Jump to content
Find Professionals    Deals    Get Quotations   Portfolios

ilkl

Members
  • Content Count

    382
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Everything posted by ilkl

  1. Hello @CZL, you've asked a very good question! Because just yesterday we spoke to the electrician big boss who came to collect money and we learned something from him. Fibre Termination Point Hoo-Ha A bit of backstory first: our ID suggested having the fibre termination point to be in our TV console because that's where we planned to have our Starhub TV and router there. He said they will provide a connecting wire which runs in the existing false ceiling. The logic of doing that is to hide the fibre wires otherwise the fiber installation people will run casing all the way which is so ugly! When the electricians came, they insisted that the intended place is too far and it cannot be done. We weren't really involved in the discussion but somehow our ID managed to sort it out with the electrician: they will run a dummy wire in the false ceiling from outside the house to our TV console, and the exposed part at the feature wall (because we didnt do a plywood panel) will be in black PVC pipe. When Net Link Trust (formerly Open Net) people came, that dummy wire acts as a threader basically - they tied one end to the fibre optic wire, and pulled it in all the way (through the false ceiling and the black pipe) into the TV console. Now I'm not an electrician and I didn't study electrical engineering, but I think distance and length of the fibre optic wire should not affect the connection (because then in Singapore you will have difference in speeds according to area?) so placing the fibre further in the house is not contraindicated. The fuss that the electricians kicked up was the fact that the further the distance the fibre wire has to travel, there is a higher chance of the wire breaking and getting lost in the false ceiling, so they said it cannot be done to save them the hassle. Luckily all went smoothly and our Internet connection is totally fine. So why I brought up the electrician big boss? Well, he was the very first person who came to site visit and ran through the whole plan for wiring with us and our ID and he was not aware that we were building a full height shoe cabinet which we could hide the DB box in (the existing DB box was on the opposite wall and very high up). He thought we were building a half height shoe cabinet and we are not shifting the DB box (this was a miscommunication - the full height shoe cabinet was in the plan all along). However, when renovation started, our ID and ourselves decided to move the DB box into the shoe cabinet (cost $400), and the boss said if he knew about that, he would have suggested we have the fibre termination point done next to the DB box, very much like what all BTOs are doing now. All he needed to do was to install a double amp socket there for the modem, and he will add a data point to the TV console which is way easier to connect to the fibre point/modem at the shoe cabinet, rather than going through all that trouble we went through (which cost an extra $220). So who do we blame? Partly the ID cause why they never suggested this in the first place (probably cause they also don't know), partly the electrician team (big boss excluded) because they were the ones shifting the DB box and complained about the fibre being too far inside the house, how come never suggested this simple solution? And also partly the electrician big boss (eh hello, you probably blur and remembered wrongly, cause the full height shoe cabinet was planned since day 1 ok?). And also a little bit blame ourselves cause we really didn't know (but we home owners le, not professionals, of course we dunno right?). SO, LONG STORY SHORT, TLDR VERSION: If not planning to build full cabinet to hide DB box (which is usually situated near main entrance), then you can run the fibre into the house via conventional method of having Net Link Trust installing wire casings all over the house, or through this special method of using dummy wire/threading method described above. If you are building a full cabinet and you are relocating your DB box inside, best to install your fibre termination point next to it (and don't forget to have at least 2 sockets for your modem - happened to our friend, they couldn't have internet until electrician came to fix it) If you already have fibre point in your house when you bought it, good for you! Otherwise must pay Net Link Trust $235.40 to install. if you have a BTO, then good for you too! Gahmen already thought out the best way for you! It's other mortals like us who got resale who may have this headache to deal with. --------------------------------------------------------------------- P/S: Sorry haven't updated this thread for a while, we just shifted into our house yesterday so it's quite a havoc now! Hopefully I can add some updates soon!
  2. Hello @lkccchris, Yes, they just apply the cement directly over the existing tiles. Regarding the cement - for our kitchen and service yard, there's only one wall left with real cement screed whereas the rest have been painted over (because of a painting boo-boo). The parts that were painted over are rough because they had not finished screeding properly, but we did our own special effect painting to blend in with the roughness, and some parts where also smoothened with putty before painting over again. The wall where there is cement screed need to be protected well because when the pipes and electricians are working on it, they like to draw stuff on it and sometimes it gets quite dirty and harder to clean. Our common bathroom with the cement screed was done up well, much smoother (cause we insisted to our ID - otherwise they would have left it rough) but we have not painted over a layer of protection to reduce water absorption. Some people paint over the cement screed with polyurethane varnish but we are going to try a special cement sealer, because we want to keep the matte finish of the screed yet have water repellent properties. Will probably do up a separate post about it! Hi there! After we got our ID to patch those areas and sand down, no unevenness detected for those areas. But recently after we cleaned and started moving in, I noticed the floor at my dry kitchen is a little uneven - previously the dry kitchen floor was hacked and cement screed done to level with the living room. I have informed my ID so we see how he gets it fixed. Thankfully our vinyl floor is those clicked-on type so removing and reinstalling them is quite easy.
  3. Thank @mamit! Actually not that big la. Just that the living room is very long. Thanks @megannn Yalor!! My mother and his mother all say the hole is weird but the husband very very adamant that he wants to keep it. He was sooo grumpy when I told tiler to fill up the hole. Sigh. Anyway he says if everyone says it's ugly, next time he will hire someone to come and add on the brick tiles (I doubt any tiler will bother with such a small job though). And we modified it slightly so hopefully it looks better!
  4. Great idea for the waardrobe! Hey I was wondering about those niches you have beneath your windows. Any reason why you didn't build in cabinets to flush and to utilize as storage space? Your living room one especially...
  5. Hi @Raylowwl, Sorry didn't reply sooner. Had to look up the numbers: Full height bookcase with internal laminates $400/ft With internal PVC $340/ft Internal PVC with glass sliding doors $410/ft Just for comparison, our full height wardrobe is $380/ft. Hope this helps!
×