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Ks Toh

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Posts posted by Ks Toh

  2. Posted

    I wrote about ladders earlier in this post.

    I have great difficulties reaching my fan even on the last step of my tall 10 step letter. The other day, I had to reach the top row of my vertical garden and I could not reach it. So, no choice but to buy a taller ladder. I could not find any 12 step family ladder. Anyway, such a ladder might not fit into my storeroom.

    So, finally an excuse to buy my Little Giant Ladder!

    I bought the Aluminium 1A Model 26

    Weight Capacity: 136 kg

    Ladder Weight: 24.5 kg (very heavy!)

    A- frame Height: 6' to 11' (1.8 to 3.3 m)

    Extension Height: 13' to 23' (3.9 to 7.0 m)

    Storage Height: 2.1 m (6' 7")

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  3. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Tan Bros' $33 is only 50 cents cheaper than Union Gas' $33.50. When I was not very keen to switch just for 50 cents, she threw in her trump card.

    "You guys buy all the LPG gas and think it is from Esso, right? But even though their lorry displays Esso gas, they never give you Esso gas, but some other gas. Go take a look"

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    Ok, Union was supplying me S2 and U2 gas. Tan Bros supplied me Esso gas. Not sure if Esso gas cooks better!

  5. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    In my earlier post here, I complained about my LPG gas supplier, Union Gas. Basically, they dropped $10 discount vouchers into my letterbox but refused to honour them, claiming that their price of S$33.50 was already discounted by $12.50 off the actual price of $46. I was told if I want to use the voucher, they will sell me at $46 less $10 = $36. But they will sell me at $33.50 without voucher. So ingenious!

    So based on principle, I decided to boycott them. So happens that a competitor, Tan Bros, just dropped off six $9 discount vouchers into my letterbox.

    14617794544_95cd082600_o.jpg

    So, I called them to ask what is the price of their LPG gas. The girl says $34. I told her what about the $9 discount voucher I found in my letterbox? She says: oh, I have already given you a $10 discount off the actual price of $44. If I use the $9 discount voucher, price is $35!

    What a joke! Same tactic as Union Gas. I guess they are all the same. So, I told her never mind. Then she checked her records and told me I used to order from them but stopped some time ago. Somehow she reduced her price to $33 and persuaded me to order from her.

  6. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Hi KSToh,

    I used polycarbonate roofing for the past 3 years, I noticed the material tend to flex according to temp change. Water always find it's way via the U-channel edge seals.

    As the polycarbonate roofing ages, my house start have the "atap house" look.

    We finally removed it and went for conventional clay tile roofing for our terrace area.

    Those aluminium composite panels are solid, but they are opaque, it really makes the backyard dark..

    What you said is true. Water seems to find its way into the polycarbonate roof.

    The hollow polycarbonate roof in my yard is still leaking but not as bad after the repairs. The contractor is coming back to take a look tomorrow. The hollow polycarbonate roof on my roof terrace I did not repair, so I have to live with the leaks. Some water also find its way into the hollow part. From far, it looked like a crack in the roof, but it is not.

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  7. Posted

    I envy many 3roomer's living room in this forum...all of you have almost over 6400 in size for living room.. mine is only 5400.. I dont get how does that equate to the same floor area of 65m2. :(:(

    65 sq m = 699.54 sq ft.

    As for the room size, to my dismay, the actual dimensions are SMALLER then the floor plan! I reckon my floor area is less then 65m2 lo... zzzzz

    Floor plan area is measured from centre of wall to centre of wall. The actual tiled area is smaller.

  8. Posted

    2 set of Grohe mixer and tap from Home & Bathroom, just beside Hafary at Balestier. According to my contractor, this shop sells the cheapest Grohe stuff. Well they are slight cheaper than what i see at IMM but i cant rmb the different. saw a rainshower with thermostat mixer selling at S$600plus, quite a good buy i think but paymaster object since we are not the rainshower ppl, it will just for show. well...

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    Noticed that you referred to Grohe but your picture shows Hansgrohe. In case you do not know, Grohe and Hansgrohe are two completely separate companies (and rivals too). Both have entry level made in China and high end made in Germany models. So when you compare, you need to compare between similar range models.

    I have no idea which is better. The jury is divided on this. It may depend on the range and model.

  9. Posted

    Hi KSTOH,

    I read your thread and saw that you have many good advice to share. I am in the process of a tedious A&A and is at the stage of deciding between polycarbonate roof vs glass roof for my wet kitchen. As this will be directly be below my Master bedroom, I am wondering if the poly roof will be too noisy during rainy days.

