manutd1972

Origami, nope, i didn't have to do any work at all before i engaged my ID. u're referring to work as in designing, space planning and layout rite? when u approach a true ID (not those contractor who after years of experience, know how to draw simple designs type), u dun hv to provide much to them. the best way to test an ID's abilities is to give him only the things tt u wan to achieve in ur home, and a budget to work within. i knw a lot of us, a lot of times, want to do this, do that etc etc....and when we approach an ID or a contractor, we start to tell them we wanna do this, wanna do that. By doing this, we end up putting the ID in a box that a contractor usually uses. den no point engaging an ID. i just told the IDs i wanted (1) space creation, (2) airyness, the feeling of lightness, like floating space, (3) natural brightness, and (4) not too many built-up furnishings or features that will cause the home to have a "heavy" feel, or give occupants a feeling of being "hemmed in". And i also let them know tt i'm comfortable wif hacking of walls etc. If there's sth tt u absolutely dun wan or cannot accept, u must tell them during ur first mtg. as for the budget, work out a figure in ur mind, subtract abt 3-5k frm tt sum, and den give tt new figure to the ID as his budget to work with. den wait for them to come back to u wif a proposal. once they came back to u, review their proposal, ask all questions u hv, like "why did u do this", "why r u proposing this", "wat is the purpose of this" etc etc. And compare their proposals wif those designs that u see in ID magazines. compare them wif pictures of homes done by typical contractors. frm there, u can gauge the abilities of the various IDs. den narrow dwn to a capable one, but it shld also be someone u're comfortable talking wif (u'll be able to tell after chatting wif them at the 1st mtg n 2nd mtg when reviewing their proposals), and try and find reviews of their firms. the rest of pointers to find the right ID is the same as finding the right contractor.

why chase after all these? when we've achieve something, we get happy. but after a while, we're no longer satisfied wif wat we have. we want more. and we den chase after this higher target. there is no end to this. and cos we are always chasing, we will nvr be truly happy. is all these really that important? if it is to you, so be it. best wishes working hard to try and achieve these aims. for me, true happiness comes frm being contented in wat i have. enjoying the most of wat i have, and appreciating the rest that life already gives. we entertain ourselves wif our TVs, laptops, game consoles etc. But that also robs us of the time to entertain ourselves wif the things that nature provides.....the flowers, the trees, the birds chirping, the waterfalls, the waves slapping on the shores etc. no need to compare our lives wif others. trying to achieve for ourselves wat they have. bigger house, bigger cars, bigger condo, landed property. if ur abilities allows u to achieve all these wif an honest 8hrs of work a day, den good for u. enjoy wat ur abilities can bring u. but if not, dun stress urself hankering after all these, working day and nite, just to attain all these. in the end, when we're on our deathbeds, these things wun sit beside us. these things wun appreciate the life we've led, the love we've lavished on them. and when we've passed, neither will these things grieve for us. but our families and loved ones will. but how will they love us and remember us, when we've never been there for them?

when u say 2 way tap, i assume u're referring to a mixer? where u can select hot or cold water simply by turning the handle left or right? mixers can do so by using 2 water inlets, namely 1 hot water inlet and 1 cold water inlet. an instant heater gives hot water by heating up the cold water supply based on the temperature setting the user has decided on. having said that, such mixers can still be used with an instant heater. just seal up one inlet and connect the instant heater water outlet to the other inlet on the mixer. of cos, u wun be able to adjust the hotness/coldness of the water by simply turning the handle of the mixer. and if u dun switch on the instant heater, u wun get hot water frm the mixer anyway. u wld hv spent extra money buying the mixer without fully utilising all its features. it's prob cheaper to use a normal tap in this case.

simple.....rainshowers all require at least 2 bars of water pressure, some even require 3 bars. no instant heaters can generate that kind of water pressure, especially if you're using them in a HDB flat, where the water pressure fluctuates and the original supply is oredi not of very high pressure. so your rainshower will become only a trickle of water, not much of a shower.

hmm....not always true. i got a higher loan amount frm a bank loan vs the HLE. Same income documents submitted. Plus most banks will loan u up to age 70, whereas HDB is only up to age 65.

