A Meeting Of East And West In Tampines.

[RimBlock 0]

Well my drill did the job and I have managed to begin running the cables.

I will be concentrating on cables and finishing the trunking today with possibly a little bit more tomorrow.

If anyone want to come down for a look then they need to give me an sms on "9 three six 2 zero 8 7 seven".

I will probably be there quite late as most of the drilling and hammering will be done during the day so I can do the connections in the evening without disturbing my neighbors.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Well this is it.

Time for a decent update. And that means lots of photos .

The repositioned Aircon compressor.

The Laminate flooring being installed (2 days but got complains from downstairs as the workers worked until midnight on the first day without my or my ID's knowledge).

The flooring upstairs is a darker colour

[RimBlock 0]

Time to run some network cables

Into the kitchen

Along the wall

Across the door

Into the living room (there are also 2 speaker cables and a HDMI cable there).

[JCase 0]

Taking shape and looks really good.

I'm worried abt how much my reno costs will come up to. I have 3 toilets as well so the sanitary costs is going to be a killer.

[RimBlock 0]

Trunking in the living room for all those cables.

With the cables put in trunking, I was not so happy with the finish (a few big gaps etc) - You may have to click the image to zoom...

So I cut and put in a couple of black pieces and used some filler to give this...

The smaller size study room fan installed (all the network cables route to the study).

One of the speaker cables and the HDMI cable for the projector.

[RimBlock 0]

Taking shape and looks really good.

I'm worried abt how much my reno costs will come up to. I have 3 toilets as well so the sanitary costs is going to be a killer.

Thanks JCase,

Ours came in at around S$3K (including the kitchen hood for cooker but not oven or hob). We did not choose particularly expansive items at all with the rain showers coming in at S$650 or so and the toilets at S$200 each. It all soon adds up.

RB

[JCase 0]

Thanks JCase,

Ours came in at around S$3K (including the kitchen hood for cooker but not oven or hob). We did not choose particularly expansive items at all with the rain showers coming in at S$650 or so and the toilets at S$200 each. It all soon adds up.

RB

I think I was taken for a ride when I did my reno for our current flat. 2 toilets but kitchen. Sanitary wares for toilets plus hob & hood and taps for the kitchen came up to 4K after discount.

Idid not have any rainshowers but we bought Hansgrohe shower set and mixers for both toilets. If I recall i think the expensive items at the end were the toilket bowls - Johnson Suisse (not recommended) and the accessories with were all stainless steel.

I better do my homework better this time.

[RimBlock 0]

And then there was projector.

This really was a bonus as the bracket would not hang the projector flat and level so I complained to the shop. One of the guys came round and installed it for me (for S$80 rather than the usual S$350+) as a show of good will. For this level of service I can only recommend KEC notably Clarence and a very special thanks to the guy who came to install whos name I did not get.

I then installed the wall mount for our living room TV and you can see the projector screen hung above.

Items still outstanding;

The kitchen cabinets (should be finished tonight)

Kitchen granite top

Plumbing of sinks (kitchen and two upstairs toilets)

Proper cleaning of the master bedroom toilet as there is some paint and plaster on the wall tiles.

Hanging of the pendant light in the stairwell (see below).

Glass wall for study room and shower screens.

Touch up plaster for ceiling of blue bedroom.

Light for the green bedroom (nned to buy).

The town council came and drilled the ceiling as a temp fix to stop the leak to our blue bedroom. This seems to have worked but the patching plaster is terrible. Henry will be arranging for it to be smoothed over so it will become invisible.

We seem to have had a communication error with the lighting people and they failed to turn up when the electricians were there to deliver the lights and fix the fans. The reno electricians were going to fix the other lights but could not as they didn't arrive. We finally got them delivered on Friday but after fixing the fans we were told they could not do the fixing of the pendant light in our stairwell. We had a 'discussion' and after a phone call they quoted us around S$260 to fix the pendant light as they would have to hire scaffolding to do so. We are considering. Anyone else have any good contacts for fixing a pendant light around 5+ meters off the ground .

Here is what it looks like now (more pics of the rooms with my decent camera later when I take them).

RB

Edited January 24, 2011 by RimBlock

[RimBlock 0]

I think I was taken for a ride when I did my reno for our current flat. 2 toilets but kitchen. Sanitary wares for toilets plus hob & hood and taps for the kitchen came up to 4K after discount.

Idid not have any rainshowers but we bought Hansgrohe shower set and mixers for both toilets. If I recall i think the expensive items at the end were the toilket bowls - Johnson Suisse (not recommended) and the accessories with were all stainless steel.

