yoongf

http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=2392 Para 3

From a moisture resistent point of view, yes, it is ok. But owner don't like the hollow sound. I just don't see the reason why hollow block is not being used. This is not a feature wall where nobody touches it regularly. This wall is highly utilised in a hostile environment, and has compartments for shampoo bottles.

Nobody uses wood in toilet. Other countries.. humidity low.. can, Sg no way. So many condo.. all tiled with marble walls in toilets. Minimally is hollow block. wood and cement board.. got different expansion rate, and is also different from the tiles. Will crack very soon.

Plywood is 100% wrong.

beige marble,

I like large (2m wide) sliding glass doors. Wide sliding wooden doors also can. some ppl use thin book cabinets that slide on wheels. Some use those super thin japanese sliding doors.

Think need to clear the misconception that LED is more energy saving that flourescent. To measure efficiency, there is a term called "lumens per watt", which is basically how much light is produced vs power consumed. LED is ard 63 lm/w. T5 tubes are well above 70. Philips tornado is also ard 70. LED is ideal replacement for halogen spot lights. But LED vs flourescent is just comparable only. LED appears brighter becuase they use a reflector, like halogen bulbs, while PLC/E27 does not have reflectors built in. LED is very useful when u have high ceilings where replacement is very troublesome, and long life is preferred. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy

If the house is part of a larger condo development, means yr house is considered a strata property. Adding a loft is technically an increase in GFA. Getting formal approval requires many submissions to URA/BCA and FSB, since running distance is increased.

Wall plug is the problem. Use a thicker wall plug, or a fatter screw, or a longer screw + wall plug.

you are one lucky guy to get to be able to get yr dream property! My comments.. 1. Lvl 1.. The long coridor to the back maybe inefficient use of space, and makes the place look narrow. Consider a glass wall instead? 2. Better to have a toilet on level 1. 3. Lvl 2.. u got such a huge house, but the toilet is mickey mouse size. shd be way bigger, like 2 times the size. U can't even brush yr teeth properly as the side wall is too close to the basin. 4. Take note of aircon considerations. When u on level 2 aircon, the cold air will all fall down to level 1 through the stairwell. Effectively u are cooling 2 floors all the time, same for the attic floor. 5. Front courtyard can consider a nice koi pond or a raised outdoor jacuzzi in lush landscaping. 6. Is there a laundary area? 7. Kitchen appliance space provision also mickey mouse side. 750mm for fridge is really small fridge relative to house size. 8. Basin dun put so near the stove. shd space out. 9. Spiral staircase.. is very high point loading on the slab below. Think need to get engineer to check if the lvl 2 slab can take the load. the cost will go up substantially if u need to do transfer beams/micropiling. 10. Kitchen area.. take note of cross ventilation. Air can come in from the front, fumes need to exit from the rear. 11. This is a house. Toilets shd hv natural ventilation, can even be bathing outdoors!

No leh.. timble just slows down the water, so lesser pressure, lesser water gushes out even if open fully. Aerator is actually a nozzle that causes the water to flow out in smaller streams, like rain shower. some basins I use aerator to create a wider spray.. better for washing hands, but not so good if wanna fill a cup of water.

http://save-every-drop.blogspot.sg/2010/10/installation-of-water-thimbles.html Water timble given FOC by PUB.. through the mailbox last time. The Sani-ware Water Saving Aerator can buy from those bigger Fairprice like AMK Hub and NEX.

Eh.. smoking la.. Carpentry doors are made from plywood, block wood, or chipboard, NOT FROM ORIGNAL PLANKS. Those bowing issues are only applicable to timber decking or doors made from solid planks, where the continous grains are intect. Plywood is laminated with different alignment to minimise any warpage. Blockwood is small piece of wood jammed together, the grains are not continuous. I don't deny that inferior raw materials can be a cause of warpage, but.. a manufactured warped cabinet door shd be totally unacceptable. Most wood used to come from tropical areas, where the climate is similar to Sg. But these days.. got wood from china, which is a totally different moisture environment.

