OnTheRoad
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Posts posted by OnTheRoad
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For my TV console, although I am satisfied with the design/quality, but getting one from Grafunkt (during 50% sale tho!) would have been at nearly the same cost as what I spent on customizing, with the difference being that I can move the Grafunkt console with me when I sell the house next time. RT-ers have gone either routes from what I see. Really depends on what you want.
Wow when did Grafunkt hv a 50% sale? I've been eyeing the console for awhile le!
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Hi Orin, the Aircon group buy previously managed by Aron now by Tim offers competitive prices for the 2 brands u mentioned. I've been looking at air con quotes too.
Coolserve is recommended by a former named Petunia if u google for her blog Coolserve is the subject of one of her entries.
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Hi Minerat, pm-ed you.
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Check out the wood structure used to do false ceiling / boxed up in the past..
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
...& the wooden roof structure....
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
There appears to be some tiny holes in the roof material...hope that can be remedied easily...
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Serendipity
At the point when we signed on the option for this house, we knew there would be alot of decisions - major ones with minor consequences, minor ones with major consequences, major ones with... you get the idea.
We had learnt from personal experiences that sometimes going with the flow or gut feel does reap better results. For my hub & I, we trust God to look out for our interests & so our decisions sometimes might not seem commonsensical at that point.
Eg 1: dismantling the existing good-conditioned nyatoh wood cabinets. We initially decided to keep the wardrobes to save $$ & our IDs agreed the condition is good & they just need to repaint it white for an updated look. When reno started, I somehow just felt the wardrobes should go. We made a quick decision & asked to remove them. It was then that we discovered
...these watermarks on the ceiling - possible leakage?
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
...these termite mudtrails that are now dead...but still gross to keep them around rite?
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
...numerous hairline cracks on the wall such as these...
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
So now at least we can patch up the cracks, investigate the roof, & rid those yucky mudtrails...
Eg 2: Just 1 hour into the start of the reno, my IDs had a flash of inspiration to hack part of the wall of the playroom. This will ventilate the room much more & brighten up the whole area. Quote was given on the spot, & my hub & I decided to proceed within that 5 mins.
That's how we uncovered this:
..the sewage pipe with a hole dripping water. The drip falls onto the wall that's why it would not have been visible till too late... of course, there's the possibility that the hole's poked accidentally by the hacker, but I'm not probing since IDs will patch that up for me.
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
Some decisions we had held off till kena chased by ID to choose, then at last minute we discover a better option for us...
We feel things are going well & we're thankful & happy about the decisions made so far, including choosing this ID team.
Just a side note, isn't this wall beautiful?
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-17
This is the dry kitchen wall whose old tiles have been hacked off. Wouldn't it be so nice if I can just smoothen out the rough patches & paint it white... ID checking on feasibility, cos the old cement parts are too rough to have around 2 toddlers...
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Mine is the 2nd time HDB called me. Must be the same CRAZY B%^&* complained...ZERO..tolerance. Seems like we have the same pattern "siao ran" neighbour. Want peace and quiet go to mental hospital stay lah!
Hope my other neigbours are better more considerate people.
Hey IPineapple, don't be too upset...actually in my 1st house which was a HDB, I had also complained to HDB abt my downstairs neighbour's reno. I stayed right above the Reno site & the noise is reaallly deafening one. U're not there the whole day at Reno site, so u wldnt know how bad it is...for ur neighbours it's their home & chillax place, so it's very disruptive. it's like at the site itself.
But ya lah, Reno is like that one, bo pian. Back then I was having confinement for my 1st baby. I cldnt rest during the time I'm supposed to rest & my newborn had to be exposed to this deafening drilling...
I guess hv to give & take lor...it wld help if owner informs neighbours beforehand to prepare them...so they can make plans to stay away during drilling period. i wld hv appreciated that back then. It's the same in hdb, condo or landed...
For my Reno now we informed our left & right neighbours abt the noise & dust & they've been very understanding. Only we forgot our backyard neighbour...haiz. So also got small feedback on the dust from them...
Hope everything will be smooth from now for u.
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Foundation are much more important than aesthetic, just like human.
I keep most of the original doors in the house and can comes up to a substantial savings.
Hmmm, are you @ district 19?
Ooo how u know? R u D19 too?
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snack bite bike
its filled with snacks now in every basket....
.... lots n lots of potato chips.
ugly dolls and ikea rat join in the parrteeeee
Good idea! I like the bikey....where did u find this?
Btw, I wanted to do a DIY for my brick wall too, inspired by u, but my contractor (after looking horrified at me) tells me it'll need special paste or something & will not be much cheaper & edges might chip off...is that true? They suggested epoxy material which is more ex.
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hey, pretty place you have there!
i'm looking for wood-like tiles too. do u remember how much psf does your dry-kitchen tile cost?
Hi itsybits, tks!
