot find the workers when he went back at 5.30pm.

As for the debris, since you're hacking the whole unit, they will probably get a haulage truck standing by at your carpark. They they're finished with all the hacking, they will use wheelbarrows to cart all the debris to the haulage truck once off.

[familyof4 0]

remind uncle about the lights! Mine was the same...on day and night and thru the night(s) as I do not go and check so frequently.

Uncle is implementing fine systems for the guys...but knowing uncle has no time, I do not think they really bother.

[ivy 0]

heng my units got no lights now. Anyway I'll be up there everyday when work is going on. I'll also check for leaky taps. so far the tilers at my place very good. They clean up before they leave I dun see any cigarette butts around and they dun leave left over food and drinks in the unit.

These 2 days my side no action cos tiling works completed. Jason says the water pipe people will come tomorrow.

[mrspiglet 2]

what problems? how come he never tell me? I think mrspiglet is using...i use PD door for my common toilet. if Not good, I will change. do not wise to have many problems.

Congrats for finally embarking on reno xvirusga76!!

Yup, i'm using PD door. A little problem here n there, there's some noisy metal rubbing sound when the door is abt to close, but in the end realised its becos i'm trying the door from outside of toilet instead of inside. So the metal bearing rub against the track hence the sound. I think i was the one that was so particular abt the PD doors sound that uncle says its problematic?

Anyway i think they aren't really well-versed with PD doors, whole SG only got 1 company selling, so if given a choice i'll still use PD doors but go straight to the company. I like to close my toilet doors (hygiene purposes) at all times, so bi-fold doors are definitely no no for me.

[guy77 0]

my side's workers do left food and drinks overnight. can't said much about this i guess.

as for lights, all the time they will off it. so far no problem

[xvirusga76 0]

Day 2

wow, today was a spectacular day! FH was at the unit around 9ish, waiting for the HDB officer to turn up for inspection. Manz, there was a major commotion when the officer was greeted with a couple of shock! apparantly, someone had knock the toilet floors and walls before the inspection and the officer and demanded to know who was responsible. Alan called uncle immediately and i was told he rushed down instantly..

just as when the officer was inspecting some corner of the motar been hacked off, uncle came in and squat next to him...

this was the hokkien translated dialogue :-

HDB Officer: *staring at partially hacked motar* Who gave permission to hack? why din you guys wait for me to come before i gave the green light?

Uncle Soon(rushing in like whirlwind, squarting NEXT to officer) : motar hacked, will replace one, not to worry. (defiant tone)

HDB officer: you who?? (Le SIANG?) Ah Gwui??

Uncle Soon answered blatantly, pointing to himself: Wa Ah Soon... Ah Soon...

HDB Officer: Ah Soon xiang?? Ah Gwui le?

Uncle Soon: Wa Ah Soon (getting louder) Ah Soon, (even louder), contractor.

HDB Officer: Le Erm Si Ah Gwee? Ah Gwee le? Le apply permit har...ask Ah gwee come

Uncle Soon getting heated up by now.. " Wa Ah Soon. Le mui bak Ah soon? xin lai eh? "

hahhaah.. it really sounded funny when my FB related this scenario to me.. all the heated arguement was because part of toilet floors and walls were hacked before the inspection, and HDB officer wasnt happy.. the two got so heated up that both of them went to the unit below us to check if their pipes are leaking, all the time, FH was a bystander, standing quietly watching the commotion between the two men. the tenant (a boy in his 15teens) were totally shocked when the HDB officier requested him to open the door for inspection..

all the commotion subsided much later, after a thorough check at the unit below us was ok.. (i hope so).. so the demolition team continued the rest of the hacking..

last check at 6.30pm after work, was that the entire flat was hacked except for the panel of walls between the dining and kitchen.. my guess is that it would take an hour or so to hack that wall, after which, its time to clear the debris. uncle said we have to confirm the tiles tomorrow, and they will start the cementing thereafter. so far so good.

My neighbours are rather friendly folks, came and chit chat with us, asking how long this renos going to take, and i apologised for the inconvienciences caused during this period. think i should get them some cakes in return.

