w7_lee

I think 15 to 20 years is long enough to justify a renovation, especially for the kitchen. Kitchen cabinets are normally wood and with moisture (especially near/below the sink), they would have deteriorate. At the stove and with overhand cabinets over it, the heat would also have cause the wood/formica to deteriorate too. Toilets too. This is a wet area. I think waterproofing have limited lifespan and will need to replace. Other areas in the house, I think it is not necessary if carefully maintain. My opinion only.

Good for you. I am not like you. Living in a 4 room HDB, not other real estate. Insurance, minimum only. No investment. Owns a car (pre-own) but bought it base on budget. Primarily need it for work, so company gave an allowance for it. Otherwise won't be affordable for me. Weekday, family duty is a driver to send everyone to MRT station and school before I send myself to work. Weekend, family duty is to be maid. Wife not the kind that do housework, so I have to do laundry, ironing, house cleaning, toilet washing, etc.... When things break down, I transform into the handy man (or I try my best). So I DIY mainly to save that $. But I do enjoy it (at least most of the time).

Everyone is different... maybe we are just better with our hands. Others maybe are good in something else. In order to be able to enjoy the 'wants' that you describe above (shoes, mobile phone, nice food), they must be able to afford it. So maybe they are making a lot more $ than us. Last night I met my ex-colleague. His brother in law bought a condo and renovation just completed. He actually paid $400 to engage cleaners to come in the house and clean-up before they move-in. Frankly, I din know this service is available. But well, they obviously can afford it.

Being handy is good or no good depends on how a person look at it (and also the mood at that moment). When my parents-in-law moved house a few years, I installed all the toilet roll holder, shower set, towel hanger, etc... for them. At that time, my wife said it is good to have a hands on man in the house. Recently my daughter's room air-con leak water on Sat night. Sunday go where find A/C technician? And if I can find, sure kena slaughter. Anyway, it is just a choke drain pipe, so I DIY. This time, my wife comment that I am a 'cheapo'.

Taps are cheap... like bepgof stated, range from $20 to $2000. Around $50~$80, you get buy from hardware shop in neighbourhood hardware shop. Branded ones, go to the 'boutiques' (if you know what I meant). I DIY my own tap replacement, so don't know how much but think probably $30~$50 dollars for labor/transport. Tap excluded. My friend once got a person to replace his leaking tap (including the tap) and it cost $150.00 (abt 2 years ago). And the tap cannot choose, he replace with whatever he has in his van but is brand new. The plastic gasket for the glass edge is available at Home-Fix and Self-fix.

I think it is not a China brand but I am not surprise if it is made in China (like everything else these days). Anyway, I replace with a another tap (brand-less) which I got from a neighbor hood hardware shop. Before the purchase, I ask the seller if the rubber seal can be replace. He's reply was: these days, it is hard to find such taps. Anyway, I decided that for a $40+ dollar tap, if it last me for 3 or 4 years, I should be happy with it.

I used to use Pozzi tap for my kitchen sink, so I assume the valve design is the same. Mine was also starting to leak, the 'O' ring was no good (red in color if I remember correctly) and leaking from the tap although it was closed. It cannot be replace. I tried but could not find the correct size 'O' ring in the market. End up replace the whole tap. But I was able to find the O ring for my bathroom sink tap. Also Pozzi. Strange they use different design.

My main wooden door looks like deltay's but I am not too concern. Like GMC said, the need to first breach your metal door grill before they can work on your wooden door. And they don't need to cut. When I was working in construction industry (some 20+ years ago), we normally get into a lock house by the window. Windows are much easier to be compromise. So now, all my windows must have grill (especially those along the corridor).

I have never done this before but I imagine that you need to first buy the toilet bowl (at places like SSC). You could always ask them if they can include replacement or at least recommend you someone.

It looks like it is riveted. You can drill out the rivet and bring to hardware shop to buy. You might not get exactly the same shape & color. Then you need to get a hand riveter and some rivet too. Or borrow the riveter from someone and just get he correct size rivet. Or just call a handy man, they probably does the same but they have the riveter & rivet.

