Llpl's New House @ Punggol Waterway Brooks

[duomaxwell 8]

Day 1 (Continued)

Following are photos after all the debris are cleared and all the materials for the false ceilings are brought up by the sub contractors by the end of the first day.

Both the toilets basin are being removed as well to make way for the toilet vanity cabinets

Was being advised to take photo of all the markings of the cold & hot water pipes for reference so that in the future, you will know where the pipes are located so that drillings can be avoided at those areas (even though i heard that sometimes the markings might not be accurate, but at least they serve some form of reference). So use this opportunity to take photos of all the "markings" before they are removed.

Remaining pics are Materials for False Ceiling works

[duomaxwell 8]

Day 1

Hacking

Dropped by during lunch to take a look a the hacking progress and saw it was almost done. surprised at the speed of how fast it was even though it was only by using a hammer.

Removal of Skirting

In order to save money by reusing the skirting in areas which will be covered up by cabinets, we decided to ask our ID to remove the skirting and reuse the skirting for the built-up room

[duomaxwell 8]

Wah I'm surprised yours got so much debris!

I checked mine and mine was completely empty!

Ya. I was surprised as well. cannot imagine the after-effect if i did not go and check.

Our neighbor also asked BSC to check during defect rectification and also dug out lots of debris.

I think its really up to the workers. Guess the workers who worked for our project just went the easy way when building the flat.

[bykaraanne 30]

Wah I'm surprised yours got so much debris!

I checked mine and mine was completely empty!

[duomaxwell 8]

Our ID helped us to submit the hacking permit on the 18th Dec 2015 and the permit was approved on the 24th Dec 2015. . All thanks to our ID who helped us to keep calling and chasing the officer for approval as he mention that due to festival period, they are short of manpower, so approval might take sometime.

2 permits were submitted (one for the hacking of Kitchen Wall & Window Panels, another one for the replacement of toilet windows with exhaust fan)

The Hacking of the Kitchen wall is to allow us to build a "Bar Counter" in the Dry Kitchen Area and it will look something like this. We will hack the whole wall and build a bar height cabinet.

We will be starting our first day of Renovation works on the 28th Dec 2015 (which is today) by doing all the "heavy" works which is the hacking of the walls.

Waited for 2 weeks (9th Dec to 23th Dec) for the defects rectification works to be cleared by BSC. That's why can only start work on the 28th Dec even though we collected our keys on the 5th Dec.

There are so many defects that if we don't close one eye or sometime 2 eyes. I think we might need to spend at least 2 months playing tug of war with BSC for the defect rectification.

*Decided to hack half height of the window wall instead of full height because ID highlighted to us that the kitchen cabinets will not be able to be right beside the mirror as there is a need to leave a small gap between the kitchen cabinet and the full height glass window. We gave it some thoughts and decided to hack half height instead of full height so that in the future, we will not be troubled over the housekeeping of the small gap between the full height glass and the kitchen cabinet.

Edited December 28, 2015 by duomaxwell

[duomaxwell 8]

Complied version of defect checking from different sources by googling

[duomaxwell 8]

We did not return to our new house until 3 days later. Arranged for ID to meet us on the 8th Dec to help us with the defect checking. Before we came the ID already helped us marked out all the defects.

There are too many defects to list them all down

Following are some photos of the defects (Mainly paint stains on the floor, windows, rusty & loose door magnet)

uneven grout lines on the balcony door, stains on the balcony floor, window handles. uneven finishing on the main door

Purposely brought hand gloves and luckily i did because i dug out all this debris from the drainage in the service yard and kitchen

More debris from both the toilets and bubbles on the parquet flooring in the master bedroom.

[duomaxwell 8]

Wow... this is complicated. But I don't understand this part:

Do you mean to say: Corporal Tan Ah Kow, NRIC No. Sxxxxxxxx?

My mistake. its just your Name & NRIC. will amend to prevent confusion.

[Ks Toh 74]

Wow... this is complicated. But I don't understand this part:

Say your rank, name and nric no. and announce that you are the new owner of the house

Do you mean to say: Corporal Tan Ah Kow, NRIC No. Sxxxxxxxx?

[duomaxwell 8]

Since we were lucky even to bring forward our key collection date from 10th Dec (Thursday) to 5th Dec (Saturday) (Coz some say its very hard to get an appointment on a Saturday). We did some research whether 5th Dec is a good day for us to perform the "Open Door Ceremony" as well.

One of the website we bump into is http://www.geomancy.net/reports/free-report/freerpt-dateboth.htm

which offer free 30 days Auspicious Date for One/Two Person(s)

Luckily it's considered a auspicious date for both of us based on the website above and the lunar calendar. Thus we decided to perform the "Open Door Ceremony" on 5th Dec as well.