Mine is only $3psf. Bear in mind that it comes in 15x60cm so contractor might charge u additional for wastage & labour.
There are also those $4.50psf ones in similar size where "wood grain" is deeper, as well as 60x60 ones abt $3.40psf IIRC but wood effect might not be there liao. I chose the cheap & nice enuf one.
My contractor was kind enuf to absorb the labour & wastage charges since wood tile area is not big. I only hv to pay additional for subway tiles in my toilet, also subj to these charges cos of its 10x60cm size.
Hope this helps!
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Very nice layout! If I were you, I will want to have a nice little garden at the backyard. Hehee, but to be more practical a wet kitchen is a good idea if you do lots of cooking. By the way, are you going to build an entrance to the toilet from the utility room? I feel that's much more convenient for the maid or whoever sleeps in that room.
Hi Valerie,
I don't think there's a single green finger amongst the 6 adults that's going to live in the house... we don't want a plant massacre at my backyard. haha... we plan to only have a frangipani tree in front & perhaps some bamboo, or any plants that do not have alot of creepy crawlies... pls suggest if you know of any!
Yes we cook 5 days a week, so also looking to get a good hob, any recommendations?
We're splitting the utility into a maid's room & playroom. Maid's room entrance will be hacked & is beside the toilet, so quite convenient liao?
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Did I mention my timeline is very tight?
We only have 6 weeks to renovate our 2-storey terrace...
On the 1st day we stepped into the house as new owners, there were no less than 5 parties to come take measurements for windows / decking / air con / electrical / awnings. My hub & I had to split jobs, & while taking them around, the workers started to dismantle the stuff! It was a very hectic day for us. Like my 1st exercise after confinement...
Excavating the backyard
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-16
Dismal state of the kitchen
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-16
A view from the front door, walls hacked away to "tong fong"
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-16
The good wood that I couldn't recycle...
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-16
Dismantling / hacking took about 4 days.
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The ID / Contractor selection
Before the "demolition derby" pics, would like to share alittle on my contractor / id selection experience.
We started pretty early, even before I could get my floor plans. I could only offer the prospectives a visit to the site, which was also not convenient as the previous owners were 2 elderly folks who value their peace & quiet.
1st party: a contractor doing reno for a unit down the street with mirror image layout. Before we bought our unit, we "interviewed" the foreman & the worker about how windy / hot it is, the neighbours, & of course the extent of renovation & cost & time taken. After we signed the option for our house & met with the boss himself, he gave us a significantly higher estimate for the reno being done. Still, we wanted to give him a try as he's extremely familiar with the houses in that street (having done 2 others).
In the end, his first quote is exactly the same works as the unit he's working on, he didn't include the other things we want done (eg extension of toilet, front decking). For carpentry, he introduced us to his colleague who tried to chop us on the carpentry quotes. I dislike it because these people assume our stupidity. Although a contractor, his quotation were not the cheapest.
2nd party: an ID that is well-spoken of in this forum. they were responsive & agreed to visit the site even at late notice.
3rd party: an ID highly recommended by my good friend. He seem quite easy going & experienced in renovating landed.
4th parties: By this time I got my floor plan already & sent to 2 contractors who advertised on the forum. No response after 2 weeks. I followed up & 1 of them responded. By the time the quote came, I had already given birth & was having my confinement. The quote looked odd in some areas as the charges were significantly lower or more expensive than the rest. By this time we were tired of repeating our to dos & clarifying & waiting for quotation amendments. This contractor had also visited the site but his quote is so out of place, decided to forget it. The other contractor never reverted with a quote at all despite my follow up & despite his reply that he'll ask his people to expedite, blah blah.
In the end it boiled down to 2 IDs whose prices were similar & it was a tough choice but we decided to go with the IDs we had more chemistry with & whose track record is well spoken of in this forum. Furthermore it's not as easy to work with friend's recommendations because if it doesnt work out I'll still have to consider my good friend's relationship with the ID.
So my learnings:
- better not to work with friend's friends for this kind of things. Will still feel paisay somehow if want to ask for more or want to ask "eh what's up why like that?".
- Contractors are not necessarily cheaper than IDs in my case.
- Although I am quite clear on what I want, it still helps to have the ID's input as it's a fresh perspective. Of course thankfully my ID is more exposed to ang moh type of designs & not so cheena in his design suggestions.
- In the process of reno I realised the IDs' good working relationship with the subcons help to move the process along too. They know one another's style of work & reliability. I believe this is partly because my IDs have a regular stream of jobs in their pipeline so they use these subcons often & its a you do good I can give you more business kind of relationship. If I were to project manage myself, no matter how good my project management skills are, I will not be able to offer longterm business for the subcons or manage the people as well as my IDs.
So far, my IDs and us are doing pretty well. Will reveal their names upon reno completion if everything is swee swee.
