A 9mths Reno Journey

[jaskel 2]

Been disappear for so long and now I'm back with my own house renovation.

Got the house before the new cooling measures by the gov. kick in so I'm still lucky without having to stay for 5yrs then can sell hse but most likely will be staying for a very very long time cos the reno itself already cost a big bomb.

Happened to get the house during the peak period so had delayed the reno. and concentrate on doing ongoing projects first.

Edited March 4, 2011 by jaskel

[jaskel 2]

The Floorplan.....

Edited March 4, 2011 by jaskel

[jaskel 2]

Hacking and wet works were started in Nov. And by Jan. only left the carpentry works which none of my carpenters able to take in my projects anymore. So have to wait till after CNY then can do the carpentry works.

[jaskel 2]

The theme and concept of the house is tried and error, totally differently from the rest of the house that I've seen or done.

First of all....selection of tiles....

Edited March 4, 2011 by jaskel

[jaskel 2]

The Foyer/Living/Dining/Passageway Tiles;

This is a black and glossy homo. tiles...so the grouting is also in black.

Pros - Nice, dirty also don't know, scratches was so hard to see due to all the veins design.

Cons - A bit expensive than normal homo. tiles. Becos dirt is so hard to see, so is the ants .

Need to polish after completion.

When the tiles first came, it have a protective stickers on it. This is the first time that a hono. tiles have a protective sticker on it to prevent scratches.

Verdict: Worth it. But not common used as black tiles not many like it. Its give other the impression that black tiles will make the area smaller but maybe due to the glossiness( or maybe my area is big), I don't have the feel of it at all. Had solved the problem that grouting is hard to clean over the time when a lot of the house owners had chosen light colour tiles in their living/dining area.

Edited March 4, 2011 by jaskel

[jaskel 2]

Kitchen floor tiles.....

This was a 90 x 60cm floor tiles....very expensive...cost ard $11psf.

Pros - Less grouting, easy to maintain cos it semi-glossy, non slippery, hard.

Cons - Very expensive, unevenness occur at the center part of the tiles for some of them.

Verdict : Comes in 2 different colours (golden and silver). Worth it or not depend on individual due to the cost and unevenness. As I don't really feel the unevenness at all, so I'm still ok with it. Moreover dirty also hard to see and its easy to clean.

Edited March 4, 2011 by jaskel

[May_dream1 14]

Very special!! No wonder you said never been seen before. More pictures please!

[jaskel 2]

Very special!! No wonder you said never been seen before. More pictures please!

Initial wanted a marble flooring (also black in colour from Italy) but the price is 15x more than this tiles. When calculated, got to spend around $20k for the living/dining area alone.

[jaskel 2]

Kitchen Wall tiles

Had used a 60x60cm homo. tiles and mosaic for the wall tiles. Also using 45 deg edge cutting to joint at the right angle.

Pros - Look nicer, less grouting.

Cons - Wastage will be a lot more cos of the 45 deg edge cutting. As it was hand cutting, chipping along the edges do occur sometime.

Verdict : Very individual as some ID/contractors may charge higher if was to do some design for the walls due to more work and planning.

[jaskel 2]

Bedrooms floor tiles

This is a ECOwood homo. tiles 90x15cm, with texture on the surface so a bit different from other wood tiles which either smooth surface or some dimension that is different for those wood flooring.

Pros - Lasting than wood flooring and still give u the look and feel of wood flooring. No worry on wrapping, termite, water, scratches, etc...

Cons - The floor will feel a bit cold for the feet unlike wood flooring. More expensive @ $7.50psf. Unevenness in the center part of the tiles as often occur for bigger and longer pcs of tiles.

Verdict: Good for some area like balcony or foyer area. As bedroom will be cover by quite a no. of furniture, it is worth to spend the amount of money?

[friends78 0]

Hi Jaskel,

Your tiles are very nice indeed! Must have cost a bomb. Do share with us more tips:)

[jaskel 2]

wow u r an expert in tiles...so many niceeee tiles to look at! I wished mine is as nice as yours!

There are actually a lot of more nicer tiles available in Singapore that a lot of the contractor/ID won't bring u there as those are very high end tiles....ever come across a tile 10x75cm cost $75/pc...imagine this is use for a straight line across the bathroom and its will cost ard $500...that the main reason most ppl select tiles from China.

Of course there are ppl willing to pay a premium for tiles u won't see in any part of Singapore. When dealing with this, the price of labour is also high cos every single tile is flow from oversea.

[May_dream1 14]

There are actually a lot of more nicer tiles available in Singapore that a lot of the contractor/ID won't bring u there as those are very high end tiles....ever come across a tile 10x75cm cost $75/pc...imagine this is use for a straight line across the bathroom and its will cost ard $500...that the main reason most ppl select tiles from China.

Of course there are ppl willing to pay a premium for tiles u won't see in any part of Singapore. When dealing with this, the price of labour is also high cos every single tile is flow from oversea.

for normal people, will not buy so expensive tiles lah..... but if staying in bungalows, maybe they will bring you there to choose loh... i think depends on budget too. hehehehe.... even mine also i find a bit too ex already. cannot imagine if its $75 per tile.

[jaskel 2]

Hi Jaskel,

Your tiles are very nice indeed! Must have cost a bomb. Do share with us more tips:)

Thanks for the compliments.

1 advise to share. A common mistake that house owner have overlook is the tile size. they feel that the bigger the tile is, the lesser the grout line(which is true). What they didn't know is the bigger/longest the tile is, the unevenness is more unavoidable in the center part of the tiles. If the contractor/ID doesn't advise it, after completion of the tiles work, they will blame that the workmanship is bad, want to redo,etc...

Actually this is due to the tile itself rather than the workmanship so hope u all will understand and when want to select for bigger tiles size, do factor this in as well. If u can accept the 1-2mm unevenness, u can go for this type of big tiles.

This actually will prevent your relationship with your contractor/ID to become sore in the beginning as you made the choice, they follow it. Their only bad is maybe they didn't advise u on that. But tiles changes every now and then, who knows this advise will be useless over the next few years when technology advanced that the big size tiles are able to manufacture till they are straight.

[jaskel 2]

for normal people, will not buy so expensive tiles lah..... but if staying in bungalows, maybe they will bring you there to choose loh... i think depends on budget too. hehehehe.... even mine also i find a bit too ex already. cannot imagine if its $75 per tile.

Special tiles, special price. U don't see it often. Most of the house owners got their tiles mainly from Hafary, LSH, SBH, etc...which is too common and new tiles new design comes in very slowly. So how to make it special that your hse is different from other hse?