EM in Bishan - Contemporary Minimalistic

[roundrabbit 0]

55 minutes ago, dxhan said:

Hello!

Yes, the drainage pipe is concealed within the cement, and then floor tiles are laid above. I checked with my ID and it's actually okay to do so. However, the main original floor trap location does not change.

There are different drainage pipes in the house, so for vertical pipes linking upstairs and downstairs, then yes, those are not allowed to be concealed for access reasons. But for sink relocation and placing the pipes with the cement, I think it should be okay since it doesn't affect the neighbours.

Hope this helps!

I am doing exactly the same thing - the main original floor trap location does not change and just need to have a pipe connecting the sink to the floor trap..and my contractor insisted that it is not allowed to bury the drainage pipe in the cement! I did some reading online and also a search on Renotalk, it seems HDB does not allow any kind of bury pipes/electrical wires in the cement under the floor tiles..I am very confused now!

[ricepapergirl 21]

30 minutes ago, roundrabbit said:

I am doing exactly the same thing - the main original floor trap location does not change and just need to have a pipe connecting the sink to the floor trap..and my contractor insisted that it is not allowed to bury the drainage pipe in the cement! I did some reading online and also a search on Renotalk, it seems HDB does not allow any kind of bury pipes/electrical wires in the cement under the floor tiles..I am very confused now!

I did a quick check for you, since my own toilets and kitchen have had no issues with a diversion of pipes under the floor tiles.

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/residential/living-in-an-hdb-flat/renovation/sanitary-and-plumbing/-gas-works

If you click on "Pipes" you get Diversion of sink waste pipe - Pipe must not be embedded in floor slab, Pipe can be embedded within floor finishes

Think you can show this page to your contractor. What usually happens is that the contractor will redo your waterproofing etc, and then embed the pipe after the waterproofing but before the tiling is done. So the pipe is embedded within the floor finishes, but not all the way within the "floor slab". Does that help?

Effectively there is a difference between "floor slab" and "floor finishes" and you're not allowed to touch the first but can embed stuff in the second.

Edited May 16, 2016 by ricepapergirl

[dxhan 5]

28 minutes ago, roundrabbit said:

I am doing exactly the same thing - the main original floor trap location does not change and just need to have a pipe connecting the sink to the floor trap..and my contractor insisted that it is not allowed to bury the drainage pipe in the cement! I did some reading online and also a search on Renotalk, it seems HDB does not allow any kind of bury pipes/electrical wires in the cement under the floor tiles..I am very confused now!

I saw this on the HDB website, and it says that pipes can be concealed within floor finishes, just not installed in the floor slab.

I think floor finishes means the floor tiles until the 'bottom' of the floor, so it should be fine.

[roundrabbit 0]

2 hours ago, ricepapergirl said:

I did a quick check for you, since my own toilets and kitchen have had no issues with a diversion of pipes under the floor tiles.

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/residential/living-in-an-hdb-flat/renovation/sanitary-and-plumbing/-gas-works

If you click on "Pipes" you get Diversion of sink waste pipe - Pipe must not be embedded in floor slab, Pipe can be embedded within floor finishes

Think you can show this page to your contractor. What usually happens is that the contractor will redo your waterproofing etc, and then embed the pipe after the waterproofing but before the tiling is done. So the pipe is embedded within the floor finishes, but not all the way within the "floor slab". Does that help?

Effectively there is a difference between "floor slab" and "floor finishes" and you're not allowed to touch the first but can embed stuff in the second.

Wow, thanks for taking the time to look it up! I asked the contractor, turns out my kitchen is level with living room (I have open concept kitchen), while usually kitchen is 100mm lower than living room. So no space for the pipe under the tiles for me T.T

[roundrabbit 0]

2 hours ago, dxhan said:

I saw this on the HDB website, and it says that pipes can be concealed within floor finishes, just not installed in the floor slab.

I think floor finishes means the floor tiles until the 'bottom' of the floor, so it should be fine.

Thanks so much for checking for me! Checked with contractor, seems like due to the level floor in kitchen and living room, I will have to have a kerb to hide the drainage pipe! Not the best, but there seems no other way to relocate the sink..

[koxxic 2]

@dxhan so long I get the HUE from amazon UK, it should work here? Do i need to get anything extra or add anything to make it work?