Googled for the procedures for "Open Door Ceremony" and the following are the results which we combined from different sources. (P.S. It is a rojak from different sources. Maybe that's why our neighbour's (2 level above us) unit number come out as 5th Dec 4D consolation prize instead of our unit number )

Things to prepare:

1) 1 packet of Uncooked Rice

2) 1 packet of Sea Salt

3) 2 packet of Dry tea leaves (tie kuan yin)

4) 6 Red packet with $8 x Singapore S1 coin inside (Total $48 worth of $1 coins)

5) 1 bottle of black vinegar (to be poured into 4 cups)

6) 1 packet of Green beans

7) Cotton wool + dish for germinating the green beans

8) 2 units of Fao Gao (don’t get the white one) (Can be Brown, yellow or pink)

9) 1 x Pineapple

10) 5 types of seeded fruits must include

a. 8 red apples

b. 18 oranges (kum) (avoid pears)

c. the remaining 3 types can be

i. 1 packet of strawberries

ii. 1 bunch of bananas

iii. 1 bunch of grapes (should preferably be purple or reddish. But not green or black coloured grapes)

iv. 1 pineapples

v. 5 dragon fruits

11) 1 or 2 containers for mixing of rice, green beans, sea salt & tea leaves

12) 5 x paper cups

13) Stool (so can sit and rest)

14) String for the hanging of rice packet

15) Water (Weather is hot)

Procedure

Door Open

1) Knock the door 3 times, Say your rank, name and nric no. and announce that you are the new owner of the house

2) Close door and wait a few mins. Then knock and say you are coming in now..... before entering the house, say a prayer at the door and proclaim that you are the rightful owner of the house and claim ownership and possession, and politely ask any 'uninvited guest' to leave

3) Open the door but make sure u don't face the entrance "face-on". Either turn your body to the side or to the back. Keep the door open for a while to "give chance" for former "residents" to vacate.

4) say auspicious things (up to individual what you want to say)

开门大吉

甜甜蜜蜜

幸福美满

身体健康

永永快乐

平安发财

Huat ar

5) Open door, both call out 平安发财then roll 1 pineapple in (bowling style) while continue saying auspicious things (to symbolise ushering of wealth and prosperity) (Roll pineapple mean $ roll from outside to inside) (notice where the pineapple stops.... This will be your "Fortune Position". So in future, you can put all your "lucky emblems" at this spot.)

6) Mix uncooked rice, sea salt, tea leaves (Tie Guan Yin) and green beans

7) Before entering your home, toss a handful of mixed rice, tea, sea salt and green beans into your home from outside the open door entrance (Leave a "cup-full" of green beans - for later placement at the living room area)

8) Enter the house with your sale and purchase agreement (and marriage certificate for newlyweds)

4 corners (For Cleansing of house)

1) Enter and begin from the left side of the entrance in, spread mixture along all corners of your home when entering

2) sprinkle sparingly along the perimeter of the entire house when you enter. Small amount will do. (It is not a matter of sprinkle lots of rice/beans but rather, try to sprinkle all over the apartment inclusive of the toilets/yard (The purpose is to “sow” wealth into the apartment.

3) Scatter ALL around the house (including toilet and yard). The process of scattering the "Rice and Green beans" means sowing of wealth around the house and the "Sea salt and Tea leaves" means chasing away the evils (Rice is to represent abundance of food in the future and salt is believed to get rid of spirits and ghosts. It is also believed that these spirits hide in corners of the house, hence people normally throw at the corners. The last burst you will throw out of your house to symbolise getting rid of them out of your house.)

4) Use the pineapple to roll around the house (excluding the toilet) then place the pineapple in the middle of the living room.

5) When finished place 1 cup of black vinegar at each of the 4 corners of your house (2 in living room, 2 in master bedroom)

6) Similarly place 2 oranges and 1 red packet (with 8 $1 coin) at the 4 corners of your house

7) Open all the door, windows, lights, water pipe, heater, electricity/gas appliance (to make sure and declare everything is functioning). We clean the energies or 'Qi' in the house by opening all the windows to let fresh air flow through the house. (Let the water run for approximately 3 minutes. This is to signify the flow of energy/qi in the house)

8) Bring all the things in

The Centre of the house

1. If the toilet is in the centre of the house, use the nearest point to the centre of the house.

2. Place 1 fa gao in the centre (brown, yellow or orange) DO NOT PUT WHITE!

3. Place 5 types of seeded fruits in the centre e.g. 5 red apples, 5 oranges, 1 bunch of bananas, 1 bunch of grapes, 1 packet of strawberries

4. Place the 1 red packet (with 8 $1 coin) in the centre.

Living Room

1. Prepare remaining Tea leaves (tie kuan yin) and place it in the middle of the living room

2. Place in the middle of the living room the dish containing cotton wool, water and dish for germinating the green beans. this process symbolic "growth" and have some "yang qi" at home.

