Chronicles Of A Simple Bathroom Without Gold Taps

[BunBun 5]

Ah, well there's always the option to drive to JB and bring one of them back. There's like a big showroom in Bukit Indah or Johor Jaya if I'm not mistaken cos I think I saw them when I went into JB,

Hi BunBun,

Yes Roca does have an 'official' list of distributors in Sg... which is like 2, Carrera and Interior Affairs. However, they are only limited to the 'prestigious companies' that are the official POS appointed by Roca. So, for instance, SSC which is not listed on Roca's website. They actually carry quite a wide range at the Changi branch (they are like the parallel importer I think?) but maybe Roca doesn't even know they exist

You are right in saying that the smaller distributors will give a more reasonable price (that's why I was looking in Jalan Besar type of shops lol)... unfortunately for Roca, they themselves do not deal with these 'small companies'. So I guess whatever stock that these small guys have is they bring in themselves. Which explains the mostly outdated models I guess?

I have actually had the same problem buying paint before. I went to Jotun Sg's website to find my nearest distributor that sells that particular (industrial type) boat paint, but they didn't have anything conclusive. When I called up Jotun and they sent me a whole list of distributors, I found out upon calling each shop that...the list was not updated at all. Some shops had already closed down, some the numbers were not working anymore and then 1 shop even told me "Haiyah why they always tell people to call us, we don't carry Jotun anymore!" Errr...

[X6GT 3]

Ah, well there's always the option to drive to JB and bring one of them back. There's like a big showroom in Bukit Indah or Johor Jaya if I'm not mistaken cos I think I saw them when I went into JB,

REALLY?!?? WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME BEFORE?

Edited February 4, 2015 by X6GT

[X6GT 3]

Seriously, had I known...I might have gone to take a look

Oh well. Things happen for a reason... But thanks for sharing this info! Next time I will know better..

[BunBun 5]

I don't keep track of renotalk stuff alot. Only read here and there.

Actually, Not only roca stuff, there's also like toto brand and it's joint brand with a thai co, cotto brand in JB.

I recall a forumer brought back his craft bricks from JB so I reckon, tiles can be brought back too if there's some transport.

Seriously, had I known...I might have gone to take a look

Oh well. Things happen for a reason... But thanks for sharing this info! Next time I will know better..

[X6GT 3]

The ones that didn't make the cut

WCs galore...

Almost bought this Roca one! Until the SSC sales guy talked me out of it.. .because it's a rare back inlet model. So if yours is a back inlet, AND you are certain that you will always have back inlet successors, you should get this. However, the sales guy tells me that side ones more standard, thus safer.

The Duravit D-code which was my first choice. At $500+, it was a really value buy. But when I went to Changi to view it in person, I guess I changed my mind because it didn't look as nice as in the pictures.

The cheapest Totos at Fullsun. Oh so pretty... so out of reach...

The Happening Roca at Balestier SSC, about $900+.

The cheaper Giralda Roca going for only about $600+. I do wonder why I didn't just get this one instead, given my obsession with Roca. Initially, from the beginning I had wanted a single-piece WC so rejected quite a lot of suitable WCs if they were two-piece ones. But then I eventually ended up with a 2-piece so what's the point...

[X6GT 3]

I don't keep track of renotalk stuff alot. Only read here and there.

Actually, Not only roca stuff, there's also like toto brand and it's joint brand with a thai co, cotto brand in JB.

I recall a forumer brought back his craft bricks from JB so I reckon, tiles can be brought back too if there's some transport.

Hahaa.. Wah, I had read about this Thai-made Toto but I didn't know they called it a different name. Hmmm.. but original or not? How to tell?

Actually compared to other reno stuff, I don't really know very much about WCs. So if the U-U person had sold me fake stuff also perhaps I wouldn't have known.

Craft bricks cheaper there?? Wow it better be like 25% of the SG prices, and if you are buying more than 10 boxes, to make that trip worthwhile..!

[X6GT 3]

Ah Song the Tiler

OK so earlier, I had talked about how this Ah Zhong guy (main con for the tiling) was a piece of work.

