redbottle

this 10K is only for basic reno: flooring (mainly laminates except homo tiles for foyer and HHS) L-box kitchen cabinets sliding door at kitchen entrance aluminum grilles wardrobe for MBR painting works electrical works plumbing works most IDs i met said 10 to 12K is a realistic figure... I always tell IDs my budget is "as close to 10K as possible"... i dun want to give them a max budget cos i think they'll tend to "max out" the quotation until it hits ur max budget... so i prefer to tell ID a realistic lowest budget and let them work out the reno plan... the remaining reno stuffs like furniture and electrical appliances, i got a separate budget for them... think it's easier for me to manage this way...

hi onepostwonder! i posted a blog on my ID hunt at the beginning of this month... membina.blogspot.com last saturday, i went for a reno tour conducted by HBay and ID Emboss... visited a new Seng Kang flat and a Changi 3-storey terrance corner... quite an informative tour... learnt abt the various materials used and the approx price... at the end of the tour, i also discuss my reno plan with an ID from ID Emboss...his name is called Y.Y.... funny name, haha... he's quite friendly lah, so far first impression still ok... he said he'll give me a quotation by wednesday...

yes, should be enough... MBR typically uses 8000-9000 btu/hr and living/dining room 18000 but/hr... a suitable model may be this... Mitsubishi Electric MXY-3A28VA / MSXY-GA10VA / MSXY-GA18VA 8,530Btu/hr + 17,060Btu/hr $2,350.00 price is taken from www.coolserve.com.sg yes, i wanna ask that too! another question: what is the size of the switches?? I wanna get those big size switches, but an ID said new HDB flats using big switches already, dun need to buy on our own...

hi jasch! u're our hero! thank you v v much for taking those photos! did u sneak in thru' the main gate near 26D, or the small little gate near 25A?? the gate at 25A actually has quite a big lobang... a few times i walked passed it, i wanted to sneak in, but never did, haha... also, in the kitchen photo, there are some metal bars mounted on the wall... what're these metal bars for??

hi, seems that FX900 is quite a popular cooker hood cos dun need to change charcoal filter... i go Universal Union the salesgirl promoting it strongly... i notice it's highest fan speed is only 450 m3/h... quite low compared with those chimney type... has anyone use it yet?? how is the performance? izzit noisy?? can it really suck 83% of the oily fumes??? izzit difficult to clean and maintain??? thanks!

hi, does Ho Bee give warranty on the reno? how many years??? thanks!

hmm, just called HDB to ask status of my HLE... me: hi, i would like to check status of my HLE application. HDB officer: what's ur IC number? me: xxxxxxxx HDB officer: wait a while... HDB officer: did u send in all your documents? me: yes HDB officer: then wait for us to reply to you me: oh, ok... me: thank you. hang up. got call machiam like din call like that...

hi! fellow membinarians!

hi tim_chenie! hong tar's website is http://www.hongtar.com.sg/ ya, inverter is definitely worth it if u intend to use the aircon almost every nite... i think its better to spend a bit more upfront and save on running costs... but if u use aircon sparingly, then can consider non-inverter... the tallest is 30 storeys... i think the newer flats at Tiong Bahru are all 30 storeys ... the condos there even taller

oops, thanks! have corrected the blog entry... here's the floor plan... hdb says end of july... *fingers crossed*. .. cos i visited the construction site, although our block is apparently completed already, the remaining blocks still got cranes leh... yupz, won't make the mistake of buying too early again will wait for contractor to recommend lobangs...

here's a list of the things I plan to do for reno... feel free to comment! **for reno contractor to do: floor: living-dining room and bedrooms: supreme AC3 8mm foyer and HHS: homogeneous tiles (not sure what brand yet) ceiling: 45 cm width L-box for living-dining room kitchen: cement base for kitchen cabinets, fridge and wm 100 cm long tall cabinet with slot-in door for middle shelf, which will be used to put microwave, airpot and rice cooker. 230 cm long base cabinet fitted with Ikea's Rationell series of drawers and wire baskets. 230 cm long top cabinet 230 cm of samsung's staron solid surface worktop tempered glass splashback sliding door between kitchen and living-dining room: bottom half wood or aluminum, top half tempered glass living-dining room: 250 cm long wall-mounted L-shape TV console MBR: 210 cm long build-in wardrobe electrical and plumbing: 10 downlights in living-dining room 10 ceiling lights altogether for kitchen, bedrooms, foyer, toilets and HHS 1 ceiling fan other essential electrical plumbing works window grill: aluminum bronze-anodized, to cover middle section of window only i.e. don't cover the top-hung part paint: Nippon easy-wash paint (4 colors) ICI Pentalite Mouldgard for ceilings of kitchen and bathrooms front gate: 80cm tall plastic sheet to cover bottom part of gate ** ~~Things to buy appliances: tv: samsung 42" plasma sound system: ?? media streamer: ?? (sim lim square) fridge: panasonic magic top 300L wm: samsung 800rpm 6.5 kg dryer: Fisher & Paykel AD56 5 kg manual ceiling fan for living-dining room: Crestar 56" aluminum blade with remote control aircon: system 3 or 4 non-inverter (either Daikin MA56 or ME) kitchen appliances: cooker hob: 80 cm long 2-burner (Rinnai? Aerogaz?) cooker hood: 90 cm long (not sure chimney or slim type yet) sink: 60 cm long, 25 cm deep single-bowl (poh joo? universal union?) furniture: dining table: tempered glass top (Ikea? vhive?) sofa: Ikea's Sater 2 m long half leather sofa wardrobe: Ikea's Antonius series? shoe cabinet: Ikea shelves for HHS: Ikea ~~ that's all i can think of now... will update again... hi eric! ya, have been considering whether inverter is more worth it in the long run... but we seldom use aircon unless it is super hot and humid... furthermore, our flat is on high floor, so should be quite windy... also, i use fan and aircon together cos this way aircon dun need to set very low temp, about 27 or 28 deg celcius already very comfy with the fan blowing... so in the end, still think non-inverter is more economical... thanks for ur suggestion... really appreciate it!