Stove in the kitchen

1. Place 1 fa gao on the stove (if no stove put at future stove location)

2. Place 3 red apples and 3 oranges

3. 1 red packet on the stove

4. Hang the remaining packet of rice on the kitchen window

Lastly, leave your home and close the door. Do not return to home unless necessary – wait for 3 days before returning home.

Extra things to take note:

1)Leave these stuff for about 3 days and you can remove everything after 3 days of placement.

Use the money in the red packet to buy sweets or sweet drinks for family consumption, can buy ice cream too, as long as it is to buy something sweet甜甜蜜蜜.

2)Fruits need to be eaten or thrown away. DO not give it to other people.

3)If the green beans does not sprout, place it at somewhere with light, even after 3 days you can still add water, make sure it grows. Can throw it away after one week

Do not sweep the floor on the three days of placement. For example, if placed on Saturday, only sweep the floor after Monday i.e. from next Tuesday onwards ONLY.

Return only after 3 days. After 3 days, bring a big plastic. We open the door again and discard the fruits beside a tree, left 1 pineapple at main door

Edited December 23, 2015 by duomaxwell

[duomaxwell 8]

For home owners who are interested in buying blum accessories, can drop by blum showroom as they are having pre christmas sales (30% off). But action need to be fast coz i heard the sales staff saying all the pallets will be cleared this coming thursday (17 Dec 2015).

Hoot

1) Starter kit (Not part of christmas promotion, it is a ongoing promotion and more worth it as it is having a 35% discount if you need all the items in the in starter kit)

2) Anti Slip mats (Made in Germany) for all the kitchen drawers and cupboards to protect them from scratches and stains.

[duomaxwell 8]

Just to share,

For those who is looking for gas water heater can pop by Toa Payoh, tomorrow (10th Dec 2015) last day

Hoot a Macro MA_1210FER @ $460 today and got a free AEROGAZ 12" Table & Wall Fan (AZ-1208FTW) worth $99.

Further more, installation charge of $80 is waived and additional 6 more months warranty for the gas water heater (Total 18 months warranty).

[duomaxwell 8]

The bad thing about this long wait is ideas keep changing along the way and the mistake is thinking key collection will always be earlier than the expected PCD but it wasn't the case for us. Instead HDB send us a letter stating that the PCD will be delayed.

So the first idea that was changed is the colour of the downlights. Previously we thought "warm" 2700K is suitable, but along the way, ideas change and now we want to install the "Cool" 6500K.

As such, we are willing to let go of the 25pcs of Philips 67053 "warm" 2700K downlights at $24 each (Total $600) which is a steal if you compare to singapore's price. (Refer to Post #46) The only con is that warranty already started on 16th Jan 2015 (ending in 15th Jan 2016).

Interested buyer can PM me

[duomaxwell 8]

Finally, after such a long wait (4 years, 2 months & 9 days), we finally collected the keys to our new house on the 5th Dec 2015 after we called in to HDB to ask for change of date for key collection so that we don't have to take leave on the 10th Dec 2015. Further more 5th Dec 2015 is a good day.

[duomaxwell 8]

Bought my downlight locally, price is below $20 each. Of course not Philips though but so far working fine, no issue at all.

Comes with 1 year warranty or is it 3 years, cant remember exactly.

Initially also thought of buying downlight of other brands. But have seeing some forumers mention that usually the LED it self is very lasting, the only component which might fail is the driver and if the driver spoil, will need to go back to the same shop to buy the driver as drivers sold by other shops might not be compatible. So have a bit of concern over this.

Further more, the pull factor towards buying Philips downlight is that i just need to top up "a little" bit more then can get a "branded" downlight.

I understand that driver of the Philips downlight is all built-in, so if the driver spoil will need to replace the entire downlight, that's why i brought additional philips downlight (about 5 additional, as we only need about 20) in the event that the downlight is really faulty and for future proofing in case 5 years down the road, downlight is faulty and this model is no longer available in the market.

Tampoi Lighting is giving one year warranty for Philips Downlight, the only con is that if the Philips downlight really goes down within the warranty period, have to ownself take down the downlight and go into Johor to have the one to one replacement made.