cleong
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Posts posted by cleong
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Hi Cleong, nice to have neighbours like u.
Thanks for your advice you gave me regarding renovation cost and other reno issues I faced. You were right, my final bill worked out to be around 50k, inclusive of wardrobe, DIY shelvings, lightings and accessories.
What I like best on your design is the staircase and the lightbox
Your place look very spacious compared to mine.... I will take your idea on recycling old stuff, to make place clutter-free:) I will attempt to do this regularly too.Hope u don't mind putting picture on how u create storage in your balcony
The short answer is that we don't store anything in the balcony as my wife's plant racks are there, along with garden hose and sprayer. We put some bamboo poles and brooms at the corners but generally there's nothing else. As we live next to the stairwell we bought a lockable Toyogo cupboard and placed it next to our unit - stores gardening materials, tools and stuff without getting into anyone's way. The same location is where we put a recycling bin so that we don't have to keep recyclables in the house, as they sometimes will attract ants and cockroaches.
Here's how my balcony looks like today:
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Our interpretation was quite different though:
Hotel-styled bathrooms caught our fancy. I believe this came from one of the T-blogs here.
Finished product:
This is the only 3D used during the renovation, a visualization of kitchen layout and colour scheme. It was created by a friend's company. I opted not to have open shelves, or a chimney hood, opting for more closed storage space and we also shifted the oven subseqently.
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Gonna show the photos that "inspired" my home's final outcome. As I didn't want to pay for an ID's services, I had to coordinate it myself by doing a lot of browsing on the internet, particularly Renotalk and Propertyguru's flats for sale for inspiration. If you see your photo in here, let me know and I'll happily credit it to you. The photos are of three different homes, and represent the slight differences that I had to reconcile in order to make everything work together.
and my result:
These two pictures were lifted off Propertyguru, and formed the basis of the "look and feel" that I wanted. I wasn't quite sure I wanted Balinese art on the wall, so I have bare walls till I decide what to hang on them.
This is probably the single most outstanding feature of my admittedly budget renovation. I also copied it from someone else! But slight differences, as my lightbox is taller and I have pillars on my staircase owing to strength concerns.
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Those gaps in the aircon trunking will be easily closed up with white sealant, don't worry about it, just make sure they eventually get it done.
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Received a question on the cost.
The total for renovation works came up to around 50k, going over my initial quote by about 10%. I extracted 2k of late penalty (2 months late) back, and furnishing the rest of the house was around 10-12k (aircon 4k, sinks and taps 2k, appliances 8k, etc).
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You can also try the plant nurseries at Kovan Centre and at Jln Kayu, which are a tad bit closer to Serangoon.
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Higher floors also lower water pressure, rain shower may become rain drizzle.
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Bought my EM at Blk 14x Serangoon North which is just a stone throw to NTUC, wet market, kopi shops, restaurant and all amenities.....
Having search few IDs for 1-2months, in the end decided to sign with this ID - Jack(located at Ubi) to design a Modern Balinese concept. The price wise is quite reasonable after discount as compare with other IDs also as gesture from ID, IPad2 to be given as promised from him plus altar and kitchen accessories etc.... As for the interior design, my wife want to be 70% Balinese and 30% modern so as not to add too much Balinese style overall in the house. Timeline to complete is 5 weeks (before CNY2011) as confirmed by ID; reason is they have their own carpentry factory and wood direct supply from Malaysia.
Balinese design concept need a lot lot of woods and carpentry workmanship. Hopefully the ID ensures all works are done smoothly. Any short change, will "LD" them :-))
My next update and photo attach coming soon.
Welcome to the neighbourhood, its a good place to be in! Lots of food, amenities and schools. Do allow 10-20% cost overruns, it will happen. How much are you budgeting for renovation?
I hope you got your LD clauses clearly listed, because if its not stated in black and white you're going to find it hard to penalize them.
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Hi neighbour Hugo, welcome to Serangoon N. Your place is indeed very convenient and amenities are easily accessible. Your floor plan is exactly the same as mine.
How is the current condition of your unit? 5 weeks of reno is very fast..... Mine took 9 weeks! Do you intend to hack down any walls? Are you keeping your balcony?
I think it looks slightly different (cos I recce-ed those units before) the utility room downstairs has a proper sized window which faces outside instead of porch, so that it can be used as a fourth room.
The toilet configurations are also slightly different from yours and mine, otherwise yes, the layout is pretty much identical.
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CONGRATS potatoes!
Yesterday I went to view an unit opposite your block. Low COV but no feel leh, your block is still better.
Enjoy your new spacious home!
