My Modern Zen 2-Room 35sqm (Type 1) HDB BTO Apartment Renovation Journey

[mmoh 66]

dont forget vinegar and coke too! lol

Go youtube and search cleaning tricks.

[MiniBean 2]

Very nice home! The lights make a great difference.

Thank you for sharing the photos and ups & downs.

i suppose you are eager to move in soon  

[RyanYTH 87]

2 minutes ago, MiniBean said:

Very nice home! The lights make a great difference.

Thank you for sharing the photos and ups & downs.

i suppose you are eager to move in soon  

Thank you very much!
Oh yes, renovation really is one big rollercoaster ride lol.
Definitely definitely eager to move in, in fact next week will start moving in liao

Oh and I just gotten update from Jason that Chemical washing have been
completed, so I'll probably be posting a new blog entry today!

[RyanYTH 87]

Blog Entry Date: 16th November 2017 Thursday
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9th Week after Key Collection - Chemical Washing Done. Everything is SO CLEAN!!

Today marks the Unofficial End of the Renovation.

Why Unofficial? Because for most people, Chemical Washing is usually the very last event at the end of their renovation. For me however, there is abit more to go because I still got Glass Works and Air-Con Installation, so its still not quite the end of Renovation for me yet.

Thinking back, how far I have come since January 2017 when I first started, asking many questions and blur blur without a clue on where and how to start, and now, its already considered almost the end already. Really emotional seeing the end result today.

But hey, don’t worry. Even if my Renovation has officially ended, I will still be posting more blog entries where possible, and try my best to answer any questions you have ok? I’m thinking of even doing an overall review maybe 6 months or even 1 year down the road when i’m well and truly settled down in my new home!

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So anyway, enough of my ramblings LOL!
Today is the day my apartment gets a complete Chemical Washing
which makes it actually in a condition that is suitable to start moving in.

Can you imagine I received this Whatsapp message from Jason this morning at 6.18AM!!??!!

Apparently he and his team were already at my place BEFORE 6AM!
At a time where most of us are probably still sleeping, he and his guys were at my place even earlier clearing rubbish and doing chemical washing! If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is! LOL!!

As I wasn’t there, I can’t tell you exactly what goes on during Chemical Washing.
All I know is that it is basically a complete overhaul and cleaning of EVERYTHING and ensuring that the entire apartment is sparkling new before doing final handover. What I always hear is some special acid will be used to do cleaning which will enable hardened cement pieces to easily come off.

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Before this Chemical Washing, what always greeted me whenever I entered the house, was always
a big pile of rubbish like this. Urgghhh! every time see so messy also psychologically very sian.



Also, this absolutely horrid looking caked with cement Bathroom Floor
which can never seem to be clean no matter how much I wash and scrub it.


Or these little annoying pieces of loose cement that I just can’t
seem to be able to pry out of the equally dusty and absolutely filthy floor.


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It turns out, I needn't have bothered to clean at all!!
Below are some pictures Jason took and showed me of the Cleaning guy in action.
I still can’t imagine having to do House Cleaning before 6AM in the morning LOL!!

I was really skeptical whether he can clean my Bathroom Floor well even with Chemical Washing
considering I used a very rough sandpaper feel floor at my Wet Area, and is naturally very hard to clean.

The results speak for themselves.
Check out how CLEAN the Bathroom Floor now looks!
I really cannot believe my eyes!! No more of that ugly patchy dusty and cement caked filthy floor! Woohoo!!



The cleaning guy was so good, he even helped scrapped off any cement stains and clean the OUTSIDE CORRIDOR of not only My Apartment but also my Next Door Neighbour’s Apartment to make sure everything swee swee so my next-door neighbour also feel happy. So nice of him to do that right??




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And the below pictures are how nice everything else looks now!
I literally lay down on the floor and had a little nap earlier! LOL!! 

Living Room
There are some masking tape all around, and that is to mark out areas for the Painters to do more touching up later.


Really like the Bathroom PD-Door I selected how the door gels so well with the steps
of my Bedroom Platform bed unintentionally forming a nice abstract geometric pattern.


Here’s another look, showing my Bedroom, Bathroom and Kitchen all in one shot.


Kitchen Area
Never have I ever seen my Kitchen Floor so clean before during Renovation LOL!!


Bedroom
Spick and Span dontcha think so? Again, more masking tapes were used to indicate areas to touch up.


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Oh ya! Something I realized about my Bomb Shelter Door.
When the bomb shelter door is closed, this is what people can see when they walk past.
Abit lack of privacy like that lah. Imagine me watching TV and people can look right in.


