K's Reno Journey

[Kerio 2]

Haha yea this is the antagonizing part, so close to finishing yet still have to wait a little.. but really very soon lo!!

anyway saw your post of the grouting is gone from your toilet tiles in punggol forum, whats the story?

Ya lor! Still a lot of touching up etc to be done; so hopefully the main things can be up by Saturday (including the polishing of the Bar Counter), and then we can look through everything, confirm if there're any more rectifications, and settle payment by the last week of the year. So far it's been making sure the things that are supposed to be in (e.g. steel legs for bar counter) are in. First few days were hectic and boring - no TV, no cooking (until just this Tuesday), just cleaning cleaning cleaning. Then a damaged tile was changed and it's cleaning cleaning cleaning cleaning because of the fine dust that got everywhere and simply couldn't be vacuumed up.

Regarding the grouting; I yhink I'll need to get the HDB guys to come by to take a look if possible; the grouting is all but gone from the tiles, for some reason. I'll see if I can put up a picture late tonight :-)

In addition, water pressure is horribly low; so I've contacted the Town Council to check it out.

[CutieCat 0]

Hi, I read your T-Blog with interest, with the up and down mood with the ID, finally your nest is ready. Moreover my floor plan layout is almost the same as your, except that bomb shelter, mine is on the right side of the Main Door.

Bomb shelter feature wall, i notice it take up quite alot of space, is this a storage or shoe Cabinet as well?

Living Room Wall Feature, this look very impressive. How much does this cost u? And if without Wall Feature, it will make the area ugly?

[BlurRhino 0]

Ya lor! Still a lot of touching up etc to be done; so hopefully the main things can be up by Saturday (including the polishing of the Bar Counter), and then we can look through everything, confirm if there're any more rectifications, and settle payment by the last week of the year. So far it's been making sure the things that are supposed to be in (e.g. steel legs for bar counter) are in. First few days were hectic and boring - no TV, no cooking (until just this Tuesday), just cleaning cleaning cleaning. Then a damaged tile was changed and it's cleaning cleaning cleaning cleaning because of the fine dust that got everywhere and simply couldn't be vacuumed up.

Regarding the grouting; I yhink I'll need to get the HDB guys to come by to take a look if possible; the grouting is all but gone from the tiles, for some reason. I'll see if I can put up a picture late tonight :-)

In addition, water pressure is horribly low; so I've contacted the Town Council to check it out.

Oh polishing will be very dusty wor.. hmm.. better to find all issues and get them rectified in one day, saved you the trouble of constantly cleaning after every tasks they did..

Actually me not too sure how to check grouting lo.. hmm.. anyway for the low water pressure, u can call BSC and they will fixed it for you. My house also low water pressure but was fixed on the same day after i give them a call..

[Kerio 2]

Hi, I read your T-Blog with interest, with the up and down mood with the ID, finally your nest is ready. Moreover my floor plan layout is almost the same as your, except that bomb shelter, mine is on the right side of the Main Door.

Bomb shelter feature wall, i notice it take up quite alot of space, is this a storage or shoe Cabinet as well?

Living Room Wall Feature, this look very impressive. How much does this cost u? And if without Wall Feature, it will make the area ugly?

Hi, the bomb shelter feature wall is actually quite large because instead of the typical sliding door, we went for a tic-tac door. The space between the feature wall door and the bomb shelter door is quite large - enough to fit a person. The side area (near the main door) is actually a shoe cabinet with tic-tac doors. The whole setup cost me about 1.8k; and that's considering it's actually made with MBF board (which is supposedly cheaper). Originally there were some issues with the tic-tac function (i.e. it didn't work) but it was settled by our ID.

The TV feature wall also cost me 1.8k, though there're some stains that can't be washed off with water and some of my relatives were commenting that it looked dirty because of all the patches. I'll probably need to try some turpentine or thinner later today. Also, the drawers are a bit funny - one is the normal pull in and out type, the other two are basically holes in the feature wall - the doors open outward like garage doors and can be pushed in.

Without the feature wall, it actually looks alright - if you paint it a different color, it's actually ok by itself.. I guess it's subject to personal preferences? We actually were considering just getting a console table for that, though we were very taken by the final design so we went for it :-) Now to see if we can clean off the stains...

[coachjoe 0]

i m in love with the living room and kitchen integration concept...

i am thinking of removing the wall between the kitchen and yard, also to install grills on the yard parapet...

how much does your hacking of the kitchen wall and installation of the glass door cost?

