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blogNS

Sharing Of Renovation Journey - With Designstreet

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Any limitation on the number of pictures that cab be pasted in one post? Have to paste in separate posts for pics.

2 basins for vanity tops and sink, 3 taps, and 2 basin waste traps.

sinkimg4048.jpg

basinkmg4039440x420x155.jpg

walltopbasin.jpg

basintapimg4045.jpg

basinwastetrapimages.jpg

(some are not my photo, but same like those from the web, sink tap picture not taken)

 

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Turbo hood and hob. (The two I checked with other shops, Adamas is the only one willing to give us some discount.)

ta9388sgbig.jpg

turbohob.jpg

Since some of other items are not the styles we like, we went to the neighboring Sim Siang Choon to bought some more. Good bargain we got too from the shop:) Later we went to IMM to buy more accessories from SSC, got discount too since we had bought items from it before.

 

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Yup, each post only can have 5 pic. That's why you have to separate them.

I also agreed that one piece is easier to clean. :)

 

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Any limitation on the number of pictures that cab be pasted in one post? Have to paste in separate posts for pics.

2 basins for vanity tops and sink, 3 taps, and 2 basin waste traps.

sinkimg4048.jpg

basinkmg4039440x420x155.jpg

walltopbasin.jpg

basintapimg4045.jpg

basinwastetrapimages.jpg

(some are not my photo, but same like those from the web, sink tap picture not taken)

Hi blogNS, how much your kitchen sink cost? Btw, the kitchen sink look a bit yellowish?? Not sure whether photo not clear or my eyes got problem? Made from stainless steel?

Cheers:) Emobebe

 

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Turbo hood and hob. (The two I checked with other shops, Adamas is the only one willing to give us some discount.)

ta9388sgbig.jpg

turbohob.jpg

Since some of other items are not the styles we like, we went to the neighboring Sim Siang Choon to bought some more. Good bargain we got too from the shop:) Later we went to IMM to buy more accessories from SSC, got discount too since we had bought items from it before.

Is there anything to consider for buying hood and hob? I am a bit indecisive. Went to Hoe Kee today, the salesman said Fujihoh is better than Techno, Turbo and Rinnai. I was actually considering Fujihoh Hood and Rinnai hob but the salesman kept saying no good for the hob. His reasons are that Rinnai hob not toughened glass which can handle high temperature > 300 degree Celcius and the warranty is lifetime. If crack, can replace once but not the second crack. Hmmm, there are other some reasons but I can't remember. Not well today shouldn't go out..:(

 

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Hi, I will be renovating my 2 toilets, may I know your quote from the ID? and do you have the 3D drawing for the toilet?

Hi ngchehyun,

as package for both toilets and kitchen, the overall quote is ~21000. seems expensive when I talked to some friends. I don't know how much for toilets only. later I got a quote for toilet floor hacking and tiling (waterproofing), it quota about ~$1000/one toilet.

btw total length of my cabinet is abt 25 feet. not really clear it is reasonable or not.

I showed one before for Master bedroom toilet. Here is another one for common toilet. But the real one can be different as the tiles may not be found, vanity top may change. Actually I had bad experience with the ID for this, realized that the design somehow was just for 'show'. I still need to go to find the matched tiles (with the accompany of the ID) in Hafary. But it shows that the design can not be fully 'implemented'. Extra decorative tiles to be found - difficult, the background tiles to be matched and it's better that there is no need to cut the tiles further in order to match the design.

Common toilet 3D, no vanity top since the toilet is small. The vanity top is put into Kitchen.

toiletview02s.jpg

It shows the original design has some flows. You also need to plan the position of water heater and WC before hand. The tiles are most in 30x60 or 30x30 for toilet wall. If the pattern of the design is not in the size, you will have to be prepared to cut the tiles in order to have the pattern.

Cheers - bN

 

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Hi blogNS, how much your kitchen sink cost? Btw, the kitchen sink look a bit yellowish?? Not sure whether photo not clear or my eyes got problem? Made from stainless steel?