perhaps u want to consider, instead of the whole wall being tiled like that, u could use the tiles to d a border around your TV? Perhaps a border of 1-1.5 ft wif some tiles jutting out of the border towards the TV in the centre, to form a sort-of jagged line instead of a a straight line border like a picture frame. hope u get wat i mean.

why did u pay the 5k deposit before u got ur HLE letter? did u hv an agent? didn't he advise u on this? even if he didn't, u shld hv done ur own sums and waited for the HLE letter before giving any owners an OTP. at least wif the HLE, u knw hw much u can afford. and if u think u need a higher loan amount, u can approach the banks and ask for an in-principle approval. and watever loan amt the banks offer u, even if substantially higher than the HLE amount, if u base ur search on the HLE loan amount, u can't go wrong. now u're stuck. u either appeal and hope HDB increase their loan amt offered to u (unlikely), or go get a bank loan, and hope the banks can loan u a higher amount. sorry if i sound un-sympathetic, but u really did dig this hole urself. when buying such high-price items, we should always always ensure that our loans are in place, before committing to any purchase. if u dun hv enuf cash, wld u pay the deposit for a car without knowing whether u can successfully get a loan for the car? no rite?

r u tiling the wall direct? or doing a false wall den tile it up before mounting ur tv? if former, den by all means, go for it if u like it. but not gg to be cheap. since u gotta pay for the tiles, cement screed, labour etc. if gg to tile over false wall, den i'm afraid the false wall cannot take the total weight of all the tiles, plus cement screed, plus TV. consider the load factor and check wif ur contractor.

sorry...but my experience wif IDs is quite different frm those who hv posted here. most of u seem to hv had bad experiences wif IDs. i didn't. in fact, my plc is being renovated now by an ID. I spoke to abt 4 IDs and 4 contractors. 5 of them came back to me. among the other 3, 1 didn't come back at all, while the other 2 took too long to come back to me. go take a look at my posts on my experiences with the various IDs and if u still hv qtns, PM me. and let me stress one thing. engaging an ID does not necessarily mean more expensive reno compared to contractor. in my case, all the contractors who responded quoted me at least 5k higher than 2 IDs. and their proposed layout was worse than those 2 IDs. totally un-impressive at all. no originality, no imagination. as good as taking a standard template and adjusting it to my floorplan. and contractors will not give u styling input, or design any solutions for any problems encountered. for eg. in terms of detailing, contractors won't bother. but a real ID will not allow u to just anyhow do it. cos its his reputation on the line. he wants to make sure it is at least advertorial material. something tt u can show off to ur friends. and when u mix and match colours, and ask a contractor if ok or not, most will just tell u, "if u like it and u happy wif it, i do lor". but try doing tt to a designer, and he'll tell u the pros and cons of mixing this wif that, but still leave the final decision to u. of cos, thr are some designers who will insist tt certain things cannot be done even if u want it. tt doesn't mean they're forcing it upon u. it just means tt he's sticking to his design principles. 1 of the IDs i met was like tt. wat i wanted would not change the price at all. it was just a change of laminate colour. anyway, for me, i'm neither for nor against ID or contractor. wat's important to me is their proposal and expertise. if they can propose something creative yet use-able, form co-existing wif function, reasonable pricing, and creative ideas to solve problems, i dun care whether they're ID or contractor, i'll still give them the job.

waterproofing? this has gt nothing to do wif waterproofing fault. if it is waterproofing fault, it would be ur downstairs neighbour who'll be knocking in ur door. i'm inclined to think tt this is her tiler's fault for not ensuring that the cement screed is sloped towards the water drainage hole, before laying your toilet floor tiles. if u spend a whole day observing a tiler at work, u'll notice that they do not really use their spirit level to ensure that the floor slopes towards the drainage hole, whether in the toilet or the kitchen, or wherever there's a water drainage hole. nobody does it actually. tt's why u see puddles of water collecting here and there everytime the floor is wet. small puddles over a large surface area is ok. but i think urs is a bit too much. if it's normal puddle, shld hv evaporated by 12hrs. so urs prob not puddle, but rather a mini-pond.... reason wif ur contractor la. tell her if it's waterproofing fault, water would seep down, not rise to the top and form puddles. but before u do that, go and buy a spirit level and check the levelness of ur toilet floor. if it is flat and level, ask her to come and see for herself.

