snoozee

What is required is that you have a negative swab test result and negative on-site ART when you visit the site. So if you are going once a month, just book the test in advance before you plan to go to site. I think the problem is when you can book the time slot for swab test. I visited the site almost everyday as my house is near where I was staying during the rebuilt. So it was a routine to drop by the site to take a look and take photos before I head home after work. I took a lot of photos to document where all the concealed conduits and pipes are laid. Else would have problem when need to drill holes in walls.

i have one on each floor except my mezzanine where i have 2 to provide coverage for mezzanine and 1st storey. Cos my mezzanine has a void for double volume ceiling for my 1st storey so the APs are placed on each end of the mezzanine just beyond the void so that the signals can cover the 1st storey. basically if I am in my living room on 1st storey, I can see the APs if I look up. my floor plate size is about 14m by 7m. 2nd storey AP is placed in a corridor and has no issue with signal coverage for all areas within the storey even with the need for signal to pass through walls. I would suggest you get hold of your floor plan in section view and try to plan the placements of the APs from there. Try as much as possible to have the APs in the middle of the storey to maximise coverage.

there is no longer a need for 45 degree slope for attic. what is needed is that the attic structure falls within the 45 degrees spring line which demarcates the building envelope. I've seen quite a few new houses built with no 45 degrees slope for the attic at all and done with steel roof structures.

I beg to differ. my house is built with flat metal roof with a slight incline to provide water flow. I still get more than 3m floor to ceiling for almost my entire attic storey. So it doesn’t mean that only RC roof can maximize the GFA. It’s all about how the attic storey is designed to be within the building envelope to maximize the GFA. for houses which are specified with metal roof, of cos all the insulation materials would have to be part of the specifications. It doesn’t make sense to built a metal roof with just the steel sheets for a house.

just contact NParks directly to enquire

you are the buyer so you can decide what you want. if you already signed and confirmed the quotation with the supplier and they have no stock for you, then it's the supplier's fault for not reserving the stock for you and there's no reason for you to accept another more expensive aircon system especially if you need to pay extra for it. yes, supply issue may be there and I experience it myself as my supplier told me that there was no stock (whole of SG) for the ducted aircon I chose and I was offered the choice to select one from another brand (more expensive) at no extra cost to me. With COVID situation nowadays and factories could be shut, supply issue may occur. So do confirm your work schedule with your main contractor and let your aircon subcon know when you are planning to have them go in and install the aircon so that the stock for your project can be reserved first. Why need to rent the crane? Simply because there is no way to remove the compressor from the aircon ledge through the house. The original ducted aircon compressor which I had originally planned for (based on BTU) has a dimension of 1050 x 330 x 1338 (W X D X H). The window which I had to access my aircon ledge has a max opening size of only 1000mm. So there is no way this compressor can be removed after construction is completed since it cannot go through the window. Since there is no way I'm going to tear down my window just to remove this compressor in future, the only option that makes sense is to get an aircon with a smaller compressor which can fit through the window. So it's not about humans not being able to carry the compressor from ground floor to attic but more of whether the compressor can go through the house or not. If the equipment cannot go through the house, then the only option is to get a crane to hoist it out and over the house.

i'm using matt black wood grained laminate from Jennings. no problem with fingerprints but most probably because of the wood grained pattern. just go to their showrooms to take a look at the actual laminates if you have the time. There's no such thing as old stocks left b other suppliers unless you chose a very unpopular design then the stock could be quite old stock. some laminates do get out of stock and need to wait for stock replenishment so do confirm your chosen laminate earlier so the stock can be booked for your project. contractors usually get a discount from the laminate suppliers so I think the more likely case is that your contractor will get a bigger incentive from lamitak rather than from Admira and Jennings. When I bought 2 sheets of laminates from Admira directly, I was given a 10 percent discount off the list price. Jennings' laminates can be up to 25 percent (or more) discount off their list price. But these 2 brands sell their laminates at the average price of about $50 per sheet. Compared to lamitak the protak range which you want which is $168, if your contractor can get 10% off $168, it would be 3 times that of 10% of $50. If I am your contractor, I would also push you to buy from a supplier where I can get more incentive compared to another supplier.

doing a metal roof will save you a bit on the structural requirements since the attic structural elements can be done using steel beams and columns as opposed to casting concrete which would be much heavier. do note that RC is not waterproof so you will still need to do waterproofing on the RC roof to make the roof waterproof unless you plan to put other roofing materials above the RC to provide for heat insulation and waterproofing.

as long as you don't get those high gloss laminates, you won't see fingerprint markings. I'm using wood grained laminates from Jennings and Admira priced at about $60 per sheet and have no problems with fingerprints.

yes I am aware, QP can just do a lodegment to NEA. My architect did this for me. It's just whether the QP wants to help the client save the $$$ and bear the responsibility if anything goes wrong.