I realized just simply opening the Bomb Shelter Door will block 80% of the view, not only giving me privacy, but also allows me to open the Main Door to allow better air ventilation LOL!!  For some of you wanting to build additional door or wall for privacy, you can use this method as a cheaper free option instead!


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Oh and before I forgot, someone PMed me to request to have a closer look how I did the Kerb for the Entrance of my Bathroom, so here ya go! Tilers cut some extra Living Room floor tiles I got from BSC and laid them nicely.

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And so thats it.
With Chemical Washing done, I can basically move into my Apartment anytime now.

For most people, this would be the End of their Renovation.
For me, its just a wee bit more to go. I understand Tomorrow, the Aircon and Glass guys will come up do their installation and of course i’ll be taking pictures of their work done.

So ya, thats it for now, I’ll see you in the next blog entry!!

Click Here for the Next Blog Entry: 
End of 9th Week after Key Collection - Final Tasks: Aircon, Glass and Painting

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Edited November 22, 2018 by ryanyth

[mmoh 66]

congrats! but why do chemical washing b4 glass and aircon? why not do it after instead?

[RyanYTH 87]

45 minutes ago, mmoh said:

congrats! but why do chemical washing b4 glass and aircon? why not do it after instead?

Thanks!! I also dunno. Probably some Scheduling issues lol

Edited November 17, 2017 by ryanyth

[mmoh 66]

21 minutes ago, ryanyth said:

Thanks!! I also dunno. Probably some Scheduling issues lol

Then you better get your contractor to clean it up cos they are going to dirty your house. Or if Jason is the one who schedule such, you get him to arrange another cleaning (need not chemical cleaning) if the contractor did not clean it up enough.

[RyanYTH 87]

31 minutes ago, mmoh said:

Then you better get your contractor to clean it up cos they are going to dirty your house. Or if Jason is the one who schedule such, you get him to arrange another cleaning (need not chemical cleaning) if the contractor did not clean it up enough.

Yes Mom. lol

Edited November 17, 2017 by ryanyth

[RuFus58 14]

yup, i echo mmoh's concern as well. 
see your tiles now super shiny and gleaming. 
later the aircon and glass suppliers sure to put down/drag stuff and tiles will have some scratches etc
Thats why chemical wash must the last job. 

The ID did a bad planning.. no matter how careful they say they will be. 
if possible, get them to use carton box to cover the tiles again.. trolly wheels or boxes dragged sure to leave some unslightly damage.

 

that said, i must say a big WOAH!!!!!!! look at your home...  it looks awsome and ready!!!
just need a bed and can sleep there already.. lol, u already took a nap.. comparing your pg 1 to pg 17, can see how far the journey you have travelled.. the highs and lows.. Congrats Ryan!   

[RyanYTH 87]

11 hours ago, RuFus58 said:

yup, i echo mmoh's concern as well. 
see your tiles now super shiny and gleaming. 
later the aircon and glass suppliers sure to put down/drag stuff and tiles will have some scratches etc
Thats why chemical wash must the last job. 

The ID did a bad planning.. no matter how careful they say they will be. 
if possible, get them to use carton box to cover the tiles again.. trolly wheels or boxes dragged sure to leave some unslightly damage.

 

that said, i must say a big WOAH!!!!!!! look at your home...  it looks awsome and ready!!!
just need a bed and can sleep there already.. lol, u already took a nap.. comparing your pg 1 to pg 17, can see how far the journey you have travelled.. the highs and lows.. Congrats Ryan!   

Hahaha aizai dun worry! It's already the end of the renovation why sweat the little things right?

Anyway Jason say his guy will come clean clean again after furniture move in which is true also because I wall mount my tv also got drilling later.

For now...let me enjoy my cool cool Daikin Smile series aircon full blast!!
Especially after a hot shower!! Woooo shiok shiok!!! *shivers*

P.S. Nice or not my Aircon?

 

Edited November 17, 2017 by ryanyth

[RyanYTH 87]

Blog Entry Date: 19th November 2017 Sunday
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End of 9th Week after Key Collection - Final Tasks: Aircon, Glass and Painting

Should have posted this on Friday, but I was enjoying my new home turn on aircon relax too much
and didn’t go back to type out this Blog Entry!! Sorry~ To make up for it, i’m gonna do a double post okay?

