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You can clean the stains on your tile/grout using something called HCL89. I usually get it from http://hcl89.byethost10.com or http://hcl89.atwebpages.com What it does is that it removes any stains as well as well as cleans your tiles thoroughly One thing is the HCL89 does not react with any chrome or plated accessories so your accessories will remain safe as you clean the tiles Hope this helps you out

I remember using the the HCL89 from http://hcl89.byethost10.com for my timber floor some time ago, it managed to polish my timber floorings like glass it was a rather good product. Good thing i like about it was it actually acted as a sealer and sealed the timber flooring for me which i find important because in a humid weather like ours its always better to seal any natural wood tiles to prevent moisture so that the wood tiles won't age so fast. My 2 cents

You can also use something called HCL89 to restore your tiles back to its original self I usually get it from http://hcl89.byethost10.com or http://hcl89.atwebpages.com For me i find this the most effective in restoring your tiles back in situations like these My 2 cents

There was some issue with tough stains on my tiles so decided to use the HCL89 from http://hcl89.byethost10.com and was able to remove the stain completely. Tried alot of stuff like vinegar and etc, but it seems only this HCL89 worked best for me to clean my tiles, good product

Was having some issues about the homogeneous tiles in my bedroom as the grouts had become blackened and the tiles were becoming dull and I had used the HCL89 from http://hcl89.byethost10.com and it really helped to clean my tiles, recommended.

Actually no wax can be rather difficult to remove from tiles as it sticks to the tile's enamel

Those i think are red granite it will give your house a mediterranean look and feel

I don't think you can grind parquet from what i remember as parquet is basically wood, grinding it will cause alot scratches on the parquet

Had some issue with some tough stains on my homogeneous tiles, so decided to use the HCL89 from http://hcl89.byethost10.com and was able to remove the stain. Tried alot of stuff like vinegar and etc, but it seems only this HCL89 worked best for me to clean my tiles, good product

I hope this information will be useful to all homeowners who wish to save cost on home renovation works. Just as any other couples, we approached a few interior designers to build our dream home. To be frank, we were quite disappointed with their proposed ideas and design. Im proud to say we were the designers for our own home but of course with the help and advice from our contractor. Since we had to keep within our budget (arrival of our baby around the same time), we decided to do the renovation with a contractor after hearing from friends that it is possible to have a wow home makeover and save significant savings too. Information on renovation ideas are also readily available online. We were very much involved during the whole process. We invested our time on phone calls and checks to ensure evrything goes as plan such as the correct colours, design and layout as discussed with our contractors. Here are some of our house's photos in progress and the outcome. Im unable to upload all the completed photos due to size. All the best in planning your dream home!

But i guess if you have a mold problem then the black silicon would make the problem less obvious in my opinion

Actually you are right on this, i once dropped some wax on my tiles in my previous home, it was really impossible to remove

Alright folks.. Here are my pictures of my simple house. The theme is more like Nordic Minimalist. Feel free to correct me if u think it is another theme instead =) Kitchen: Before Kitchen: After Mini Laundry Area Bedroom: Before Bedroom: After Living Room: Before Living Room: After Work-Dining Area: Before Work-Dining Area: After Foyer: Before Foyer: After

Homogeneous tiles are like that they look very nice but have to be maintained

I noticed this as well, it very hard to try to find other types of woods

Coloured grouts may be nice but when it comes to maintaining these grouts it becomes difficult

@CaseBlue Here are the pictures of my completed bathroom. Hope it will help. Note: My bedroom-side toilet door (slide and swing) has customized dual locks. This way, I can lock from bedroom for privacy whenever i have overnight guests =)

i know how you feel. i waited 5+ years for my BTO, countless times i just stood outside the gate and "sayang-ed" my main door from outside lol

Just want to share my experience on finding a contractor to renovate my new 4RM bto located at Canberra Street. Myself I am not able to take bank loan as my credit report is not good. So I only about to ask my Friend to apply for me a 3rd party renovation loan from the bank. But sad to say the renovation quotation I received from some ID and contractor was around $24k to 26k. My loan from the bank only can approve at $16k. I have no choice to put the renovation on KIV. One day I was looking at internet and Facebook I saw a contractor posting saying that they are able to let client to pay partial amount of the renovation amount in monthly installment. I contacted him and have a met up with him. He quoted me for my renovation @ $23k and I am so lucky that he allow me to pay the balance 7k in monthly installment. The renovation work is still going on and now is awaiting for cabinet to be install. For those who have tight Budget or not enough money for renovation maybe you can pm for my contractor contact. Anyway the amount for installment is base on their comfortable amount. Thank you for reading my post and have a nice day.