I don't think need to go to this extent just for a landed house. one thing you need to take note of is the size of the aircon compressors as well. For domestic systems, the compressors are usually about 800mm to 1m in height whereas compressors for commercial use and VRV/VRF systems can be more than 1m in height. During construction when windows and such are not in, it's easy to bring in big aircon compressors. But if you have a huge aircon compressor, you will have problems when you need to replace it later on if you don't have big enough openings to remove the compressor. If your aircon ledge is located at the back of the house, you will need to hire a huge crane just to reach over from the front to the back to remove the compressor. Depending on the size/capacity of the crane, the cost per hour rental can be more than 1k per hour. URA regulations state that aircon compressors must be set more than 2m away from the boundary line to reduce noise pollution for your neighbours. So if you want to put the aircon compressors at the side, you will need to create a recess area for this purpose. Else the norm is to put them in the rear (attic) area just beyond the 2m setback. To obtain CSC, you will also need to provide a noise level report on the aircon compressors for NEA as well to get their CSC clearance.

Nope. Just normal split unit aircon systems for rooms except for master (single unit) and living room (ducted).

my aircon plan was done up before plans was submitted to URA. Cos I had to decide between installing normal wall mounted aircon or ducted aircon for my living room. Because I have a mezzanine, I can't do ceiling cassette units since the ceiling will be too high up. In the end I chose ducted aircon as it would make it more seamless rather than have 2 wall mount units jutting out of the wall. since all the aircon pipes have to be routed all the way from 1st floor to the attic, we had to plan how the pipes (gas and water drain pipes) are to be run. For gas pipes, we designed a "service duct" where the gas pipes all traverse vertically up from 1st storey to the attic and these are later hidden in box ups with brick walls. So in the drawings, there are holes indicated in the floor slabs for this "service duct" so that the workers can adjust the rebars around this hole and put the form work/PVC pipes for this hole before casting the floor slab. The holes are indicated in the drawings so that workers will not miss out. During construction, many things are happening concurrently so it is very easy to miss out small details like this. If this detail is missed out, then the floor slab will have to hacked or cored through which is not ideal. I think what you need to now is to confirm your layout of your house. Once this is finalised, you can decide on the placements of the light switches, power sockets, network points and aircon positions in the rooms. tap or water outlet points for toilets, kitchens and yards can also be decided at this stage. the number of lights and how you want the light switches to be controlled (one way or two way switches) must also be done at this stage as well. the aircon height position on the wall can be decided on the spot when the installation is done. But if you don't want the false ceiling recess to be done, you must remember to cater for the false ceiling drop and install the wall unit lower than the ceiling. Cos the sequence is that the gas pipes and drain pipes for aircon will be done up first before the false ceiling is done to hide all these pipes. if your aircon installer terminate the pipes at too high a position, you will end up with the recess later when false ceiling is done. When I was briefing my aircon installers, I specifically told them I don't want this problem and we took reference from the lowest point in each room to determine where the aircon height will be. basically once the floor plan layout is finalised, all the ancillary services planning will come in.

interesting that you call a semi-detached house a corner terrace

besides the P trap, you also need to think about your aircon pipes as well. How you are planning to route the gas pipes from each room to the aircon ledge where the compressors are and how to hide the pipes that goes underneath the beams. So this will also play a part in your ceiling height and box up. proper planning of aircon height placement will also let you avoid the ugly "wearing of hat" where a part of the false ceiling is recessed upwards to cater for the aircon indoor unit. the big players like shindler, kone are geared towards commercial sector so there won't be an issue with overhead. even hitachi/mistubishi isn't interested in dealing with home lifts when i enquired with them when sourcing for my home lift. there are many companies focusing more with home lifts in the market so you can search for these instead. pricing is very competitive among these smaller players. if you want to have glass lift shaft then you must be prepared to pay for it since the lift shaft would need to be built separately using steel columns and beams.

it all depends on the contract with your builder. progress claims will usually be submitted by the builder on a monthly basis for payment certification by the architect and then payment disbursed by yourself or the bank (through their lawyers) if you are taking construction loan

if you are adding a lift to your house, do note that if your attic is only 3m high, your lift options are limited as traction lifts usually need more than 3m overhead. the average overhead requirements is about 3.3m so check and confirm your lift supplier fast so that their structural requirements can be designed into the building plans for submission. remember that BCA requires a minimum ceiling height of 2.4m for all rooms. if you are not planning for flat beams, then one way is to design the beams such that the coincide with the rooms parting walls and the beams are at the edge of the rooms. then your false ceiling need not drop so much to hide the beams. toilets not only have the sanitary waste pipes but also the vent pipes. so you need to consider where the main vent pipe goes out from your roof and how to hide this pipe. PUB also requires the vent pipe to be of a minimum certain distance from any windows/openings so if your vent pipe is near to a window/opening, then you will need to put in a very tall pipe to fulfill this requirement.

