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Sharing Of Renovation Journey - With Designstreet

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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.

So a good ID who should enforce the use of the diamond drill if necessary. Thanks. I would ask for 2 layers of waterproofing for any future works. My first master bedroom toilet already done, bit late for me to re-do it. (It seems my neighbour down stairs did not complain, for the time being.) Hope the layer of waterproofing membrane good enough for the toilet.

 

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Day 6.

Been waiting for the plumber to come to remove the old pipe and tell the tiler where the water pipe should go. Not come the day - according to the ID, the plumber will come to install the WC, new pipe etc later. But the tiler is waiting for him to come to do something :(

Old water pipe and tap to be removed so the tiles can be laid to the wall.

day5oldtap.jpg

Since most of the wall tiles and floor tiles were done, I expected the ID will get the carpenter to come to measure the small vanity top asap, so the toilet can be completed in time.

Day 7

The ID said the carpenter would come to measure for vanity top on tomorrow. So I have measured the space first to have some idea about how big the vanity top should be. Since the M.toilet is pretty small, only a small one can be fitted into.

Finally the tiler made mind to remove the old water pipe by himself. Not sure how the ID convinced him. Anyway, he got it done. The old tap was connected to the inlet of the pipe in the kitchen.

A new tiler came today too to continue the tiling work, for the corner and edge area. The spalling ceiling was repaired by filling the spalling concrete with the cement. No plastic and paint on ceiling yet. The floor tiles sent and tiled, with two more spare ones not used. Understand it is needed in case of broken tiles.

Found the last two tiles are not laid as flat as others, although not very obvious - may be caused by the mortar mixed in different time. Some mortar even can be seen out of the tile gap.

new tile not flat:

day78unflattilemt.jpg

day78unflattilemt2.jpg

mortar out, to check the tiler to rectify it.

day78mortar.jpg

In the later evening, when check the tiling works, found the aircon water drainage pipe to the floor trap was blocked by cement. Worried and tried to get the cement out. But failed. Called a friend in the aircon maintenance/ repair service to get some ideas. The friend was really good to come my flat to check for us. Finally by pouring a lot of water through the air-indoor unit, the blockage is flushed out. Relieved :)

I also found there are lot of the cement mortar left in the floor trap drainage. If not found it and clean earlier, it will dry out and stick to the pipe or dropped into the drainage causing blockage.

Forgot to mention, several days ago, the ID had brought the samples of '3S' solid surface - only brand he showed to us. Anyone is using the '3S' solid surface? Any comments? Heard that it is not 100% acrylic. How about the durability and any issue for maintenance?

 

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Continue...

Day 7,

In the evening check, found some wall tiles had cracks. Will inform the ID.

Day 8,

The cement mortar for the spalling ceiling got cracks. Checked with the tiler, who said that it's normal since when the cement cured, it shrunk so the cracks appeared. It will be no crack after the plaster and paint.

The carpenter did not come today so there was no vanity top measurement. Since the floor and wall tiles were almost there, it should be done as soon as fast in order to have enough time for to tailor and assemble the vanity top. Three days left as scheduled by the ID for the completion of the toilet reno.

The toilet was not installed, and electric wiring for the light, water heater was not done. The tiles around the window could not be laid because of the window - had to wait for it.

Tomorrow the plumber would come for the plumping works - install water pipe, WC and other bathroom accessories installation, so I opened the WC box for a check, and to measure the size. But ended to find out there was a small sand hole (black, size of a pencil tip) underneath of the bowl. Afraid that it might be a problem for the future leakage, I decide to ask the vendor of the WC for an exchange.

The window installation was not scheduled too, so not much works done today.

The water pipe leaking ... dripping non stop.

Day 9,

The plumber came, installed the water pipe and water outlets in the master bedroom toilet, connected to the old pipe from common toilet. The old pipes in common toilet will be changed after its tiling work done. Since the toilet WC got problem, the WC not installed, so did other accessories (tower hunger, spray etc).

Generally the water pipe installed is quite ok, but with some damages to the tiles: some chips are hidden behind the pipe, one is obvious crack to be replaced.

Cracked tile to be replaced

day9crackedtile.jpg

Newly installed water pipe

day9newwaterpipe.jpg

Water heater connected, without electricity connection

day9waterheater.jpg

Water pipe, WC not installed, waiting for exchange

day9wcoffset.jpg

Called Adamas in the morning for the change of the WC, where the salesgirl called the WC vendor (the brand of the toilet is Velin - by Atom International). She said the vendor would send a guy here to see what's the problem. Can be today or tomorrow.