So on Friday (17th November 2017), I had a couple of teams come over for the very final installations
to be done before Handover by Jason tomorrow on Monday (20th November 2017).
Nothing major happened, everything went smoothly, but still quite alot of action as you are about to see.

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First up, the Aircon guys from StarCool showed up.

Daikin 5 Ticks Smile Series System 2
2 Air-Cons (1 is 9000BTU, the other one is 18000BTU)
1 Giant Inverter / Compressor





Installing the Air-Con Base Plate first


Air-Con Base Plate installated, Piping routed and fitted.

Installing the Air-Con Main Unit

Close-up look at how complicated looking the Air-Con is


Covering up the Air-Con Main Unit with the Casing


Bedroom 9000BTU Air-Con Installed


Living Room 18000BTU Air-Con Installed
(Honestly not much difference in size comparing a 9000BTU unit and a 18000BTU unit,
I don’t know about Air-Cons, no idea what special component is inside to make it a Bigger BTU.
Any Tech Saavy readers knows? The cooling power of the 18000BTU definitely is much much stronger)


Here’s another look showing them installed asymetrically side by side.
(One thing to note if you are installing Air-Cons so closely, is that the Remote Control
may sometimes activate both Air-Cons at the same time with one button press.

A mild inconvenience, all you need to do is just shield the remote control with your
hand when pressing it, or just simply turn off the Air-Con that you accidentally turned on.)


Oh but we are not quite done! Not yet!
Still remember we have this Giant Inverter / Compressor to install?
This one was so heavy, 3 people were needed to carry and install it.

So one guy climbed out to the Air-Con ledge to prep the Air-Con piping that was also laid way back in Week 1 of the Renovation.

Nowadays it is mandatory for new HDB BTO flats to have a dedicated concrete ledge and metal barriers to prevent Inverter/Compressor from falling off, and also ensure the safety of the Air-Con installers.

Older HDBs built in the 1980s don’t have such features, and I really have
no idea how the Air-Con guys can install that safely. Really dangerous job.

So anyway, after prepping the piping outside, the guy will remain outside
while his 2 colleagues bring in the Inverter Compressor.


This part really made my heart skip a few beats because they had to then carefully fit the Giant Inverter/Compressor nicely through my Bathroom Window without causing any scratches to my Tiles or Window.

Luckily they were very professional about it, and it was all done nicely and safely. Phew!!!!
(Quite amusing to see them wear Mitsubishi Air-Con Shirt but installing Daikin Air-Con btw LOL!!)


Once safely outside, its just a matter of hooking up and installing the piping accordingly.
Luckily it was a bright sunny day. I wonder if the Air-Con guys will still install this Inverter/Compressor
if it was raining? Really dangerous job. Thank you so much!!!
(Treating them to some drinks at this point would be a nice way to thank them)

And of course, the end result of all that hard work is to enjoy the cool cool air!
Both Air-Cons worked and tested very well.

I timed the 18000BTU one, and within 5-10mins can immediately feel the cool crisp air.
Maximum Coolness was achieved in about 1.5 hour++ and this was tested on a hot sunny afternoon.
Coolness was felt in the entire Living Room which was what I wanted. Its not the freezing cold type, but you can definitely feel the coldness.

The whole place felt so fresh and clean! (Protip: Turning on the Ceiling Fan helps alot in decreasing the time it takes to cool the place)

As for the 9000BTU one, even when I did not have any barrier between my bedroom to the rest of my apartment, IT WAS STILL FREAKING COLD!!! Wooo!!!

In fact, when I was sleeping and set it to 23°C, I still woke up half-way freezing and shivering like mad LOL!! Guess I need to buy thicker blankets and maybe even a sweater!! LOL!!!

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Ok moving on, the Glass guys also came to do their installations.
Tempered glass is used for my Kitchen, and also a big panel to shield my Bathroom Vanity Storage against random water splashes while bathing.

Installing the Glass Backing at Kitchen




Cleaning the Bathroom Tempered Glass panel and installation.
This one also made my heart skip a beat when they were carrying it in,
but again, it was professionally installed with no hiccups!!! Double Phew!!






Applying special waterproof silicone to the glass panel


Closer Look at the Glass Corners
(A little bit dirty. No issues, it will be washed away during final cleaning)




Because of the way how I installed my Glass, there is this little narrow space that may be a little hard to clean. Its still doable though with a long thin stick with a nice pad of microfiber cloth.


Kitchen Glass Backing Completed


Kitchen Glass Backing with LED strips lighted


Glass Panel at the Bathroom


Another look at the Glass Panel at Bathroom

Glass works are really beautifully done!!