Cheers:) Emobebe

Hi Emobebe,

The sink is quoted for 280, bargain to 250, labeled as made in Italy, stainless steel. The color is caused by my photograph. The real color is quite bright, but not shining.

"Is there anything to consider for buying hood and hob? I am a bit indecisive. Went to Hoe Kee today, the salesman said Fujihoh is better than Techno, Turbo and Rinnai. I was actually considering Fujihoh Hood and Rinnai hob but the salesman kept saying no good for the hob. His reasons are that Rinnai hob not toughened glass which can handle high temperature > 300 degree Celcius and the warranty is lifetime. If crack, can replace once but not the second crack. Hmmm, there are other some reasons but I can't remember. Not well today shouldn't go out..:( "

I am not expert too. So just select by the style. The glass in the turbo hood and hob are all made by tempered glass (same to the toughened glass?). Warranty is only one year. Bought already, so no choice now for me now. Another problem you may consider, to buy kind of island chimney hood or wall chimney hood. It may cause some troublesome to install the wall one if your kitchen wall is not flat due to the beam. But island one can be hung on ceiling, no modification of the chimney is needed. (Realized this only when the carpenter told us the issue.)

Cheers - bN

Edited by blogNS
 

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Applied the HDB permit for renovation for the Master bedroom toilet first. Started...

The day before, we wrapped all the furniture (sofa, bed frame, cloth cabinet, TV...) with plastic film, and news papers.

Day 1, hacking...

Before the hacking in the morning, the workers came with carpets, to put on the bedroom and living room floor to protect the marble tiles. We have told the ID and the workers to be cautious not to drop/throw/drag the bags of the heavy hacked tiles and cements on the floor. (Although we reminded it, some of the workers were still throwing the bag filled with the hacked tiles on the floor. But after reminded again to the supervisor, they were more carefully carrying the bags.)

Very dirty. We also sealed all the other rooms.

Remind them about the aircon water drainage pipe through the wall, need to keep it.

After the workers left in the afternoon, checked. Found the marble near the door to the toilet was broken. Need to tell ID - Ben.son Koh.

The supervisor from the company for windows also came the day. The grill and color of the window were selected.

All hacking in the toilet done in one day, since it is a small one.

First payment paid too.

Asked the ID, any work to start for day 2. No real work done, the tiler was busy for other project.

Day 2,

ID brought the laminate samples for cabinets and solid surfaces.

ID said the tiles to be sent here after 2pm, waited until 5:30pm, the first batch tiles arrived.

Called Adamas to sent the items for the toilet in 3 days.

The ID asked if we would change the toilets windows too. Originally we did not plan to change it, later I found the old one was actually distorted during the hacking. ID asked for 750 for two toilet windows - far too expensive because we already paid quite a lot for windows. I checked with others they only asked for $400. Of course I rejected the 'offer'.

Later Ben.son called again to offer a new price of $500, though still more expensive than others, I felt it's reasonable to give him some profit. Deal made.

 

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Hi Emobebe,

The sink is quoted for 280, bargain to 250, labeled as made in Italy, stainless steel. The color is caused by my photograph. The real color is quite bright, but not shining.

"Is there anything to consider for buying hood and hob? I am a bit indecisive. Went to Hoe Kee today, the salesman said Fujihoh is better than Techno, Turbo and Rinnai. I was actually considering Fujihoh Hood and Rinnai hob but the salesman kept saying no good for the hob. His reasons are that Rinnai hob not toughened glass which can handle high temperature > 300 degree Celcius and the warranty is lifetime. If crack, can replace once but not the second crack. Hmmm, there are other some reasons but I can't remember. Not well today shouldn't go out..:( "

I am not expert too. So just select by the style. The glass in the turbo hood and hob are all made by tempered glass (same to the toughened glass?). Warranty is only one year. Bought already, so no choice now for me now. Another problem you may consider, to buy kind of island chimney hood or wall chimney hood. It may cause some troublesome to install the wall one if your kitchen wall is not flat due to the beam. But island one can be hung on ceiling, no modification of the chimney is needed. (Realized this only when the carpenter told us the issue.)

