New Home In The East

[guy77 0]

happy belated birthday to u, gaku

ya, withhold the payment first until rectifications are done. i will do as what growler suggested too.

[mrspiglet 2]

Sorry to hear the problems with the final stage. I understand how u would have felt for all the delays... mine was pushed back from 3wks.. till countless times.. and finally handed over in 6wks. The only difference, i was not in a rush.

Thankfully you finally managed to shift in. Hope the final settlement will be smooth for u. N dun be too bothered by those anonymous msges. We are all here to learn from each other in reno!

[familyof4 0]

Happy Belated Burthday to u Gaku!

I also think u shouldn't pay uncle in full until everything is settled. as for the person who wrote to u, forget about him/her, everyone has the right to share their experiences. this person is simply too immature to send u such a thing.

I am at Pasir Ris now waiting for uncle's men to come and settle the outstanding items...I need to really get them to settle today cos i need to shift in tomorrow.

[aubrey 0]

hi gaku, sounds like u have a quite nasty experience which was similar to what i face. to be frank, my house is not 100% complete and my floors are not polished either but we have shifted in with all our things still in boxes except for those in the kitchen since that area is already done.

he did miss my HO date and wasted the 3 days of leave i took for moving home. i took yet another day off hen he told me he will polish it but that was also not done, so its 4 days in total i wasted. i chose to move back bcos of rental issues as well. i think the only thing to do when it comes to polishing the floor is to do it in a way where items are shifted around the house.

from the time i moved back till now it has been almost a month (this weekend shld be a full month) and my tiles are still not polished. after i moved in there were still people coming to install things and dirtying the walls so i need to repaint, not considering my carpentry. sigh. i totally understand where u are coming from.

to save myself from certain disappointment and unhappiness, i took to calling elder goh. (fyi he is doing proj.mgmt now but on a small scale) that helps a little but at the end of the day i still have to go back to uncle.

i think u will be like me now, spotting areas that needs to be rectified but no energy to call uncle to chase for rectification, to clean up after that. oh well, now that u moved in, relax and enjoy a little first then if u have energy, u can start calling them for rectification works.

dont delete your blog and ignore nonconstructive PMs. if they wanted to be constructive, they can simply post it here for all to see.

[apples 0]

Gaku,

Sorry to hear of all the problems. I can only emphatize with you since my HO was also delayed despite many reassurances that it will be on time.

But the good thing is that you are finally moved in! I hope the major rectifications have all been completed.

I have moved in for almost a month but also have outstanding items that need to be fixed.

About 1 week after we moved in, Uncle did come by and ask for the balance payment with VO.

We paid most of it after going through the rectification list and Uncle promised he can fixed it all at one go.

But due to some personal problems at home, I have yet to call Uncle to arrange.

I found two hollow tiles in my MBR bathroom, just behind shower mixer

I think those tiles were hacked and replaced. But before the cement completely dries up, the installer came and fixed up the rainshower :-(

Uncle told me that they will be ok and need not be replaced .. but I am still worried since the the hollow is in the middle, not the side.

What do you think? Should I just accept it so that it is less hassle?

[aubrey 0]

hi apples, is it on the wall? i think wall tiles are not too bad since u dont step on them all the time and lesser contact with water. telling u from experience that to hack and replace it is very messy and dirty. so u can decide if u want to. i just re-tiled my bathroom + WC. very very super messy.

[apples 0]

hi apples, is it on the wall? i think wall tiles are not too bad since u dont step on them all the time and lesser contact with water. telling u from experience that to hack and replace it is very messy and dirty. so u can decide if u want to. i just re-tiled my bathroom + WC. very very super messy.

Aubrey,

Yup, it is the wall tiles. But they do get wet all the time since they are just beside the shower mixer :-(

Why did you have to retile your bathroom and WC? Also becos of hollow tiles?

Ya, I know it will be messy that is why we did not insist on changing yet, but still feel a bit uneasy about the hollow tiles lor

[aubrey 0]

hmm maybe u can check with uncle or perhaps elder goh? he is more experienced with tiles. i re-tiled cos my bathroom tiles are way too slippery even with just plain water on it.

if its one or two, quickly get it changed so when u are set to clean the house, can clean all in 1 shot too.

[apples 0]

hmm maybe u can check with uncle or perhaps elder goh? he is more experienced with tiles. i re-tiled cos my bathroom tiles are way too slippery even with just plain water on it.

if its one or two, quickly get it changed so when u are set to clean the house, can clean all in 1 shot too.

Thanks, I will ask Uncle again about the tiles

oh..i just check it from a Singapore web site on idea of how to check for defects!

No tile should sound hollow when tapped randomly with a metallic object

http://www.bca.gov.sg/housing/sp/Renovatin...ointerFloor.htm

Rondy,

Thanks for sharing the link, very useful info indeed.

