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wind30

Reno For Landed

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I just got my first landed property and now is sourcing contractor and reno work.

I see that there are a lot of threads on apartment renobations but not many threads on landed. Hopefully, more owners can come to this thread and share stuff. With the recent property boom, there should be quite a few new owners doing reno right?

The place I got is 1817sqft inter terrace, around 13 years old.

The work I am thinking of doing is,

1) roofing. Replacement of dirty algae roof with better quality tiles. German roof tiles?? Is that better? my contractor says it is good. He says no need to check roof timber struss for termites as it is chemically treated. but I worry so I am thinking of getting someone to check. Rentokil in singapore seems to be very reputable right?

2) flooring. Changing of living/dining to marble. The bedrooms are wooden parquet but design wise looks ugly. I calculated my bedrooms area around 800sqft. dunno if should change the wooden flooring to better design. Anyone actually used marble for bedrooms? granite? any indicative prices for marble, granite, large strips timber flooring?

3) toilets. Is it easy to move a toilet from one place to another like 3m away? expensive and very troublesome?

4) timing, I only have 2 months to redo flooring, roofing, carpentry if I want to make it before chinese new year... is it possible?

any good experienced (landed) contractors to recommend?

 

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I just got my first landed property and now is sourcing contractor and reno work.

I see that there are a lot of threads on apartment renobations but not many threads on landed. Hopefully, more owners can come to this thread and share stuff. With the recent property boom, there should be quite a few new owners doing reno right?

The place I got is 1817sqft inter terrace, around 13 years old.

The work I am thinking of doing is,

1) roofing. Replacement of dirty algae roof with better quality tiles. German roof tiles?? Is that better? my contractor says it is good. He says no need to check roof timber struss for termites as it is chemically treated. but I worry so I am thinking of getting someone to check. Rentokil in singapore seems to be very reputable right?

There are many different types of roof tiles. In general, German made ones are more reputable. It is also important to find a good roof tiler to help you as workmanship counts too. For termite treatment, Rentokil is not the only brand. Some are eco friendly and others are not. Eco friendly can be more effective. You can try Origin, I think they have an effective formula that is eco friendly but it is not cheap. Tel. 65166244

2) flooring. Changing of living/dining to marble. The bedrooms are wooden parquet but design wise looks ugly. I calculated my bedrooms area around 800sqft. dunno if should change the wooden flooring to better design. Anyone actually used marble for bedrooms? granite? any indicative prices for marble, granite, large strips timber flooring?

Generally, people use wooden flooring rather than granite but there is no hard and fast rule on what material you choose to use. You may want to explore using bamboo flooring. They look very nice and classy but can be more expensive than parquet flooring. For quotes, it is best you find out the prices from suppliers of tiles, parquet flooring, etc... Get a few quotes so that you have a better feel of market pricing.

3) toilets. Is it easy to move a toilet from one place to another like 3m away? expensive and very troublesome?

If you are hacking your flooring, I think it is not difficult to construct a toilet on the ground floor. If you want to change the location of the toilet on the second floor, it can be quite a lot of renovation.

4) timing, I only have 2 months to redo flooring, roofing, carpentry if I want to make it before chinese new year... is it possible?

Two months is quite a long time. You don't renovate that long. Changing of the roof takes about 3 days (if no rain), flooring may take 7 days. It is the sourcing for quotes and thinking what type of design you like, etc... that usually take a longer time.

any good experienced (landed) contractors to recommend?

There are many IDs that do renovation that are recommended in the forum. I think they should be able to give you a quote. If you need help on roofing, I can share with you my contractor. You can pm me for the contact. Cheers.

 

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thanks for all the info.

I am not waiting for quotes from the contractors to come back. hopefully it is not too expensive.

I am also thinking of changing the stairs to marble.

some of the stairs designs are very nice from google.

 

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Hi, I also looking for contractor for reno for my new landed properties. I just managed to have laminate for the floor. Pergo laminate has good offer for family range .... quite modern.

I also looking for contractor for hacking ....

 

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Hi, I also looking for contractor for reno for my new landed properties. I just managed to have laminate for the floor. Pergo laminate has good offer for family range .... quite modern.

I also looking for contractor for hacking ....

My old contractor who did up my previous EC was very good with woodworks. Their website is www.dejenn.com.sg . I had a pleasant experience working with them. My unit is their website, under portfolio/condo/Nuovo.

But I don't know their quality for flooring, roofing.

Aren't you getting ONE contractor to do everything? I learnt from my colleagues who did rebuilt/A&A, they said it is much better to get ONE guy responsible to everything rather than multiple contractors.