Cheers - bN

Thanks for the advise. Will take note of it. I haven't buy anything yet. I will only start shopping after confirm the final quotes. Right now, still altering existing quotes and bargaining for the final price. We just want to spend within our budgeted fund. :) emobebe

 

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Hi emobebe,

Just sharing, and hope the experience can be a little bit help to others too.

Day 1, after hacking picture:

day1afterhack.jpg

day1floorhack.jpg

Continue to Day 3 of my reno:

To check with the ID Ben.son:

to reminder the tiler to do 3 layers of water proofing for kitchen,

to keep the aircon pipe in place and

to add a temporary water pipe for the toilet work. The old one to be dismantled.

The water pipe layout.

Found the ID was quite blur on what to do first and what to do next. The tiler came only at 1pm, found the small vent pipe was still there, to be hacked. He asked the old water pipe to be replaced otherwise the the tiles could not be laid on to the wall. (In the early morning 9:30, asked the ID when the plumber would come, said he would come at 3:30.)

The ID said he would ask the plumber to change the pipe. So tiler kept questioning on it, I then questioned on the ID too. In the day, the floor was laid with one layer cement mixed with 101 - kind of water proofing materials.

Since the old water pipe could not be removed by the tiler - no tools to shorten it, the tiler left it as is. Part of the wall was laid with a layer of cement. I found that newly laid cement covered the aircon pipe too! Luckily I saw it and asked the tiler keep a hole with the pipe there! Bit angry the ID did not come to supervise and not tell the tiler too.

Wall with cement laid:

day3wallcement.jpg

day3wallcement2.jpg

For the floor, it was laid with some waterproofing - to be dried before further works can be done. The tiler left quite early at 2:45 - no other works could be done. The plumber did not come before the tiler left.

Finally a plumper came at 5:30, checked the water pipe. The new cement layer was not dried yet, but the plumper need to work on the pipe, so stepped on the 'soft' floor - left many footprint, the layer seemed not flat too. Afraid the waterproof might be a problem.

It was easy for the plumber to cut the pipe. After shortened it, he still left a short pipe (original one) with tap there. Asked him if the pipe to be installed so to leave a space for tiling, he anyhow said the space was enough. Although in doubt, but let him go.

Called the ID for a better arrangement and keep with the schedule, for today there was almost no major works done. One day 'wasted' because of no coordination.

Other events:

Checked when the Windows to be changed - only one week later.

The items for M.Toilet such as WC, water heater, tap, basin were delivered. Unfortunately I did not open the box to check the WC if there was any problem - later found a small hole on the bottom of the bowl.

Before the WC delivery, Adamas called to say that the model we ordered has no stock for the size we want, so they asked if we would accept another model with the size we need (similar mode, bit expensive, but they would not ask for extra $). Glad to accept the offer :)

Here is the new model:

mwck.jpg

Day 4.

The tiler came at 2:40pm. Very late, finished at 5:00pm. To lay tiles on wall. Then lay a cement layer on the floor. The aircon drainage (I bought from the hardware store - $3.00) and the basin drainage was hidden in the cement layer.

The tiler came at 2:40, claimed to buy the aircon drainage pipe connector.

Day 5.

Wall tiling job. Ask the tiler to lay another layer of waterproofing.

Ask the ID, what is the new water pipe layout because the tiler wanted to leave holes for that. The ID did not have any idea about it. Just said the water pipe would be done later.

Read from the web the homogeneous tiles can crack if not drilled carefully. Asked the ID, no idea about it.

Again, refer to some web, it said that need to use the so called 'diamond drill bits' to drill the homogeneous tiles slowly, then no crack! But seems no one do it in the reno industry?

(edited to add images)

Edited by blogNS
 

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more pictures:

Day 5, waterproofing and wall tiles on, note that the old water pipe is still there: no tiles can be laid. I have asked the ID to arrange for the plumber to fix it. No response yet.

day5waterproof.jpg

day5walltilewaterproof3.jpg

 

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Hi emobebe,

Just sharing, and hope the experience can be a little bit help to others too.