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Hi Minerat,
The extent of your works are quite similar to mine. I would suggest getting quotes from both contractors & ID. My experience with contractors weren't good, of the 3 I gave plans to, only 1 gave a proper quote, & he wasn't much cheaper than the IDs because he has cheap lobang for some areas but some areas he's more ex. The other 2 contractors, both having threads in this forum, I had to chase & chase. 1 of them never got back to me at all despite his promises.
I got quotations from 2 IDs as well. In the end I went with the ID team my hubby & I had chemistry with & could give a competitive quote & whose track record is good in this forum.
I know what I want to do too, & am very vocal in my communication of concepts & look of my house. I didnt think I needed an ID too but I must say that the ID has value added so far in fresh ideas along the concept I want. Because of their experience & long term working relationship with the various subcons, project management is a huge value add given the scale of the Reno works & the slightly different & more unpredictable issues that might crop up for a landed house, as opposed to a HDB's.
My 2 cents worth.
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Hi,
I am also new to landed property. Will be getting my keys in Aug. Is pest control really a must?
Thanks.
Hi, its not mandated by the govt, but i've been advised to & I didn't want to take any chances cos remedies aft reno is more cumbersome.
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On day of completion, the lawyer handed me a retro pouch (the kind that coffeeshop uncles tuck under their armpits) & told me "these 2 keys are for the front door & front gate. All the rest of the keys, well you gotta go try it one by one"...
I opened the pouch &....
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-15
When my contractor came, we were still trying to find the key to unlock the backyard grill....so hub said "this one can just dismantle like that?"... & of course, it was easily done. Together with all the century old built-in solid nyatoh wood furniture, etc...
We're still keeping the 30+ keys just in case.
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These are taken with my phone. My unit is in the center. The backyard & front car porch are out of frame.
Ground floor
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-15
- Decking to cover front terrace
- Wall between dining & kitchen hacked, for open concept living/dining/dry kitchen
- Utility / granny's room split into maid's room with entrace from backyard & playroom with no doors
- Toilet at back extended to include shower area
- Back terrace to build L shaped wet kitchen counter
- Backyard is quite spacious, it'll be tiled over so greenery will remain only in front yard turfing.
2nd floor
By gerontheroad at 2012-05-15
- Not much changes, the MBRM will be extended into the balcony for additional space.
We're considering if we should convert the roof area into a balcony by hacking a door opening in bedroom 1 & decking & fencing the area up.... still holding back cos we want to uncover all the "surprises" first before confirming our budget will allow. Hub asks me how often we will actually use the space since it faces the back of another terrace house, will kena the noon sun, and will house our condensers....so, still considering.
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Thanks Hin! Mine won't be as classy as yours le, much of the budget is used for wetworks as mine is a 20 yr old house in original condition. The false ceiling frames are wood, not aluminium, the bathrooms are pink coloured.... you get the idea.
There are some good things about the house though, like doors are solid nyatoh (according to my contractor), & well, I guess having to do extensive reno means we can plan the space to our needs.
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Hi, wish u a smooth Reno
Thanks denimart. Already there has been some "surprises", but still manageable...
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Hi Valerie, urs is the cement tiles that I like right?
Oki oki will see if taking a pic of the floor plan will work.
Thanks brandonlky.
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Oh before that, there is this niggling thing:
Pest Control (aka Termites Terminator!)
For landed, I was told anti-termite treatment is a must, & doing it during my heavy reno is the best time. This is because the treatment involves drilling a small 1-2cm diameter hole every feet or so in the perimeter of my house, pumping in the chemicals, & sealing up with cement.
I called up at least 4 companies for quotations:
1. Aardwolfe - was told they do not do inter-terrace because we share walls with 2 neighbours & so they cannot guarantee the termites will not crawl over the walls... so only bungalows & semi-Ds for them. Alrightz.
2. Killem - Asked for floorplan, told them you wont be able to see the dimensions but I can give you the perimeter. Came back to me more than 3 days later with a quote only 300 cheaper than Rentokil.
3. Rentokil - Salesperson Alan responsive & knows his stuff. After the promo, very competitive price for an established company.
4. Origin - quoted cheapest but using another chemical, which I can seem to find much info on when I googled.
Decided to go with the well-known terminators. Dowan to play play with these pests thingies.
On Day 1 of reno, the inspection technician indeed found some termites in the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. He did the spot treatment.
Some mudtrails were found at the MBRM wardrobe carcass but his termite tracking device indicates no signs. Dead trails... thank God!
The Rentokil contract comes with 5 years warranty & annual inspections, which appear to be pretty standard in the industry. Alan says I can call them anytime I suspect activity & they'll come check it out FOC. Yes, I like. If only there's such a package for roaches.
Rentokil technician terminating.
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Me would also be engaging one soon (in a few mths' time). Thus, would like to check what are the rates like?
