Small House Holding Our Big Dreams

[Catt 8]

3 minutes ago, stray said:

@Catt i know right!?!?!! but one can dream  one day i'll get those sky lights, maybe a cozy brick nook with a modern matte fireplace aka modern rustic, walk out to my little herb garden with an outdoor grill, a wide expense of forest 

I was looking forward to creating a step-down marble pool in my living room and one of those pool bars in the center where me and my friends could hang out, have mojitoes and watch TV at the same time.....one day...

[stray 12]

HAHAHA that's waaaaaay too indulgent. Next up, walks out to the patio of your mid-century ranch mansion overlooking the night lights of LA. 

Edited August 26, 2016 by stray

[lowkit14 0]

19 hours ago, Catt said:

25 Aug'16 Update

Guess who's here?

One more time with feeling! Unnngggh! So...soo...sooo pretty!

Went up today to meet the salesperson from Softhome to measure for roller blinds, and to provide me with a quote. He was such a sweet young thing that I felt bad making him come all the way down from Tannery Lane. Customer service was great and he seemed to be looking out for me on cost, and could advise me on the colours that would possibly match the rest of the house, as well as the type of blinds to pick. I wanted half the windows in the living room to be dim-out ones and others in front of the television to be blackout. However, he advised that if I was reclining on the L-part of the couch (far left), I would be able to see a reflection on the telly. Full blackout would render the house too dark, but if it bothered me I guess I could always roll up one side and NOT WATCH TV (light doesn't bother me to be honest since my TV is not that reflective, but I like the idea of a blackout cinema experience). 

Anyway, I made up my mind very quickly on some blackout pvc greyish-taupe-ish blinds. Seriously every colour I have picked for my new place is a shade that I can find in my 400-strong collection of nail polish. The quoted price seemed reasonable as I was expecting something in the 1000s (don't ask me why but I keep thinking that roller blinds and curtains are very expensive), but I guess since my windows are not that big, the total price was not as high as I thought it would be. Installation will be another 1-2 weeks from now.

I know I said no more pictures until the furniture is in, but I since I stayed behind till sunset, I decided to play with the lights. I'm glad they turned out alright and the house isn't as dark (and luckily not bright!) as I thought it would be. My phone-cam turns all the lights more yellow than they actually are.

The Teka hob was installed today. They forgot to plug it in, so it was a good thing my cabinet had a little pulldown door underneath to slide my arm in and reach the socket. The hood needs polishing- so many handprints 

Sink  with the countertop on it. The tap will be installed tomorrow.

Full kitchen view with the lights. I love the light effect! Sorry my wall lights are still wrapped in plastic...will only remove them after the reno is done.

Our plain bedroom. Look how at how many handprints there are on the wardrobe 

One last look with all the lights on in the living room and hall (?? don't know what to call the ex-living room). Can't wait to move in as it looks so inviting!

 

hi Catt,

Love your kitchen.  can i trouble u to pm me the cost of the sliding doors to the kitchen?  Thanks.

[Catt 8]

30 Aug'16 Final Handover:

IT'S A WRAP FOLKS!

Oh yeah I had them install these towel pegs in the bathroom so that once we exit the shower area, we can stretch our arms and grab a towel. It's located as far away as possible from the shower stall which is only 70 cm in length (so water will definitely spray out) and away from the pipes because...it's just a little gross to think of our towels touching a sewage pipe.

Up Next:

1) Roller Blinds installation (3 Sep'16)

2) Change of lockset (sometime this week hopefully, if I can make time to go to the locksmith's)

3) Installation of clothes hanging rack (procrastinating a little here)

4) Delivery of furniture & white goods

5) Moving in!

Review of Contractor T of Hoong Fatt Heng Renovation

In retrospect, despite all the issues with the painters and electricians and the general untidiness of the workers, I have to say that Contractor T is a man with a very very good temper, and he acts on what he promises me. I know that he had dealt with the neighbour problem (the leaking floor/ceiling) and did not involve me at all, which I am really grateful for. At times I think it is my personality and expectations from a corporate workplace that carried over into life outside of work. People do not always act the way I think they should. Many a times, he actually listened to my request, and even though he didn't say anything about carrying it out, he finds a way to do it and does surprise me when I visit the house. In my workplace, I expect clear timelines, constant communication on every little change - no surprises- I'm the person in my organisation who is tasked to know it all, even if you are going to fart I would have already known you would.

