A Canvas To Our Imagination: Thoreau

[Songz 132]

For the iron gates I think you will mostly get reply next week as to my knowledge a lot of these hardware suppliers tends to have longer holiday (esp those with Malaysian workers)

Hope this help

[inthechouse 8]

For the iron gates I think you will mostly get reply next week as to my knowledge a lot of these hardware suppliers tends to have longer holiday (esp those with Malaysian workers)

Hope this help

Thanks, Songz. You're right. Even the PD/Swingslide Door offices are not fully functional too.

[inthechouse 8]

Thoughts:

- There seems to be some businesses which are not very keen on doing business. It's like you have to "beg" them for their time and interest. At the end of the day, it could be worthwhile paying a lil extra for good/better service. If you can afford the difference, I say skip the dodgy and/or uninterested vendors, and give your business to whomever with the most enthusiasm and respect-cum-courtesy. #justsayin

[Songz 132]

Thoughts:

- There seems to be some businesses which are not very keen on doing business. It's like you have to "beg" them for their time and interest. At the end of the day, it could be worthwhile paying a lil extra for good/better service. If you can afford the difference, I say skip the dodgy and/or uninterested vendors, and give your business to whomever with the most enthusiasm and respect-cum-courtesy. #justsayin

Yap.

I will rather pay a little more for good service and worksmanship

Esp. during CNY period, a lot of these vendors hang up and sell as they feel they have enough business.

[mellenur 11]

have you considered going to Lamitak factory itself? maybe easier to decide when you see the big piece?

next to Lamitak at Sungei Kadut is Admira where a lot of renotalks get Ogon Oak from. Admira woody laminates look very real. I like!

re Legrand, did you notice that some switches are quite loose, like so easy to toggle on off like that? i don't have the same problem with legrand in my current house.

re aircon, thanks for the heads up. i better go home and check mine too as AC was just installed few days ago.

re laundry pole - please can share your contact if you get a good one?

Happy Lunar New Year!

- Still mulling over the laminates. Lamitak has too many nice options. It's so hard to pick 2!

- Some of the Legrand power points were not fixed properly (cover out of place). Shoddy.

- Wanted to switch the aircon on for a bit just to see what happens. True enough, after approximately 30 mins @ 23 deg, one unit started to leak like no tomorrow. The source of the leak: Where the trunking meets the unit. Called Gain City and fixed an appointment this weekend. I hope they don't have to pry open the trunking whatsoever, because Alan has got part of it neatly boxed up.

Others:

- Getting a 5-pole laundry rack that can be lowered. Supplier TBC.

[mellenur 11]

oops sorry missed one comment. i'm quite heartened when i see you say the target completion date for carpentry: Feb 20-22. because our timelines quite similar and i have to move from my current house on 22 Feb! Time to chummy up my contractor and put everything in overdrive mode! I'm meeting him tonight to discuss the chosen design and laminate - hope I'm not too late. I don't have any 3D or drawings, only an avid imagination to get me by!

Update:

- Kitchen cabinet base issue sorted. Apparently it's meant to be like that.

- Alan showed up voluntary during my first meeting with the carpenter (Ah Gui). The latter - a somewhat mild-mannered gentleman - said he would work on my cabinets the first thing after the CNY break. Target completion date for carpentry: Feb 20-22.

- Chemical wash took place over the weekend.

Here are some pix:

Kitchen pipes (to be boxed up). Spotted some mess in the ceiling and told Alan about it.

This is the bracket of the bathroom pipe. Asked Alan if the stuff in white is plaster. He said yes. I asked if it can be removed. Still awaiting reply.

[inthechouse 8]

Hi mellenur! Well, we'd love to visit the Lamitak factory but we don't drive, so it's pretty tough getting to Sungei Kadut from where we are (the Northeast). Sigh. But wow, just took a look at Admira's website and boy does Ogon Oak look good! Shall ask Alan if he has the catalogue. Thanks!

Regarding Legrand, yes it seems really easy to toggle on and off - and I like that! But it's really unacceptable that they misaligned the cover and the box...

Will be meeting one more laundry rack supplier tomorrow before making a decision. Will PM you thereafter.