    Hope to hear from your experience since I saw that you have poly roof at home...

    Hi, polycarbonate roofs do have "pitter patter" kind of sound during rain. Nevertheless, I personally do not find it a problem. You get this sound only during rain, and during heavy rain these days, the loud winds and other things associated with the storm kind of camouflage the sound of the rain hitting the roof. There will be other noise problems that will affect you more e.g. neighbour's air conditioner compressor, dog that barks or howls through the night or bird that goes tok tok the whole night. And these do not take place only on a rainy day.

    During my renovations, I did consider changing my existing hollow polycarbonate roofs but did not proceed due to the costs involved. But I recall there were alternatives such as solid polycarbonate or aluminium composite. I believe (please verify with vendor) the solid polycarbonate type is less noisy than the hollow type.

    However, do note that both hollow and solid polycarbonate roofs have a greenhouse effect. It can get very hot and stuff underneath, if there is insufficient ventilation. Tinting the material sufficiently can help a little, but it will still be very hot.

    But I recall aluminium composite was suggested to me as a more durable material which will also keep out the heat. Check that out.

    Glass roof can be very heavy, requiring steel or other support. So, the cost may be much more.

  10. Posted

    Interesting. I do not own any landed property so this is based on what I heard from several friends living in landed property overseas.

    Their homes need water heater with pump and it is sometimes a matter of luck for them if water pressure is good enough not to warrant a pump as water heaters with pumps are more expensive than without pumps.

    For electricity, they have 3 phase to handle electrical parts and I was surprised to know that in event of electrical trip, one part of the house will be without electricity and the other parts of the house will have electricity so there is no need to manually shut down one of the switches to isolate one area or ensure the other part will have power.

    Too bad HDB flats does not have this though.

    Other countries are very big and their water pipes have to travel long distances, hence the water pressure may not be strong enough in many places. Singapore is very small. Generally, the pressure from the mains is good enough in most places.

    I do not know how many "phases" my electricity supply comes in. In the event of power trip, the main switch trips and my whole house is without power. I have to manually shut down one of the switches to isolate the area, then I can switch on the main switch without tripping the whole house. It is not automatic.

  11. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    [back to Table of Contents]

    I've been wondering about instant water heaters for landed property. I know you have written about water heater in a post before but what I am wondering is whether landed property require water heaters with pump. I know HDB flats do not need pump for water heater because of the huge water tank on the roof.

    Not sure if it is feasible but you could separate electrical phases, eg one part for upstairs and one part for downstairs so that when power goes off, it only affects one part and the other part will still have power running. But this may or not require 2 ELCB, one for upstairs and one for downstairs?

    I am not aware of landed properties requiring water heaters with pumps. I have both instant water heater and storage heaters in my house. I do not have any additional pumps or other devices. HDB blocks require booster pump because the building is so high. For example, in a 40 storey block, the water from the water tank at the roof top may feed levels 1 to 24 using gravity force whereas levels 25 upwards may need booster pump. But in a private landed property, I think at most you have 3 or 4 levels. The water pressure from the mains should be sufficient unless you live at a property that is on top of some hill or for some reason, the water pressure from the mains is low.

    From what I know, storage heaters will be able to deliver higher volume of water whereas instant heaters tend to reduce the water volume. I did write up on this in my blog. Check the index on page 1.

    Yes, various parts of my house are already under different circuits. Hence, when the whole house trips, I am able to isolate and just shutdown one of the switches and all other parts of the house still have power. But this switch which I have to shut down controls the ground floor lighting from porch to hall to dining area. So no lights and no fans. Always need to have candle light dinner when it rains but cannot be doing this all the time.

  12. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    In your situation, my suggestion would be to prioritise.

    1. First, to get the job completed as soon as possible. If there are parts of the work that can be excluded from your contractor/ID (most likely dry works such as wardrobe), exclude and do later.

    2. For those works that need to be done now (most likely wet works such as tiling, plumbing, electrical etc), make sure they are done properly. Ask around if you are not sure. It is difficult to redo such works.

    3. Try not to worry about the addtional costs that you have incurred. For example, Sim Siang Choon is not too bad a store. Of course, you can always get things at a cheaper price if you really hunt around, but generally their items are not too bad and price is not too expensive.

    • Like 1

  13. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Power Trips

    Every time it rains, my power trips and the whole house is without power. It is so frustrating.