Tiling and Carpentry: I've probably repeated this a few times in this blog, but I really like the tiling work that was carried out by his team. The carpentry work, though lacking in the design area, is one of those that are sturdy and well-aligned. In both these areas, the uncles and di-dis made me feel that they were really considerate to the user as they filed and sanded down sharp edges and also provided practical suggestions when I threw some weird ideas to them. Problems were corrected instantly, and on the whole, I felt that I was given very little problems in these two usually problematic areas.

Painting and Electrical: Again repeating myself. I probably have higher expectations in these areas because my dad does his own trunking and electrical works around the house and is therefore my benchmark. He has never done up trunking with big gaps or torn anything before.  I've helped my dad paint our various homes over the years, so more or less I know what can be done and what can't. Contractor T had tried his best and ceded to my request to send in new workers to rectify the paint and plaster job. I do not fault him for that, I just feel that with better workers he would probably do better. In a commercial setting, the work done would have been acceptable, but in a residential home where faults are magnified by everyday scrutiny and use, I think he needs people with a more delicate touch.

Plumbing: Nothing has burst so far and water gushes out where it is supposed to. His plumbing guys are also very cute boys so I give them some brownie points. It helped that they gifted me the adapter for the kitchen tap. They also did the installation for the toilet sink, medicine cabinet, heater, shower, toilet bowl, and that spray backside hose thing (bidet?? isn't that like a WC-type bowl?). Nothing has collapsed on me or broke either, up to this point.

Would I recommend his company? Yes I would (and not because of the plumbing boys ok ). In terms of timeline, he has delivered before the date (first week of October) I gave him. Yes, October is 3 months from July, when renovation usually takes 1.5 to 2 months. A few people have told me that I was dumb to tell him 3 months as they thought he would drag it out in place of other jobs, but he did not. Yes, he sucks at informing me of schedules (actually I've never received a schedule), but I've learnt that there is a method to his madness. Everything was done more or less in the weeks that he estimated for me verbally. Sometimes he forgets (e.g. he said he was going to stick something to reduce the gap in the main door- but he forgot- and I seriously can't be bothered at this point), but when I prompt him, he will quickly find a way to fix it. Overall quality of works- 3.5/5

That's all for now. Up next, furniture!

[Lazyfatcat007 5]

Congrats Catt!!! Looking forward to see your new house!

[Catt 8]

22 minutes ago, Lazyfatcat007 said:

Congrats Catt!!! Looking forward to see your new house!

Thanks thanks...it's been only 2 mths but it felt like forever!!

[trcd 13]

On 11 August 2016 at 3:59 PM, Catt said:

Question: The water pressure from the showerhead is really poor (there are these holes where the water sprays out, but the water is pathetically flowing out instead), but the pressure of the water coming out from the shower mixer tap and sink tap is really strong. Anyone have any idea if there's something in the showerhead that I need to remove in order to improve the pressure? I'm using a Grohe Tempesta.

11 Aug Update:

I should really send Darkling Half to supervise the renovation instead. I went yesterday and the main painter seemed really reluctant patch up the walls or corners. His excuse is always that the house is old.... wah...too used to working on BTOs or what? So pampered? It took me a lot of nagging just to get him to move his arse. When I complain to the contractor, he will just ask me to tell them myself. He would call them immediately to rectify, but it just annoys me that these people can be so lazy as to cut corners.

Today Darkling Half went to supervise the NetLink installers. While she was there, she was scrutinizing the paint and plaster job being carried out. She really 鸟 (bird) the painters who not only peed all over my toilet seat (and I know it's them as I left the house yesterday with the cardboard box taped over the seat and today it's gone) and denied it was them, but did a pretty bad job painting the corners of the ceiling and the frame of the main entrance door. Yeah I know the door is old and the house is old..but doesn't give you an excuse to not sand before painting right?! I'm not asking for a smooth wall as I never asked for plastering of the walls, but if I see an anomaly from the rest of the surface, they should patch it, and patch it well. Not paint over bubbles and old lumps of paint.

