Mini Reno

[stardust>_< 0]

any idea how to remove 'sticker' mark on wardrobe/door surfaces? *headache*

try to use some lighter gas or cooking oil, i have tried to remove the sticer mark on book by using lighter gas, it works

[jeda 0]

stardust, dbkungfu,

thanks for the tips!

[jeda 0]

today started our mini reno work. as soon as we finished the brief meeting with our ID, his workers started work.

luckily we went a bit early to clear up the stuff we did for our DIY kai men ceremony. we were a bit overenthusiastic with the amount and proportion of rice+salt and nearly fainted after we realised that salt will 'melt'! must have missed that out when i surfed the net regarding this! luckily we didn't wait for 3 days (which is the norm, i read) and clear up the stuff as much as we can; did not manage to clear those in the bathrm and storerm...hope nothing bad will happen to my tiles!!!

[smjas 0]

Any idea for the normal 2x13W downlights, if going to do up Lbox in the ceiling, what is the recommended L-Box depth?

i find 1 tube not bright enough .... my living/dining downlights are 2 tubes (or what they call PLC x 2). Traditional downlights have no cover for holder (still available now and cheaper). Newer downlights have covers now ... looks nicer

[jeda 0]

Any idea for the normal 2x13W downlights, if going to do up Lbox in the ceiling, what is the recommended L-Box depth?

erm...i not sure leh. i leave everything to my ID....went to his recommended lighting store too cos they can liaise with each other - husband don't mind paying for seamless service as he is really busy these few months at work and don't have the energy to undergo any renovation stress. brought him go window shop for sanitary fittings already blackface if cannot find desired ones. our to-do list is still so long and we aiming to shift in by end of this month! ~stress~

maybe you can talk to your contractor??

[froggy 0]

Any idea for the normal 2x13W downlights, if going to do up Lbox in the ceiling, what is the recommended L-Box depth?

i was told minimum is 450mm, no max, but I think will look weird if too deep right? Also need to consider if you are having ceiling fan? cove light etc? I think given out flat size (ie if yours is BTO), I believe most of us will just do the minimum.

[jeda 0]

Day 1

Met ID to reconfirm certain stuff and added certain minor works as well as paid for commencement of work.

Tentative schedule is that my ceiling will be done up by early next week for painting to commence mid week. Shower screen will commence next week too.

While our ID did mention during our signing of Agreement, about their tight workload and the possibility of getting our display feature cabinet only end next month, husband is delighted that ID told us that he will get his carpenters to do up our place by end of this month.

By mid afternoon, workers already started work taking down my old cornices.

Went to ID's recommended lighting shop to purchase downlights and LED lights; didn't compare any other shops cos downlights designs are pretty standard (we think ) and the recommended shop will liaise directly with ID on delivery; the shop promised to let us change our light bulb colours (eg cool white change to warm white etc) if we don't like the overall effect when the ceiling and lights are up. shop also recommend us to get kdk 56" or 60", but the costs are quite ex. they did not recommend A11YS cos mentioned that the wind 'area' is quite small.

Day 2 - yesterday

Yesterday afternoon, dropped by to see 2 electricians fixing our Lbox wiring.

Last night after coaxing our youngest kid to sleep and leaving him with their grandparents, we dropped by to clean up our bedrooms (cos when i visited in the afternoon, the floor felt moist cos we mopped the floor on Day 1 - cos of the salt melted ah! - but did not leave the windows open to ventilate the room) which took us an hour. Did some vaccumming in the room....hope we did not disturb the neighbours cos it was already after 9pm at night....

Saw the wiring dangling from the point, but all neatly bundled up in tubes; floor are relatively debris-free (still have dust la); saw our L-box materials in the kitchen.

Did some physical measurement cos realised that we did our dimensions wrong on our floor plan (we drew our floor plan on Visio ). also 'showed' my husband how a 60" kdk ceiling fan will look in our living room - it is massive!! considering our room is small. we decide to settle for A11YS and back up a tower fan if A11YS eventually prove to be not as powerful.

[smjas 0]

450mm is the width of the LBox, I am referring to the height of the LBox where this will affect the depth of the PLC light to be mounted.

i was told minimum is 450mm, no max, but I think will look weird if too deep right? Also need to consider if you are having ceiling fan? cove light etc? I think given out flat size (ie if yours is BTO), I believe most of us will just do the minimum.

[jeda 0]

Day 3

After much deliberation, we decided to get kdk A11YS from our lighting supplier cos they are able to provide 'seamless' service with our ID (cos recommended by our ID mah) although i'm sure the price is higher than if we buy from those recommended good-deal shop over at the kdk thread but husband said if want him to take leave to supervise, not worth ah ; so we rather leave everything to our ID to coordinate. we didn't take a separate trip down to the shop to make payment and will pay on the installation date itself which the supplier will confirm with me after liaising with our ID.

Maybe will drop by later to take a look and also ensure that they lock up my place properly - cos yesterday we went there, although they locked the gate, they did not close the main door properly...-__-

Parents bought a wooden 'trolley' for us to put in the kitchen cos we have not enough kitchen top surface; will be good to put my rice cooker and also a make shift side 'coffee table' in case we have guest; not getting a coffee table cos i don't want kids to eat or even drink at the living room near my Calypso!