His subcon, a guy called Ah Song in his 40s, was an exercise in patience and compromise.

No, I am not saying he's a jerk. On the contrary.

We got off to a rocky start and he's a bit of a grumpy cat, but I think he has a good heart and he's a pretty hard worker. He complains a lot (so sometimes I'm kinda afraid to get him to rectify or something) but when he saw I was very paranoid and exacting in what I wanted, he listened to me more and kind of kept assuring me "Don't worry, I will do it properly. I will make sure it's nice! Don't worry la.."

I say he is kind because, when I shared with him about how I have been getting conned left right and centre, and how my cost of the bathroom reno has balooned from my budgeted $3k to $8k, he began to be more sympathetic and understood my worries about the quality etc. He said he felt for me, and felt bad if I spent all that money for something substandard or something I didn't like.

Also, he has a back problem and I struggled very hard to not be overwhelmed by sympathy every time I saw him wince in pain while doing the work So I tried doing my best to help him, by cooking/buying him food for lunch and dinner (some days he worked til very late, like 9+pm), plying him with drinks (I had bought lots of cold drinks like soy bean, coke etc for the workmen but he only likes to drink hot coffee so I made that instead), assisting wherever I could. I just think it's so sad and unfair... he's the one literally breaking his back doing all this work, but he's just earning a small amount while the main con who does nothing but talk and hang up on phones is enjoying the huge profit

Haizzz...

[BunBun 5]

Cotto brand, you can check out the thai website and look for the distributors I think. Haven't checked the website but I know there's a few shops carrying cotto brand in malaysia. Singapore I don't know as I have yet to come across the brand in sg.

I don't care about the brand. I care about budget, and water saving factors more.

Craft bricks is cheaper in malaysia definitely but transport + customs tax I don't know. Need to self arrange as no delivery direct to sg. But if anyone wants to order them, best is to do it before April when GST kicks in.

Hahaa.. Wah, I had read about this Thai-made Toto but I didn't know they called it a different name. Hmmm.. but original or not? How to tell?

Actually compared to other reno stuff, I don't really know very much about WCs. So if the U-U person had sold me fake stuff also perhaps I wouldn't have known.

Craft bricks cheaper there?? Wow it better be like 25% of the SG prices, and if you are buying more than 10 boxes, to make that trip worthwhile..!

Edited February 4, 2015 by BunBun

[X6GT 3]

Aaaand my "Made in the EU" WC has arrived! Finally!

Thumbs up to the very nice and polite SSC uncles who delivered it today, along with my giant mirror. Great service! Will take some pictures later when they have all been installed...

[X6GT 3]

Another Made in China f-up

First it was the shower hose that came with the yucky unacceptable uneven colour (see pics in the first few posts above).

Now it's the floor traps that I had gotten from another China online seller. It looked so pwetty... but after contact with water and ordinary toilet chemicals, the black has like dissolved away or somethiing. WTH?!? This is why I HATE HATE HATE Made in China things!

Both too!! ROARRRRR!!

Edited February 6, 2015 by X6GT

[X6GT 3]

Days 4-6: Making good, laying of waterproofing and drying process.

Now, as you may have seen in earlier posts, after the hacking was done, the bathroom was in a royal mess what with all the sandy bits and 'tattered' / jagged surfaces both on the walls and floors. Our friend Ah Zhong the main con (artist) was telling me that after the hacker had finished, he would send his guy immediately to slap on the waterproofing.

I was like, wait, what?

I kept trying to tell him, that was wrong! How can you paint on sand, pebbles and dust? How can you skip steps?? It was amazing... he was still insisting he wanted the guy to come on Day 4 to immediately paint on the waterproofing. Until the guy (Ah Song) actually came, and he was like "Uh... Ah Zhong said can waterproof". I went "YES! This is what I meant! Don't you logically need to make good first before you can do anything remotely resembling waterproofing??" So Day 4 was spent making good, slathering on the W1 mix, then Day 5 the waterproofing was double laid on the concrete base and walls, followed by Day 6 where the waterproofing testing took place. *rolls eyes*

You would think that as someone who has been doing this for so long, Ah Zhong would know what to do and in what sequence things happen. Needless to say, I was horrified with his negligence and couldn't-care-less attitude.