My wife don't like laminates as she heard from her colleagues that theirs pop up after a while. And she doesn't want to pay more for the higher range laminates as she says the public perception of laminates are cheap and does not add to resale value. Currently, our bedrooms are old wooden parquet which can be renewed to look better. I thought laminates are more easily maintained and scratch proof.

I will share my quote here so that we will know what are the ballpark figures for different kind of works.

 

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Hi,

I think it is difficult to shift the toilet 3 m away due to sewage pipe. Water pipes are no problem at all. They have alot of regulations on sewage pipe i think.

I think laminates are not good. It tend to spoil easily i think.

I am also doing up my place now. Some A&A works. Almost done. I think they are laying the carpouch tiles today.

Wind 30 - why not change your living room flooring to homogenous tiles? Looks like marble and cheap and easier to maintain. Hmm.

Peg - I think wood parquet is better. Hmm.. Some of them are also using tiles which looks like wood. But I still prefer Parquet. I am polishing my house parquet. I think it should be fine.

 

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Hi,

I think it is difficult to shift the toilet 3 m away due to sewage pipe. Water pipes are no problem at all. They have alot of regulations on sewage pipe i think.

I think laminates are not good. It tend to spoil easily i think.

I am also doing up my place now. Some A&A works. Almost done. I think they are laying the carpouch tiles today.

Wind 30 - why not change your living room flooring to homogenous tiles? Looks like marble and cheap and easier to maintain. Hmm.

Peg - I think wood parquet is better. Hmm.. Some of them are also using tiles which looks like wood. But I still prefer Parquet. I am polishing my house parquet. I think it should be fine.

I heard about the regulations for the sewage pipe so that is why I thought it was difficult to move toilets. The reason why I am thinking of moving it is that I will be extending my utility room and it will block the window for the toilet. So no ventilation for that toilet. I think I will build in a ventilation vent in the false ceiling for the toilet.

what tiles did you use for car pouch? I say some of them is very nice, tiles with pebble wash at the borders.

My reasoning is that good renovations like marble flooring will add value to your house. Example, I sold my place for 80k more than my neighbour who paid more for their unit during launch (theirs is pool facing). I spent only 40k for my renovations but we maintained our place quite well. So my idea is the cost of doing marble will pay off when I sell the place. I just need to get a "normal" looking marble that appeals to the general public.

below is the old flooring for my bedrooms. Dunno if I should replace all the floor. I dun like the design as it is very square.

countryside007.jpg

Edited by wind30
 

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one thing about parquet is that the strips will contract a bit over time, so the gap between them will show especially if the layer does a bad job. the wood they use these days are also younger and softer, hence more prone to indentation if u put something heavy like your bed over it. in your picture, the short timber strips should have been laid in a L shape pattern. It's such a waste to hack them away as they look to be in pretty good condition still. But i understand your feelings.

your contractor should be best to advise you on shifting your toilets. if it affects the main sewage pipe that run under your property, then you will to apply for permit.

my A&A will hopefully start soon. Drawings are now with URA for approval going into the second week. It sure seems really slow.

 

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one question. Is the staircases support normally wood or concrete? Should be concrete right? I don't remember my parents house have any wooden support for the staircase.

 

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I think you can shift the WC but short distance. 3m Seems far. You need to check with the plumber i guess.

I use homogenous tiles for my car pouch as well. A little like granite. I think it is better. My current house uses REAL granite for the carpouch and it has loads to stains (grey turning to yellowish at the sides) since it is rather porous. I think tiles with pebble wash is the nicest. Provided they go a good job for the pebble wash. My current house pebble wash got some problems with it. Some of the pebbles come off when we wash the floor. Maybe it is at the roof garden which has direct sunlight or something. But my current contractor says that if it is properly done, there shouldn't be this problem.

Marble probably has better resale value. BUT remember to ask them to do water proofing well for the areas that you wanna place marble. This resale place that I just bought used to have marble flooring. I thought that I can keep the marble flooring but i notice that there are some big black patches every now and then. At first I thought that they are just dust and dirt but apparently they are cause by water marks. Since Marble are porous and the previous contractors did not water proof the floor properly, the heat cause the water to rise up from below and hence, the water marks.

As for the flooring, you can consider to redo or re-vanish I guess. I did not redo the flooring even though I find it awful as well. I am going to re-vanish. I think re-do will cost alot.

As for the staircase support, you mean the railings or the floor support? To build a staircase, they need to use metal and concrete for the floor support followed by parquet on top of the concrete. If you mean railings, some people uses wood, metal, concrete or glass. Depends on your house concept I guess.

