SuperZ

@BunniBoi, you are very lucky. The place is so bright and with unblocked view. I am sure you are going to get nice wind and fresh air. Please keep posting your progress photos.

@andotang, thank you for sharing and giving a candid opinion on staying near expressway. Is it that dusty staying near expressway or dusty in general? As for the dust coming in from the gap under the main door, I think you can buy a rubber strip (to be fixed at the bottom of the door) that to block out the dusty air. It is good to know that HDB windows can block out 98% of the noise because my coming BTO place will be near expressway. So I take it that you can sleep well at night at the noise level with window closed? I appreciate your thoughts.

@andotang, a different question (other than renovation) for you. I see that your place is near the Expressway. Can you hear the night at night? Does it affect your sleep?

Hi @BunniBoi, thank you for sharing your selection. I see that you have selected vinyl strips for flooring. I am also thinking of vinyl but afraid that vinyl strips may not be durable (as someone told me that vinyl gets scratched easily). I like your vinyl strip color but I found that it is also available in tiles (so I may consider that). Also, is your counter top of quartz material? I would like your opinions. Thanks.

Hi @Cranberries, Thank you for bringing up this issue of inaccurate measurement. It is distressing to learn that the variation can be so large from 4.75 m to 4.0 m. That's almost 1.0 m difference. From my research, the structural wall is about 0.25 m. Now it makes me wonder about my upcoming BTO whether my unit would be having the same situation. FYI, the living room in my unit is exactly same length as yours (4.75 m). I would definitely bring attention to HDB.

@ryanyth, thanks for your opinions for induction cooker. I am leaning towards induction cooker too as I am not into stir frying.

@ryanyth, than you for your advice. You are right to have aircon trunking not to be buried beneath the tiles. My sister had her aircon trunking behind her built-in wardrobe. As the result when she needed to do re-trunking (for new aircon), the contractor said that he had to tear up the wardrobe. For me, I would never put any fixed stuff like tiles or wardrobe over the trunking enclosure. Aircon is the most frequent serviced item. Good idea about tile skirting. I would consider.

@ryanyth, thank you for your advice. You brought up a couple interesting points: "It was her good advice that saved me a future headache if I had done Box-up in the bathroom." Can you please elaborate? I was thinking of same shower enclosure but I would just go with a one panel shower glass screen (all the way to the floor) without any curb. "wishing I did something about the wooden skirting around my living room etc etc" What is it about wooden skirting? I opt out of OCS so I am doing cement screeding and wooden-like tiles with out wooden skirting. Any thoughts?

@ryanyth, thank you for very comprehensive blogging of your renovation process. Since you had completed you renovation and have been living there for sometime, looking back what would you have done differently. Please share with us tips of "do's and don'ts" for our future renovation. I think a lot of new comers here would really appreciate.

I am sorry to hear about this.

I am sorry to hear about this.

@Huey Miin Kor, there is no doubt you got million dollar view of the greenery. Since your flat block is quite close to Expressway, how is the traffic noise level, especially at night during bedtime? I once visited such a flat unit and I can hear the constant traffic noise which is fairly loud. Please share your thoughts.

@Darkangel17You can seal one of the doors (either bedroom or kitchen) and have that corner be the shower area. Obviously, you have to ensure that the sealing is tight, with no water seeping across to bedroom or kitchen.

@mmoh, thanks for your input.

Question: When you get a brand new HDB BTO flat, do you still need to do additional layer(s) of wall paint or the wall paint done by HDB is good enough, assuming no color change?