Lastest purchases so far-

Asia Exel - Balestier (Regina/ Desmond - excellent service rendered! 2 thumbs up)

1) Fujioh 3 Burner Glass Hob (Black) - FG773SVGL

2) Fujioh Stainless Chimney Hood - HD-NL900R-SS

3) Franke Galassia sink - GAX620

4) Franke Fremonk Sink tap mixer

5) Geo Ceram Round Basin

6)Pozzi Basin Tap & Mixer

7) Critzo Handspray x 2

8) Crizto Rain Shower Set

9) Alpha 25L storage heater

10) Geo Ceram W.C c/w soft close x 2

11) other accessories

Total DAMAGE SGD$3,225

Gain City - Marina Square

1) Fujitsu System 3 inverter

2) other accessories

TOTAL DAMAGE SGD3308

*** - Balestier

Total Damage SGD1376

Harvey Norman - Yishun (Sarai - Execellent Service!! )

1) Panasonic Washer 8kg - NA-F80T1

2) Sharp Fridge - SJ-PT47R-HS

3) Panasonic M/Oven - NN-GD577MYPQ

4) Extended warranty

Total Damage - SGD2,187

Winter International

1) Custom Made Sofa

2) Dining table c/w 4 chairs

3) TV console with display

4) Breaktable FOC

Total Damage - SGD5243

Items missing:-

1) Hopefully 40" Samsung Full HD TV

2) Ricer Cooker

3) other miscellancenous expenses..

GOSH>>.. a total of SGD15339 has been zapped from the piggy banks!!! :jawdrop: its really scary to think we have another wedding project coming up in 2months time.. and reno project another estimated 28k.. hopefully we can cover back a portion from the ang baos..

Edited May 19, 2009 by xvirusga76

[ivy 0]

hahahah the hokkien exchange was really funny hahahahha

[xvirusga76 0]

i reallly wished i was there to witness it.. but FH called me at that point when both men where at their loudest... so i kinda heard the conversation... was really funny when FH renacted out earlier to me...

[guy77 0]

all resolved good good.

aiyah. officer is like tat. law by law. like tat lor...

[blue_diamond 0]

i reallly wished i was there to witness it.. but FH called me at that point when both men where at their loudest... so i kinda heard the conversation... was really funny when FH renacted out earlier to me...

Uncle was relating abt this incident to me as well....he is cool about it also...wahahaha...he also relate to me in a funny manner...wahahah:)

[Smallboy 0]

hahaha.. the hokkien exchange is really funny! Uncle thinks he is so famous... every HDB officer must know him, is it?

[growler 0]

Uncle is one of the term contractors for rectification works this year. So he's famous ;p

[fondue_ 1]

i just called uncle and he told me abouit PD door issue. it is the trck and some complained it is filmsy. So i quickly told him i wana change to frosed glass door instead. Do not want bifold as Hubby dislike. also problems with track after pro-longed usage. So we changed it to glass door instead.

actually pd door is all abt the installation, must "catch" it correctly. we done ours a few times (rectify) and now the mbr pd door is perfect, common toilet pd door is 95% nia as the closing alignment is not exactly to the door frame.

it should be smooth closing between the two joining tracks to the end. if you have to jerk it forward or backward in order for the two tracks to join and your first door to slide into the second, then the problem is the installation part.

best is to get PD door specialist to install.

Edited May 19, 2009 by fondue_

[xvirusga76 0]

i totally agree!..ahahah... let me continue the saga:-

Uncle Soon continued ranting: Wa AH Soon.. Ah Soon, Le Emp Bak ??? Ah SoooOOOn , Wa Ah Soon... Jason Le Bak Bo, ... Jasonn.. wa ANG MO KIO zo ah ney zui cho liaoz!

HDB Officer : Le Zo Jing Zhay Cho mey, an cha wa bo tiah ke???

Uncle Soon proudly continued : Jason ,, Jason le bak Bo???

HDB Officer, in deep thots for split 2-3 secs : Jason , Wa Bak, Jason shi le xiang.. >???!

Uncle Soon : WA SHI JASON TWA HEYA!

HDB Officer, a T.L tone LE Wo JAson ah Ni Hor Bo??

Uncle Soon: WA SHI JASON TWA HEYA LE! HoR BO?? Confirm HOr La!....

god.... uncle is very very famous liaoz lorx..