As for my targeted completion date for carpentry, that's just us being optimistic. Might be a good idea to factor in hiccups and delays. But we really don't have time! We have to move in by end of the month, or it's off to Changi Beach with a tent in tow.

[Songz 132]

I like the lights in the living room ...

[inthechouse 8]

Thanks, Songz. Those are our dining lights - from Ikea.

Btw, see the gaps between the electrical cable trunking and the wall? Does anyone know if it's possible to have the gaps sealed up by whatever? Just wanna arm ourselves with some knowledge before speaking to Alan about it. This is something we've learnt that we must do.

[saintinity 0]

Thanks, Songz. Those are our dining lights - from Ikea.

Btw, see the gaps between the electrical cable trunking and the wall? Does anyone know if it's possible to have the gaps sealed up by whatever? Just wanna arm ourselves with some knowledge before speaking to Alan about it. This is something we've learnt that we must do.

is the wall uneven? why is there a gap between the trunking and the wall? Usually these are touched up using white silicon gel.

[inthechouse 8]

is the wall uneven? why is there a gap between the trunking and the wall? Usually these are touched up using white silicon gel.

Hi saintinity, it could very well be. Thanks for the info. I will request for it.

[retchlow 7]

there will be gaps but they are suppose to touch it up. but i'm not sure what's the right method to conceal them though. but i do remember them using plaster or paint.

here's mine

[Songz 132]

there will be gaps but they are suppose to touch it up. but i'm not sure what's the right method to conceal them though. but i do remember them using plaster or paint.

here's mine

If plaster they shoud have done it before painting

For this case I think silicon fill up is the solution (White kind since wall is that color)

[retchlow 7]

hmm on closer look, yup, you are probably right.

so yeah, there aren't supposed to be any gaps as you wouldn't want anything slithering into those gaps. LOL

Edited February 7, 2014 by retchlow

[inthechouse 8]

Thanks. Will ask Alan to do it later on.

The painters came by today and we were all surprised to see one another there. I wasn't expecting them, and they weren't expecting us to be sittin' there all day watching them repaint the walls. I think Alan asked them to come because I told him about the visible pencil markings and about the dark-coloured wall peeling off easily. Well, we were there to receive several deliveries.

The painters (I'm guessing they are Bangladeshis) came with their Chinese supervisor - a youngish Chinese chap who seemed nice the first time I met him, but turned nasty today when I told him about the shoddy paint work in certain areas. And of course, Alan wasn't there to diffuse anything so it was basically us against the Ah Beng.

I'm not keen on arguing with him as it reqiuires too much effort. After he left, we had a better time discussing things with the Bangladeshis, who were somewhat defensive too, though never rude. They all simply blamed us for having stuck a small piece of non-sticky (lousy) masking tape on the wall, while to us, we didn't see how doing that would make THREE layers of paint (as they claimed to have painted) peel off all at once. If we hadn't had done that, we wouldn't have known how crappy the paint was. It was supposed to be Dulux's new colour of the year?? A relative suggested that they may have diluted the paint, but whatever.

Then came the issue of the fugly skirting all round. The painters blamed the tiling team for uneven cement, but upon uber close inspection, some of the protruding bumps were coagulated paint blobs too. So it's not 100% a cement issue, although I must say, as I have said before, that the tiling team did a crappy job with the skirting all round.

After some negotiation, the painters were willing to scrape off some of the blobs and repaint the skirting. But because there was so much to do, we all got down on all fours and did it ourselves. EVERYBODY was scraping. And when they repainted the skirting, I wish they had used a thinner brush, because the fat brush had accumulated so much paint it resulted in blobs appearing all over again.

Btw, the storeroom walls are patchy. Don't think they could do much abt it coz it requires plastering. Whoever who whacked around the wall in order to change the water pipes did not plaster it back properly. And when the painters first came to paint the walls, they just happily painted over the uneven patches. Great.

Then the painters left and said they will be coming down just "1 last time" to touch up. Sorry, bros, I think you may need to come back more than once.

Pix to come.

P.S: Some friends here have posted about Alan's workers not painting the top of the doors. I asked them to do so today and they said it's a hollow door so if you paint the top, the paint will seep in and cause the door to die or whatever the heck he was saying.

Edited February 8, 2014 by inthechouse