[dxhan 5]

40 minutes ago, koxxic said:

@dxhan so long I get the HUE from amazon UK, it should work here? Do i need to get anything extra or add anything to make it work?

Hello!

Yes. As long as you purchase from Amazon UK and NOT US, it will work properly in Singapore. At the time of purchase, Amazon UK does not ship the product directly to Singapore, so I had to use an intermediate forwarder like Borderlinx. There is nothing else you need to make it work.

The lightstrips are powered by a 3 pin plug. So if you are thinking of using the strips as a cove light like me, do inform your contractor to install 3 pin plugs in the ceiling, not light holders. Show the contractors what is inside the box and what you plan to do, and they should understand.

I am not sure if the new models are available in Singapore, so please do check before making your purchase online.

I have not had any issues with the lights so far. I think users of the lights in Renotalk can attest to this. Haha. But if you buy from Amazon UK, be prepared that the warranty is from the UK and no Singapore. I am not sure if Philips Singapore will honour the warranty.

Oh, there's a new Hue app out which is quite user friendly as well. Have fun!

[koxxic 2]

2 hours ago, dxhan said:

Hello!

Yes. As long as you purchase from Amazon UK and NOT US, it will work properly in Singapore. At the time of purchase, Amazon UK does not ship the product directly to Singapore, so I had to use an intermediate forwarder like Borderlinx. There is nothing else you need to make it work.

The lightstrips are powered by a 3 pin plug. So if you are thinking of using the strips as a cove light like me, do inform your contractor to install 3 pin plugs in the ceiling, not light holders. Show the contractors what is inside the box and what you plan to do, and they should understand.

I am not sure if the new models are available in Singapore, so please do check before making your purchase online.

I have not had any issues with the lights so far. I think users of the lights in Renotalk can attest to this. Haha. But if you buy from Amazon UK, be prepared that the warranty is from the UK and no Singapore. I am not sure if Philips Singapore will honour the warranty.

Oh, there's a new Hue app out which is quite user friendly as well. Have fun!

thanks mate..
came back from Philips TPY and they don't have the HUE in yet but strangely, they were pushing it at their Carnival last weekend.

[Celestial 0]

Hi, dont mind to pm ur quote? 

[sixir 0]

Hi, 

I am thinking of having a home theater similar to yours. My room is slightly longer at around 3.5 m but narrower. May I ask how the viewing experience is on a 80 in screen? Also, I am thinking of the ikea friheten sofa bed similar to yours. How do you find it so far? Comfortable for movie watching?

 

Thanks!

[dxhan 5]

17 hours ago, Celestial said:

Hi, dont mind to pm ur quote? 

PM sent.

[dxhan 5]

9 hours ago, sixir said:

Hi, 

I am thinking of having a home theater similar to yours. My room is slightly longer at around 3.5 m but narrower. May I ask how the viewing experience is on a 80 in screen? Also, I am thinking of the ikea friheten sofa bed similar to yours. How do you find it so far? Comfortable for movie watching?

 

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the home theatre experience!

Viewing on a 80 inch screen is great, I am seated about 2 to 2.5m away from the screen and there is no strain. I can also lie down flat on the sofa (lengthwise) and watch, so height of the person is not an issue from this distance. Anything less than 2m for 80 inches will be like sitting in the front row at the cinema, a lot of eyeball or head movement, which can get tiring after a while.

Sofa is good because of the storage underneath the seats. We usually keep our pillows and blanket there. When watching a movie, the aircon is always on and then the blanket comes out. We got a sofa because it accommodates more people, especially when we have guests over, or when you watch soccer on the big screen - you want to sit up straight. Of course if you want to stretch your legs the sofa extends to a bed. Sadly because I am 1.8m my feet always end up hanging in the air.

But if you are only using it for movies, I would recommend a lounge chair, like those in the gold class cinema. Much more comfortable.

[sixir 0]

On 10/20/2016 at 0:04 AM, dxhan said:

Hello and welcome to the home theatre experience!

Viewing on a 80 inch screen is great, I am seated about 2 to 2.5m away from the screen and there is no strain. I can also lie down flat on the sofa (lengthwise) and watch, so height of the person is not an issue from this distance. Anything less than 2m for 80 inches will be like sitting in the front row at the cinema, a lot of eyeball or head movement, which can get tiring after a while.

