yokine9a

Have read thru a few pages of this topic and learnt many useful money saving tips and value for money products, salute to all the contributors. I always thought that energy saving light bulbs really save electricity until I did a google on the net. Some people said they cost more to turn on, less to leave on, than conventional bulbs. The initial energy consumption would be approximately equal to 20 minutes of energy of a traditional light bulb. They are recommended only in places that one need to keep on for a long time, not switch on and off frequently ie. toilet. Another guy said the more often you off them, the more likely you will shorten their lifespan. 5 years ago, when we were doing reno in my parents flat, the ID used energy saving bulbs for all the lightings. I do not know their power watts. 2 years later, the bulb in the toilet died off. The 2 bulbs in my kitchen are still going well till now. So can I say that these people are telling the truth of energy saving bulbs? When I was in a lighting shop looking at those energy saving bulbs, a shopper told me a Philips 20W bulb is only bright enough for small area like toilet and bathroom. Since Philips produces max. 20W bulbs, for bedrooms, he told me to go for higher power such as Hitachi 50W. I find his theory a bit weird to me, because a Philips 20W bulb produces the same brightness as a conventional 100W bulb. Does it mean that an equivalent 100W can't even brighten up a bedroom?

Hi all, I am going to use glossy orange and baby-blue laminates for my kitchen cabinets, my kitchen top is Blue Pearl granite, very uncommon and outstanding combination, isn't it ? I don't like extreme colour like white or black, and my bf is going against red I wanted orange and grey glossy but he said no no, so in the end, I switched grey to blue. I hope my choice is good

Thanks, buibui Went to my flat to peep peep yesterday evening. All the dismantling work has been done, kitchen floor tiles has been hacked away and wiring has been laid too. Although Ho Bee has a new electrician, he did something which I find it illogical. A lighting switch is normally facing north-south direction, but a 4-gang lighting switch in my kitchen entrance was facing east-west direction I rang Patrick to sound my unhappy and he told me he would drop by this morning to have a look. Besides this problem, this electrician has done a pretty good job as I saw he wrote down some simple mathmetical calculation on the ceiling, I reckon he was trying to calculate the center location on the ceiling to mount the lighting socket

Yes, what BunBun said is correct. Work out the price per square feet of your flat and you will know how much your ID is charging you. Supreme AC5 is not 12mm from Germany, it is 8mm only. Supreme could be using the German technology but their AC5 is made in Malaysia, according to them. Only Kronotex's laminate is made in Germany. From what I know, only the higher grade of Kronotex laminates are 12mm. Most of the IDs which Kronotex works with usually use 8mm because cost is cheaper and IDs can make higher profit.

Indeed you were. I bought a 707 compact at $165 (b4 GST) yesterday with Eng Soon Huat.

The last time I went to Expo few weeks ago, Kronotex quoted me $4.80 psf for their AC4 (8mm). However, they said this price might revise from time to time. Supreme quoted me $4.30 psf for their AC5 (8mm) but they told me this price was valid for the expo exhibition only. Also, I feel that it will be better to go to Kronotex directly as the warranty card will be issued under your name (the owner). If you go thru your contractor, warranty will be issued to your contractor's name though the installation work will still be done by Kronotex. For any problems in future, you have to get your contractor to liaise with Kronotex, which could be a hassle if your contractor has no time to attend to you after your reno has finished

Home come the thread on Ho Bee is so quiet nowadays? Everyone thought that Patrick is busy and decided not to use him? He has been responding very quickly when I liaised with him these 2 weeks and I received the quotation from him the next working day. I think he is not in the busy season now Anyway, I have engaged Ho Bee to do the reno of my resale flat and Patrick will start work tomorrow The electrician Ah Ho is no longer with Ho Bee, Patrick told me this when he came to my flat to discuss on electrical points yesterday. Anyone has experience using the new electrician from Ho Bee? Is he good? Will pose my comments about him as well when my reno is done.

Glad to hear that you like Supreme laminate flooring and are satisfied with them, so I should not have any worries using them now Well, have not started the reno of my flat and no chance to wake up and feel the laminate wood floor. So excited to look forward to it

I am looking for a basin with cabinet below too. Went to Poh Joo on Saturday and Hoe Kee on Sunday. Hoe Kee has more varieties than Poh Joo, but price wise Hoe Kee is more expensive. Suggest you go to the HQ of Hoe Kee, they should have more display sets.

