beany0811

Progress Update - End of Week 4 geez... time flies, its been 4 weeks into the reno already progress on the unit is pretty OK, i guess. work is progressing on well. # after the initial unhappiness with the copper water piping thru' out the house, the ID has gotten his plumer to come back and get the pipes all changed to stainless steel ones - workmanship seems good. we appreciated the fact that the ID managed to get the guy to come down within 2 days and have it changed. the sight of the s/s pipes is so pleasing to the eyes # the wife has lost the battle to have chrome bottle trap + piping for the common toilet sink - the hubby was won over by plumbers' advice tt chrome ones will become rotten after awhile... going to change the bottle trap to a PVC one... so much for asthetic beauty # 1st coat of painting up - we can see the rough colours of how the house will be; happy. most of the colours chosen were of a whiter shade except one wall in the living room - made the house look brighter (for now). after carpentry n furniture, dunno how it will be. looking forward to the installation of lights next week...

actually, i dun think we will want the BSSSSSSSSssHHHHHh feeling...otherwise, each time shower machiam under a thunderstorm! hmm, maybe abit bigger than forkie's ssshhhh would be good. maybe SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH?

AJ, thanks for ur reply on the water pressure in our block. sure helps to have an "old bird" who has been staying in the area to help on the issues we're facing ur 2nd appt is today! u can look forward to the reno of ur new place on monday.

i like ur storeroom man, is it going to be like part of a feature wall?

thanks to all who replied about the chrome pipe... apparently the plumber said it wasn't there, and they dun provide it; they only have the PVC ones. where did u guys get tt chrome pipe? looks like have to source for our own. the wife tried homefix, but they dun sell. feedback fm general hardware shops is tt chrome will become koyak after a few yrs... now the husband wants to change all to PVC the wife did this @ him any other choices other than PVC or chrome? are there such things as stainless steel bottle trap and piping?

thanks cher

we really don't know our block is 22 years old

thanks for your help we really appreciate that

hi, F4. we are as clueless as you. someone told us this, but we don't know how true it is as we're pretty ignorant. the water tank on the rooftop only services half of the upper block and swey swey our floor is one level below the last level the water tank services... sian if it's true hopefully, they'll upgrade the water pressure in the cluster's current upgrading project... best if it's done before we move in

perhaps we should. maybe try out luck to see if they have rainshower haha 3 storeys above us also new tenants. we've not met, but maybe we can try talking to them. btw zerochristy, did you see pix of our wc? same shape as yours, but different brand haha i think there's another fellow forumer also using similar wc but not of the same brand as yours and mine anyway, hubby just came back from the new house, giving the contractors the benefit of doubt. hubby had to take leave today to ensure that the material used wasn't of inferior quality. 304 grade was used, which was the minimum quality that HDB stipulated. grr... the person at fault didn't even bother to go the extra mile to make up for his mistake but providing 316, which has higher resistance to chlorine corrosion... the change of pipes to stainless steel ones were almost done when he left earlier the afternoon. anyway, we're partly to blame as we didn't do enough research on materials as layman and ensuring that he uses only better quality stuff. grr....

we're not too sure either. the plumber said the water pressure is really dependent on the block's water pressure. especially we're on the mid-floor, pressure may not be the strongest we didn't really test the water before the renovation. regret not doing so. you're probably right about the water pressure. i suppose PUB is the authority we should feedback to yes, we'll still have a shower screen. a small piece of tempered glass will be resting on the low wall, coupled with a swing tempered glass door we really hope that the water pressure will be fine. otherwise, we'll only get 'drizzle' from the rain shower

its nice to have downlights and cove lights thru the house - minimises wiring casing; but we had to give tt up; cost of the downlights + false ceilings/L-boxes were abit too for us. but ur place will be looking good

yeah, we were initially gg to do a laminate vanity top, but was worried the plywood would warp over the long run; so had it changed to this. low wall is also a recent addition, cos ID commented tt one single piece of glass would not be enuff to form the fixed shower screen panel; so no choice, have this wall added.

credit goes to you, Circles, for offering great 'real time' advice when we're at the first toilet accessories shop we went. if it wasn't for your useful advice, we wouldn't have done a little more research and found these 2 sets! kudos!

the marble @ the balcony has also been laid, and the walls plastered. so i guess next will be painting and polishing of the floor balcony floor leveled; skirting is up plus pt to the ID - he leveled up the entire balcony with cement instead of foam, then cement - said it would reduce hollowness areas damaged by door frames repaired

the toilet fixtures have been installed by the plumber actually... according to the hubby, water pressure doesn't seem very strong anyway the plumber will be changing the copper pipings to s/s ones tmr, and the pvc sink piping will be changed to the chrome one too hope that things will be OK, and water pressure will be strong when everything turned on. the wife likes strong water. common toilet (pipes to be changed) damixa shower 4 common toilet ariston storage heater - 30L titanium one - is this good? mbr rain shower - mixer wrapped up mbr toilet concrete top + sink

isn't stainless steel just an alloy? Anyway, here's PUB Standards for convenient reference. Also, the Wiki on stainless steel, and the different grades and usage for additional reading. Hope this helps.

Just did a search on the PUB Standards on the types of pipes used, includes copper and stainless steel ones

ha actually, we can forgive genuine errors because nobody's perfect. but when one starts to promise heaven and earth but doesn't deliver ever so often, we have to watch them closely like a primary school kid. freebies? we'd rather have cash back hahaha

yeah, we've demanded our ID to change. rightfully, they should change even without us demanding as it's another blunder on their side. but we do have our doubts and need to verify the material used.

here's an update on the tv feature wall. the gaps around the tiles have been filled yesterday. the application skill has room for improvement but at least something is moving.

oh, they had to apply some chemical before painting the pipes right? we're intending the leave the ss pipes bare

were u given copper piping too? seems so from the pics. we asked for s/s piping, but the hubby saw copper piping installed all over the house yest; needless to say, called ID and said must change all. some issues with the sink bottle trap hopefully will be changed soon, or the wife will be very unhappy, cos its an eyesore but ur reno seems to be progressing well - carpentry all up! impressive

hi cher, are those bamboo chics or wooden blinds? look like bamboo chics to me. we also have direct west sun @ our new place, and will be putting up blinds. like the look of urs very much. r they effective in blocking out the sun? mind if u share the contact of where u got them? thanks!

the hubby's dad turned out to be the best expert around us with knowledge on metals. quotes fm the expert's mouth: # stainless steel grade fm 304 to 316 (best). grade is printed on the pipe. the higher the grade, the less likely it is to rust. # don't bend pipings too much - the bent area = thiner and narrower paths = weaker water flow - that is why joints are used. # joints - chrome brass material - good ones cost about $5 each; s/s cones not usually used cos they're quite ex. # copper - may leak easily @ the joints cos its soft - easier to work with than s/s # susceptible to rust and oxidation # porous, compared to s/s on conclusion.... ALL the pipings must be changed, or... both the man and woman of the house will be extremely angry. its never wise to mess with an angry woman. its suicide to mess with an angry couple