Hi incubator, I'm potatoes's neighbour in the same block as him. The opposite block you viewed is better than mine because it faces Serangoon North Avenue 1 and it can get noisy when two-stroke motorbikes or modified cars with noisy exhausts drive past.
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No I don't think so, although EMs do offer more scope for design ideas, given the additional height, staircases and balcony, not to mention lots of space to play with. Some of my own renovation cues were taken from 4/5 room apartments, such as colour scheme and carpentry.
Thanks adidaem for posting my photos here
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Rock climbing enthusiasts would love this design as it gives them a lot of wall space to play with!
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One problem that affects many flat designs is that the MBR has relatively less windows to other bedrooms because wall space has been devoted to the en suite bathroom.
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This thread should be stickied. I have to say though that older HDB designs are more practical and functional than current designs.
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The wole point of getting a valuation done is to find out how much your flat is worth at a certain point of time. One of factors considered in COV is the last transaction prices in your area. You can expect some COV if the trend in your area is rising prices. But keep in mind at resale flat prices might be on the downtrend due to recent housing policies, regulations and also new housing launches.
You should base your expectations on how much people are asking for similar units in your area, and not just a hard figure of $xx k of COV. Its just not practical. Also, sellers can post whatever asking COV they want, but if there are no takers, and you really must sell, then you will be forced to lower your expectations anyway.
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Its not that much more trouble to re-route the pipes as you're tearing down the kitchen anyway. Try to negotiate the ID to do it within the renovation budget.
If you're coming to check on reno at your unit, come by and I can show you this evening. PM for the exact details.
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The wiring in your home is probably as old as your home itself. Do consider renewing it for safety's sake. My electrical bill was 3-4k. I didn't skimp on powerpoints but saved on numerous downlights which are charged per lighting point and can run up very quickly.
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Your ID is wrong - it can be done:
Take note that your 3Ds do not show the fairly large common pipes so the pictures show more space than there actually is.
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My unit has an approved toilet at the ground level. It can be done but requires HDB approval (which may take time to obtain) and also attracts a slightly more expensive conservancy charge.
Originally, there are no toilets on the ground level, that little room is meant for washing and/or washing machine.
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Just for discussion's sake, extracted from the following: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoNotAllow?OpenDocument
Examples of Renovation Work Not Allowed
Hacking and removal of structural members such as reinforced concrete wall, columns, beams, slabs, staircases within maisonette flats, etc.
Excessive overloading of the floor slab with a load greater than 150 kg for every metre square of floor area.
Plastering of ceilings.
Partitioning with combustible or toxic emission materials (e.g. plywood, plastics, asbestos etc.)
Raising of floor level exceeding the allowable thickness of 50mm (inclusive of floor tiles) using concrete.
Extending floor area by covering over void deck areas (e.g. covering over void deck areas within maisonette flats)
Constructing water tank in bathroom except ready-made fibreglass bathtub.
Repositioning or enlarging bin chute opening.
Painting external part of building (e.g. common corridor walls and ceilings)
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I am surprised that the original owner managed to get away with building a platform over the stairwell (in effect increasing GFA) and that HDB allowed it during the presale inspection.
Your contractor's people worked hard - last night they were clearing debris till 10pm at the carpark.
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I checked for mine - its not allowed due to electrical load limits. I don't have a/c for my utility room. Its such a small space a portable a/c unit sould suffice though.
Even without the additional multi-splitbcompressor you would already encounter problems finding a system 4 unit that comes under our block's load limits, there were 3 or 4 the last time I checked.
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Hi Cleong,
The trunking around top hung window it run outside the window?
Nice job..
You spotted that one
The trunking could have simply ended where the fancoil was, but we agreed to run the trunking a few extra inches to the window to make the trunking less obvious. Its actually empty in there. Part of my choice of trunking location was to make it as unobstrusive as possible, but tucking it under pillars and beams, and sometimes also using plaster to merge it with the existing walls. -
I nearly blew my top with this one. When I visited the flat, the contractor's man had all my three toilets opened up and parts arrayed across the floor. I asked the contractor if that's the right thing to do, given all the itty bitty parts that each toilet seat and flush comes with, and kicking around the rest of the renovation stuff, and he instructed his man to pack up the two that weren't immediately being installed. The man promptly dropped a spanner in front of my eyes onto one of the cistern covers with this result:
A great birthday present - they took the best part of a month to finally get it replaced.
Air con installation. Recommended by a friend, and is pretty decent. Responsible too. I have his contact if you want to try him out.
That's it as far as the major problems go. Next up, when I take more photos, I'll show some more of the little features/stuff.
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Very interesting unit, I would be thinking of how I could use the double height void in the living room and terrace, otherwise it seems very wasted.