Also, what about termites control on landed properties?
Thansk!
Hi shmj, I only took the anti-termite treatment contract, it doesn't include other pests...if that's what you're looking at, I can pm the Rentokil contact to u. I paid ard 3k after credit card discount, includes inspection & on the spot treatment if termites are found as well as 1.5 days of drilling the treatment into the ground. Mine's a terrace btw.
The other quote I got is using a different chemical & costs 2.5k. Can give u that contact as well.
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One of my favourite parts: Choosing Tiles
I thoroughly enjoyed this process because it is like shopping, only the choices I make are ultimately non-refundable & no turning back. In other words, Here To Stay for as long as we live in the Dream House.
My hub & I had already recced Harfary 2-3 times before selection day with our ID & shortlisted a few. End of selection day 1, our tiles were totally different from the ones we shortlisted. After ID came back with additional amounts for some of the more luxurious tiles, we arranged a 2nd round of selection to make it within budget. This time, everyone was satisfied. The aesthetic people, the budget people, most of all Harfary I would think.
Here are the final choices:
Living/Dining + Dry Kitchen (sorry it's upside down). The dry kitchen tile is a wood-plank sort 15x60cm in distressed wood colour (which I love) & less slippery in a food prep area.
Backyard/Wet Kitchen + Wet Kitchen Countertop. My wet kitchen is an L-shape concrete sink & stove support to be overlaid with the black glossy tiles. For backyard, I love the grey-toned tiles in running tones..
MBRM Toilet. The first tile is a bigger than usual size (hence the bigger than usual price) that mimics the travertine marble complete with small potholes. Harfary's is the most natural looking compared to LSH's & HK's. This will be used for the walls at my basin & shower head. The mid tile is a cheap matt tile of lighter tone for the rest of the walls as well as my vanity counter. The tile at the back is my floor tile. Btw I'm using concrete & tiles as vanity counter instead of solid surface with cabinets below because I've a phobia of water leaking into rotting wood cabinets. *shudder*.
2nd Floor Common Toilet. I love the subway tiles seen in so many ang moh websites like Apartment Therapy & Desire to Inspire. It might seem like a trend now but I do think it's quite evergreen cos many of those ang moh houses are not new or having a modern theme. The blue mosaic-copy tiles are a happy find - pretty without the cost of mosaic (like $18 psf npt including labour?? *Faint*)..they'll be laid in my shower cubicle. I'm matching this combi with a white shade floor tile with sparks. Hope it turns out bright & nice!
Ground Floor Common Toilet, too nice too be just maid's bath! The grey tile for shower, beige tile for the rest, & black tile for floor. These tiles caught my eye & i just couldn't bear to give them up. Must fit them somewhere in my house! ok la, maid's toilet!! The 2 wall tiles are from same series & in running tones. I love running tones.
I am pretty much 100% satisfied with my tiles & can't wait to see them in their full glory!
Next up, demolition derby pics....
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Floorplan you say?
Obtaining the floorplan
- Asked the seller's agent for floorplan. He gave me some rubbish about needing the architect or builder to apply, etc.
- Called up BCA. Had to apply & pay the small search fee online first.
- After about a week, called to follow up on status. Told to go down in morning to receive.
- Was the 1st person at the BCA office next morning. Officer produced a box of film rolls, we went to the room to go thru the images & identify which unit is mine.
- After choosing the images, went to the printing room nearby to print out the plans on A0 sized paper. Had the images shrunk into A4 size but most people I gave the plans to said they cannot see the dimensions.
So... this is my floor plan story.
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Although the upcoming place will be our 3rd home, this is our first major renovation experience.
Our first apartment: just the 2 of us. We renovated only the MBRM toilet & kena chopped with $10K bill. We were young, had little savings, and even less "reno-saavy".
Our current Lovely Estate: Already a 3 generation household including a dog & a toddler, we moved in with only our mattresses & our possessions. This place back then was recently & extensively renovated.
Our Dream House: With a 9th member on the way, we needed a bigger place...after more than 6 months of looking, we took a leap of faith & bought this simple original inter-terrace. This is where we'll be Here To Stay... for 10 years, or more.
I started following this forum and - like many others - gained much insight from everyone's sharings. So now, in between nursing my newborn & playing with my 3 yr old, I've finally found time to start this blog in the hope of documenting some learnings I gained along the way....
Bachelor Pad In Potong Pasir
in Reno t-Blog Chat
Posted
Hi Roger, congrats on ur penthouse! Looks like rooftop parties are upcoming for u..
I saw the lights at Lush, the sales person quoted me 560 I think for the trio...I also kiv these for my place. Not sure if it'll run out of style tho.
Fendi carpet very stylo! As for fan, Haiku's nicer...Haiku also has energy saving technology, not just nice looking fan.
What are ur plans for rooftop decking?