Our 5 Room Reno Journey - Scandinavian With A Light Touch Of Industrial

[dandelion1976 5]

Kitchen (work in progress)

[dandelion1976 5]

City Gas installation on 23 Apr. The technician came and get everything installed in about 40 minutes My ID drew on the wall so the technician know where to install the gas heater and how to run the pipings.

Edited May 2, 2014 by dandelion1976

[KiaMingTan 0]

Hi dandelion1976,

Great to see your renovation has started.

Just curious how did you discover they used inappropriate material? This is first time I heard about it.

Reno officially started on the 21 Apr 2014, my ID was quick to arrange the electrician and tiller to come in while HDB sub-contractor still taking their own sweet time to hack away cement screed done using inappropriate material (apparently HDB specified that sub-contractor must used Pre-packed material to do cement floor rendering and some sub-con try to cut corner by using Sands + Portland Cement).

Here're some progress photos:

Electrician at work

Living room, note the hacked floor

[dandelion1976 5]

Hi dandelion1976,

Great to see your renovation has started.

Just curious how did you discover they used inappropriate material? This is first time I heard about it.

Hi KIaMing, there's a very active Facebook group for my neighbourhood and we have a very responsible HDB officer overseeing the cement screeding work.

HDB requirement is for subcontractor to use pre-packed material to do floor rendering and apparently it's not uncommon for sub-contractor to use sands + portland cement to make more $$ out of it.

The sub-contractor in my area also called up many residents requesting for additional payment of $$ to him claiming that our floor level is way beyond the 40mm that HDB would do for us. Quite a big huh hah and HDB officers are involved after residents filed complaint and email them photos where sand was seen being hauled to their unit for floor rendering. Main contractor was called in to top up unit with low floor level, after which sub-con will do up the floor rendering up to 40mm as per HDB spec.

At the end the sub-contractor was ordered to hack all units where inappropriate material was used, and also to hack and redo a few units with extremely poor floor rendering workmanship.

[KiaMingTan 0]

Thanks dandelion1976 for the information!!

[sknewhouse 0]

Hi all, I'm from anchorvale isles too...collecting keys in June. Why is that I can't seem to view any of the images above?

[4ddd 18]

Same lousy layout as you with no chance of open kitchen concept ...

Seems the planner realise and came out with new floor plan of open kitchen for the latest BTO. Argh..

Lookin forward to see the rest of your Reno progress.

[nasnas 0]

Hello dandelion1976...just wondering if you can share with me (pm) your reno quote? Thanksssss...

[dandelion1976 5]

It's been a long while since I last update my t-blog, and without knowing it, my reno has almost come to the tail end of it. Carpenters are working on the installation of cabinets etc and I reckon if I don't update my t-blog now, I may never do it again...

So here is one post dedicated to my journey of laying structured cat-6 cable before cement screeding was re-done (long story).

8 cables to TV console and another 8 to my study area.

Still work-in-progress and I am still figuring out how to fix up things like patch panel, terminating cat 6 point etc.

Here's the cable that I use... Belden, got it from Sim Lim Tower Lvl 2 for $200 (1000 ft), not bad a price for Belden

Before Cement Screeding

What would I do differently if I can redo?

Perhaps I should use PVC water pipes (white colour) instead of the conduit for electrical work (black colour) for better sealing, as T-joints etc for the black electrical conduit is not water sealed.

Edited May 28, 2014 by dandelion1976

[eelnaes 6]

It's been a long while since I last update my t-blog, and without knowing it, my reno has almost come to the tail end of it. Carpenters are working on the installation of cabinets etc and I reckon if I don't update my t-blog now, I may never do it again...

So here is one post dedicated to my journey of laying structured cat-6 cable before cement screeding was re-done (long story).

8 cables to TV console and another 8 to my study area.

Still work-in-progress and I am still figuring out how to fix up things like patch panel, terminating cat 6 point etc.

Here's the cable that I use... Belden, got it from Sim Lim Tower Lvl 2 for $200 (1000 ft), not bad a price for Belden

Before Cement Screeding

What would I do differently if I can redo?

Perhaps I should use PVC water pipes (white colour) instead of the conduit for electrical work (black colour) for better sealing, as T-joints etc for the black electrical conduit is not water sealed.

curious to know why you need 8 cables to tv area?

[dandelion1976 5]

curious to know why you need 8 cables to tv area?

Actually it's more than what I need, but well since I am laying it, and I have bought a 8 points patch panel, and that the LAN cable is gonna buried under cement screed and I can't be certain if all will work, thus some redundancy just in case a few points don't work. Kiasu lor ha ha

[dandelion1976 5]

Next topic on Brick wall...

After much consideration, wife and I decided to drop stucco wall and go for brick wall instead. After a few phone call to the Brilliant from JB, and a few whatsapp later, the raw materials arrived my place via a forwarded engaged by the company. Do note that you need to TT the full amount before they send the items over, but their price is very reasonable compared to getting the materials here.

I have decided to try Cobble Brick as it's more rustic and more "real" to me, compared to CraftBrick (just my personal preference).

[dandelion1976 5]

Next up... Our fan

I posted this fan made by Rubine earlier and I have actually (post #16) bought it at a very good price. Then again because the fan is made for Malaysia market with high ceiling, some modification will be needed to fit into our low BTO ceiling.

There's additional modification needed to be able to fix the bottom cover, in which one may required help from workshop. I plan to use EDM Wire-Cut to cut the bottom cover into half, then weld/ rivet hinges and buckle to it in order before fixing it back. Easier way perhaps is just to spray paint the exposed wires black, fit into industrial theme ha ha

Edited May 29, 2014 by dandelion1976

[dandelion1976 5]

Cement Screeding done up by 2nd HDB sub-contractor, after they hacked away the lousily done up screeding by first sub-con (mixing Sand + Portland cement and it's extremely unevenly mixed). See the photo below and you will know what I meant:

Screeding redone using pre-packed by the 2nd sub-contractor, kudos to HDB officer!

[jnashville 0]

Nice! Following your thread.

Edited June 4, 2014 by jnashville