Hougang/kovan 4A Resale Reno Journal

[kovan4us 5]

Wah ha! So happy that everything went through without a hitch!

Were in HDB for our first appointment today. Three parties were present: us, our seller/buyer and the seller of Bedok flat. Our seller bought another unit in Bedok and so will be doing a contra. For the past weeks, we heard that the Bedok seller was not in a hurry and may hinder the sales process. We wanted to move in January next year. Working backwards, we would have to start renovation in early Dec. In the end, we were all glad that the Bedok owner did not stop us from submitting a letter for an early closure - 6 weeks instead of the normal 8 weeks. By just two weeks, that's the best we could ask for. But we would take it as long as we can start early. Throughout, we were so afraid that the Bedok seller would ask for a 3 month extension, then both our seller and us would be affected.

All the documents signing were done before noon. Wah haha! What a relief!

Now we can go on to finalise our ID/Contractor over the weekend. So...Interior Designer Series 5 and the Finale!

Edited October 21, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Bosch showroom in Ang Mo Kio

Other than the showroom inside of their HQ, there is another one in Ang Mo Kio.

Our friend excitedly told us about it after she went and came back with a showroom set of Gaggenau at more than 40% off. We went last week but our timing was bad, the great sales must have been so successful it was mostly empty.

For those of you looking for Bosch products, it might be worthwhile to go check it out.

BSH Home Appliances Pte Ltd

Block 4012, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, #01-01

Techplace I

Singapore 569628

Operating hours: Mon-Fri, 8.30am-5.30pm

Edited October 29, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Wood...can someone tell me what kind of wood?

The 'older' kitchen cabinets were more solid than today's -- is that an illusion or what? I was at the flat doing some measurement (not my flat yet, the current owner still lives there) and I checked on the kitchen cabinets, again, just to make sure that I was not hallucinating. It did felt more 'solid' when I did the 'knock knock' test. I also did a quick inside of the divider panels, they felt quite solid too and not sagging.

I am currently living in a rented apartment where the owner did the renovation two years ago. Since he intended to rent it out, he didn't want to spend too much on anything. The kitchen cabinet's divider has started to sag and some strips of veneer near the cooktop were on the verge of dropping off.

When I visited show flats these past weeks, I felt that the quality of the cabinets used was no different from those in my rented apartment. I asked the IDs what kind of wood they use? They all gave me a weird look and gave me the standard answer... wood lor. Only Rezt & Relax showed me what they used without even having to ask. Was it a 7-layered ply? Quite solid.

If we are not going with R&R? Sight... I guess we have no choice isn't it? Can't choose the thickness, the number of layers, wood types, bonding materials...just have to take whatever they want to give us.

For those of you who are interested, here are some information on Malaysian/Indonesian plywood.

Taken from: http://www.chianglenghup.com/

Moisture Resistant/ Glue Type 2/ Plywood. JPIC D/BB/CC Grade

Products Specification

02.5MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

03.6MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

05.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

09.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

12.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

15.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

18.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

25.0MM X 1220MM X 2440MM

Usage.

Material usage are mostly for structural support of interior paneling, wardrobes or cabinet structure, furniture manufacturing, decking support and etc.

Speciality.

Moisture resistant T2 Glue tropical hardwood plywood is a panel product with bonding of multi layer of tropical wood veneer using moisture resistant glue thus causing the products to excel in high moisture interior environment . Also because of the multi layer which create intense frictional force within the core and the nature of tropical hardwood species making it the most durable and strong panel available in the market . With all the above these panel are considered the best quality in the industries.

Edited October 28, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

What kind of wood? A further investigation...

Here's what's happening to the Kitchen Cabinet doors above the stove top.

I took out a panel to see what it is made of:

I was looking around the house to see what can I compare it to. Most of my furniture were from Ikea, they looked something like this:

Chipboards between laminates.

Then I realised, this wardrobe that we have:

It was bought it in a neighbourhood store for around $200 or less? Came with delivery and installation. Not a bad deal for something we are just going to use for 2 years. Although flimsy and feather light to the touch, it manages to hold its shape better than those from Ikea.

