AWS

You probably need an 12V AC electric lock to be link to an intercom system that can trigger the electric lock. The power of the intercom system is usually not powerful enough to trigger the electric lock but it can provide a signal. The signal will then trigger the electric lock which has its own power supply. The main wooden door can be modified to also fit an electric lock which will in turn link to the intercom system. There are electrical mortise lock in the European market, namely Italy. To do all these, you will have to plan way ahead the wire routing between the intercom and electric locks. Alternatively, if you don’t intend to install electric lock for your main door, you can hide and installed in a secured but accessible key holder with number code access. Inside will house your main door key. Once in a while, you can change the code for added safety.

You can try CISA Electric Lock combined with Aiphone WiFi Intercom system. You can even use the Aiphone App to unlock the electric lock while on 4G data(local or overseas). It’s keyless in the sense that 1. while inside the house, to go out, there is a unlock button on the electric lock to unlock. 2. while outside need to unlock the gate to enter, use the Aiphone App to unlock the gate. If there is a power outage, the electric lock will not open but remain lock (in case burglar trip gate post main breaker) In this situation, you need a key to unlock the lock.

Yes, homogeneous tiles popping can be a issue. Clobber stones may not be a bad idea as the size is smaller (usually 100 x100mm)compared to typical 300x600mm size granites. When there is framing due water issues, the smaller foot print of 100x100mm clobber stone may not show obvious framing issues. Just an advice, get the more rough textured surface tiles/stones to avoid slippery when wet. For granites, opt for flamed finish with one time brushing. It’s more comfortable to walk on when dry and not slippery when wet.

I think the plastic sheets are more for the purpose of termites treatment. The specialist will apply a product like Bayer Premise on the soil and then cover with plastic sheets and thereafter apply lean concrete. For the waterproofing membrane to be used before laying of stones, they will need to be specified in the tender/contract documents. Additional cost will apply. Proper treatment will be like wise to toilet floor treatment to prevent water seepage downwards to lower floor. Now, it’s to prevent water moisture from the water table from coming up through the gaps and pores of the stones. However if the water table is low enough, normally ways of laying most probably will not cause issues.

Yes, most likely framing. But it can also be after washing of the car porch and water needs to get out from underside. Another likely scenario is the ground water table is high or the reduced level of the car porch area is too low, causing the ground water coming out/evaporating out of the stone gaps. It’s good to take note of the gradient of terrain where the house sits on in both axis and also during excavation(if it’s a total rebuild) to check on the ground water level. If your back neighbor is at a higher level than you and you have a back yard retaining wall, considerations must be given to put a design to allow water to drain off the retaining wall. Else there may be some form of water seepage coming out of the retaining wall or back yard floor after a period of heavy rain. I have seen some houses using expensive marbles on the 1st level with high ground water level or low reduced level (they are co-related) and end up turning yellow or framing issues. Such a waste.

Try not to locate your NVR in the same network cluster. Reason being if there’s a break in, most likely the thieves will first target the NVR. With a switch, you can locate your NVR any where in the house where there is a LAN port located. You can even hide it in the ceiling too. You just need to bring the other cables (HDMI, USB, CAT6 patch cord) from the NVR to a your study table or shelves etc. The other route for secured NVR data is go for cloud hosting.

Ceiling mounted AP can look neat too. Ubiquiti is a good system. The controller’s UI is easy to configure. Don’t go WiFi 6 yet as it’s still very new. Their support from US is good too although you may bought the system locally through distributor.

I would recommend the following acid and brush and of course elbow grease for removing the efflorescence if you encounter.

Hi Kellhound Didn’t receive your PM. Maybe you can try again.

Yes, mostly happen during laying of tiles/stones. It’s common to hear of people complaining that the tile sounded hollow when using your knuckles knocking the top of tile or dropping a small marble ball on it? Same reasoning. There’s too much air gap. When combined with poor grouting material, rain water will seep in and need to get out. Workmanship is never great unless one is lucky to engage a builder that is willing to pay premium salary for good tiling workers. Indoor tiles hardly exposed to water unlike outdoor tiles. Good grout is made by Mapei. Google for it.

If you have managed switch with POE+ in your network, just buy the NVR without POE. This will save some cost. With all cameras connect to the switch, you can route the signal to a lan port (which also connected to the switch) in turn connected to the NVR to view all camera view. The Dahua NVR software UI is in English. I bought my full CCTV system locally where most contractors also buy to install for customers. Their price is also much cheaper from what you can find in Shopee or Lazada. PM for contact sharing. Warranty is covered for 1 year. There are many types of camera specs. From experience, night operation is more important than day. Any 4MP and above day operation is very clear already. The challenge is night operations. Full night color or IR kicks in under a certain LUX threshold. One has to decide carefully else night capture image will be blur.

Just contributing what I know and experienced. In the picture you shown, the efflorescence is due to water seepage, due to pores in the grout gap, into the under side of the tiles/stones and there are not proper drainage done. The trapped water need to come out the way they went in. This is through evaporation. During the process, the water brings along dissolved carbonate(from the cement mix used)during evaporation. When the water dissipated, what’s left is efflorescence. Ways to improve the situation is to use good grouting compound with good workmanship to prevent water from going in through holes in the gap in the first place. The same for wall that was tiled. There are also products like stone sealant which after application, will greatly reduce efflorescence. Other than efflorescence, often there will also be a problem with ‘framing’ of the stones. All around the edges of the stones will trap water and end result is a light brown border all around the stone. Stone framing is impossible to remove but efflorescence can still be removed with using acid products together with metal bristles brushing.

Yes, not to mention ICs and also the main sewage ‘highway’ pipe running through one’s plot. PUB has every right to gain access to conduct inspection/rectification works if there’s any choke downstream or upstream.

Haha, anything outside your land boundary doesn’t belong to you, literally. NParks even claim possession of your trees in tree conservation zones.😓 Contractors hoping to cut the trees outside normal office hours or weekends, there is google map street view which has about 9 months of old street views before it’s updated. The agencies can use these to their advantage.😅

Just to add, other than doing the box culvert, your QP will have to determine the location of the culvert access cover according to LTA’s distance requirement between covers and thus in turn will also determine the location of the raised kerb’s drop inlet chamber. Your QP will be able to help assist. Just to share, NParks may have decided the location of the young tree to be planted and the PVC pipes joining the drop inlet chamber to the culvert and cover access need to comply with 1.5 meter radius separation from the replacement tree’s branch.