Not sure who was involved in the design stage. This design starts off with a NO DRAWER HANDLE requirement. Therefore, standard practice is to angle the top side of the drawer face so that finger can dig out the drawer. The gap distance is correct for such a design (abt 20mm?) But.. in yr pix.. the drawer face got no angled top, so the finger got nothing to hold onto. and.. thus.. the carcass trim was removed to allow the finger to hold the drawer face? Actually, this design is also quite common, but the gap is usually much bigger, like in pole systems.

Always go for undermount. Abovemount, water on countertop cannot be naturally swept into the sink, as there is a ridge to overcome. The ridge needs to be perfectly flat with the countertop to look nice. This requires a good quality sink (thick gauge steel) and very good workmanship. Any warpage will be very obvious. If got heavy cooking, and pours hot water into sink regularly, the sink expansion will cause the ridge to move. This will cause the silicon to debond, resulting in leaks into the cabinet below. All these issues do not exist with undermount sinks. and try to have a minimum 1cm overhang around the countertop opening. But from a looks perspective, above mount looks more bold.

Let your bum, or the bum of the person who spends most time on it, do the talking. Some seats are so narrow, not much support. Some Seats... too short.. the guy.. sitting down.. that thing.. hangs outside of the seat. There are normal height ones, or those hotel type lower ones. Flushing.. some got siphonic action.. sort of vacuums the stuff down the drain. Some are 2 piece. some are one piece. The ceramic bowl dun give problems, it's the mechanism that usually fails first. Do your assessment based on the branded ones first, like TOTO, DURAVIT, from then on venture to the cheaper brands.

It's the glue to stick the polykem/PVC/laminate to the wood. Put those charcoal air freshener, and it will go away soon. These type of glue dries by slowly evaporating the solvent away.

drill set to hammer mode? Drill bit is meant for concrete and still servicable (not blunt)? If all above is ok, then probably is u did not push the drill hard enough into the wall. The only time I could not penertrate deep enough is cos kena the reinforcement bar, or when I tried to drill a Grade 60 concrete.

Your edging.. is rounded? Looks more like ceramic tiles. Anyway.. if the surface is matt/textured, I use very very fine sandpaper to remove cement streaks. If is gloss finish, try using acid wash. NTUC/GIANT got sell those very cheap brown bottle type called stain remover.

To create an exposed channel of 10mm width, and 20mm high to channel water from shower area to floortrap is not that difficult. Embedding a concealed pipe into the screed runs a lot of waterproofing risks.

Better to spray paint to the colour u like. Hand painting tends to leave uneven surface which is quite obvious when using gloss paint.

Tracklighting is meant for spot/accent lighting. Will not be good to use for general lighting. With ceiling fan in the middle, is better to do the L box lighting. Actually, if u design properly.. can consider things like table lighting or wall mounted lights. Most hotel rooms do not use ceiling lighting, just mostly table lamps. There are surface mount canister type of light to install downlight unto concrete ceiling. but it's very ugly.

Eh... this whole transection sound weird. If u wanna abort also can leh. 1. If u offered 1.2Mil.. this 1.2Mil offer shd be communicated to the seller. If u ask seller if he knew of the 1.2Mil offer, and seller say no, this agent licence can say bye bye. 2. Let's say u not yet exercise OTP, then why worry, u go back to seller and say u now wan a 1.2Mil OTP. Old one tear away. Why would seller reject a higher price?? 3. Unless u telling me this agent your good buddy.. u wanna pay him comm as a buyer's fee. Then.. u got nothing to be upset about. 4. It is not true to say that agent comm is only to be paid by seller. Agent comm can only be paid by 1 party, and not both. Anyway... as far as I see it. nothing is cast in stone yet.

The bathroom floor is dark colour. The bathroom wall is light colour. At the doorway, inside the bathroom, the vertical face of the kerb shd be same colour as the wall tile. Then the dark floor is just restricted to horizontal surfaces. The horizontal surface can take on the light colour of either the toilet wall or the bedroom skirting. Some designs... they use a totaly different 3rd colour to make a clear boundary between the room and the toilet.

I last selected 200 X 200 in 1990 leh.. and yes.. it's those full bodied dark coloured homogeneous tile. Personally, these tiles make the flat look really old. They are very durable and can last forever, but.. looks old.