Love the beautiful black glass backing for my Kitchen!!
Love the glass panel at the bathroom where the water no longer splashes onto the Bathroom Vanity Storage. Really exudes a next level of classiness!!

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And finally, these 2 young chaps came over and touch up and basically apply 2nd coat of paint
to cover up any additional scuffles and dirt marks left by the earlier contractors.
They did a beautiful job of this and the whole place looks even nicer!

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And so with the conclusion of the final installations of all major works that were still
needed for my Renovation, this is officially the end of the Renovations for my Apartment.

Of course there is still one more cleaning scheduled by Jason, and he scheduled it after the moving in
of my furnitures. Just minor cleaning really, because the place is completely in a very good move in condition already.

What a long and fascinating journey it has been!!
Thank you so much for supporting my Blog!!

Stay tuned for the next Blog Entry where I will post the FINAL LOOK
of my Renovations done just before Handover!! *Excited*

Click Here for the Next Blog Entry: 
Renovations Completed! – A Final Look just before Handover

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Edited May 13, 2020 by hdb2roomrenovation

[RyanYTH 87]

Blog Entry Date: 19th November 2017 Sunday
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Renovations Completed! - A Final Look just before Handover

This Blog Entry is going to be a photo collection of the Final Look of the Renovations done
before Jason officially handover the Apartment back to me on Monday 20 November 2017.

9 weeks of Renovation. *Drum Rolls*
This is how it all finally looks like…

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Bedroom (Day Time)


Bedroom (Night Time)
The futon here is just a temporary thing I bought to sleep until my real mattress arrives.




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Bathroom (Day Time)


Bathroom (Night Time)


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Kitchen (Day Time)


Kitchen (Night Time)

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And so this is it. The final look of my Apartment after 9 long weeks of Renovation.
I'm so sorry my camera is so potato and couldn't produce better quality images lol.

I’m really happy to see how my Apartment turned out.
It was a really fascinating and fulfilling journey to personally design my initial 3D Sketch
via Planner 5D and see it from the initial 3D Concept Designs till finally appear in real-life.
A Journey that as you all can see, is filled with Ups and Downs.

And so, we have officially come to the End of my Renovations.

I really must thank each and everyone of you for being so supportive and following my blog. 
I hope it was entertaining (and educational) enough and I hope that by chronicling my journey and thoughts, will hopefully make it a less scary and confusing process for fellow 2 Roomers who is starting out with their Renovations.

This will certainly not be the last Blog Entry, as I intend to continue to add more entries such as my Furnitures and Electrical Appliances as they start delivering, and the little knick knacks and things to make it more like a HOME. (And of course I still need to provide the conclusion of my IKEA Curtain guide!! LOL!! )

A Special Thanks to Yvonne who is Rufus58's friend who offered her help with my DB-Box issue.
While I eventually did not engage her services, I am still truly appreciative of her willingness to help! Thank you!! 

Last but definitely not least, my Sincere Thanks to Mr Jason Tan from 96 Degree Designers 
and his many skillful and professional contractors who all worked very hard in making this dream home of mine. Well done Chaps!!

Once again, as I always say when signing off:
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you soon in my next Blog Entry!!

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Post Renovation – Furnitures and Appliances (Kitchen)

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Edited November 20, 2021 by RyanYTH

[mmoh 66]

clap clap clap.   Thanks for the taking of photos and arranging and uploading and typing down the whole process. Very detail and useful information. 

Have you tried shower and see if the water will splash onto the wooden door?

And I want to see pics with furniture!

[RyanYTH 87]

1 hour ago, mmoh said:

clap clap clap.   Thanks for the taking of photos and arranging and uploading and typing down the whole process. Very detail and useful information. 

Have you tried shower and see if the water will splash onto the wooden door?

And I want to see pics with furniture!

Thanks mmoh!

And thanks for your guidance every step of the way!!

And yes i have been showering a couple of times already the vanity storage area is completely dry never kena any wooden door. One of the first things i was afraid of.

Furnitures will come in progressively next week.

Meanwhile....my Big Shopping Trip at Daiso!! #ContributingToSingaporeEconomy Lololol

Edited November 19, 2017 by ryanyth

[2Roomer 7]

I have been following your blog closely and am really impressed with how you realised your vision. Your actual unit matches your initial plans very closely.  Thanks for all the useful advice you've dispersed throughout the blog. Looking forward to see how your unit looks with furniture and soft furnishings.