wow!! i like this one! very nice. but too bad i can't just fly up to vietnam and buy paintings. not planning a vacation thr anytime soon so it'll be very ex to just fly up and buy the paintings there.

only way to get over this is to do box-up, L-box or false ceiling. no point attempting to increase the thickness of the plastering in order to "level up". not feasible. box up is still the most common and easiest way to do it. can choose frm 3 ways of boxing up as mentioned above.

did u pay the deposit already? did u manage to get any portion of the deposit back?

even plastering also cannot achieve a perfectly flat wall/ceiling and a perfect fit. this is original HDB workmanship....can't run away from it. if it's a little bit, still not so bad. moreover, it's above the top cabinet, so should not be too obvious. i have one corner in my hall, where the ceiling "sinks" about 15 - 20mm towards the floor, right where the ceiling joins the wall. and it's right in front of my sofa. so everytime when i sit at my sofa, the moment i look up at that corner of the ceiling, i'll see this "pregnant" ceiling.

dun frame. it'll look nicer without frames. oil canvas paintings look better without frames when placed in homes. frames are better used when the painting is displayed in a museum.

for demos, we shld always use our own CDs. bring a few, mostly of those genre of music that u usually listen to. yes, our normal listening environment is not ideal. but the purpose of using an audio room is so that we can evaluate a system in an ideal listening environment so that when we eventually decide on 1 system, it is the best that we can afford. cos ultimately, whichever system we decide on, the environment in which we deploy it is unchanged. with too much noise around during evaluation, we can't discern whether the system is reproducing the notes accurately. hence, we might not be getting our money's worth.

it is still possible to have a wet and dry area in a small toilet. depending on the layout of your toilet, u can use shower curtains to limit the splashing of water all over your toilet during showering. if u really want to restrict the splashing, den build a shower kerb and hang your shower curtain at such a height that the bottom-end of the curtain is just above the toilet floor, and hence below the height of the shower kerb. so now all water will be kept within the shower area.

waterproofing is done only for the floor. no need for the walls to be waterproofed.

hey, ur wife also into the "High Society" series of CDs? So am I! in any case, i wld nvr advocate testing any sound systems at those dept stores. Too many other "noise" interference frm all sorts of directions for us to really be able to focus on the finer notes of the sound. the really finer notes. the right place to test any sound system is in an audio room. u can find these in those audio shops u saw at Adelphi. any audio shop worth their salt will have one, wif lots of speakers and amps n players in there for u to mix and match to listen to the various sound reproductions. only den, will u be able to discern the true capabilities....and limitations of each system. a really good audio room shld also have sound-absorbing foams lined on all 4 walls and ceiling to reduce the effect of sound "bouncing" off the walls interfering with those going directly frm the speakers to your ears. we can talk till the cows come home when it comes to sound engineering and audio stuff, but i only have basic knowledge....keke. most of these salesmen wld tell u tt it's ok to mount the rear speakers in front, with the front speakers and adjust the settings blah blah blah. but the fact is, when u place rear speakers in front of us, our ears will never be able to discern the sounds coming frm them, which is suppose to simulate something happening behind us. For appreciation of music, it doesn't really matter, but for movies, it will. imagine a movie scene where a fighter jet zooms past behind u frm your left to your right. and there's other action gg on infront of u. so the front speakers reproduce the sound of the action ahead of u, and the rear speakers replicate the sound of the fighter jet. but both ur front and rear speakers are placed at the same spot, one on top of the other just as the salesman suggested. do u think our human ear can tell that the fighter jet is behind us? seriously, would tt jet engine sound appear to come frm behind us when the speakers are ahead of us? not to say it's impossible. it still can be achieved. but u'll need a very very good system with a very very good DSP. and no built-in DSP i know of is good enough to do that. DSPs of that quality are all standalones and for something like this situation, your DSP can easily cost more than your 5.1 system. no point spending tt kind of money just to avoid the sight of cables running frm the front to the rear. boxing up new trunking will cost less than 50% of tt DSP. i've been placing my rear speakers in line wif my front speakers for a long time at my current place cos i didn't hv the time to renovate and situate them at the rear. and i tell u, no matter how u play wif the settings, it just doesn't cut it. in the end, it'll be money down the drain. if u're after good sound, den compromise to this extent. if u do, it's money wasted. if budget is a constrain, den do it in stages like me. i started wif an integrated amp, den upgraded to pre & power, den to vacuum. its ok to slowly do it. and rmb this, the quality of ur sound system is only as good as the weakest component in ur system. and most people neglect the speaker cables. those default cables tt come wif the system are junk. really good cables easily cost $10-15 per metre. and the connectors also. compare the default ones wif those aftermarket ones u see at those audio shops in Adelphi. even merely visually, u can tell the difference in quality. dun even hv to look at the internal construction. sorry i'm digressing. audio can be super expensive when addicted to it. tt's why i forced myself to give up this hobby....haha....