Sofa is good because of the storage underneath the seats. We usually keep our pillows and blanket there. When watching a movie, the aircon is always on and then the blanket comes out. We got a sofa because it accommodates more people, especially when we have guests over, or when you watch soccer on the big screen - you want to sit up straight. Of course if you want to stretch your legs the sofa extends to a bed. Sadly because I am 1.8m my feet always end up hanging in the air.

But if you are only using it for movies, I would recommend a lounge chair, like those in the gold class cinema. Much more comfortable.

Thanks for the insights!

Wow your movie nights sound so cozy. My fiancee and I are thinking of creating such an atmosphere too. I guess my fiancee and I are most likely going for a sofa bed because we will definitely be inviting people over for soccer sessions, karaoke etc ... and next time got kids will also need more sitting room. We were actually thinking of those hidden wall beds with sofas initially but the budget literally blew our minds off (in a bad way...) So I guess we need to stick with the Friheten.

I'm also considering between ceiling-mounting the projector or installing a wall-mounted shelf/ cabinet to place the projector and also all the other electronic components. Was wondering if this could reduce the need to run wires around the whole room ...

[Mannequin 0]

On 02/03/2016 at 5:20 PM, dxhan said:

With any home renovation project comes the home appliance and furniture shopping as well. This is another portion that we have to budget well as it takes a huge chunk of finances too!

We made an excel sheet to tabulate what we were going to buy, and then started comparing prices around different shops, both neighbourhood types and big retail chains, as well as purchasing with various credit cards for maximum discounts.

So, here are what we bought:

Television
Samsung JU7500 55" Curved TV
We chose this model because the SUHD range didn't improve much over the UHD range. The salesperson also admitted that it was more of a marketing strategy to release newer products and the difference was really an increased brightness / contrast. TV also not need so bright lah, so we settled for the JU7500, which came with a free sound bar - HW-J6501. Personal preference is to use TV speakers. Soundbar output sounds very 'fake'. So we used the soundbar's bluetooth interface to connect to our phones and played music instead when we didn't feel like watching TV.

55" is just nice for our living room. Viewing distance is around 2m and it's actually quite huge. I need to move my eyes to different segments of the screen, like reading subtitles. Glad we didn't go for a 65".

Projector
Sony VPL-HW50ES
It's an older obsolete model for all the home theatre gurus out there, but I got it because it's much lighter on the wallet! The newer model doesn't justify the much larger price increase over better specifications. Also reading multiple reviews on the internet kind of cemented that this is a better buy. Comes with 2 pairs of 3D glasses as it is also a 3D projector which we never use, maybe keep it for the kids who come to visit. 

Projector Screen
Remaco 80", Fixed
We didn't want to use the wall as a flat surface, so we got a fixed projector screen with a matt surface to reduce glare. The home theatre guys came over to do a site visit and he advised that this was the biggest we could go for a 3m room, deducting the length of the projector and considering the viewing distance as well. The total cost of projector + screen is cheaper than a 80" TV so I think it's a good buy. After all, it gives a bigger wow factor too. Haha.

 

Surround Sound System
Bose CineMate 520
Some of you will disagree, but for the price, can lah. After all, how loud can you play your movies in a HDB block. Haha. I like Bose because it 'just works', and comes in a complete package. The pricing by Atlas is also very transparent. I don't have to consider buying speaker cables, different systems to join them up then fiddle with digital and analog sound. The consideration was really between their higher end LifeStyle system versus the CineMate system. The speakers used are the same, just a different central console. The more expensive one comes with a nicer user interface and a better remote. No need lah. I buy Bose for the sound, not the user interface I hardly see because I want to watch movies, not admire the user interface. Half the price leh.

Refrigerator
Samsung RSH7UNSL1
We want a water dispenser with automatic ice maker option. Lazy to keep refilling ice and worry that when you have guests over there is not enough ice. Nowadays many of the other brands and models come with a water container that is used with the dispenser. Quite troublesome to keep refilling, the purpose of the dispenser is to avoid all of the refilling in the first place, so we wanted a fridge that uses the water point. These kind of fridges usually come with a water filter as well, so quite good leh.