For wall tiles, it says "Drummy or hollow sound should not occur when the tiles are tapped with the fingers."

How come floor tiles use metallic object while wall tiles use fingers ... so confusing

[pinkpetter 0]

The thing that always bugs me is that.. how to know what is "sound hollow"??? I know all these tips about tapping or knocking... but... I don't know what a hollow sound should be really like? lol

Which kinds explains why I didn't check so carefully. *heck*

[familyof4 0]

for tilies, those at the sides my dad says not really an issue in the long run...if middle or almost the whole tile, no matter how troublesome, MUST CHANGE.

[ashes02 0]

Congrats! u finally shifted in! Everything will be swee swee from now on lah! :)

[blackcar 0]

for tilies, those at the sides my dad says not really an issue in the long run...if middle or almost the whole tile, no matter how troublesome, MUST CHANGE.

Correct, it is a norm at the edges is hollow coz when the tiler apply the cement paste aka buttering technique. All the sides are usually lesser so as allow the cement in the middle to squeeze out at the point of tiling. Hence, most of time the edges are usually hollow. Then again, if the edges are hollow when u drill a hole on it, the edges of four pcs of tiles will usually crack!!! So when drilling a hole onto a tile, do avoid the edges!!!

Why a tile pop out!!! Well this happens comprises of three factors. The quality of the tiles, the cement wall and the skill of the tiler. Those tile that requires overnite soaking are usually inferior quality which most of the contractor recommended to the customer, at $3 pce or so. Apart from this, the tile quality are poor, such as warp and the side are slanted too, if you observed carefully. So if the tiles are not soak thoroughly, the tile will suck the cement paste dry up too and coz hollow.

As for wall tiles will pop out usually bcos of few reason, which i wont go into details. Long story cut short, the wall suck too much water from the cement during plastering of the wall and the cement paste from the tile. When this happens, causes the tile to hollow and poping of wall tiles. Why? Bcos the mixing of the cement ratio is not porportional, like too much sand over cement etc. Another reason is that the wall somehow or rather is super thirsty, especially those wall are build by hollow bricks!!!

Lastly, the tiler mixing of the cement paste is not porportional and buttering technique is poor.

In short, wat i m trying to say is, is ok to have hollow tiles at the edges. But is up to individual of the acceptance level. Oh YES no tolerance of hollow tile in the middle, chances of it popping up is high especially those on the top. I m sure u dont wanna to wear safety helmet at home rite??

cheers

Oh one more tip, for checking of levelling of flooring, just take one ping pong ball and roll it lightly across from one to the other end. If the tiles are not even, the ball will bounce!!! Happy ping pong ya.

'

Edited June 15, 2009 by blackcar

[gaku70 0]

ashes: Thanks ashes, yes finally can shift in. This weekend will still be busy due to the delivery. Really looking forward to see my furnitures and electrical appliances.

familyof4: I was told that those on the side will have lesser problems. I noticed the hollows are usually on four corners of four separate tiles. It is localised in one spot. Those that are hollow at the center on a single tiles are the ones being replaced.

pet: To be fair it is quite subjective. The older we get, the less sensitive our ears becomes.

Some of the tiles that I found a little hollow sound, I just let it go since uncle said he cannot hear it. But for those serious case, you can really see the corner without any cement on it after it has been removed. Not all tiles can be removed in a piece though. I only managed to see about two. The rest are hacked into pieces.

You can actually differentiate the sound. Solid has higher frequency.

rondy: You are very "On". I don't even know there is a website on how to check for hollow. Uncle used a test pen. For me, I uses a one dollar coin.

It will be scary if the tiles burst. Hope some expert here can advise.

aubrey: Don't think uncle will change the hollows wall tiles. Most probably he will insert chemical with some cement. That's what he did for mine but I do not have many hollow wall tiles, just about 3 I think. Maybe it is more difficult to change the wall tiles compare to those on the floor.

I thought polishing must be done before he hand over to you. That is why I did not want to shift until he polish the floor. Last week I took leaves as well intending to clean and unpack my stuff but I merely watch the worker doing the retiling for 2 days. I see that our situation are pretty similar. I too need to move out fast because the rental.

As for me, I hope they do the rectification over one weekend instead of coming in again and again. If it is not major, then I don't want to take the trouble.

I agree that it is very messy to replace tiles and may cause other damages. So I don't want them to rectify any further.

apple: Didn't know your HO was also delayed. I thought it might have been my wrong way of managing him. For the major issues, I will ask him to rectify. For small ones, I will do it myself or close one eye.

Hollow at the center of floor tile is more risky. If you dropped something heavy, it will just give way. So for me, those in the center must change. For wall tiles, I dont think he will change it unless you insist.

Edited June 15, 2009 by gaku70

[pinkpetter 0]

Gaku... thanks for explaining even though I know you must be very hassled now with all the moving and stuff.