A look at what it is made of:

Now take a look at a piece from the kitchen cabinet and compare it to the piece from the wardrobe.

Can you tell the difference? Almost the same isn't it? And they use it to build the kitchen cabinet...

I had to ask my shortlisted ID to see what they are using.

Edited October 29, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Interior Designer Series -- 5

9 Creation, Ubi Road 1

We met with Randall from 9 Creation during the same event as mentioned in ID Series 4. He came across as unassuming and thoughtful.

After briefly going through our floor plan and our requirements, among other things, he gave us an interesting solution for our storeroom. We wanted louvered doors. But we all know that louvered doors are old fashioned and unsightly. While other IDs had no clue or couldn't be bothered, Randall showed us a type of PVC door that might fit our requirement. Why are we so picky on this? We stayed in an apartment with bomb shelter used as a store room. After a year, mould started to developed and ruined many things. We had to rent a storage to store them for the next few years. So yes, we think storerooms MUST be well ventilated.

He scored bonus points for being the only ID who sent us a 3D drawing. When we complained that his design made it looked claustrophobic, he insisted we come down to his office. More bonus points: he already had our house plan drawn into his 3-D software. As we discussed, he made changes right away and immediately we could see if the design works. That was by far the most fruitful session and we managed to nail down the design by the end of the two hours.

In the end, it was not only the software skills he displayed that impressed us, it was also some very useful and practical suggestions he had that made us think he is the right one to proceed further.

Rating:

Trust: 4/5 (we went to see one of his on-going project in the owner's presence)

Experience: 4/5 (no issue here)

Taste: 4/5 (very much in-line with ours: practical and not ostentatious)

Cost: 4/5 (reasonable)

Edited October 31, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

What kind of wood? My Kitchen Spec...

CE2+ CERTIFICATION EN 636-2 S (Structural plywood in internal humid conditions). Or rated WBP/BWR (water & boil proof)

But I doubt any ID/carpenter would be bothered to supply this information.

What to look for:

Cabinet structure: multi-ply ( 7-9 ply ~18mm)

Top hung cabinet base: multi-ply ( 7-9 ply ~18mm)

Drawers, dividers: multi-ply (5-7ply ~ 12-15mm)

Drawer bottom: 12mm (less if it does not need to support heavy pots and pans)

Edited December 13, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Which Water Closet (WC) or Toilet Bowl to Buy?

How to choose a WC? Surely someone must have figure out a way to test and score the effectiveness?

Yes, there is! An organisation called MAP.

This is a test lab cater for the north Americans: USA and Canada. I can't find other setup like this for Europe and certainly nothing like this exist in Asia.

MAP uses Soya Bean paste for testing. Since 2005, Miso paste has replaced plastic ball bearings in toilet testing. There are two things to look for, one is Water Sense certification and the other is MAP score.

WaterSense certification calls for a maximum volume of 4.8l and 350g of waste removal. This should be the basic requirement everywhere. MAP score measures the performance: how much waste it can remove. MAP score of 500 means 500g and 1000 means 1kg.

Most of the brands in the database are American. The ones that come up frequently and available in Singapore are - American Standard, Kohler and Toto.

A search on one-piece, WaterSense Certified, MAP premium rated came up with a single page listing, I recognise these three:

Anyone knows what happened to Caroma? They used to be popular here.

How do other popular brands here fare?

Roca fared quite well. These are two-piece designs, but I supposed their one-piece designs under the same name should score the same.

I could find only one from Johnson Suisse:

Many other local brands are not listed. You can check if your favourite WC is listed in there: http://www.map-testing.com/consumer-household-toilets/

Edited November 3, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Buying a HDB flat should not be difficult: the regulations, procedures and dateline can all be found on the website. So we went ahead without any agent representation. What could go wrong?