    After some trial and error, I discovered that I could isolate the trip to one circuit (not sure if that is the correct term). Basically, if I turn off the switch L1R (which controls all the lights on the ground floor porch, hall and dining area) at the ELCB, I could turn on the main ELCB switch and restore power to the rest of the house. So, this is kind of SOP (standard operating procedure) now. In the middle of the night, it rains and the power goes off. My helper goes to the ELCB and she knows what to do.

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    But I don't think this arrangement is feasible in the long run. I need to get this sorted out. I texted my electrician. No response from him. I am thinking maybe I should find another electrician but then my electrician is the one who rewired parts of the house and should know better.

    [back to Table of Contents]

  14. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Optical Glass Cracked

    My OPSH hall cabinet and dry kitchen all have white optical glass surface. Looks really good but honestly quite fragile. One accidental knock at the edge and there may be a chip which will pain your heart. So far, there have been three accidents.

    Accident 1 - I had to register my Brandt built-in oven warranty online. I looked at the outside and inside of the oven but could not find the serial number. I thought probably the serial number is at the back of the oven. With the help of my helper, I tried to pull out the oven (side note: that is why some contractors do not fix the oven permanently) and in the process, it rested onto the cabinet door below. You know what happened. Luckily, the chip was small here. Can live with it. After I put back the oven, I discovered that the serial number was at the front of the oven but hidden by the side of the door!

    Accident 2 - A friend came over. She was taking in/out some wine bottles. Not sure how, but she hit against the edge of the cabinet door above the wine chiller. Luckily, the chip was also small here. Can live with it.

    Accident 3 - We did not see what happened but it could have been caused by some friends who had luggage with them. Anyway, the next morning after they left, my helper reported a huge crack right across the door of my dining area cabinet. This one is simply too big to ignore.

    ScreenShot2013-10-22at90545PM_zpscedc880
    (Just imagine one crack right across the 2.45m high door)

    I called OPSH. Freddy Shim and his carpenter came this morning to take measurements. Freddy informed that after I posted my pictures, he received quite a number of calls. Nice!

  15. Posted

    Hi gkbt

    There is nothing wrong with your blog. Just too much information for me to digest, hence I got confused. I originally thought I was just getting an alkaline water dispenser, on the assumption that alkaline water is good. But then came filtration, ionisation, ORP etc. Information overload.

    My litmus paper is new, although it being quite expensive and hardly the type of things people buy, it may have been sitting on the Guardian shelf for years. But I tested on lime juice and dishwashing liquid, and they both turned colour, as I showed above. So, the paper seems to be working. Yes, the machine came with some liquid tester but I cannot find it now.

  18. Posted

    and my hood... A FLOATING HOOD?! seriously.. this is what ticks me off :angry2: . the weirdest thing i ever seen in my whole life. a chimney hood is called a chimney hood because it connects to the top... why would such thing happen.

    first, it might be asiaexcel missed out one more piece... which obviously who in the world will know because instructions and manual parts are all written clearly its in place. second, the distance from the hood and hob is just nice, so the gap is a mystery. Since it's already up and the distance from hob is just nice, my ID suggested to put a false box to cover the gap. which i'm totally ok with it... i'm not sure if he is gonna charge me for this, but if i were him, i would use the extra leftover parts from the the living room where some rectifications were done and a huge chunk of the false ceiling were dismantled. maybe all disposed liao.. sigh... :dunno:

    Actually, a "floating" hood is not uncommon. Where the ceiling is not low, many chimneys cannot extend all the way from the hood to the ceiling.

    However, for all my previous purchases of similar hoods, the chimney is telescopic. In your case, there is definitely another piece for you to extend to cover the duct out portion. It cannot be that that part is exposed. It is almost impossible for your ID to fabricate the extension. Most likely, this part was left out or maybe it is an option. I saw the extension in the product catalogue.

  19. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    The very strong winds came again this morning at 3 am, bringing down trees in various parts of Singapore. When I went for my morning run this morning at the East Coast Park, the jogging track was strewn with all kinds of fallen branches and leaves.

    According to Channel News Asia, this is the result of a Sumatran squall and the wind speed near the West Coast Highway reached a top speed of 103.7 km per hour. Looks like the strong winds hit only the southern parts of Singapore. Those living in the north reported no such winds.

    http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/more-sumatra-squalls/1149442.html

    This time I had secured all my outdoor furniture but still the sofa was shifted by the wind, and one side panel of my jacuzzi was yanked off by the wind.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Good point! Didn't think so much about the kid part. HAHA. not yet at least, but I think it is possible to add the door after when we decide to. Yea will probably buy a good floor mat as well.

