wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2012 So hows the quality? Inclusive of shipping?Yep, inclusive of shipping.. The faucet itself cost USD69 + USD26.80 for shipping, so total around S$120.We haven't installed and tested the faucet yet, but the build quality seems solid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smartgold 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2012 Hi, thanks for the website. Nice.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted October 29, 2012 Electrical WorksNot sure if it's overkill, but we have 23 lighting points in the house. Since we are doing false ceiling almost throughout the house, our ID suggested 9 downlights for the living room, and 4 downlights for each bedroom. For our convenience, he also recommended his electrician to us to give a quote.We had approximately 23 lighting points, 9 single socket outlets, 11 double socket outlets and other misc items. The quote we were given by our ID's electrician was close to $4k before discount!! My wife was very unhappy with it, and asked him for his best price, stating our budget at $3k max. So after some calculations, he gave a 2nd quote of $3.3k. We wanted to add some LED strips (and their appropriate drivers) for our kitchen island and TV console, but that would mean another $100 for the drivers (we had to source for the LED strips ourselves online).Of course, we still felt the price was quite high, and since it was the first quote that we received, we looked for another shop (Zenterra at Jurong East St 24) to check with the pricing. After talking to them, we managed to get a quote of $3k for the same items (Wife asked for a discount of around $100+ to get a round figure of $3k)!! They even threw in their LED strips and drivers for us for free :). We felt that we could perhaps bargain the pricing a little more, but we were satisfied with the quotation, and they also said they would be flexible with the lengths of some wiring work (since they didn't go down to site for a viewing).MK Switches that we chose:We chose this brand because the water heater switch had a "Water Heater" label on it haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted October 29, 2012 Demolition WorksOur demolition works actually started on 8th of Oct, but the workers worked rather slowly because our application to hack the wall between the kitchen and study room was rejected by HDB, citing fire safety issues. We were so worried about this matter, and kept calling the HDB officer in charge. Luckily he was very friendly (although a bit slow haha), and gave us suggestions on what to do when reapplying the application for appeal. On the floor plan, we were advised to change the name of the "study room" to "living and dining room", so as to give an impression that the occurrence of a fire hazard would be less impactful Not sure how it works also haha . Nonetheless, we managed to get the go-ahead 1.5 weeks later! Slightly sad because it slowed down our renovation works.Hacking of a doorway opening between masterbedroom and adjacent bedroom:We told our ID to hack all the way to the edge of the wall where the windows are.Removal of the doorframes meant that our marble floors had to be hacked too!We were unaware (our ID was caught unaware too!) that the doorframes had to be removed. This cause our floor to be damaged... Because it's difficult to find back the same type of broken marble, we asked our ID to try to savage the marble from the study room when it is being hacked, to be used to fill up the gaps in the doorways. Saved us some money too Sad thing is that joint lines can be seen Opening up of the windows in the kitchen!We wanted to make a bigger opening for the windows facing the service yard from the kitchen. The previous ones were quite small and made the kitchen look dark and stuffy. Hopefully this would make our kitchen more bright and airy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
star70 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2012 Hello! our layout is a mirror image. I do love the island concept too...but since i got so many staying with me (my parents, maid, children and dog!) thus 4 rooms will have to remain and island idea dropped. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2012 Hello! our layout is a mirror image. I do love the island concept too...but since i got so many staying with me (my parents, maid, children and dog!) thus 4 rooms will have to remain and island idea dropped. We only have 2 of us staying + 1 dog, so we have extra space.. sometimes we don't even know what to do with the spare bedroom Hope we didn't overestimate ourselves by getting a 5rm HDB.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
star70 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) We only have 2 of us staying + 1 dog, so we have extra space.. sometimes we don't even know what to do with the spare bedroom Hope we didn't overestimate ourselves by getting a 5rm HDB..but good to know that have someone also doing same reno with layout same as ours, at least can give some pointers. Mine is mid floor, i also find the ceiling very low, plus we are doing false ceiling, make it even lower.For my service balcony, we hack down the walls to extend the kitchen area, and thus the service balcony area smaller. Edited October 30, 2012 by star70 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted October 31, 2012 Pebbles WashOur ID asked the contractor to make a mini model of the 2 different types of pebbles wash to show us.Using glue as binderUsing cement as binderAppears that using glue looks (and feels) better than using cement!! Looks more natural and less "HDB park-style" haha. Not sure what are the disadvantages of using glue though. The contractor said that both are equally durable, just that it might be harder to clean the one using glue since small particles or dirt can fall between the gaps. Also, we are a little afraid that our dog might try to scratch out the pebbles and eat them (he's called Pebbles for a reason )... But we are still going to take a risk for aesthetics haha!Anyway, we initially wanted to do the pebbles wash for the skirtings in the service yard and balcony as well, but it seems that it's very difficult to do so using the glue as binder (might be possible with cement though), so we are just going to use a white tile (same floor tile as the kitchen) for the skirtings instead. Looks ok for now, but since the pebbles wash is not yet installed, we will post the finished picture at a later time Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted November 2, 2012 Went to Gain City Expo today and bought 2 items!LG55LM6200Price: $1961, inclusive of 3 years extended warrenty (for a total of 5 years)Freebies: 4 pairs of 3D glasses, HDMI cable, wifi dongle, wall mount+installation!EF Built-In Oven BOAE62APrice: $430, inclusive of 4 years extended warrenty (for a total of 5 years)Currently quite happy with the prices... but not sure if the prices will drop since we are only going to move in 1 month later in Dec Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plastic3 0 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 Thanks for the vote of confidence haha... Initially we were unsure of how to renovate our house, so we decided to just design it around our dog Will update my t-blog whenever possible!your dog looks familiar....very....this site may interest you:http://www.moderncat.netfor cats...but some ideas can apply to dogs as well Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 Congrats!! I also heard zenterra pricing are quite good. Extra room can be guest room or in the future can rent it out. Currently I am at street 92, very near to ntu too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 your dog looks familiar....very....this site may interest you:http://www.moderncat.netfor cats...but some ideas can apply to dogs as well Hi Mark! How are you haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wahlauhaha 0 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 Congrats!! I also heard zenterra pricing are quite good. Extra room can be guest room or in the future can rent it out. Currently I am at street 92, very near to ntu too.Hi Maydream,Thanks! I went into your tblog before, and it's really nice! Really hope that our finished product can be half as nice haha... progress is rather slow at the moment, but hope it will start to speed up soon..PS: Staying near NTU is good! We always to go NTU for dinner.. the food there is cheaper compared to outside, and their macdonalds meal is only $3.60 for doublecheese evm haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 Hi Maydream,Thanks! I went into your tblog before, and it's really nice! Really hope that our finished product can be half as nice haha... progress is rather slow at the moment, but hope it will start to speed up soon..PS: Staying near NTU is good! We always to go NTU for dinner.. the food there is cheaper compared to outside, and their macdonalds meal is only $3.60 for doublecheese evm haha Ya I heard that too but never been inside ntu before. Your place will be superb too.... Pebbles wash is really nice... So envious that your flat big enough for walkway with pebbles wash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plastic3 0 Report post Posted November 4, 2012 Hi Mark! How are you hahaHaha....glad to see your reno in progress, look forward to see your new home! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