When the NetLink installers had to open up the electrical trunking to run the fibre optic cable, the main painter refused to patch up the trunking again, telling Darkling Half that she should get the NetLink installers to do it. She was so pissed off because why would Netlink installers be carrying plaster? In the end she asked another painter to do the patching, which he did. Tsk..very naughty. Super attitude... too bad for them she has worse attitude...and does look at times like an angry ah beng/ ah lian hog.

SIMI SAI: 

The only thing I can't complain about is the tiling work and plumbing, other than that...tskk tsskkk tssskk....

Reading this post really reminds me of my own renovation as the problems are too similar!

Contractor/workers just say old house is like that one.. What to do... Wall not even, door frames surely rough after painting, etc. Anything, they just say the house is old. Like that lo. *roll eyes*

My instant water heater also has very poor water pressure. Checked with town council, and they sent a plumber who verified that my water pressure is ok. It is probably the heater (no pump) or the hand shower. I'm probably going to get a separate hand shower to test if it works... You can get the town council to check the valve outside your flat. You don't have to be home for that.

 

[Catt 8]

@trcd so glad to hear from you! How's your reno going? With regards to the painting and plastering work, we requested for a change in workers and parked ourselves at the house one entire day scrutinizing the touch up done. It just baffles me why they couldn't do it well the first time and get it over and done with. Painting and spot-plastering took 7-9 days...good grief. Water pressure turned out to be user problem as I didn't do the correct adjustments to my showerhead. I also read that getting a smaller showerhead with tinier 'holes' forces the water out at a higher pressure (if you fancy public swimming pool shower-type monsoon pressure). Forgot to add:  Try to isolate to the exact item causing the poor pressue. If pressure from your other water outlets is fine, it could be the heater or showerhead. Turn off the heater and turn on the cold water. If it's fine, it's the heater. If it's poor, it's the shower.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Catt

[trcd 13]

On 26 August 2016 at 1:53 PM, Catt said:

26 Aug'16 Update:

Oopsies, no installation of kitchen faucet today because:

1) Carpenter did not open a wide enough hole for the plumbing guys to reach their arm in to connect the faucet to water pipe (again the technicality of it escapes me, but I know something cannot reach la).

2) Plumbing guys need to buy an adapter for the faucet. Something about how the faucet pipe does not fit Singapore ones. They will all be back on Monday with the adapter and drill bit for enlarging the cabinet hole.

On the other hand, my Taobao mirror cabinet has been installed:

Review on this mirror LED light cabinet: There are probably 2 minor scratches on the mirror that will bother me and anyone else with OCD. Otherwise the condition is not too bad. The wiring inside is horrendous, but what do I expect with 200 SGD (inc. shipping and delivery). If I bought something of this size here, it would be $300 SGD and above. The LED lighting is okay, more for decorative purposes. You won't be able to use it for squeezing blackheads as it is not bright enough, but you can brush your teeth with the dim lighting. If the LED strip spoils, I don't know if I need to pluck it out or just leave it there and waste a light switch (located outside the toilet entrance). The cabinet itself has a switch. You can't switch on the cabinet with that external switch, only if you switch on the external switch AND the cabinet switch. The logic is baffling...but there you have it. Different people think differently... obviously I am not from this planet.

My iron main gate is screwed and there is nothing the contractor can do. I've resigned myself to looking for another gate contractor and dismantling (wasting money) on this ugly one.

Anyone tried this company? http://www.steeldios.com/

Some nonsense that I must go and Happy Hour off later:

By the way, today my contractor claimed he paid out of his own pocket to the neighbour living below my apartment- 4 items the neighbour claimed was damaged by the leaking (e.g. a kettle?!). Some people are really just out to take advantage of others. And ah...and ah...I SAW THAT THE WORKERS USED "APPLE WHITE" PAINT TO PATCH THE WALLS WHICH WERE PAINTED WITH "SNOW WHITE". What the #@%&*!! So I'm not crazy and there's nothing wrong with my eyes! No wonder the beam looked kinda green kinda cream... I was speechless when I saw the opened tin of Apple White left behind for me. I felt a universe of silence surround me and for a moment I thought I was having a slight stroke because my brain didn't know how to react- laugh, cry or scream or ..throw the paint on myself?   