You will also need 1) an electrical hammer drill to drill holes on the wall for securing the back box. 2) Screws and wall plugs to fasten the box to the wall. 3) Cable trays to run you new wires in. 4) Nail & hammer to secure the cable tray to the wall. 5) Or buy cable tray with double side tape then can skip (4) above Considering the above, maybe an off-the-shelve extension socket works just fine. Just joking but these are the items I'll need.

Abt a year ago, I notice some oil seeping out from the bottom hinge of my shower screen door and it was making a noise when open or close. My house was renovated 4.5 years ago and the contractor was a friend of the family, so I went back to him to get a replacement hinge and unfortunately, he said my hinge was obsolete. Best option is to replace the glass (with new hinge cut-out). Of course the holes on the wall will not match & new holes need to be drilled. Decided to hunt the hinge myself and even went to a glass contractor friend (he does condo construction jobs). Send him some pictures of my hinge and he got his project guy to check with his supplier. After 2 weeks, he confirm it was obsolete. Give me the same advice as my reno contractor. I've not got it change yet and is planning to use it until the hinge pops, then replace with new glass door and hinge. Since the glass will technically last forever (if not abuse), only the hinge will fail. So when I get it replace, I will buy extra hinge.

I assume you are trying to build your own extension cable; i.e. to connect a cable from the socket to the plug? If so, you need a 3 core wire, - connect ground wire from plug ground to socket ground - connect neutral wire from plug neutral to socket neutral - connect live wire from plug live to socket live - Done You need a back box for the socket. http://www.macbuildingproducts.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_749_495&products_id=20346

No specific brand that I use. I normally buy from Autobacs and choose those mid range price leather care products.

When the glass screen is dry, the lime stain is most obvious. What I do is use a piece of dry cloth, rough type (eg: your face towel) and rub on the lime stain. It will come off but depends on how bad it is. It also works on sink tap and mirrors. That how some hotels maintains their bath taps and ornaments in shiny condition

Once a year during spring cleaning, I apply leather care cream on my sofa. It's those that I use on my car leather. Been 5 years and the leather is still good.

Available at DIY shop, both Self fix & Home fix.

If you r measuring in the room, than I assume that u have your window closed. The noise dB would be low. You are mainly measuring the blower or evaporator noise 'in' the room. Maybe your neighbour does not sleep in aircon and have their window open. Why not try measuring outside where the compressor is. Maybe you can get the aircon ppl to come & check. It might just need a service. Anyway, the compressor tends to make more noise with age and the fan bearing wears too. With the new HDB design, to make the outside of the blocks look nice, those architect/designers now have most of the AC ledge inside. When it makes noise, the noise has no place to go, so bounce up & down the walls of the block and everyone is affected.

Never done it before but interesting article. In theory, I think your design will work but if the silicon fails, than it gets messy at the volume where the foam white & cement fill is. But more of a concern is... landed property should be OK but HDB & condo, maybe not approve. My thoughts only.

Think I've use mine for 9 months nows. The corner clips not giving me any problem. And I've remove them to flush at least once during the 9 months. But you could just replace with new clips. Regarding the velcro type, I agree with you. My colleague use it as they ar cheaper and 3 months later, they took it all off. I guess it is OK if you use the velcro type in a window that will not need (or hardly need) to remove for access.

I thought I had seen IKEA (both at Tampinese & Queenstown) sells the laminate flooring for DIY. Or have they stop selling them?

As all the members , it is dangerous but it is still do-able. First thing you need to do is switch off the breaker for the point that you are extending from. This breaker remains off until everything is complete. The extension is simple. You only need to run a parallel line out from the point you are extending from. Do use good wires.

I saw recently at a neighbourhood shop at Chai Chee Road selling sometime to hold carpet in place. It look like 1 side is double side tape (stick on floor) and the other is valcro (stick to carpet).

I bought mine from a local seller which I found on the internet. Link below for your reference. http://www.magneticinsectscreen.blogspot.sg/

No tricks. Just use a small flat head screw driver, push it from the edge and pry it off. You might need to do it again at the opposite side (180 degree) from the first point. I recommend you use the fine tip screw drivers for spectacle/glasses, they are finer and leave a slight mark; barely noticable. If careful enough, leave no mark. If re-using the screw plug, don't push it in too deep so easier to remove next time.