are you doing 6m (1st and mezzanine), 3m (2nd storey) and 3m (attic) or 5.5m + 3m + 3.5m? normally for beams, they are designed such that the height is much more than the width. so if your beam has a width of about 150mm, the height could be 500mm. so if your floor to floor is 3000mm, you will be left with effective 2500mm floor to beam height. normally for construction, there will be a 50mm offset such that when the floor finish is done, the floor level will be as per architectural drawings. so this means that you are actually left with 2450mm height from floor to underside of beam after the floor finish is completed. other areas where the floor slab (assuming 200mm thick) will be 2750mm. if you are planning to have false ceiling, then the coverage can only be until the bottom of the beam for a flushed look unless you don't mind exposing the beams here and there. one way to overcome this height issue is to have the PE design flat beams or design the entire floor slab as a "beam". by flat beams, it will mean instead of a say 150mm by 500mm sized beam, you end up with a wider but shorter beam of about 400mm wide by 350mm height. this will help you gain some height compared to having beams of 500mm or 600mm height. however, with flat beams, you will encounter another issue when trying to hide the sanitary waste pipes. the P trap of the waste pipes has a height of about 300mm+. with normal beams, this bottom of the P trap will still be above the lowest part of the beams in the room. But if you have flat beams, the bottom of the P trap will be lower than the beam. So you will need to cater for box ups or drop your ceiling even lower to hide the sanitary pipes. So have this in mind when you position your toilets in your house. best if the toilets can be stacked one above each other and you will save headache on placement and hiding of the waste pipes later on since you don't really need to have high ceiling for toilets compared to rooms which is preferred to have high ceiling for better ventilation.

Thread width of 250 is quite ok actually. My feet is sized 44 and it feels ok with my stairs of 250 thread width. But since your stairs is wrapping around the lift shaft, ok to use 275 to just make use of the space which would be wasted anyway. Good that you are giving 1200 stairs width as moving mattress up the stairs will be a problem around the bends if it’s just 1000 wide. if you can increase the walkway of the pantry to 700 would be slightly better. 800 would be best actually. Maybe can consider not having the vertical flutes there to get the extra 100mm. You can find a table, place it at 600 from a wall and see how tight the space is.

depends. my parents' place floor to ceiling is only about 2.43m. just enough to put in Ikea's tallest wardrobe at 2.4m and I had to assemble the wardrobe vertically (in it's final shape) instead of the usual install on floor and tilt up vertically.

breaking up the stairs into multiple flights instead of one long flight will allow the legs to "rest" when walking along the landing before going up the next flight. you as the owner can decide on how you want to break up the stairs as long as your architect can design it such that the minimal overhead clearance of 2m between the steps and the above "ceiling" is met. if I am the architect, I would design the stairs such that the 3 flights will fit nicely around the lift shaft rather than having one step protruding out at the bottom and top then needing to build "columns" to "block" the stairs. so a 5 + 7 + 5 config may fit nicely as well

Nope. normally profit in attendance will apply to nominated subcons. How can contractor charge the owner this when owner is DIYing something in his own house? if you are really concerned about this can always install the CCTV after you take over the house upon TOP. The important thing is to have the wiring all done up first which would be part of the main contractor’s scope assuming you are getting his electrician to pull the wires for you.

2.6m if you use a fan which is 35cm in height, you will be left with 2.25m from floor to bottom of fan. whether too low or not and efficiency of fan is subjective. more important is the safety issue where the fan blades are not so low that one will be able to touch it when the hands are raised up. do note that ceiling fan works by pulling air from above and pushing it downwards and towards the sides. if there is not enough volume of air above the fan to be used, don't expect it to work very well in pushing air around.

before even buying the CCTV system, you will need to know where you want to monitor first. then you need to know which models of CCTV to buy. even with same model of CCTV, there are cameras with different focal length which will provide different field of vision. eg: a camera with a wider field of vision will make the objects smaller whereas one with a narrower coverage can capture the objects bigger on screen. so the angle of coverage will determine how many cameras you will need and how to position the cameras such that they can overlap a bit and provide you with an almost 180 degrees coverage. you electrician could help you with the installation of the physical cameras but you may need to configure the recorder and cameras yourself. always read the instruction manual on how to set up the equipment. I made the mistake of not reading the manual and had problems paring the cameras with recorder.

you need to install down rods which are mounted to the concrete ceiling and then install your laundry bracket to these rods. cannot install the brackets to the false ceiling as the plasterboard of false ceiling cannot take the weight of the laundry.