Washing Machine
Samsung WD80J6410AW
I tell you ah, these model numbers very difficult to remember. It's a washer dryer combo, 8kg/6kg. Can do steaming, quick wash, all the super functions. Good enough for 2 people. More than enough. We were comparing between the Samsung and a similar LG model. Samsung was cheaper. Done. It's a washing machine. As long as the clothes get washed properly and dried properly, can already. When we first started using a washing machine, I thought it was more complicated to use than my handphone. Can we have a washing machine that just has 1 button too? Haha.

 

Induction Hob
Bosch PMI723BHK
Wife doesn't like gas hobs, and I regularly use portable induction hobs and they work just as well. So we got the Bosch because it was the prettiest one with German technology. Don't have to worry about contacting City Gas for piping concerns and stuff like that. We installed a master switch below the hob and most of the time it is turned off because we eat out regularly. Black because white will turn yellowish. But black can see dust easily. Sigh.

Hood
Bosch DHI9235SG
Simple one will do, this one have to pull out when we want to use. Not much suction, so we use a cover for the frying pans, makes clean up work easier too. Anyway for HDB there isn't much space for the air to ventilate, and when we were young there were no hoods at all. You can consider investing in a better model if you do heavy cooking regularly.

Oven
Bosch HBN331E1K
Wife likes to bake, so we got a lower-mid range one. Parisilk has most of the popular Bosch models on display at Holland Drive, and when I saw the top end one with the LCD screen I was super hooked. But the price also very nice.. Thought of importing from the UK through Borderlinx and it was actually cheaper than the retail price in Singapore with the shipping charges. But wife didn't approve. So, settled for this model instead.

 

Ceiling Fans
KDK 48" and 56"
We saw some home owners using the Haiku range and wanted to buy them too, but we bought 4 KDK fans for less than the price of 1 Haiku fan. Maybe next time then upgrade. 56" for the living room and 3 units of 48" for the 3 rooms upstairs.

 

 

Air Con
Mitsubishi Electric Starmed
We needed 7 units, so we got a System 4 and a System 3. A bit extreme, but many maisonettes around our areas also use 2 compressors. Of course we don't turn on all of them at the same time lah..
- Living Room x 1
- Dining Area x 1
- Entertainment Room x 1
- Foyer x 1
- Master Bedroom x 1
- Study Room x 1
- Guest Room x 1

We applied to HDB to put the compressors outside the house instead of the balcony area like many maisonettes as we wanted to close off the double volume space and air condition our dining area. Because it was not usual for a maisonette to do so we had to communicate with HDB a few times before getting approval. They were worried about the electrical loading of using 2 Compressor units as well as ensure that we only hang 1 compressor on each wall panel to preserve the structural integrity. Makes sense.

Lights
IKEA, Philips, Chan Huat
This is the fun part. I was inspired by andotang's Philips Hue Lighting system so I got it installed as well. As the new Lightstrips Plus range was only released late last year, I made a preorder on Amazon UK and had them shipped to Singapore through Borderlinx. I also ordered the new Hue Bridge 2.0 set which came with 3 bulbs. We installed the lightstrips in the entertainment room, living room, dining room and master bedroom. Because we made cove lights in the ceiling, the new lightstrips plus was actually bright enough to replace T5 LEDs.

Other lights were purchased from IKEA and LED downlights from Chan Huat house brand. If I could do it again I would invest a bit more money and get Philips downlights because the Chan Huat ones are not very good. 'Leak' electricity. We have a 3 gang switch in the rooms, and when you turn on the fan, the downlights will flicker due to the 'surge' in electricity. We'll show you more of the IKEA designs we bought in the later photos.

Hi do you mind to share the link on Amazon UK for the Philips Hue? Thank you.

[dxhan 5]

20 hours ago, Mannequin said:

Hi do you mind to share the link on Amazon UK for the Philips Hue? Thank you.

Hey!

The link for the starter kit:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Ambiance-Wireless-Lighting-Starter/dp/B01K1WP7Z4/ref=dp_ob_title_light

The link for the Lightstrip Plus Kit (2m):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0148NMVQA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the 1m extension:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0148NMVJW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can add up to 10m of lightstrips with the Kit and Extension combined.