Are you doing A&A or just renovating it?

 

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I just got my first landed property and now is sourcing contractor and reno work.

I see that there are a lot of threads on apartment renobations but not many threads on landed. Hopefully, more owners can come to this thread and share stuff. With the recent property boom, there should be quite a few new owners doing reno right?

The place I got is 1817sqft inter terrace, around 13 years old.

The work I am thinking of doing is,

1) roofing. Replacement of dirty algae roof with better quality tiles. German roof tiles?? Is that better? my contractor says it is good. He says no need to check roof timber struss for termites as it is chemically treated. but I worry so I am thinking of getting someone to check. Rentokil in singapore seems to be very reputable right?

2) flooring. Changing of living/dining to marble. The bedrooms are wooden parquet but design wise looks ugly. I calculated my bedrooms area around 800sqft. dunno if should change the wooden flooring to better design. Anyone actually used marble for bedrooms? granite? any indicative prices for marble, granite, large strips timber flooring?

3) toilets. Is it easy to move a toilet from one place to another like 3m away? expensive and very troublesome?

4) timing, I only have 2 months to redo flooring, roofing, carpentry if I want to make it before chinese new year... is it possible?

any good experienced (landed) contractors to recommend?

Hi congrats on your landed purchase. I'm also looking out for one. Would you mind sharing the area of your landed property? Can PM me? THanks!

 

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Migram - I think he mentioned his area earlier. It is 1817sq feet. hm..

I don't mean how big his place is but rather the location/area of his property. ;) Sorry for being ambiguous..

Edited by Milgram
 

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Hi congrats on your landed purchase. I'm also looking out for one. Would you mind sharing the area of your landed property? Can PM me? THanks!

the location is at lentor.

Let me share with you this website which I found VERY VERY VERY useful.

www.renotalk.com

From it you can find the prices of the latest transactions, the date if transaction and BEST OF ALL, the actual address of the unit sold. URA website only give the rough location of the unit. We all know the prices can differ by quite a fair bit. So if you are wondering why 1 unit at street XXX sold at 1.6 million while another sold at 1.4 million, now you can go down and check out both units and see their facing, conditions to get a better idea.

 

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Thanks for all the info. I don't think I am shifting the WC, too complicated and I am on a time limit. Trying to move in before chinese new year.

I am probably doing tiles + pebble wash as it looks the best. I heard of falling pebbles but hard to tell if the pebble wash is done correctly or not...

What you mean by water rising up from below? I thought I just need to wipe clean any water on the marble then it is ok? I also know you have to apply a good sealant on top to protect the marble but I don't know below also got water.

I am still thinking of whether to redo the upstairs flooring or revarnish. my rationale is that a nice floor will add value to your property so it is kind of like an investment if you treat your flooring well. Especially hardwood and marble floors whereby you can renew.

Staircase support I mean the floor support. I am thinking of changing the staircase flooring to marble and marble is very heavy so need a concrete stairs to support. I think most houses in singapore has concrete staircase and no wooden staircase so it should be ok. Not sure if it is practical though (slippery?) I heard they can do some treatment to make the marble less slippery.

I am just doing renovation as I really like the layout and the land is not that big to begin with :)

I think you can shift the WC but short distance. 3m Seems far. You need to check with the plumber i guess.

I use homogenous tiles for my car pouch as well. A little like granite. I think it is better. My current house uses REAL granite for the carpouch and it has loads to stains (grey turning to yellowish at the sides) since it is rather porous. I think tiles with pebble wash is the nicest. Provided they go a good job for the pebble wash. My current house pebble wash got some problems with it. Some of the pebbles come off when we wash the floor. Maybe it is at the roof garden which has direct sunlight or something. But my current contractor says that if it is properly done, there shouldn't be this problem.

Marble probably has better resale value. BUT remember to ask them to do water proofing well for the areas that you wanna place marble. This resale place that I just bought used to have marble flooring. I thought that I can keep the marble flooring but i notice that there are some big black patches every now and then. At first I thought that they are just dust and dirt but apparently they are cause by water marks. Since Marble are porous and the previous contractors did not water proof the floor properly, the heat cause the water to rise up from below and hence, the water marks.

As for the flooring, you can consider to redo or re-vanish I guess. I did not redo the flooring even though I find it awful as well. I am going to re-vanish. I think re-do will cost alot.

As for the staircase support, you mean the railings or the floor support? To build a staircase, they need to use metal and concrete for the floor support followed by parquet on top of the concrete. If you mean railings, some people uses wood, metal, concrete or glass. Depends on your house concept I guess.

Are you doing A&A or just renovating it?

 

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