Seller, Agent Delayed Filling

We placed our deposit immediately after viewing the unit. We liked the layout, the distance from MRT and the condition of the flat. The ERA team of husband and wife seemed amicable: we exchanged information about our children, complained about school systems and other parental affairs before discussion the timeline of the transaction. It was early August. We should be able to complete the transaction by October, they said. The owner would like to request 2-3 weeks extension for time to move into his other HDB. Ah, no problem, our son will be having his A-levels and we don't intend to do anything in November. All of us were happy, hands were shaken and cheque presented.

Why No Filling?

A week later, we eagerly put in the options fee, filled up an online buyer's checklist in HDB website and waited.

A week went by and we asked the agent why was there no filling from their end? Oh, sure, we will do it tomorrow.

Another week went by and the agents were hard to get hold of. They were either in a meeting, or seminar or away in Malaysia. The option expired. We had to file another one.

All in all, 3 weeks of delay. We were furious!

Completion date is now end November

After the first appointment, we were told that the earliest was the end November to complete the transaction. The seller still expected us to give him 3 weeks allowance in order for him to renovate his other flat. We tried to explain to him that it was not possible: we also need to do renovation too. December is going to be a short month for work. By the end of January, all the workers would return home for CNY. If we missed the timeline, we could possibly be looking at end February to complete renovation. That means I would have extend my stay and pay for two months of rental.

Agent From ****

We continued pressing for the owner to move out earlier. At the same time we wanted to give our contractors a chance to survey the unit so that we could get quotations. Unable to get a prompt reply from the agent, we went to meet with the owner and asked that we contact him direct from here on so that it would be easier for us to arrange viewing of the unit.

Having learned that we visited the seller directly, the agent sent a nasty sms to us saying that we have violated the procedure (of not letting the agent be the point of contact) and that he would now go strictly by the book.

By the book? What book?

Buyers beware: DO NOT SIGN THE "TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF STAY"

Yes, unless you are so kind, or just want to be kind and be kind at all cost. Let it be known that if you have any strand of doubt, DO NOT SIGN. Because:

1. You have to pay for the application.

2. You automatically agreed to give seller the right to stay for up to 3 months. Sure, you can have 'private' arrangement. Just be clear, to HDB the seller has the right to stay for up to 3 months. Whatever 'private' arrangement you have, you better be sure of the validity of the agreement or have a lawyer on your payroll.

3. You have to inform HDB when the seller moves out.

Why go through all these troubles? Are you really so kind?

Buyer pays, Seller parts.

That is what trade is all about. Buyer gives money to seller and seller delivers the goods to buyer.

When you buy a used car, do you pay and still let the seller use it till he finds an alternate mode of transportation?

When you buy a computer, fridge, sofa... anything. Do you worry about how the seller will go on with his life without the item? Do you?

So why should buying a HDB flat be different? From the point you place the deposit till the completion, it takes about 6-8 weeks. The seller should take it upon himself to find his own housing.

If not able to buy one in time, there is always another solution: a place to rent, storage space for your items, or stay with your friends.

When I sold my apartment, I did not ask for the buyer to let me stay a minute. On the day of completion, I handed over the house keys and that's it.

"You promised that you will let the seller stay for 2-3 weeks after completion!"

Really? I don't think so. That was not what we discussed. We should have completed the transaction in October, you would have stayed for 3 weeks and I take over in end November or early December. Sorry pal, when you let the option expires, whatever arrangement also expires.

We shall go by the book: please get out of my flat now!

Yep, that, in essence was what I told the seller and the agent after the completion of the sale.

Of course it didn't exactly end up that way. We still let them stayed for another 10 days. But the satisfaction of saying that in front of them was tremendously satisfying.

Renovation On!!

Yeah! Now we can get things moving finally and finally, after 2 months of tussles and hustles with the agents, we are happy.

[kovan4us 5]

My Reno Team

1. ID - Randall from 9 Creation. His quote is the most reasonable but above all, he has the rare quality that we appreciate: young enough to know the trends and yet old enough to be sensible.

2. Carpenter: Mr & Mrs Chua. They did our first flat 20 years ago. Workmanship and quality are top class. We don't have to worry at all.

