csingeu 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) Renovation Day 2: 1. Approval for main door hacking HDB officer said can do; but contractor will need to resubmit the application. 2. Do shower "drop" instead of shower kerb Contractor said quite impossible to do, if required to stick to HDB's guideline of not more than 500mm increase in floor height, using concrete. Might just stick to shower kerb ba... sigh... 3. Work-in-progress for today: - No new pics, because the workers have torn off the lighting holders to prepare for plastering over the next few days... - All tiles, sand and building materials loaded in the apartment; but 1 last crate (of my shower area tiles) still at level 1. It better still be there tmr. - ugly grilles at balcony still there; contractor said, the workers will bring the "power" cutter tomorrow to remove. - think i saw some materials for the false ceiling and box-up areas too... - signed new quotation for aircon (to include the water tray, underneath the compressor; this is useful for EM owners who have their compressors on top of their balcony. - informed Kong Tai to upgrade my Rinnai burner to the inner flame one; I still prefer that... i think it's more fuel efficient, though wife thinks that it might be difficult for "noob cooks-wanna-be" like us... coz the flame is very hot; food can get "chao-ta" (burnt) very easily... This weekend, likely need to go check out the WC & other sanitary wares le... hmmm... and i need to discuss abt the veneer doors too... and maybe select the laminates for my vanity counters, kitchen cabinets... and i also want to upgrade my sliding-door wardrobe to aluminium + glass ones... hmmm.... wife is going to think i'm wasting money again... hmmm... anyway, progress seems pretty fast... a bit too fast for me eh... hopefully things remain at this pace, but still have gd quality... wife says... we only need to do be more "on" when the tiling and other works start... oh well... Edited April 5, 2011 by csingeu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soichiro 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2011 anyway, progress seems pretty fast... a bit too fast for me eh... hopefully things remain at this pace, but still have gd quality... wife says... we only need to do be more "on" when the tiling and other works start... oh well... Hacking is usually the fastest, no need to hack to perfection mah. The rest really depends on your contractor's coordination skills already. Just make sure they don't rush the tiling, its the one thing that can have the most visible flaws if not done nicely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted April 5, 2011 Hacking is usually the fastest, no need to hack to perfection mah. The rest really depends on your contractor's coordination skills already. Just make sure they don't rush the tiling, its the one thing that can have the most visible flaws if not done nicely. Hacking no need to do slowly, later get complaint. Faster better.... After hacking have to monitor closely liao.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JCase 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 50mm drop down is quite standard? My toilets also have 2 floor traps, 1 in shower and 1 in main area, so issues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallow 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 2. Do shower "drop" instead of shower kerb Contractor said quite impossible to do, if required to stick to HDB's guideline of not more than 500mm increase in floor height, using concrete. Might just stick to shower kerb ba... sigh... 50mm drop down is quite standard? My toilets also have 2 floor traps, 1 in shower and 1 in main area, so issues. i also think 50mm drop quite standard from what i saw in other pple's house. bro maybe you can bring some photos example to show your contractor. if you have already mentioned previously that you wanted a drop-down, there is no reason for him not to do just becos he thinks the job is difficult~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mae29 2 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 2. Do shower "drop" instead of shower kerb Contractor said quite impossible to do, if required to stick to HDB's guideline of not more than 500mm increase in floor height, using concrete. Might just stick to shower kerb ba... sigh... I also did the shower "drop".......wont trip over mah! They hack the floor tiles right? So, the contractor should follow your instructions and the "drop" can be done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mae29 2 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 Sian... My contractor just called. He said the HDB officer says can do the shower drop, but cannot exceed 50mm height. My contractor said quite impossible not to exceed the 50mm as he still needs to connect the 2nd floor trap to the main one. He said even if he applies HDB will not approve. Talking about the floor trap, mine is also located inside the shower area which is a "drop down" area. Don't see any problem why cannot do? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csingeu 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 50mm drop down is quite standard? My toilets also have 2 floor traps, 1 in shower and 1 in main area, so issues. i also think 50mm drop quite standard from what i saw in other pple's house. bro maybe you can bring some photos example to show your contractor. if you have already mentioned previously that you wanted a drop-down, there is no reason for him not to do just becos he thinks the job is difficult~ I also did the shower "drop".......wont trip over mah! They hack the floor tiles right? So, the contractor should follow your instructions and the "drop" can be done. So the "drop" between the shower area and the rest of the bathroom is 50mm? he kept giving me excuses like... 1. water draining from floor trap in shower area might be difficult 2. the shower screen will have "lobang", so the floor tiles would be laid in such a way, the water running for the rest of the bathrooms will have problems I told him not to start work on the bathroom shower area... i'll go down to his office this weekend to discuss... *puke blood* lor... if he just follows my instructions and do it... won't even need to alert HDB officer... if it's my uncle, i think he will just do it... and since he's the tiler... he would know how to do it properly... as in do the "drop" and still achieve the water running... *puke blood* anyway, below, the level 2 bathrooms is my own kitchen la... as long as they do properly, shouldn't have any water leaking issue or wat lor... zzz one leh... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csingeu 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 SIAN... http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/...cument#Bathroom Even HDB website got say how it make to able to achieve the top-up... the limitation of the 50mm floor height, is regarding using of concrete to top-up; apparently, HDB has offered some ways to achieve the top-up without using concrete for the whole area... now... i feel like i'm the contractor lor... wah biang... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soichiro 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 SIAN... http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/...cument#Bathroom Even HDB website got say how it make to able to achieve the top-up... the limitation of the 50mm floor height, is regarding using of concrete to top-up; apparently, HDB has offered some ways to achieve the top-up without using concrete for the whole area... now... i feel like i'm the contractor lor... wah biang... Show to your contractor bah. Remember don't make yourself too pek chek, this is just the start! I also went to get the guidelines and checked with HDB myself before telling contractor to do some stuff. Sometimes they may just give you the answer that gives them easiest work or least trouble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csingeu 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 Show to your contractor bah. Remember don't make yourself too pek chek, this is just the start! I also went to get the guidelines and checked with HDB myself before telling contractor to do some stuff. Sometimes they may just give you the answer that gives them easiest work or least trouble. yes... i'll show the guidelines to him. actually, i think he knows..., but just finding excuses... coz the wash area, i'll need to do a raised platform, so that can install the WC... and i think i saw that he got the extruded polystyrene foam (EPF)... but maybe it's for the WC area. TMD... i'll insist that he does it... and does it in the proper way... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallow 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 yes... i'll show the guidelines to him. actually, i think he knows..., but just finding excuses... coz the wash area, i'll need to do a raised platform, so that can install the WC... and i think i saw that he got the extruded polystyrene foam (EPF)... but maybe it's for the WC area. TMD... i'll insist that he does it... and does it in the proper way... from what you wrote, i also got the impression that he is just giving excuses... hmmmm probably just hope that you are the ignorant type (that dun understand what he talks about) or the chin-chye type (that dun bother to argue with him), so he doesn't need to do whatever needful you gotta be firmed with what you want... and not like only today then he knows that you wanna do drop down rite~! cannot let him makan like that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
friends78 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 yes... i'll show the guidelines to him. actually, i think he knows..., but just finding excuses... coz the wash area, i'll need to do a raised platform, so that can install the WC... and i think i saw that he got the extruded polystyrene foam (EPF)... but maybe it's for the WC area. TMD... i'll insist that he does it... and does it in the proper way... Don't wait liao... Just send him a sms that u want the drop and if no drop, he will redo the flooring at no additional cost. It's better to state it down black and white. Have to act fast since he is going at a fast speed... He might now say: 'aiyah...now want to do also cannot do already cos my tiler already doing the flooring halfway...' Don't pek chek okie? It's part & parcel of life that we will encounter some funny characters along the way. No good for your health.. Just 'counter attack' when it comes... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmgthatsme 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 Rather than just putting him under pressure, it might be useful to discuss with him to try to understand his real reasons: could be that his tiler doesn't have the skill to do this, or no previous experience with this or simply doesn't understand clearly what is involved. No harm in trying to understand his issues IMO, if he is not competent you might be taking a risk to use your place as his first guinea pig trial. If he is just stalling to avoid complexity, then that is of course a different story... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marshmallow 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2011 Rather than just putting him under pressure, it might be useful to discuss with him to try to understand his real reasons: could be that his tiler doesn't have the skill to do this, or no previous experience with this or simply doesn't understand clearly what is involved. No harm in trying to understand his issues IMO, if he is not competent you might be taking a risk to use your place as his first guinea pig trial. If he is just stalling to avoid complexity, then that is of course a different story... or maybe he should at least offer to change to another tiler that is confident in the job. don't tell me he doesn't know a single sub-con/tiler in SG that can do drop down when so many pple on this island are doing it....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