Day 1, after hacking picture:

day1afterhack.jpg

day1floorhack.jpg

Continue to Day 3 of my reno:

To check with the ID Ben.son:

to reminder the tiler to do 3 layers of water proofing for kitchen,

to keep the aircon pipe in place and

to add a temporary water pipe for the toilet work. The old one to be dismantled.

The water pipe layout.

Found the ID was quite blur on what to do first and what to do next. The tiler came only at 1pm, found the small vent pipe was still there, to be hacked. He asked the old water pipe to be replaced otherwise the the tiles could not be laid on to the wall. (In the early morning 9:30, asked the ID when the plumber would come, said he would come at 3:30.)

The ID said he would ask the plumber to change the pipe. So tiler kept questioning on it, I then questioned on the ID too. In the day, the floor was laid with one layer cement mixed with 101 - kind of water proofing materials.

Since the old water pipe could not be removed by the tiler - no tools to shorten it, the tiler left it as is. Part of the wall was laid with a layer of cement. I found that newly laid cement covered the aircon pipe too! Luckily I saw it and asked the tiler keep a hole with the pipe there! Bit angry the ID did not come to supervise and not tell the tiler too.

Wall with cement laid:

day3wallcement.jpg

day3wallcement2.jpg

For the floor, it was laid with some waterproofing - to be dried before further works can be done. The tiler left quite early at 2:45 - no other works could be done. The plumber did not come before the tiler left.

Finally a plumper came at 5:30, checked the water pipe. The new cement layer was not dried yet, but the plumper need to work on the pipe, so stepped on the 'soft' floor - left many footprint, the layer seemed not flat too. Afraid the waterproof might be a problem.

It was easy for the plumber to cut the pipe. After shortened it, he still left a short pipe (original one) with tap there. Asked him if the pipe to be installed so to leave a space for tiling, he anyhow said the space was enough. Although in doubt, but let him go.

Called the ID for a better arrangement and keep with the schedule, for today there was almost no major works done. One day 'wasted' because of no coordination.

Other events:

Checked when the Windows to be changed - only one week later.

The items for M.Toilet such as WC, water heater, tap, basin were delivered. Unfortunately I did not open the box to check the WC if there was any problem - later found a small hole on the bottom of the bowl.

Before the WC delivery, Adamas called to say that the model we ordered has no stock for the size we want, so they asked if we would accept another model with the size we need (similar mode, bit expensive, but they would not ask for extra $). Glad to accept the offer :)

Here is the new model:

mwck.jpg

Day 4.

The tiler came at 2:40pm. Very late, finished at 5:00pm. To lay tiles on wall. Then lay a cement layer on the floor. The aircon drainage (I bought from the hardware store - $3.00) and the basin drainage was hidden in the cement layer.

The tiler came at 2:40, claimed to buy the aircon drainage pipe connector.

Day 5.

Wall tiling job. Ask the tiler to lay another layer of waterproofing.

Ask the ID, what is the new water pipe layout because the tiler wanted to leave holes for that. The ID did not have any idea about it. Just said the water pipe would be done later.

Read from the web the homogeneous tiles can crack if not drilled carefully. Asked the ID, no idea about it.

Again, refer to some web, it said that need to use the so called 'diamond drill bits' to drill the homogeneous tiles slowly, then no crack! But seems no one do it in the reno industry?

(edited to add images)

Who said no one use diamond drills bits in this industry? Not only for homo tiles, marble, granite, can be use for ceramic tiles too. This is to prevent the tiles from cracks especially when drilling for bathroom accessories. Is good that u asked to lay another layer of water proofing membrane as the initial water proofing had been damaged by the plumber.

 

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Who said no one use diamond drills bits in this industry? Not only for homo tiles, marble, granite, can be use for ceramic tiles too. This is to prevent the tiles from cracks especially when drilling for bathroom accessories. Is good that u asked to lay another layer of water proofing membrane as the initial water proofing had been damaged by the plumber.

Hi jaskel, I have read many of your valuable comments in the forum. Many thanks.