My final quote is $560 above the original quote, which is good in my opinion as I heard the buffer people should give is about $5000. I was also charged for the minor plaster patching works on the walls and ceilings at approx $380, so I don't owe him anything.

Steeldios - highly recommended for the good workmanship! I will attach a picture shortly!

Do you need the contact?

[Catt 8]

@trcd YES! How's the quality of their soldering? Do you know if they redo door frames+door and patch up the tiles, walls after that? If you dont it's fine as I can enquire. This main door/ gate is my sorest spot out of the entire reno!

[trcd 13]

8 minutes ago, Catt said:

@trcd so glad to hear from you! How's your reno going? With regards to the painting and plastering work, we requested for a change in workers and parked ourselves at the house one entire day scrutinizing the touch up done. It just baffles me why they couldn't do it well the first time and get it over and done with. Painting and spot-plastering took 7-9 days...good grief. Water pressure turned out to be user problem as I didn't do the correct adjustments to my showerhead. I also read that getting a smaller showerhead with tinier 'holes' forces the water out at a higher pressure (if you fancy public swimming pool shower-type monsoon pressure). Forgot to add:  Try to isolate to the exact item causing the poor pressue. If pressure from your other water outlets is fine, it could be the heater or showerhead. Turn off the heater and turn on the cold water. If it's fine, it's the heater. If it's poor, it's the shower.

I changed painters 4x. Nightmare.

I couldn't take it anymore, and sanded the doors myself with fine sandpaper... Painted the edges of the door frames.. Crawled on the floor with a rag and armed with thinner to clean off paint spots. So much that my right index finger lost its whorls for a few days... I have some plastering to do this weekend *cries*

[trcd 13]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

@trcd YES! How's the quality of their soldering? Do you know if they redo door frames+door and patch up the tiles, walls after that? If you dont it's fine as I can enquire. This main door/ gate is my sorest spot out of the entire reno!

They only do metalworks. (I also buay tahan my door frame).

for the door frames, i was advised to get sandpaper and wood filler. It's quite easy: sand, apply wood filler, let it dry, sand, paint!

after i nagged contractor for the terrible work on the door frames and painting, he said it's because the door frames are old (i retained them!). I asked why the painting was so slip-shod as you can feel the roughness on the frames. He then said because had to pay extra for sanding down (which was NOT communicated to me earlier). Of course I was fuming. Too late already...

[Catt 8]

5 minutes ago, trcd said:

I changed painters 4x. Nightmare.

I couldn't take it anymore, and sanded the doors myself with fine sandpaper... Painted the edges of the door frames.. Crawled on the floor with a rag and armed with thinner to clean off paint spots. So much that my right index finger lost its whorls for a few days... I have some plastering to do this weekend *cries*

Omg high-5!!!!! Though it ain't something to really be 5-ing about. I smell like thinner and turpentine the entire week coz I was cleaning up paint spots myself. Friday I'm taking leave to do more painting on ceilings ( dunno WHY they just need to leave a black handprint on the ceiling and a random grey paint spot.... ), pipes and the main door. Am also prepared to patch some grouting in case they didn't do so last Saturday and I forgot to check.

[trcd 13]

On 30 August 2016 at 4:57 PM, Catt said:

30 Aug'16 Final Handover:

IT'S A WRAP FOLKS!

Oh yeah I had them install these towel pegs in the bathroom so that once we exit the shower area, we can stretch our arms and grab a towel. It's located as far away as possible from the shower stall which is only 70 cm in length (so water will definitely spray out) and away from the pipes because...it's just a little gross to think of our towels touching a sewage pipe.

Up Next:

1) Roller Blinds installation (3 Sep'16)

2) Change of lockset (sometime this week hopefully, if I can make time to go to the locksmith's)

3) Installation of clothes hanging rack (procrastinating a little here)

4) Delivery of furniture & white goods

5) Moving in!

