4A Resale... Somewhere North

[Valerie Low 0]

I like the broken marble flooring! So nice

[May_dream1 14]

thanks. Seller was 2nd owner... they redo the cabinets (kitchen and all) and false ceiling ~5yrs ago. So the cabinets actually looks quite "new".

very good condition... no wonder you are paying slightly more in COV. Marble flooring are not easy to find nowadays..... so lucky!!

[renotm 0]

Thanks. It's quite well maintained, I like the big windows, make the place brighter.

So when's your turn to post some photos?

Congras to you !!!

Your house condition is consider very well maintained liao lah..

[ayazumi 0]

agree!! so nice!! next time i want cement only. hahahah

Don't do cement floor lah, very difficult to maintain. I have seen a Singapore HDB home somewhere in the internet, initially I thought they do cement floor, but actually that is black & grey marble/granite floor. Totally look like cement floor, but it will cost a lot of money too. Save more, do a better flooring.

[renotm 0]

Well, on the surface, looks very good conditions, but if take a closer look, some part even my current 12yr old cabinets' conditions are better than these 5yr old ones.

Yah, the other day my contractor also mentioned no one do broken marble flooring these days, the skills are slowly 失传-ing.

Forgot to reply ur previous msg, work not very busy now but will be for the next few weeks: my colleague is on 2-weeks home leave, a transfer project between US and SG taking place... All during my 1st 2weeks renovation. :|

Plus all the last few weekends spent on travelling to places to confirm/buy stuffs. Once I travelled from toa payoh to upper Thompson to Sim Drive to IMM/ SBH then back to balestier, all in one day, on public bus/mrt. Super exhausted.

very good condition... no wonder you are paying slightly more in COV. Marble flooring are not easy to find nowadays..... so lucky!!

[NeoBY 1]

Don't do cement floor lah, very difficult to maintain. I have seen a Singapore HDB home somewhere in the internet, initially I thought they do cement floor, but actually that is black & grey marble/granite floor. Totally look like cement floor, but it will cost a lot of money too. Save more, do a better flooring.

My grandma house last time kampong. All cement. But slippery lah, after constant use.

[May_dream1 14]

Well, on the surface, looks very good conditions, but if take a closer look, some part even my current 12yr old cabinets' conditions are better than these 5yr old ones.

Yah, the other day my contractor also mentioned no one do broken marble flooring these days, the skills are slowly 失传-ing.

Forgot to reply ur previous msg, work not very busy now but will be for the next few weeks: my colleague is on 2-weeks home leave, a transfer project between US and SG taking place... All during my 1st 2weeks renovation. :|

Plus all the last few weekends spent on travelling to places to confirm/buy stuffs. Once I travelled from toa payoh to upper Thompson to Sim Drive to IMM/ SBH then back to balestier, all in one day, on public bus/mrt. Super exhausted.

if there are ppl willing to do broken marbles, i would be one to do it too. but too bad, no one does that anymore so no choice but to do tiles loh. actual pieces of marbles are too ex for me.

never mind, you already choose / bought most of the stuff needed for reno then very easy to settle any hiccups through phone with your contractor. most importantly, try to relax too.

[Terrain1976 0]

Thanks. It's quite well maintained, I like the big windows, make the place brighter.

So when's your turn to post some photos?

If nothing goes wrong, i will start my reno on 30th Apr.. Counting down anxiously even though i am not doing much to my house lah..

Pending for hdb to approve on the walls hacking and relocating of store room.

Contractor sent me the first round of 3D drawing but dun seems to be what we had discussed. Pending for their second round of drawing soon..

[renotm 0]

Yesterday did the 动土ritual. Very simple one, just pay respect to the 4 corners and center of the apt with oranges. No joss sticks or incense papers, just a sincere attitude.

Here comes the hammer (borrowed from contractor)

The floor tiles are super hard! I hit very very very hard can only dent it a bit. I also saw sparks from the fictions and the burning smell :jawdrop:

Only after a good few minutes of entire-body-strength, then I managed to get to this:

Next door auntie rushed over and asked if I were starting to hack (coz I told her hacking will only be thurs/Fri/Mon), if yes, she needs to keep in all her clothes.

Told her only hacking a small corner for the fengshui ritual... in the end, spent a good 30min chatting with her.

Edited April 19, 2012 by renotm

[renotm 0]

Day 1:

Swing by after work to see the progress. When I reached the place ~6:20pm, the main gate already locked, looks like they were never here. Then when I opened the door... I saw a warzone!

This greets me:

They are quite fast in hacking and dismantlement. The kitchen and common toilet almost 85% hacked, and 80% of the build-in wardrobes and fixtures are out too... only left master room's toilet not hacked and the wall between kitchen and 3rd bedroom (which will be relocated).

Kitchen

Common Toilet

Build-in wardrobes

Edited April 20, 2012 by renotm

[renotm 0]

Continue:

Wardrobe's "bodies"

I saw some t-shirts and pants hanging/lying around the whole place, which I can understand.. my place is quite hot in the afternoon... but this?

:jawdrop: :jawdrop:

I wasn't angry or upset but finds it funny.

[ayazumi 0]

LOL! I thought it's common to see t-shirts lying around, but underwear, jeans??!! Hahahaha...

[renotm 0]

Day 2:

Went up slightly earlier than usual, stopped by Sheng Shiong and bought a carton of mineral waters for the workers. It was only a 5 min walk to my place, but the carton of mineral water is not light... by the time I walked to my block, I need to take a few mins break to ease my arms and wipe my sweat.

Anyway, when I went up, the gate is opened but the main door is closed. Rem what I saw ydae, I knocked a few times b4 opening the door, dun want to see anything that I am NOT supposed to see... heehee.

True enough, an indian peeked his head out of the common toilet area, obviously is showering, but luckily he got a towel wrapped around his waist. *phew*. Think he was the main guy for the hacking. A very nice chap, while explaining what have been done to the place, he at times will make sure his towel stays in place, and I just kept my eyes focus on his face

Only 2 men were doing all the dismantlement and hacking these 2 days. Pretty impressive. The other guy is a VERY small sized indian man too. They even kept those items I indicated to keep nicely at a few corners. He told me the debris will be cleared tomorrow with another 5 more men. Since I won't make it tmr in the morning/early afternoon, I passed them some money to buy more drinks/snacks for tmr.

Now the updates and photos of the progress:

At first I indicated to hack an end of a wall to shorten the length, but it turns out that corner is a pillar, cannot hack. Told my contractor and she said they will patch back the space between the wall and pillar.

But now the wall of the 3rd bedroom is down, along with the false ceilings, the whole place open up! So bright! but also very hot.

View of the open kitchen

From bedroom's door

View of main door from kitchen

The ugly air-con piping (and orange ceiling by 1st owner) across the original living room (hidden by false ceiling).

How do I re-route it nicely if I want to keep current position of the fan coil? Do not intend to have L-box or false ceiling. Advice?

[renotm 0]

Oh, forgot to mention that my contractor called me during lunch today that when she was ordering the tiles for my kitchen wall from SBH, the changi branch manager told her that the tiles have some bad "review" and they were said to be uneven. She asked me to change to another tile for kitchen wall... as I was already burned out from tile selections from the last few weekend, I asked her to choose one for me, that can match my kitchen floor tiles.

[May_dream1 14]

You change design of your flat? Show us how is the layout!!