Understood there should be some good ones using such drills in the renovation work, but I did not encounter one :( The ID I engaged seemed not clear about it, just said the kind of tiles was easy to crack, but never proposed any solution to it. Same comments from the tiler, the plumber, the workers who installed the glass door. Maybe they knew but felt expensive, so no one wanted to use that drill in the practice? The bad thing is the ID never say anything about it - just said the tile prone to crack. Is the diamond drill bit expensive? Anything to pay attention when using such a drill for tiles?

As for the waterproofing layer (day 3), I asked the tiler about it on Day 4. He said most of his projects used only one layer. If we wanted, he could do it. Then we got to see the delay of the work - he could not complete the tiling in time for others to continue the jobs. Anyway there will be another waterproofing layer (day 5) and one layer of cement + W1 to be laid on the floor before the tiling. So we did not insist for the repair of the first layer.

Is it true with cement +W1 the floor will be waterproofing? Or with enhanced waterproofing property?

Day 6,

The tiler asked the removal of the old water pipe and install a temporary pipe for him to use. Called the ID. The plumber did not come. So the old water pipe and tap were still there, the tiler could not do anything about it. Called the ID again, who then phone called the tiler for whatever arrangement. Felt distressed, such coordination works are supposed to be done by us or ID!?

The tiler mixed the cement, added W1 into the mixture, said it would enhance its waterproofing property and strength. the tiler sent his worker for the Floor tiles not enough, the tiler said. So he asked me to get the ID to send the 8 more tiles here. Today most works were done by one of his workers.

The tiler also asked for the new water pipe layout, for him to open up holes on the wall. Seemed he knew how to open up holes without cracking the tile - if the tile cracked, he just changed it before it was laid onto a wall :)

Pictures taken after the tiler left.

Seems nowadays all the tile edges are treated by a PVC tile edge trim. One issue is the plastic trim may not be fastened to the tiles, so there can be obvious gaps, either due to the tiles not laid flat, or the plastic trim not straight. We found it and told the tiler, so the tiler fix it with a tape. The picture shows the yellow glue remainder (in red circle) after removed the tape once the cement cured.

PVC edge trim

day6partwalltiles2edges.jpg

Part wall tiles laid

day6partwalltiles.jpg

Part of floor tiles, the basin drainage and aricon water drain are hidden under the tiles.

day6partfloordone1.jpg

Floor tiles, can be seen the walls not in right angle.

day6partfloordone2.jpg

New things look good :)

Most tiles were up, waiting for the ID to arrange for electrician, plumber then the carpenter to come for their job.

Edited by blogNS
 

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Hi jaskel, I have read many of your valuable comments in the forum. Many thanks.

Understood there should be some good ones using such drills in the renovation work, but I did not encounter one :( The ID I engaged seemed not clear about it, just said the kind of tiles was easy to crack, but never proposed any solution to it. Same comments from the tiler, the plumber, the workers who installed the glass door. Maybe they knew but felt expensive, so no one wanted to use that drill in the practice? The bad thing is the ID never say anything about it - just said the tile prone to crack. Is the diamond drill bit expensive? Anything to pay attention when using such a drill for tiles?

As for the waterproofing layer (day 3), I asked the tiler about it on Day 4. He said most of his projects used only one layer. If we wanted, he could do it. Then we got to see the delay of the work - he could not complete the tiling in time for others to continue the jobs. Anyway there will be another waterproofing layer (day 5) and one layer of cement + W1 to be laid on the floor before the tiling. So we did not insist for the repair of the first layer.

Is it true with cement +W1 the floor will be waterproofing? Or with enhanced waterproofing property?

A cheap diamond drill bit cost ard $10 but won't last long, mostly 1 project over and need to throw away liao. I usually prepare it for my plumber, electrician and glass installer to use it. Most of them is take and no return so didn't pass them the more expensive one to use. When using, need to drip in water quite often cos it will become very hot after a while...prolong the lifespan of the drill bit.

Ask the tiler don't anyhow do, if there leakage in future, who going to responsible? Min 2 layers of water proofing. W1 is bonding agent. It is to strengthen the cement properties when dry. Old timer tiler will use this as waterproof but is not as efficient than using water proofing membrane.

 

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