Review of Contractor T of Hoong Fatt Heng Renovation

In retrospect, despite all the issues with the painters and electricians and the general untidiness of the workers, I have to say that Contractor T is a man with a very very good temper, and he acts on what he promises me. I know that he had dealt with the neighbour problem (the leaking floor/ceiling) and did not involve me at all, which I am really grateful for. At times I think it is my personality and expectations from a corporate workplace that carried over into life outside of work. People do not always act the way I think they should. Many a times, he actually listened to my request, and even though he didn't say anything about carrying it out, he finds a way to do it and does surprise me when I visit the house. In my workplace, I expect clear timelines, constant communication on every little change - no surprises- I'm the person in my organisation who is tasked to know it all, even if you are going to fart I would have already known you would.

Tiling and Carpentry: I've probably repeated this a few times in this blog, but I really like the tiling work that was carried out by his team. The carpentry work, though lacking in the design area, is one of those that are sturdy and well-aligned. In both these areas, the uncles and di-dis made me feel that they were really considerate to the user as they filed and sanded down sharp edges and also provided practical suggestions when I threw some weird ideas to them. Problems were corrected instantly, and on the whole, I felt that I was given very little problems in these two usually problematic areas.

Painting and Electrical: Again repeating myself. I probably have higher expectations in these areas because my dad does his own trunking and electrical works around the house and is therefore my benchmark. He has never done up trunking with big gaps or torn anything before.  I've helped my dad paint our various homes over the years, so more or less I know what can be done and what can't. Contractor T had tried his best and ceded to my request to send in new workers to rectify the paint and plaster job. I do not fault him for that, I just feel that with better workers he would probably do better. In a commercial setting, the work done would have been acceptable, but in a residential home where faults are magnified by everyday scrutiny and use, I think he needs people with a more delicate touch.

Plumbing: Nothing has burst so far and water gushes out where it is supposed to. His plumbing guys are also very cute boys so I give them some brownie points. It helped that they gifted me the adapter for the kitchen tap. They also did the installation for the toilet sink, medicine cabinet, heater, shower, toilet bowl, and that spray backside hose thing (bidet?? isn't that like a WC-type bowl?). Nothing has collapsed on me or broke either, up to this point.

Would I recommend his company? Yes I would (and not because of the plumbing boys ok ). In terms of timeline, he has delivered before the date (first week of October) I gave him. Yes, October is 3 months from July, when renovation usually takes 1.5 to 2 months. A few people have told me that I was dumb to tell him 3 months as they thought he would drag it out in place of other jobs, but he did not. Yes, he sucks at informing me of schedules (actually I've never received a schedule), but I've learnt that there is a method to his madness. Everything was done more or less in the weeks that he estimated for me verbally. Sometimes he forgets (e.g. he said he was going to stick something to reduce the gap in the main door- but he forgot- and I seriously can't be bothered at this point), but when I prompt him, he will quickly find a way to fix it. Overall quality of works- 3.5/5

That's all for now. Up next, furniture!

Your living area is incredibly spacious! Time to put in a huge sofa to lounge in...

I so adore the kitchen and the lighting looks great there! Lovely grey door. 

You must have devoted a **** lot of energy and time to oversee all the little things. Worth it though.

Are you changing the lockset for the main door? Do check out the shop at New World Centre if you haven't done any shopping yet.

[Catt 8]

5 minutes ago, trcd said:

Your living area is incredibly spacious! Time to put in a huge sofa to lounge in...

I so adore the kitchen and the lighting looks great there! Lovely grey door. 

You must have devoted a **** lot of energy and time to oversee all the little things. Worth it though.

Are you changing the lockset for the main door? Do check out the shop at New World Centre if you haven't done any shopping yet.

@trcd Huge sofa coming soon... I will miss the space though.

The grey door looks fine far away...up close it's not as sanded down as it should be.

Yup lighting plays a big part in making things look better than they are, hence I'm fond of warm lighting as they soften everything.

Going to Jln Sultan on Friday to check out locksets at Shanghai Tong Lee. Hope I find some goodies!