3. Electrician: James. Another trusted source who has been with us many years.

Only 4 weeks to our move. No time to waste!

Edited December 25, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Bath Room Accessories: Song Lin Building, Syed Alwi Road

Our ID said we wouldn't be able to find prices like these elsewhere in Singapore. A little exaggeration of course but... yep, quite true.

Items are mostly made in Malaysia or China and I couldn't even recall the brands. Picked out wash basin, taps, shower sets...etc for both of our bathroom. Came out to just a little over $2000.

The exciting find for me was the toilet bowl. While doing my research, I had my mind set on a certain brand for its shape and features. I found one here, looks exactly the same, fitted with Geberit system that went for one third of the price of the named brand. Such a easy decision.

I was also happy to settle everything in less than two hours.

Edited December 13, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Kitchen Hob and Hood: Hoe Kee

Settled for Fujioh 890 Hood and a black glass Hob: $819. It is 10+ dollars more expensive than Goh Ah Bee but since we were there for the Blanco sink, might as well get it together. Uncle Johnny served us well during the past two visits, so must give him the sales.

Edited December 13, 2015 by kovan4us

[kovan4us 5]

Emptied Flat

The flat, striped bare:

Kitchen, before

Kitchen After

Master Bedroom

Bedroom 1. The frame in the middle marked the storeroom.

Bedroom 2

We were wrong...everything has to changed!

This was perhaps the expensive lesson we learned: looks can be deceiving. We Thought that we could still use the laminate flooring but they popped out in some places. We thought that we could still use the aircon but it was using an old refrigerant and the aircon pipping's layout was horrid. We thought that we could use back the ceiling box but the position of some of the down lights were wrong.

Ceiling, stripped bare

Now we are looking at an emptied apartment with just walls...and wonder how much more we have to spend.

[kovan4us 5]

Professionals at work: Hackers

They stormed into the apartment and swiftly got to work. The team of seven were seamless: everybody knew exactly what to do. The foreman was a quiet, soft spoken man with a ready smile. There were no loud instructions or hollers amongst each other. The only noise was that of hammers and crowbars.

On the second day, there was a heavy downpour. I saw one of the worker shuffling up and down the elevator sweeping away the rain water and mud outside the lift landing on my floor and the ground floor.

Lift landing outside unit

Lift was kept clean

Cleaning the floor all the way to the loading area

What was scheduled for three days were done in one and a half! Swift, clean and neat. True professionals.

They are sub-con of 9 Creation.

Verdict: Highly Recommended.

[kovan4us 5]

Window: Singapore Safety Window System

No experience here. Contacted Alvin, a contactor from reading Renotalk forum. He asked a few questions to see if I am doing anything else. After which, he said he would get his worker, actually his subcon, to contact me.

I made the call before noon and met up with the two young Malaysian at 4pm. After measuring, he immediately gave us a quote: $2300. We bargain down to $1900 for the following:

1. Living room: 6 panel casement

2. Master bedroom: 3 panel casement

3. Kitchen: 3 panel sliding

4. Bedroom 1: 3 panel casement

5. Bedroom 2: 4 panel casement

6. 2xBathroom windows.

No grilles. It was $19/sqft for windows with grilles and $14/sqft for windows only. All in all, $2,300 and we bargained down to $1880.

Price seemed reasonable? Don't like it that we had to ask for so much discount after their 'best' price.

Tom came down the next day for us to fill in the HDB application. So far, service was top notch. Just a little worried: they had been given 6 demerits points by HDB (can check from HDB website). Hope they learned their lessons and do a good job here.

Contact person: Tom Lee +9448 6396

To be updated...

Edited December 13, 2015 by kovan4us

[Reiki 0]

Interesting to read about the wood postings. I do agree that the type of woods used is essentially important, particularly so when the costs to build the cabinets can be costly and factoring the durability down the years. When I was renovating, my ID got the carpenter to do a sample, just for that peace of mind.

BTW, is it possible for me to have the contact of your carpenter, Mr & Mrs Chua? TIA.

Happy reno, kovan4us.