    At my previous place, I had one shower without door. Water splashing out can be kept to a minimum only if (a) the shower direction is not towards the opening, unless the opening is far away, and (b) whole body is standing within the glassed area.

    I looked at my glass door. At the place where it is hinged to another glass panel, there is a groove in the glass panel to hold the hinge. So depending on your design, it might not be possible to add the door later. Also, remember to contruct the kerb outside of the expected door position. But a drop is preferable, if possible.

    If there is water splashing out, a floor mat does not really help.

    The above is my experience.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    The rain was really very sudden and heavy this evening, with very strong winds.

    Doors and windows were blown open, and two young Eugenia Trees were brought down. Up on my roof terrace, the wind was strong enough to move my heavy BBQ set (but it has wheels) and topple my mahjong table. My outdoor sofa cover, cushions, shoes and door mat went flying.

    All these captured by my web camera on my roof terrace. It is good to be able to know what happened, especially if you were not there.

    • Like 2

  23. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    I pay $43 per cylinder!

    Maybe you should call my vendor? But check price first and let me know. Apart from the silly coupon gimmick, they are quite efficient. When you call from your home line, they immediately know where to deliver the LPG gas as they track your number.

    Hi KSToh,

    Wonderful blog. Very informative, interesting yet not boring. Thanks for all the info & inputs. Really helpful.

    Thank you!

    • Like 1

  24. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    Just two nights ago, I was irritated by my LPG gas supplier. My helper found a sheet of 4 cut-out vouchers in our letter box, from our regular gas supplier. This is what each voucher looks like.

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    However, when she tried to use the voucher, the gas delivery man refused to honour it, claiming that it is valid only for "new gas installations". This is of course rubbish as the voucher does not say so, and if it is only for new gas installations, why give 4 to each home?

    So I called the company to complain. The first girl, who spoke mandarin, did not seem to know that there was such a voucher, claiming that the only vouchers they give out were food vouchers. (I should have asked if I could use the vouchers to claim 2 packs of chicken rice). So I read out the vouchers and she decided to pass the telephone to her superior who spoke English. Now, this second girl knew about the $10 discount voucher but claimed that I had already been given the discount at $33.50. This is such an disingenuous excuse as I have ALWAYS been paying $33.50. To that, she said gas prices go up and down and it is now $46.00 actually. So, I was such a VIP customer that they have always given me a $12.50 discount, even without any voucher!

    I know $33.50 per cylinder is probably one of the cheapest around. I am not complaining. But my point is simple. If you offer to give a discount to your customers, honour it. Don't be cheapskate. Offer but refuse to honour, and find excuses. If you don't want to give, don't pretend to offer.

    But my sister did point out the fine print that said: "Our company reserve the right to amend the terms of this coupon without prior notice"

    Now, how much do you guys pay for your LPG gas? If it is similar price as $33.50, I will boycott my current gas supplier and switch. If it is much more expensive, then like the typical practical Singaporean, I will continue to order from this gas supplier. (A bit like continuing to buy food from the same stall because it is cheap and good, even though service is terrible). :)

  25. Posted · Edited by kstoh

    LPG Gas

    Whilst more than 90% of HDB homes have piped gas supplied by City Gas, the majority of private landed homes do not and have to rely on LPG gas delivered in cylinders by gas supply companies. I am one of them. It is inconvenient.

    You guys with piped gas should be thankful that:

    (a) your gas supply is continuous and you do not have to worry about the gas running out halfway while cooking;

    (b) you do not need to set aside a dedicated storage space, typically the whole cabinet below the cooker hob, to store the gas cylinder;

    © you do not have to handle the inconvenience of having to order gas every 1 or 2 months, and have the delivery guy bring in the heavy full cylinder to your kitchen and bring out the empty cylinder.

    So don't complain if you have this ugly gas pipe that runs through your kitchen and yard.

    When I bought my house, the previous owner left behind 7 LPG cylinders.

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    Thinking that it was dangerous to keep them, I returned all of them to the gas company except one. Subsequently, I bought a barbecue gas grille. Together with the gas stove in my wet kitchen, I now needed 2 LPG gas cylinders. As I did not want to run out of gas halfway while cooking or barbecuing, I have one full tank always on standby. In the end, I needed a total of 3 tanks and had to pay much more to the gas company. I should have simply kept more of my tanks.

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