hi tim_chenie, i haven't bought aircon yet.... i just surfed CoolServe website to know what's the market prices like... Mitsubishi Electric has two types of system 3 non-inverter... one is R410A type and the other is R22 type... CoolServe quotes $2047 for the R410A one... the R22 one should be cheaper... ... R410A aircon is more environment-friendly all prices inclusive of installation... which type is ur contractor quoting you??? maybe can try getting a few more quotations, say from Hong Tar, Gain City etc?? Just to be sure the contractor is giving an honest price...

learning how to post photos here... construction in progress... 17 Dec 2006 13 Jan 2007 seems to be working

After 4 years' of waiting, we'll soon be moving to our replacement flat at Jalan Membina! Have been surfing RenoTalk for almost a year, and have learnt a lot. Hope to receive from and share info with all forumers! see also my blog at http://membina.blogspot.com

i'm also pondering whether to get the Citigas gas dryer or Fisher & Paykel manual dryer AD56... i made some calculations... citigas dryer (6 kg): cost of dryer = $630 cost of installation of gas pipe = $80 total cost of dryer + installation = $710 power consumption = 1.9 to 4.6 kW => assume average of 3.5 kW drying time = 1 hr gas utility cost = $0.1676 per unit assume 1 unit is equivalent to 1 kWh each load of laundry will cost about $0.60. Fisher & Payel AD56 (5 kg) cost of dryer = $480 power consumption abt 2 kW drying time = 2 hrs electric utility cost = $0.2052 per kWh each load of laundry will cost abt $0.80 therefore, if 3 laundry loads per week, each month is 12 loads, savings in utility bill is 12 x $0.20 = $2.40 per month i.e. abt $28.80 per year. difference in prices of dryers = $230 payback period abt 8 years besides monetary considerations, must also consider the non-monetary aspects: Pros of citigas over F&P 1. citigas dryer dries clothes faster 2. citigas dryer's capacity (6 kg) is larger than F&P dryer (5 kg) 3. citigas dryer has automatic sensing 4. electric tariffs tend to rise faster than gas tariffs so savings in running cost can increase if suing citigas dryer Cons of citigas over F&P 4. citigas dryer has only 1 year warranty compared with 2 years for F&P (5 years for drum unit) 5. if moving house next time, easier and cheaper to move and set up F&P in new house than citigas (need to spend another $80 to lay gas pipe in new house) think most probably will get the F&P because its cheaper and longer warranty. also, most probably i will be using the dryer only for drying large items like bedsheets, blankets and jeans; with lower usage, F&P makes more monetary sense. hope it helps u in deciding which one to choose! =)

hi, has anyone engaged Ben Sng from Earnest Interiors before??? any comments on his works??? thanks!

hi elmoboy, i noticed the grilles cover only the centre part of the window... izzit a sliding grilles or fixed one?? thanks!

hi, has anyone done aluminum grilles that do not cover the top-hung part?? is it cheaper than the normal grilles that goes right up to the ceiling?? got pics to show??? thanks!

hi, if u have spare cash, invest it rather than prepay ur hdb loan. that's because hdb loan has v v low interest rate (0.1% + CPFOA rate of 2.5% = 2.6%). if ur hdb loan still has more than 10 years to go, most investment over such long period can v probably earn u an interest rate higher than 2.6%. for example, let's consider two scenarios: (1) u have $10k spare cash and u use it to prepay hdb loan which still has 13 years more to go; u'll save a total of $4016.28 in the interest u pay. (2) u invest the $10k in Singapore Govt Securities maturing in 13 years' time and u get a GUARANTEED return of 2.97% (http://www.fundsupermart.com/main/sgs/SGShome.tpl) (the guarantee is by the Singapore Govt no less), and continue to pay interests to hdb as normal. u'll receive a total return of $4670.61 from the SGS, and thus after deducting the interest paid to hdb, u pocket the difference, and so, u're $654.33 richer! if u're more risk-tolerant, u can invest in shares, which can potentially gain u much more than 2.97%, and u'll be richer by an even greater amount. if u have a financial planner, talk to him or her for advice.