The thing is no matter what colour grout you use you will still need to spend time and effort to keep your grouts clean

What i remember is that grinding actually grinds down the tile material but polishing seems to only to polish the tile enamel only

I really doubt its plaster because if its plaster it should be easy to remove, i think it should be something else in my opinion

On Dec 2017, I've signed a contract with Invictus Interior Design with a Senior Designer called Lawrence Ng . For the start, he show me many proposal for my home, however, i do not really like it. Nevertheless, within a week, he comes back to me with many alternative proposal. He really matches with i'm looking for in design. Price is a matter though, but with the testimonial and services given and shown, I'm willing to give a try. He is very patience and understanding. With many year of his experience, he really gives me a peace of mind in the way he speaks and the way he handle things. He update us weekly of the project progression and finished work done with promptly photo images sent to our group chat, he also pre-inform us what's coming next for the following week as we have time to call in for the delivery services like hood/hob, ceiling fan and etc... My wife and i really feels very comfortable that we sign with him. In the end of the days, my house is handed over back to us within the expected timeline with Good Workmanship. We invited him for our house warming celebration with my family and relatives. We're happy and want to share this with my friends and family for the renovation done by him, and proud to tell my family that "This is Lawrence, He's my designer! Anything, you can just look for him for renovation." I've got what I'm looking for so many months. Project delivered in Good workmanship and timeline. I Highly recommend Lawrence Ng (91140775) from Invictus Interior Design. Price may not be cheap, but definitely reasonable, with the services and result given, it definitely worth it. Good Job Lawrence! All the Best to you. Thank you very much once again.

Lawrence work coordination was superb fast!!! He know his stuff really well! I would say some of the items he quo was a bit pricey.. But overall it was a pretty fast and awesome experience working with him. Thank you Lawrence and invictus interior design company!

Parquet seems to always turn out this way although it may look rather nice but there is alot of maintenance going into parquet floorings too

Yes Restri, Agree!! Thank you lawrence too. i signed up with lawrence too from invictus interior design this year. Tumbs up!! He renovated my place too in April 2018. the way he handle his worker is really good. For project management side, no hassle. He will settle everything before you even start questioning him. Result of my house renovation overall i can give 5/5. Design: 5/5 Price: 4/5 Coordination: 5/5 Service: 5/5 Workmanship: 5/5 If you want to renovate your house, with Good Service and Workmanship, pls look for Lawrence. his contact number is 91140775. Cheers!

Mold always occurs in areas with high moisture especially in toilets or rooms that are near toilets

Yes yes quite a lot.. don't faint at my feedback list lol.. Pardon me for unclear description of some items. During fabrication/measurement, I "sweet-talked" the carpenter to give me free shelves for DB box and he gave me "OK" sign immediately haha.. Actually, mirror door was added in at the last minute when renovation was about to end I reckon that if i were to ask for mirror door in the beginning, shelves would be automatically included. You and @mmoh are well-informed about JRL.. Of course, I was pleased to know there would be MRT station (Tengah Park) nearby but N.I.N.E years to be ready?? oh well..

Actually it also depends on the different kinds of tiles as well like for example homogeneous tiles tend to get dirty more easily

Finally my reno was completed and I would like to share with you guys what I have done to my place. Simple furnishing in dark earthly tone. 1. Living and bed room without furniture yet. 2. Furniture starts coming in.. 3. Re-tiled bathrooom (can't stand the original HDB white tiles...) 4. Kitchen with subway tiles

Personally i would hack the parquet floor and then put the vinyl tiles. But one question why do you want to remove the parquet tiles?

Correct, polishing should be fine but not grinding for ceramic as the ceramic tiles will be scratched

Wallpaper up and ready to move in Living rm Bedroom

TS if you wan you can try to use acrylic paint to paint your door, i will give a more better feel in my opinion

Personally i would use a darker colour so that in the future when the grouts become dirty or stained it won't be too visible

Marble flooring are like that if you spill anything on marble its better to clean it up fast

Repair KDK SS30H fan The standing fan has not been working properly recently. Few months back, when i press the "Louvre" button, the fan will automatically switched off. I can live without that function, so i just let it be. Recently, when i adjust the speed or switch on the fan, the power cut off after 1 sec of operation. So it's officially dead and i tried my luck and did a google search to see whether there is any way to revive it before throwing it away. I realised that this is a cmmon issues faced by people that got KDK fans in recent years, and the main faulty component is a capacitor inside the circuit board. So i decided to DIY and repair the fan myself. Time to dismantle the fan, unscrew every possible screws attached! After remove the top cover, the circuit board is exposed. The culprit is the yellow capacitor. Bought the replacement capacitor online, you can also get it from Sim Lim Tower. Each capacitor cost around $3. Make sure the specification is correct! 1.0uF / 275 VAC. I bought some extra and if anyone wanted to buy from me just PM me. Use a test pen to pry the capacitorto remove it from the glue, and snip off the two metal legs. Placed the new capacitor carefully, ensuring the existing leg touches the new leg properly, before solder them together and snip off the excess protruding part. Before soldering After soldering Time to do testing by pressing the On/Off, Timer and Louvre button. Yay it works! Hope this post will be able to help anyone that encounters similar issue and would like to try repairing the fan yourself.