i wouldn't suggest having any wooden cabinets in a wet toilet. Wood and water dun go together. And for that matter, moisture does as much damage as water. 1 option to reduce the levels of moisture in a toilet is to install an exhaust fan at the venting window.

no need to compromise to that extent. ur false ceiling being up only means that u cant conceal the wires for ur rear speakers. if u're ok wif visible trunking, u still can go for a 5.1 system. but do bear in mind that speaker cables trunking cannot run alongside ur electrical wires trunking. else, there will be interference and u will hear a lot of "noise" frm ur rear speakers. but if u wanna compromise further and go for a no-rear speakers setup, den the next best thing is to go for a soundbar. it replicates a surround effect quite well, though i've not heard it myself before. i've always used a 5.1 with or without concealed rear speaker cables. a good soundbar can run into the thousands of dollars though, i think.

it's almost coming to 3 mths since TS contracted his ID. no progress update thus far? just wondering if this is a real ID contact or just another ID/contractor "promoting" himself?

just to clear things up, Grohe is not a sub brand of HansGrohe. They are totally 2 different companies, with different owners, different products, different factories, and more importantly, competing against each other. Grohe may hv been started by a member of the HansGrohe family but along the way, the company was sold to consortiums which now own and run Grohe.

haha....shld be just abt there. for a 3m viewing distance, any TV iwthin the size of 37" to 70" is fine. refer to this for more info, http://asia.cnet.com/buyingguides/home_av/...985379-5,00.htm but u guys shld take a look at mine. u'll laugh ur heads off. my current TV is 26", and i can't afford to upgrade at the moment. my viewing distance is 4m. imagine hw puny tt 26" will look....rofl. my intended target screen is actually 46", but it'll have to wait. haha....

usually tt's the tactic they use to try and keep u from out-sourcing so tt they can earn more frm u. we all knw tt they get commissions frm every sub-con and supplier they engage for each of their projects. tt's why it's important to get someone who can understand ur budget constraints and is willing to work wif u to maximise it for the benefit of ur home. this way, this ID/contractor would nt mind u out-sourcing when they knw tt the related item is very much more expensive when done thru him. eg, my ID's electrician. turns out to be someone i also knw, and hv engaged b4 in the past many many yrs ago for some trouble-shooting. i had called him months earlier to quote me his charges on the individual items and when he came for a survey wif my ID, fortunately, he didn recognise me and gave me his quote thru my ID. when i saw it, i flipped . it was so much higher than his direct quote to me. i told my ID abt it honestly and said i was definitely gg to out-source. he agreed and even supported it, knowing my budget was tight. in terms of coordination wif out-sourced subcons, u either ask assertively (aka demand gently) tt ur contractor deal wif ur subcons, or if no choice, den u'll hv to do the coordination urself. just keep bothering ur contractor by asking him very often when he needs who and wat, den call the respective subcon n arrange. sooner or later, he'll ask u for their direct contacts n call them himself....lol. good or bad, really depends. fact tt he lists them means he's charging u for everything. some dun list, den later charge u. others, dun list, and do it FOC for u as a service. so b4 u sign on the dotted line, ask specifically. but if they're doing it FOC, dun ask them to put it dwn into the contract. some may take it negatively and feel u dun trust them. den, har bez liao... too bad my doors all got thrown away b4 u started this. else u can hv them. my bedroom doors were both still in very good condition. even better than my main door. i thot of using 1 of them to replace my main, but size different. to cut cost, u can as u contemplated, repaint existing doors. nx time when u hv d budget, den replace the doors. same goes wif the main door and main gate. i'm keeping my main door, heavily-scratched as it is. just repaint it lor. my existing gate also very old and in bad shape, but no more budget to change. so keep and use first lor. later aft reno completed den see how lor.