No, is Aaron Well, I guess people like us who go for laminated flooring are going after the warmth feeling and natural floor look. I hate the grouting lines for tiles flooring, so hard to keep them in white colour

Hi guys, thanks for all the help and comments I went to the Expo last weekend and managed to squeeze the sale guy to give me $4.30psf Initially, I did not want to go for AC5 since it would be an overkill to use it in my bedrooms. But I feel more secure as AC5 is giving me lifetime warrranty. I do not need to worry about any warping woodboard due to wear and tear in future.

Sorry lah, didn't see the figures carefully, getting old now But still, $430k + $50k still expensive leh

Goto HDB website, look at the completed transaction pricing of 4rm flats in AMK, especially the block you are looking at. Have a feel on what the selling price was in the property market. In my own opinion, $480k + 50k is a bit on the high side. Almost can buy a 5rm flat in Toa Payoh

Are you referring to the ceiling of the bathroom? If yes, then the upstairs owner got to fix this problem. Don't recommend you to go for this unit. If this is an easily done job, why didn't the current owner fix this problem before putting his flat in the market for sale? Btw, HDB doesn't really care about the water seepage problem between upstairs and downstairs units. You cannot rely on HDB to help you. It is up to the owners to fix it.

It is really up to your upstairs neighbour to do a good and complete job. Frankly speaking, if the patch is too serious, I do not suggest you take up that unit. The reason is simple, why would they spend money to do something to their floor if the problem does not affect them at all but only the neighbour downstairs? Can you see the picture? This problem is not within your control. When my Dad and I were looking for 3-room flat few years ago when we were moving house, my Dad always looked very carefully at the bathroom and toilet's ceilings, if he saw water patches or paint discolouring (which could be due to water seepage), he would walk out and not consider that unit irregardless of the selling price

Hi, can PM me your contractor's contact as well? Finally found someone who also bought a 3-room resale flat in Toa Payoh I will be collecting my keys mid of next month, got to start reno very soon

Hi Cavie, OK to pm your contractor's contact to me? I will be collecting the keys to my resale 3-room flat mid of next month. Need to start reno very soon I like the design of your house, very good taste But after paying for the COV, I don't have so much $$ to do an overhaul to my flat now

More choices? I was told by my bf it is not the case now. He went to them 1.5 years ago for his house renovation. He said they have many tiles at that time. When I was there with him 2 weeks ago, the whole place was a little bit empty with not that many tiles being displayed. When my bf asked them for the reason, they replied there used to be a Kitchen Concept shop in their building but they have moved out recently. Nevertheless, some of the tiles they have are still pretty nice and classic. I personally like a type of tile with uneven moasic-like strips on it

Yes, I have vinyl flooring in some houses I have had stayed in Sydney. Tile is not the only option for kitchen flooring. I personally find vinyl flooring to be so much easier to clean and maintain compare with tiles flooring. But I might not be using it for my flat because my bf likes the existing mosaic flooring and wants me to keep it. As the house cleaning work will be done by me, I shall have the final say of whether mosaic or vinyl flooring I have done some searching on vinyl flooring supplier in Singapore. Below are the links. I have not contacted any of them. You will have to ring them up to see if they handle residential work. http://www.armstrong.com/commflrpac/asia1/ep/sg/ http://www.meiko.com.sg/ When will you be starting the renovation work for your resale flat? I will be collecting the keys for mine in mid of next mth

Hi, saw this website on vohringer laminate flooring on google search, wonder who has used them and if this brand is good. It is from Germany and they have a shop in Ubi Ave. Don't remember reading any article here about someone used them. I also read from a review that Kronofix is actually better than Kronotex. Thought of using them because I have seen the catalog provided by Kronotex but they don't have the colour and texture that I like. For those who has used Kronofix before, any way to go to them to see catalog directly? I am not getting an ID to do my renovation, not sure if the contractor that I will be getting has the mean to find Kronofix distributor. Thanks

Hi AK77, so did you eventually lay laminated flooring in your kitchen? How is your experience so far? Initially, I planned to do it in the kitchen for my new resale flat but was told that it would not be covered under warranty As I will do light cooking regularly, I am thinking of using vinyl flooring now.

When I was there 2 weeks ago, was told by the salesgirl that all the green ones were out of stock, though there were no stickers on them saying "sold out", only purple one left. Should have reminded you guys about it !! applefreak, I am surprised you like the purple one. It is going to be the most impressive deco in your bathroom

Thanks mate, will ring up Ah Seng when I want to upgrade my toilet system

Aiyah, the mosaic floor was done 30 years ago, dirt cheap at that time lah I have not made up my mind to keep the mosaic tiles or replace it with something else. Mosaic tiles very hard to maintain leh. Pls update us after you have seen the stone this weekend

Good luck, applefreak So sad, my kitchen floor is green moasic tiles, cannot use this purple colour to do kitchen top