TS you have any pictures of how the holes look like?

Blog Entry Date: 12th November 2017 Sunday Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents End of 8th Week after Key Collection - Installed shelves for DB-Box, Solving Electrical Issues, and a Special Look at the Completed Works so far! Hello everyone, so this is the 2nd post where I’ll talk about events that happened on Saturday 11th November 2017. Before I do that, I wanna give a special shout-out to 2 lovely ladies who came over to take a look at my place and they told me they’ve been following this renotalk blog? OMG!! Apparently, they are also my downstairs neighbour!?!! I’m so sorry I didn’t manage to catch your forum nicks, also very paiseh my place looked so messy lol. Whoever you are, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok moving along. Guess what? Apparently the DBBox Cabinet installation wasn’t quite finished yet, and the Carpenters came to install a couple of shelves for it. Carpenter working on adding Shelves to the DB-Box Cabinet DBBox Cabinet Shelves Completed Not bad, I can put my WIFI Network Router on it nicely I guess. I requested for no shelves at the bottom sliding door area though. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh but Saturday’s Main Event has got to be the Electrical guys coming up to install the rest of my electrical works. Quite a fair bit of issues that cropped up I might add. Before I show all the issues that cropped up though, I'm happy to report that Ceiling Cove Light is no longer tripping Electrical MCB when I tested it. This bothered me quite abit, and I'm glad that at least this is resolved. Now on to the issues. First Issue: Almost immediately, we encountered an issue with the Dining Table Downlight. The downlight and LED Driver I bought apparently is too thick to be able to fit in nicely. Uh-Oh. After checking with Jason, he told me he would settle it later with either buying a more suitable downlight or check with his carpenters if they can modify it, need to see how. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Issue: While installing my Ariston Oven, apparently the Oven I got had a plug head thats using a Non-Singapore styled plug-head!?!?! At this point, I had to make a decision on the spot whether to cut the plug-head and connect it directly to the electrician’s electrical coupler. Cutting the plug-head would mean I might void my Ariston Oven Warranty though… Incompatible Oven Plug on the Left, Electrician’s Coupler on the Right. Aiyoh, after everything go so well with my Sanitary Fittings, SaniQUO sabo me at this last minute! At this point of the renovation, I was already very tired to chase anymore, and I just want everything to be completed. So I told them to proceed to cut the plug-head lah. If Oven do indeed break down, I’ll just act blur tell Ariston people I don’t know lor see how they react. Hope they still honor the warranty because they shouldn’t have given me an incompatible plug-head in the first place anyway?? Hope this oven can at least last a few more years before breaking down lor. Some of ya’ll reading may be thinking…Hmm…why not use those Adapter to fit the Non-Singapore Plug right? PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT!!! Oven is very High Amp Appliance at 15A and its better and safer to use Electrician’s Coupler which is rated at 20A. In fact the Electrician was surprised that my Oven came with a Plug-Head in the first place. Most Ovens according to him come with No Plug Head and is ready to connect to Electrician’s Coupler anyway? So Dear Readers, if you buy Ovens, do take note of this potential issue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third Issue: The LED Strips on the Washing Machine side of my Kitchen had some powerpoint issues that they needed to resolve with Jason, so they would not be installing it yet. This one sounds abit technical and complicated. I also dunno how to explain it properly, and I’ll just let Jason liase with them to handle this one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo Collection of Electrical Works I got the Electricians to dismantle and redo new Electrical Switches, but it seems that the buttons still feel crooked especially the water heater button as you can see. I can see the Electrician has tried his best already. It looks like issue is due to the quality of the switches itself. I’ll be checking with Jason how we can resolve this. Electrical Switches at Kitchen So funny, these switches here are so nicely done compared to the other ones I pictured above. Working on Switches at Kitchen (At Opposite Side) Fujioh 2 Ring Induction Cooktop is ready to use! (Haven’t actually cooked anything yet though.) Ariston Oven seems operational, at least the lights can turn on LOL!! Ceiling Wiring doing Concealment to prep for my Ceiling Fan (Shifting the cables towards Centre of my L-Box Cove Ceiling) Adding a hole for installation of Ceiling Fan Regulator --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With all of the issues and Work in Progress pictures out of the way, THE BELOW PICTURES were the end result of the Electrician’s work. Of course there ARE still issues to sort out, but I simply can’t help but have a big smile on my face when I saw these photos I took… My Bedroom Macdonalds has Samurai Burger, I have Samurai Bedroom!! LOL!! My Bathroom Got Hotel Standard or not? My Kitchen Actually only one side of the Kitchen for now, but yea I’m happy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What do ya’ll think so far? Light really does enhance the look greatly don’t you think? The last few pictures I took really caught me off-guard. I myself can’t help but gawk and open my mouth big big at what was done. OMG I look forward to MOVING IN!!!!! With 8th week now behind me, I’m now looking forward to the 9th and Final Week! This is it, the final lap for my renovations!! Thanks for sticking around so far, and I’ll see you in the next blog entry!! Click Here for the Next Blog Entry: 9th Week after Key Collection - Ceiling Fan is Up Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents

This kind of issue with plastering is common and nothing to worry about

The message ive been waiting for so long finally arrives!!

Very long time never update the blog already. Sorry folks. Still waiting for my keys from HDB argghhh. Just wanna upload this simple but important milestone picture. The FIRST TIME i can literally stand right at my apartment's doorstep and touch my house gate!! AHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?! where are my keys HDB??????

nice, good space planning n color combi.. tv 65" kinda oversize, if can reduce 55'' i am also a future 2room owner, coming sept to choose unit at punggol... side track a little, i am also an ID for 4years, those 2rooms owners feel free to contact me for advices or reno, quote renotalk 2roomer, giving good rate for 2rooms owners like myself thanks everyone.. pm me

TS you mean the stain is black in colour or is it your tiles are the one that is black?

And as promised, here are pictures of the completed revamped bathrooms! Ta-da! 180 degree change from before right?

Lightings! Pics taken by my id before cleaning. Entrance Kitchen Bathroom Living Room

Hi, Can you quote me psf hacking and laying tiles for toilet and kitchen. (floors and walls) Got about 7 toilets to do and a kitchen. Thank you

I think if the cement is becoming yellow a short while later its probably during the cement mixing at the time too much water was used

Blog Entry Date: 19th November 2017 Sunday Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents

Blog Entry Date: 5th November 2017 Sunday Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents End of 7th week after Key Collection. Carpentry Works - Part 3 / 3 Whoops seems like I've exceeded the maximum image storage limit of 35.12mb in Renotalk. Well, when you have 30 blog entries (And Counting), it adds up Lucky I had a backup blog hosted on Wordpress, so i'm gonna link my images from there. That said, just a gentle reminder, I have an exact copy of the same blog hosted on Wordpress, in case this blog in Renotalk gets taken down for any reason in the future. The Wordpress one is also a preferred link, if you prefer reading the blog from beginning to end with no interruptions. So once again, the web address for the Wordpress version of my Blog is at: https://hdb2roomrenovation.wordpress.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So … Day 3 of Carpentry. Not much different to report from Day 2 honestly, but since the Workers don’t work on Sunday, I thought this would be a good time to capture some images of Carpentry done so far without them around. This blog entry will just be a Carpentry Photo Collection I guess. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Living Room DB-Box This is a re-post of the DB-Box picture I’ve posted yesterday. Didn’t think its necessary to retake any more pictures of it. Bathroom Vanity Storage Cabinet Also a re-post of the Bathroom Vanity Storage Cabinet picture I’ve posted yesterday. Sorry. Kitchen Carpentry This is an overall look of the Carpentry done for my Kitchen. (Really really love the Integrated Dining Table concept) Kitchen side showing my Induction Cooktop + Oven + Microwave + Fridge Kerb. And here are the Cabinets above the area. Here’s the Kitchen Side where I have my Kitchen Sink + Washing Machine Kerb. And here are the Cabinets above the area showing the Dishwasher Rack Cover. My Bedroom Platform Storage Bed My Bedroom Platform Storage Bed (With Drawers Open) Waddya’ll think of the Carpentry Workmanship so far? Personally i’m happy with it, and it seems that most of Carpentry is already completed. All thats left is the Quartz Countertop Layer, a few LED lighting strips to install and some miscellaneous stuffs to touch up. We’re now very close to the end of the Renovation. All that’s left as far as I can see other then the above outstanding Carpentry work, is just Air-Con Installation, Finishing Touchups, Chemical Washing, before Final Handover. I’ll have to see what Jason plans to do. Just 1 or 2 weeks more folks! The end is near! Dun Dun Dun!!! I’ll see ya’ll in the next Blog Entry! Click Here for the Next Blog Entry: 8th Week after Key Collection – My_Quartz_ Counter Tops are Up. Also Updated Schedule till End of Renovation Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents