diy Top @Kew Drive

[Ks Toh 74]

Hi kstoh,

Thanks for sharing your home and reno. Enjoyed reading it ! I must say you have good taste and colour co-ordination.... a really nice house.

I accept your compliments for the first part on sharing. On the taste and colour, I must confess they came from the wife. According to her, I have no taste and colour sense at all. Everything I buy (which I will share shortly) is based on practicality only.

[Ks Toh 74]

My helper returned from her 3 weeks home leave and started ironing.

She must have hung a lot of shirts on the Ikea Mulig Clothes Bar that the whole thing came off from the wall. I think my first case of DIY installation failure.

I think I used too small a screw. I used 1 1/2 inch screw with 5 mm wall plug. Went to the hardware shop this morning and bought all kinds of wall plugs and screws. Decided to use 2 1/2 inch screw with 8 mm wall plug instead.

[Ks Toh 74]

After fixing the Clothes Bar, I used Wall Putty to seal up the holes. I will paint over later. This time I hope it stays!

This is my laundry area. The stainless steel table over the washer and dryer is a Udden console from Ikea. Fits perfectly.

The iron and ironing board holder I think I bought from Howard's.

Edited January 12, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

I am using an Electrolux 7 kg washer and Electrolux 7 kg dryer. Both are inexpensive and good. No complaints. For the dryer, one notable feature is that it can reverse tumble. My helper says it is good, forgot why it is so.

If you have space, buying a separate washer and dryer is better. When you have a heavy load, you can start drying your first load while washing your second load. Otherwise, you have to wait for the first load to dry before you can start to wash your second load. In a combination washer/dryer, sometimes I see the wash load as 7 kg but drying load as 5 kg, so I wonder what you do with the 2 kg?

If you don't have space, stacking the dryer on top of the washer is a good idea. But best is if you can wall mount the dryer such that you create a space in between, to put your laundry basket etc. For those who are not aware, when you wall mount the dryer, the dryer is mounted upside down! That is why for the dryer, either the face-plate can be inverted or you are supplied with an inverse face plate.

Edited January 12, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

Nurseries at Jalan Lekar (Lim Chu Kang)

For some time, we had been thinking of planting a frangipani tree. We looked at many nurseries but the best collection is still at Pioneer Landscape located at 80 Jalan Lekar in Lim Chu Kang.

Side track a little, further down the road at No. 71 is Qian Hu Fish Farm where you can find lots of aquarium fishes and Kenny Yap's press articles. If you are hungry, you can eat something at Qian Hu cafe while viewing some recorded TV interviews involving Kenny Yap. You can catch a free Bus Plus service from Choa Chu Kang bus interchange to QIan Hu. Even further down at No. 45 Jalan Lekar is Nippon Koi, where they sell expensive Japanese koi.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Ks Toh

[Ks Toh 74]

Pioneer Landscape is a relatively big nursery. They have all kinds of equipment including an excavator. To see the frangipani trees, we were brought around in a golf buggy.

Edited January 12, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

Frangipani Tree

After viewing a number of trees, we settled on the one we liked. That was yesterday.

This morning, the tree was transported to my place by lorry.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Ks Toh

[Ks Toh 74]

The workers dug out the existing ceiling wax palm. To our horror, the main incoming water pipe was right in the centre of the intended planting location.

No choice. We shaved off parts of the root and squeezed the tree in between the pipe and the concrete. Hope my water pipe does not burst one day! The frangipani tree was lifted by crane into position. It is currently being propped up and restrained by ropes.

The winds at my place can be very strong at times. I hope the tree stays upright!

[Ks Toh 74]

Network Cabling Part 1

Even though on the first page of my post, I had strongly recommended that everyone should lay network points to every room, I have yet to explain my reasons for saying so. It was only when I read the spirited discussion on mavicaste's blog that I realised that this is something many people overlook. Many of us pay attention only to the floors, walls and furnishings.

IDs and contractors generally are aware of network cabling but many of them do not bother to advise on this because it can be troublesome, or it might inflate the cost. I have done structured network cabling for both my previous and present place, and this is my experience. To make this easy to read, I will simplify things.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Ks Toh

[Ks Toh 74]

Do I really need Structured Network Cabling?

If you are doing renovations now, you should do it or you will regret later.

What is Structured Network Cabling?

Basically, this means laying computer cables to every room, ending with a faceplate like this in one of my rooms:

This is very common in offices, where you can plug your desktop PC into the faceplate and be connected to the office network. In the faceplate shown above, the network point (RJ47) is on the right while the telephone point (RJ11) is on the left.

Why would I need Structured Network Cabling at home when I can use WiFi to access the internet?

While internet access is the most common use, structured network cabling serves many other present and future purposes. Under Singapore's Next Generation NBN (Nationwide Broadband Network), not just internet data but voice, video, TV, gaming, education, health and all kinds of services will be delivered via the NBN. Many of these services cannot be carried via WiFi.

For example, your fibre broadband connection reaches your hall. If you want Mio TV in your room, it is not possible unless you had laid structured network cabling from your hall to your room. In the future, if you need video conferencing in your bedroom for medical video-conferencing or your child needs to have a video lesson with his teacher from the study, it will not be possible.

Edited January 13, 2014 by kstoh

[Songz 132]

I remember there is this LAN port which is plug into normal socket plug in the house for use

[Ks Toh 74]

I remember there is this LAN port which is plug into normal socket plug in the house for use

Are you referring to Power Line technology such as the Aztech HomePlug?

This is an alternative to WiFi if you are unable to lay structured cabling. You plug the first device into a power socket near your Residential Gateway (modem from your ISP) and the second and subsequent devices into other sockets in other rooms. The device will use your power line as the network cable.

Experiences vary. My experience has not been good for the following reasons:-

1. All the powerline devices must be on the same electrical circuit for this system to work

2. Connection is unstable and easily terminated due to interference from other electrical devices

3. Speed is not fast

4. You need to leave all the devices switched on, consuming electricity 24 x 7

Considering the above, it might be far better to just lay the structured network cabling one time if you can do so.

Edited January 13, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

If I only need Internet Access, can I just rely on WiFi?

Yes you can. But note that WiFi has limitations. Even in a small flat, sometimes the wifi connection is lost once you turn a corner. It can be due to many reasons: solid wall, interference from other WiFi networks etc.

If you use a single WiFi router, it is commonly located in the hall. Quite often, the connection is bad in the room furthest away. If you had laid structured cabling to that room, you can put another WiFi router in that room (in bridge mode) to extend your WiFi coverage.

When you lose your WiFi connection, your phone will automatically switch to 3G/4G connection. With the data cap in place by many telcos these days, the last thing you want is to burst your data cap and be charged for excess data usage. Often we do not realise the huge amount of data we consume these days. You will easily cross 2GB within a month if you do not have WiFi.

If you are a hard core gamer, relying on WiFi to play your game is out of the question. It is simply not fast enough.

What other devices can possibly require internet connection?

You will be surprised at the number of equipment that presently require internet access. Smart TVs, sound bars, printers, scanners, internet cameras now all require internet connection. Although many of them can work with a WiFi connection, this is often unreliable. To fully utilise their functions, you need a wired connection and this is only possible if you had laid structured network cabling to the location where the devices are situated.

In the not too distant future, if it has not happened already, your refrigerator, oven, washing machine etc will probably have a network connection too. To view recipes from the internet etc.

Imagine buying the latest Samsung Smart TV from Best Denki only to find that you cannot use most of the features because you have no internet connection to the TV! This is my Philips TV playing from Youtube via a wired internet connection.

I don't need Internet at all

Even if you don't need network cabling at all, may I suggest that you still do it as it enhances the value of your property. In the future, when you want to sell your property, I am 100% confident that your network ready property will be far more saleable. That happened to my previous property. Many buyers were impressed by the fact that I had laid network points to every room including my helper's room! I am sure the increase in value will be many times the amount you spent laying the cables.

So, even if you absolutely do not need fibre broadband and network points in your rooms, be sure to make use of the opportunity during renovations to do the following:-

- Get your house OpenNet ready. Make sure fibre cabling is done up to TP (see below)

- Lay structured network cabling from the TP area to all your rooms.

You may not need it. But how about your kids in the future, your tenant, or the new buyer of your property?

Edited January 13, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

Ok, where do I lay all the structured network cables?

This is the most important decision which you yourself have to make. Don't rely on the ID or contractor.

All the network cables ending in the rooms must emanate from a single central location where your router/switch will be located. Typically this is in the hall near the TV/SCV point, the utility room or your study room. This is the starting point from where all the services will be distributed throughout your home.

If you are using OpenNet, the Termination Point (TP) should be installed here. This what the TP looks like.

This TP would have been installed by OpenNet contractors when they were doing the free installation in the past few years. If you had missed the opportunity, you would have to pay now. I had to pay for mine. Having this TP simply means you are OpenNet ready. You need to sign up with any ISP to get a fibre broadband connection. You need only one TP per property.

The fibre connection is only up to the TP. From here, you use structured network cabling to your rooms.

Edited May 29, 2014 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

How do I conceal the fibre cabling to the TP?

Your contractor can lay concealed trunking from the telecom riser outside your property all the way to your desired TP location, then put a string or wire inside. When the OpenNet contractor comes, he will just use the string or wire to pull the fibre cable into your house. This is a standard procedure which your contractor must know. If he does not know, then I don't know what to say.

I read in one of the blogs here that in some recent HDB flats, this wire is pre-laid. Please check if yours is one of these. It seems that some contractor are not aware of this at all and they hacked and laid ugly surface trunking when it was totally unnecessary. Read here.

In very new condos and HDB flats, I am sure they would now have come pre-installed with OpenNet TP and structured network cabling to all the rooms. This is now the iDA requirement.

Edited January 13, 2014 by kstoh