[Kerio 2]

i m in love with the living room and kitchen integration concept...

i am thinking of removing the wall between the kitchen and yard, also to install grills on the yard parapet...

how much does your hacking of the kitchen wall and installation of the glass door cost?

Yeah, we like the open concept too! But we're not keen on the kitchen smells and heat permeating all our furniture, hence the glass. Turns out, it actually doesn't help much leh, cos the smells still fill the entire house.

We paid $650 for hacking, and $1350 for the glass panel and glass casement doors

[Kerio 2]

Been a little busy the past few days; first to stock up for a Christmas party, then buying an additional piece of furniture because the MBR feature wall hole wasn't big enough for all the wires and the soundbar was on the floor, then to top off my sian-ness, we got a booklice infection because of the mould growing on the air con piping outside. Was up till 4am the night before, checking to see if it was a bedbug infection and smacking the little critters on the walls.

Yesterday, spent around $50 buying extermination equipment (dehumidifiers, non-odour insecticide, Selley's "no more gaps", because the booklice were entering through the gaps in the trunking etc), and have to spend an additional $160 today to get this bug-detection dog to come sniff around to confirm I did a thorough job. If I didn't, I'm looking at more than $800 damage to fumigate the house twice to remove any and all infestations. Also contacted air-con guys to come down urgently to replace the mouldy pipes and rectify the plastering because there was a dam*ned big hole in my WIW (where the aircon ledge is) which wasn't covered properly, and the tiny critters were crawling in from there as well.

Technically, they're harmless creatures because they don't suck blood or do anything except crawl all over the place, but when you have a new house and fresh white walls, the last thing you want to see would be tiny insects crawling all over the walls and God forbid, all over our clothes.

Was UBER sian yesterday and was telling my friend that with all the problems arising in my house, I almost feel like giving up the house and letting someone else buy it, then starting afresh somewhere else because I seriously feel like I can't enjoy the house at all. And there're so many minor defects that never seem to be resolved! I've already spent ALL my leave, and I still need to rush back during lunch later to see to the bug detection dog. Not to mention the guy repairing the door will only be in on Friday, a silicon gel stain is STILL on my toilet sink despite me telling the solid surface guy when he came by, the dining solid surface has to be constantly polished with Pledge (which I purchased myself) or it stains like a b*tch, and after polishing it's oily and stains even faster, the kitchen solid surface is dull (not sure if it's supposed to be Matt. Is there such a thing as a matt solid surface?), the kitchen cabinet doors swing wide open and hit just about everything - the opposite doors, the glass panels etc; and we still have loads of cleaning to do before the actual Christmas event.

To be fair, we have not alerted the ID to these issues as she is away on leave; and she's already done as much as she could, so we'll have to tell her after Christmas.

At least these issues won't be too massive to handle for now.. though the prospect of my brand new house being subject to any kind of bug infestation pisses me off.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Kerio

[january 0]

Kerio I feel so sorry for you. A bug infestation really sucks. I can't offer much help in that area but I'm hoping the others will share their bug extermination secrets with you.

As for solid surface, I have a white one in my current kitchen and I don't really have a problem with stains as long as I wipe them off immediately. Are you supposed to polish the solid surface? I never did.

So sorry to hear about all the problems... You sound really fed up. But it's the last leg of the reno, so hang in there!

[Kerio 2]

Thanks Jan!

I did a rather thorough job yesterday, it seems! From my research, booklice feed on starchy things like flour, as well as mould, so if we get rid of the mould, we get rid of the booklice. I went sourcing for it yesterday, and at the peril of killing myself with insecticide, sprayed all the areas below the air con trunking, sprayed the trunking (and cleaned off the visible residues), even doing the sealing for gaps in the trunkings that I could see. Then I opened the aircon ledge window, and sprayed the exposed mouldy pipes with insecticide like Arnold Schwarzenegger with his chaingun in Terminator ("Grraaaaaaaaaa" *everything in his path dies*).

For the rest of yesterday night, I didn't spot a single booklice, and when I went back during lunch just now to have the pest exterminator do his beagle survey for bed bugs, I didn't spot a single booklice as well. Mission accomplished.

The beagle survey by Origin was essentially to check for bed bugs since we used to have a problem in the old house; and after $160 and about 10 minutes, I'm happy to report we're bed bug free and apparently book lice free as well.

I also think my recent grouchiness may have something to do with me missing my Jack Russell back at my mother's home, because I feel a lot better after seeing and petting a dog. Canine Therapy.