[jeda 0]

Day 4 - Sunday

We dropped by to our unit in the morning to take a look at the condition of our sanitary accessories and wares. husband bought Autosol and demo to me how we can salvaged some tarnished/rusty wares. while i'm ok with wares like the 'holder' of shower head, i insisted that we need to change the towel rails for hygiene purpose - cannot imagine rust getting onto my towels and body!

Went down to IMM; read that SongCho's 'chicken brand' has good stainless steel product but did not manage to get anything there. Hoe Kee's selection at IMM is wide (compared to the other 2 competitors at IMM), but most of the affordable range are out of stock. We then bought all our accessories at Sim Siang Choon - a glass shelf, 2 towel rails and a toilet paper holder.

Went down to our unit again at night to scribble and paste some notes on my bathrooms wall for my contractor. saw a small lizard lurking outside our bedroom!! -__-

Parents In-Law went to Ikea and bought us 2 additional shelving planks for the existing billy book cases which we will be bringing over.

Edited July 12, 2010 by jeda

[jeda 0]

Day 5 - Mon

No physical work done when we visited with the kids in the evening.

Day 6 - Tue

No physical work done when I visited during lunchtime; saw preparation for painting works though (protection etc). However, when we dropped by during evening time, the first/sealer coat, downlights, showerscreens were all up. Husband is very happy with the choice of lighting level (ie warm/cool white lights) that the lighting people had recommended. However, we noticed a constant humming sound when we switched on the downlights.

Day 7 - Wed

Contacted ID coordinator regarding humming sound.

Dropped by in the evening to leave a note regarding choice of colours for main door and gate. Noticed that the lights still hummed. Noticed that some of the downlights fixtures are not alighed (product problem).

Day 8 - Thurs

Contacted Lighting people to notify them about humming sound and told them to liaise with ID coordinator.

Informed Lighting people to bring down a few sets of the downlights cover to exchange when they come down next monday for fan installation.

Dropped by during lunchtime and found 90% painting completed pending touchups of corners etc.

Day 9 - Fri

Contacted ID coordinator to check if Lighting people had contacted them and to find out about carpentary schedule. He told us that his carpenters going down for first installation in the afternoon. So I arranged to meet him to hand over the sanitary accessories for them to help me fix. Heavy rain late morning and Father in-Law drove me to our new place and Mother in-Law went up to view our unit with me. She remarked that we should salvage and reuse the old day curtains left behind by the seller, cos she said they appeared reusable and in good condition. Luckily they dropped by cos Father in-Law noted that the workers may have installed our shower screen wrong side up (which he is correct!), with the sliding tracks at the bottom instead of on top. Luckily again, husband managed to apply for half day leave so that he could fetch our kids while I contacted and waited for ID coordinator to come down to go through some of our observations. Painting for the whole house is completed and protection in the room were already removed. While waiting for ID to arrive, spend my time vacuuming the storeroom (no thanks to our 'salty rice' mixture ) and 'autosolling' rusty parts of the dishdrainer . By 2pm, carpentry materials arrived.

Tentative handover mid next week! JIT for our first batch of furniture deliver on Saturday. Hurray!

Edited July 16, 2010 by jeda

[jeda 0]

Day 10 - Saturday

Supposed to go Ikea to buy some items, but husband was and called off the trip cos of some of the disappointing stuff we saw when we viewed our unit this morning.

Had just emailed my ID about the screw-up among other things; let's see what can be done.

Many many years ago when I was interning for a project manager, he had warned me about trusting workers; he was absolutely right! I just didn't know that I have to supervise the supervisor as well!

Moral of the story: Things that will go wrong, will go wrong.

[jeda 0]

Day 11 - Sunday

As we are meeting the ID on Monday to go through our concerns, we dropped by on Sunday to do a through check.

We found out another blunder which very fortunately is reversible. Ruin husband's mood totally though.

Cleaners came to wash up the place.

Day 12 - Monday

Fan installers from our lighting people were late; punctuality is our concern cos we need to rush in-between to fetch our kids from school; luckily we had made alternative childminding arrangements earlier. They tuned our lights to get rid of the humming sound too.Adjusted our crooked downlight metal border too. However, while i rummaged through the box which they discarded when they left, i found the instruction manual and a bag of bolts/hook - did not see any exposed safety wire as illustrated in the manual, though the lighting people confirmed (via my phone call) that the safety device is inside the fan.

Went through our concerns with the ID coordinator; very humble guy; not defensive.

ID arrived next; ran through our concerns. As I have yet to see the workmanship of any of their other projects of similar colour scheme, i just have to conclude that my expectations are too high. Husband totally accepted their explanation on how the end product appear the way it is; I learnt a lesson on the downside of choosing a white-themed fitout. Quite surprised though that we as laymen are expected to know technical specs of materials. Am I too much a perfectionist to expect a lot for such a small job?

Had some minor addition to configuration of fitting out work and informed them to replace 2 defective doors.

Despite the hiccups, totally appreciate their effort in working within a tight schedule for us to move in asap.

Will share my pics when this reno journey comes to a close.

[jeda 0]

buying fans now.

what's the diff between 45W and 60W power consumption? higher the better? TIA.