Also, I was concerned by Ah Song's insistence that his work on the outlets as shown below was fine:

Am I really being paranoid about this? Mind you, these are the more critical parts of the bathroom... If there are any leakages there where he had not slapped on the waterproofing, it was as good as having to break up the whole floor to do it all over again. So I had argued with him, and tried to insist that he go over those spots again and he got angry with me. He claimed that he was more afraid of leaks than I was, and went on a rant about not telling him how to do his job

Those were the early days of course, before we 'gelled' better. So after I told him, I kinda stomped off and am not quite sure if he really did touch up those areas or not. But afterwards, when the waterproofing testing seemed to go fine, I stopped nagging him about it.

And then the Quicseal sealed the deal.

Edited February 6, 2015 by X6GT

[X6GT 3]

Days 7-11: Tiling, mosaic, plastering

Surely, but slowly, my Italian tiles went up on the walls. They turned out to be slightly darker than I thought they would be, but it's ok... I love the chic industrial feel of the grey.

And then the glass mosaic band... I know that people usually do a vertical band where the shower fittings are; and if it runs across horizontally, they usually do a small narrow band of about 2.5 to 3 inches high. I decided to be slightly bolder (and because I have a helluva lot of mosaic tiles I had bought at a very good price) so decided to up the ante to 6 inches. And I placed it slightly higher up than the conventional height, to give the bathroom more of an illusion of height.

Then came the awesome black Italian floor tiles. Now, if you want to know if there is a difference between using Made in China tiles and Made in Italy tiles, here you have it. My tiler Ah Song, who has been doing mostly HDB bathrooms so far, and who is more accustomed to dealing with Made in China tiles, complained to me that my Italian tiles were "very hard to cut". He complained that he was not able to use the tile cutter, and so he spent a lot of time cutting with the angle grinder, thus generating more dust and noise than he normally would for other projects.. I take that as a good sign, because it seems like the chances of popping and breaking are not high then.

Yes, I know that even though per tile it's like only $2-3 more but per total area it's quite a significant difference of a few hundreds, even thousands (for those doing whole house or all bathrooms). But I think from my experience, it's not wrong to pay more for quality because it lasts longer so in the end it all works out..!

For the wall tiles, I stuck with white grouting but for the floor tiles I asked for darker grouting. Actually I had wanted a smoky dark grey colour close to the tile colour, but then Ah Song and the main con were like making noise saying it's hard to find bla bla. I showed them the buildersmart or buildmate website (where I often get my tools and construction stuff) that had the whole range of coloured grout chart, and they kept quiet. Then the main con guy told me to go and buy it myself!

Luckily, Ah Song was nice enough and said he would go and buy it for me... and true enough, he did, riding to Sungei Kadut during lunch. He bought a very dark black though, instead of a colour closer to the tile. But I was fine with it, since it will not show up the dirt much over time I think it's pretty nice, but maybe that's just me...

[X6GT 3]

Cement screed wall

For the non-tiled wall sections of my bathroom, I was initially bent on having the cement screed look for the industrial feel. However, after much research and careful consideration I decided to paint it because in high-moisture areas like the bathroom, it's crucial to the longevity of my walls.

So yesterday I painted on the oil-based sealer... with a BRISTLE BRUSH. Goodness. I had been under the impression that I had the roller brushes to work with, but apparently my big handle could not fit the (small) roller size I was going to use. So I ended up ridiculously painting the whole wall with the bristle brush.

Before:

After:

I quite like it, and am tempted to not bother with painting it over with ordinary paint at all. As it is, I think the texture is quite nice... and I feel like I want to do the same for my room as well i.e. cement screed flooring with this layer of sealer.

Any advice, anyone?

[meow 1]

Hi X6GT, the details you go into is amazing. I should have hired you as my ID instead :-)

[X6GT 3]

Lol thanks @Meow... My tiler also said the same thing! Haha.. He said I should do this as a job sinceI know so much and am so detailed, sure can earn a living one

I'm open for bookings! Lol..