The ID came in the morning. I checked with him for the WC defect. He said that it was ok, not really a problem. So he said that if I wanted to change it, then today the WC could not be installed liao.

I still did not feel safe with such a defect. (The WC cost $350 after some discount, so just wait for the vendor.)

The contractor for window and door came today to check for toilet door installation. Problem is that the marble skirting near the door did not keep a space big enough for the door frame. Either he has to cut the door frame (half inch) at the bottom, or to ask the tiler to change the skirting.

Picture for the skirting, the toilet door frame (the two red lines) will be right on the edge of it when the door installed. If no rectification, there will be a big gap between the door and the wall. I asked the ID it's better to redo the skirting. Though not very keen, he agreed to ask the tiler to change it. BTW, the skirting is newly repaired for the old one was damaged in the hacking. (I reminded the ID if he synchronized for the tiling and door installation, there would be no such redoing.)

day9marblerepaired.jpg

Around noon time, a young guy from the Atom came to see the problem of the WC. The Atom's staff was very friendly, and he took a look, touched the defect, within a second, he promised to exchange one for me. I really appreciate the Atom and the staff for it. So I will expect for a new one tomorrow.

In the afternoon a carpenter and his boss came to measure the size for the vanity top. Showed them the design and size, just a small cabinet and a mirror frame. I also asked Ben son if there was any 'waterproofing' laminate for the vanity top - afraid the cabinet will be easily damaged by the water and humility in the toilet. What he said is that it was not so easy to damage for a laminated cabinet. Any better quality (2mm laminate?) one for the cabinet in bathroom? I checked, but it seems that only Formica has the 2mm laminate.

In the future use, I may use a plastic curtain to prevent the water to spray on to the cabinet directly.

The ID asked me if I wanted to rewire the whole flat. I told him that I might do it in the future, but for now I would not do it.

Edited by blogNS
 

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Just read your postings. You have a very detail explanation although some of the things I don't really understand especially the piping stuff. I thought the piping should be changed to new one since you had hacked the floor or I misunderstood? Haha...:)

 

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Just read your postings. You have a very detail explanation although some of the things I don't really understand especially the piping stuff. I thought the piping should be changed to new one since you had hacked the floor or I misunderstood? Haha...:)

Ah, we are not doing whole flat reno. The Master toilet was renovated first, the common toilet and kitchen were not hacked for we still stayed in the flat. Then after the Master bedroom toilet can be used, we started the reno for common toilet and kitchen. In such a case, the old water pipe was kept for the time being (so we still got water to use) until the new water pipe in kitchen laid out.

Not updated for two days. Here continue...

Day 10,

Toilet window not replaced yet, ask the ID, who said it would be changed tomorrow.

The electrician was supposed to come today to wire the toilet and other lights. Until lunch time, he did not show. Could not wait for the electrician any longer, I called the ID at 2:30 again. Then he said that the electrician would not come. Very frustrated - should let us know earlier.

In the evening (6:00+) the Atom sent an uncle to change the WC. Very strange, the uncle did not want to change it, said that it was not a defect ... That's weird. I asked him to check with his boss, and finally he went down to brought the new one for the old one.

Later I found one issue that the fixation screws were not matched to the model. I called the vendor for the problem. The lady who answered the call said she would check for me, but she could not sure if there were spare screws for the model.

I checked around, with some friends and surf on the web for the info. Some said that the modern way to install a WC would not use the screw anchor to fix it to the ground. The screw may also spoil the waterproofing. Usually they just use cement or silicone glue to fix it. Will see how the plumber to fix it. If he need to use screws to fix it, then I had to go to the vendor for the exchange, got headache again.

Told the ID the WC was here, so he would get the plumber to install it.

Ceiling can be painted. But the ID said that it would be done together with the kitchen and common toilet ceilings. Felt it a bit strange, should it be done before the installation of the vanity top? But left it to the ID for the time being.

No work done today :( Can it be completed?

The ID asked if we can start the hacking of kitchen and common toilet, for he has applied the HDB permit. However if the master bedroom toilet was not completed, how can the kitchen be hacked? Doing so, the flat could not be able to live in! I told the ID, if the toilet under reno could be used, the hacking of kitchen could not start.

Day 11,

The window installation done for the toilet, and other bedrooms. Only the windows for the kitchen and the common toilet not touched. The door of the toilet installed too.

The tiler came too to complete the rest of the tiles of the master bedroom toilet.

Seemed it would be delayed. After 11 days, there were still lacking of electricity, vanity top, ceiling. The WC not installed too, the plumber did not have time to come according to the ID.

The ID said the electrician would come tomorrow for wiring.

Edited by blogNS
 

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