I better do my homework better this time.

Ovens are quite pricey even in the set with a hob and extractor. As mentioned we only needed the extractor as we have taken our oven and hob (agreed with buyer when they bought as they would just throw them away).

We bought Sims toilets and they are one flush wonders .

Sinks (pictured in a previous post) were just over S$200 each, taps added around S$160 each. We mainly went for Sims stuff as it is reasonably cheap and we have good experience with it.

Yep our accessories added quite a bit to the cost as well.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Oh, almost forgot.....

It is my youngest 3rd Birthday today. He got ice cream cake last night and he was very happy......

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Oh, and oh number 2.......

For any other English people out there..... when life is getting a bit too stressful ........

RB

[May_dream1 14]

I think I was taken for a ride when I did my reno for our current flat. 2 toilets but kitchen. Sanitary wares for toilets plus hob & hood and taps for the kitchen came up to 4K after discount.

Idid not have any rainshowers but we bought Hansgrohe shower set and mixers for both toilets. If I recall i think the expensive items at the end were the toilket bowls - Johnson Suisse (not recommended) and the accessories with were all stainless steel.

I better do my homework better this time.

$4k for 2 toilets and kitchen is quite good especially you have hansgrohe shower set. Mine with hob and hood already $3k and no hansgrohe

[csingeu 0]

Hey RimBlock!

Will you be around during CNY period?

Can I go and visit you?

I'll bring along some mandarin oranges and CNY goodies.

[RimBlock 0]

Hey RimBlock!

Will you be around during CNY period?

Can I go and visit you?

I'll bring along some mandarin oranges and CNY goodies.

Will be around in between the reunion dinner at my MiLs and other visits but I suspect we will not be seeing many relatives as my wife is around half way through her pregnancy.

The place is pretty much full of boxes at the moment though and there are a couple of issues which should be sorted out, I hope, by the end of the week (see next post).

RB

[RimBlock 0]

So where do we stand now with the reno progress.

The carpenters were meant to be back on Monday to finish the kitchen but apparently have transport issues and so they should hopefully be finishing up today. This is a big issue as a fair few boxes we would like to unpack are for kitchen things.

The class wall and door do not fit correctly as the walls and ceiling are not straight. The sides of the glass where they touch the wall have a big gap half way up and the ceiling on the left side pushes down a bit in one place which stops the left side door moving. The glass wall and doors look great but they are not frosted which was specified to add privacy in the study when I am working. The doors also have no locks. The shower glass is done although the master bedroom toilet one needs to dry and then be touched up before we can use it.

The curtains are now up and look great. The projector is getting a work out every night. I am loving the 100" screen and HD blurays.

I still have to find somewhere that sells the black and red speaker cable I bought in Homefix as I need another 25 meters to finish of my centre and rear speaker cabling on the right side of the living room (left side is done but Homefix in Tampines ran out of cable).....

And the worst of all....... the network connections are not working. My bag with my cable tester disappeared (small backpack without anything else in it) and I am guessing it was picked up by one of the workers clearing away by mistake. I finally got another one (they are only a few dollars) I could test the cables and found pair 3&4 were not connected in the plugs properly. Redid all the jacks in the face plates and still the same, used new jacks and still the same, attacked rj45 plugs to verify the cable and all was fine, cut off and redid the jacks again (sockets) and same problem returned. For the time being I have attached rj45 plugs to each end of one cable and am using a switch in the living room. I am guessing the jacks are not rated for this cable although both are 3M. My BiL is going to confirm with the supplier to see if they can get the cable and jacks working together and if so then how.

My server is still causing issues starting so I will be getting a now home area drive as there are reports of older Samsung drives causing problems with a motherboards IRQ assignments and the drive light comes and stays on during the machines failure to start. I will also probably get a better PSU as that could also be contributing. Off to Sim Lim this lunchtime.

We are not so happy with the main colour of our bedroom wall. The original was cherry blossom which was a medium pink but we changed to a lighter colour which when on the wall looks much more lilac. This doesn't go so well with the burgundy and black behind the beds headboard. Not sure what we can do about this now.

I will be at home tomorrow to supervise the rest of the plumbing, the solid tops for the bathroom vanitys, and some electrical works.

Friday we should have the new gate, front door and bedroom doors delivered. Henry had the door frames painted in a light yellow to match the core colour of the apartment common areas as my wife and MiL could not decide on what colour the doors they purchased together were . That is the last time I let them buy without me being there .

We still have to find someone to hang the pendant light.

So much to do and very little time after work....

RB