Beagle at work. Super hyper! The handler explained that they had brought him to attend to a hotel just recently, and had let him loose to scour the rooms, so he was still a little hyper. He also told me that the beagle had brought him to another house recently where the owners had brought their old furniture along, and although free of bedbugs, had a bed that was infested with bedbug eggs. The beagle also managed to spot a bedbug at that house. Imagine that - one bedbug! Its nose is super sharp.

The shirt says "Working Dog, Do not pet". I petted it after it did it's job though.

[Reiki 0]

The shirt says "Working Dog, Do not pet". I petted it after it did it's job though.

Wow, interesting to hear of such working dog. Didn't know such service is available. Thanks for sharing, kerio.

Hopefully, all the problems in the house will soon disappear and that you will feel lots of joy and peace staying in the new house. Have a good xmas party!

[january 0]

That's a cool dog!

I wonder if the ability to sniff out bedbugs are nature's gift or were they trained to do that?

[BlurRhino 0]

hmmm... i thought newly painted houses should not have such insects infestation? or am i mistaken..

oh i didn't know that there are dogs that can smell out insects?! so when are you shifting your dog to your new home? so next time maybe i see someone with a jack rusell at vista, i should try to approach and see if its u! haha.. u need canine therapy, and i need forum therapy. lolz

[Kerio 2]

Wow, interesting to hear of such working dog. Didn't know such service is available. Thanks for sharing, kerio.

Hopefully, all the problems in the house will soon disappear and that you will feel lots of joy and peace staying in the new house. Have a good xmas party!

Thanks Reiki! I really hope so too!

That's a cool dog!

I wonder if the ability to sniff out bedbugs are nature's gift or were they trained to do that?

They are trained to do it, so they cost a lot more! Dogs have noses that can detect even the tiniest of smells, so it's probably just about rewarding him for catching the right smell

hmmm... i thought newly painted houses should not have such insects infestation? or am i mistaken..

oh i didn't know that there are dogs that can smell out insects?! so when are you shifting your dog to your new home? so next time maybe i see someone with a jack rusell at vista, i should try to approach and see if its u! haha.. u need canine therapy, and i need forum therapy. lolz

Haiz, I thought so too! But since these insects are attracted to mould and zoomed in on my apartment's aircon ledge with the mouldy pipes, that must mean someone else has them too, and to a worse extent.. Spotted 2 on the air-con trunking yesterday, and another one in the toilet - hopefully Aron's guy will come by after working hours to have it settled (Since I'm out of leave, and I don't know if they can settle everything within lunch hours). I hate the thought of sleeping with creepy crawlies all over the walls!

My dog isn't coming with me Cos the missus doesn't like dog hairs all over the place, and I can understand la. Plus, when we're not in, the dog might be whining and barking and disturb the neighbours..

Edited December 23, 2010 by Kerio

[blue_skies 3]

Are those "booklice" you mention brown in colour and about 0.5mm in size? They can also "jump" right?

I had something similar in my home previously because of mould on the walls. They thrive on mould so you see them congregated in areas where the wall is slightly damp too. The only way I got rid of them was by getting rid of the dampness and mould which involved reapplying a sealant on the affected areas and repainting the walls.

[Kerio 2]

Are those "booklice" you mention brown in colour and about 0.5mm in size? They can also "jump" right?

I had something similar in my home previously because of mould on the walls. They thrive on mould so you see them congregated in areas where the wall is slightly damp too. The only way I got rid of them was by getting rid of the dampness and mould which involved reapplying a sealant on the affected areas and repainting the walls.

Mine don't jump so far, but they crawl (some are fast, some are pathetically slow); and yes, they're brown and about 0.5 - 1mm!

I found the mould on the air-con pipes on the air con ledge, but I've gotten rid of them and got the air-con guys to seal up the pipes as much as possible - hopefully that'll keep them out for now. So far I seem to have done a pretty ok job, but I think some of the mould is on the air con pipes within the air-con casings.. so not sure if there's anyway to exterminate them if they're congregating there. I really do hope not.

I also found some of them in the kitchen cupboards yesterday, apparently attracted by flour (which they also feed on); I scoured through the cabinets and I think some of them may be hiding in the cupboards now, since it's essentially made of wood.

I also read they're gotten rid of by dehumidifying the place, so I've kept the air-con on dehumidify mode for a good 15 hours the day before and another 6 hours or so yesterday (I have a feeling the electric bills are going to make me physically ill). The thing is, the air-con in my MBR is also usually on, but those critters still survive! In fact, when I first found some of them crawling around my walls, the air con was on full blast - so I'm not sure if that really works. But for posterity's sake, I'm just going to try drying everything up as much as possible and see what happens.