Christopher

Either you re-skin the laminate or change new door, have done that and due to door problem got to change door, the side of the ware-robe just "de-skin" and stick new one.

Hi, I did some studies on this cause I was almost on the verge of getting engineered wood done for my house. Effectively its a layer of solid wood over plywood, the thicker it is the better the top layer is, of course it can give you good wood feeling but I didn't choose it cause my house tiles is not so level and requires a layer of plywood as the base, which in the end makes my floor much higher, I chosen a 15mm thick engineered wood oak species + another 12mm plywood = 27mm higher than my walkway between bedroom and living room, that's really crazy. However, it is possible to sand and re-varnish the top layer 2 to 3 times like timber strip or parquet as each sanding takes away 0.5mm so for thick solid timber strip after 3 times it will sand down to the tongue and grove which will creates a V grove between each plank and it's time to say bye bye cause they cannot hold on to each other. If i am not staying in i will hack the whole floor and get engineered wood done. Just too bad, I didn't did it when I was renovating my house. :(

I totally agree with Dr Anarchy, When i was thinking of what to do for my 4 bedroom floor i consider 3 types, based on my maximum budget of $7K with option to go up to even $10K for specify species of timber since i had been doing research on wood flooring for the past 1 year plus. 1) Laminate floor 2) Engineered Wood 3) Timber Strip Each has their plus point and and negative point, finally i go for laminate floor. Reasons being : 1) Timber strip cannot be too wide and long = Warp due to humidity level of our weather (I have liking for long and wide strip which makes the house looks very elegant and posh) 2) Engineer wood is best to have a layer of plywood above my current tile so as to have nice good even up floor, unlike timber strip i can still sand it to make it somewhat even, Using plywood as the base, i am a little skeptical since plywood are best "food" for termite so i get uncomfortable, unless i get better quality plywood which cost much more = come back to same as timber strip pricing. 3) Sanding and varnish of timber strip will make my house unbearable due to the saw dust = Biggest headache since I am staying in.. 4) There is a significant height difference between all my bedroom and walkway due to overlay if i will to use either engineered wood or timber strip. Finally, the only choice and solution point to laminate floor. The height difference is reduce also there is no varnish nor sanding. I need not worry how many days it takes to complete they are relatively wide and long and this is the best part, the amount of money spend is like less than 30% of my allocated budget and i use the rest of the fund for some investment hehee hoping to reap some profits to knock off my flooring. :P

Ever consider glass door? However there is kid in the house may not be feasible. My contractor suggested to me a glass door idea and i like it so much after installing it. Just a though

I installed supreme laminate for my 5 rooms hdb flat - total 4 bedrooms with dinning room lately. I did it with my contractor that did my renovation last year and i got their AC5 grade at a special price thru my contractor since i went back to him. My contractor actually used a lot of supreme laminate for his project so he can give me very solid price, and his knowledge is super when i ask him what's the different in european. I will not even consider using any European made product as i am been enlighten by my contractor. His price is **** solid and i got lifetime warranty.

Haha, Well thought, i was thinking of what you all are thinking when i got my house. However i ended up with a contractor that did everything for me after comparing ID & contractor quote. Just doing the same amount of works the IDs will quote higher than contractor and most importantly timing is met. My contractor actually make a point to be present at site on everyday basis! If i will to DIY, it might save me at most $1K to $1.5K however with the time that i save on going to jobsite I make back more $$ since i am doing outdoor sales!

Well that's ID.. After going through what you have gone thru i seek out a contractor and told him my budget, he advice me what's more important and i stick to my budget and get my reno done with the amount of cash i have, no need loan hehe

I had a gut feeling that the wall will be approved.. I was hoping for full wall but HDB allows upto 80% which I am very very happy. I got my open concept kitchen hehehee

Hi, Your reno is all carpentry work?? All in is 20K exact?

Basically i paid $400 for the PE to get his endorsement. The rest was done by my contractor and I insisted that i want that useless kitchen wall down. Apparently i knew from him that if there is nobody in the same unit above or below me hack the same wall before as me than my chance is secured. Well, the approval came and there was a dimension which was given by HDB and on the day of the demolition the HDB officer was present to get my contractor to do the marking and he witness the "opening" of the demolition works.

Private property? It will be good to check if there is any structural that cannot be hack or to the extend of how much can be hack.

What kind of hacking will be done? The PE will also need your licensed contractor to carry out the work, PE and licensed contractor are together..

If you have an ideal layout, color match and design than you can get contractor to "Run" the work for you. Save a little on concept, space-planning and design.

yes i paid for the PE, lucky for me as my contractor get it settled for me. He got to run a few places and he knew i wanted that wall down so he actually took the trouble to get it done for me. At the end of the day i paid him a small token to do the leg work for me. I am just glad that i got what i wanted

Black bold line on floorplan means you cannot hack but if you have a PE = professional engineer to endorse & submit to hdb to certify, HDB will allow you to hack a portion depending on the wall structure etc. Mine house 5room in tampines is all bold black line, however i still managed to hack away my kitchen wall to make it open concept with the help of my contractor. Our dream came true Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I buy mine from lightings.com when i reno my 5room. Good experience with them

Can i have the contact? thanks

Good and bad on going direct, you save some but sub con do what you tell them and you got to coordinate the timing. Which is a headache. HDB requires permit for doing wet works so if you get tiler they ask you to pay for the license which cost 2-300 bucks. Contractor no charge. Also, if you can get sub-con to do they are dealing with you on a once off deal, price give you lower but down the road got problem -- no help. Think of all these i rather get contractor to handle all and i just think of when to move in will do. Saving $500 - $800 may mean a lot to many people but i think if your time involved to coordinate all these small job on a daily basis will be tiring.

Are you talking about solid timber skirting? there are a few spices ...

parquet looks more cosy.. valuation for marble flooring will be better if big full slab marble type hehehee

200721632D = EVORICH HOLDINGS PTE. LTD. KIM CHUAN TERRACE Live 201012213H = EVORICH WORKS PTE. LTD. KIM CHUAN TERRACE Live This can be extract from ACRA website with registration number, 2007 & 2010.. so if 6years ago 2004XXXXXX will be the registration number

American white oak is nice, price also nice hehe.. parquet can be nice too but quite common (Indo teak or Burmese teak). All are solid wood after a period there will be scratches and turn dark for sure. That's the time when u will need to re-sand, per round of sanding will be approximately 5mm down so commonly 2 times or 3 times the whole flooring is as good as gone.

Solid wood will face expansion and contraction issue in our weather due to our high humidity level. opt for smaller piece to control this

Hi doubl3a, To do overlay first the current tiles must be in good condition, in other words the tiles will not pop in long run. if it's really sturdy than overlay will save quite a fair bit of your reno cost.

Thanks for the advice, indeed very good information. i will check on my next visit