S&s Self-Designed Home In The East

[haven32 0]

Hey XTR

great job on the reno and outstanding taste in the whole decor. i notice you had cement screed floor. do you like it so far ? i read somewhere on dusty feeling on the feet and hairline cracks. BTW, would a living room without tiles lower the valuation value in future

i like this kind of flooring and seriously wanting it. recently saw in this forum Vinyl flooring.those single color like black or grey or even cement screed looking seems suitable. i just have no idea how it feel like on the feet.

resaon i like cement screed, beside the look is there is no grouting lines.

With rgds to Vinyl, i am worried about how it might affect the valuation 5 yrs down the road. my is a resale flat which i am waiitng for hdb appt.

thanks for sharing loads of useful info in this blog. greatly appreciated!

[Valerie Low 0]

How come your fan switch also black? You spray paint it?

Are these light switches given by Alan's electrician?

[XTR 1]

Hey XTR

great job on the reno and outstanding taste in the whole decor. i notice you had cement screed floor. do you like it so far ? i read somewhere on dusty feeling on the feet and hairline cracks. BTW, would a living room without tiles lower the valuation value in future

i like this kind of flooring and seriously wanting it. recently saw in this forum Vinyl flooring.those single color like black or grey or even cement screed looking seems suitable. i just have no idea how it feel like on the feet.

resaon i like cement screed, beside the look is there is no grouting lines.

With rgds to Vinyl, i am worried about how it might affect the valuation 5 yrs down the road. my is a resale flat which i am waiitng for hdb appt.

thanks for sharing loads of useful info in this blog. greatly appreciated!

hi haven...thanks for your comments.

yes we do like the cement screed floor. it has those unpredictable patterns and it hides my wife's hair very well. u are right about the dusty feeling on the feet. before we did the cement screed we were trying to research and the only answer we got was to let the dust settle down over the YEARS. i am sure a lot of the reno ppl who did cement floor had dusty feet, cuz we did. we also asked our tilers and they mentioned that we have to mop everyday for a yr before the cement will become smooth n shiny. of course all these info were like discouraging us to go ahead with the cement floor. but we still took the decision to try it out because we prefer to have such flooring. there still was 2 ideas that we were banking upon; that was to either mop everyday and sand the floor.

we tried the first idea but were utterly disappointed. every day we will mop but the feet will be grey powdered. so we went to the 2nd idea. we asked our contractor to help sand it down because we had an idea that if the surface was smooth enough, all the fine cement will be removed. it was very nice of him to hire a worker (for free. it wasnt included in the quotation)to sand buff the floor with those sanding machines. so what is the final result? it still was dusty. the floor wasnt smooth enough.

we didnt give up and went to buy the finest sand grid paper, sat down on the floor and manually sand the whole floor from the kitchen to the mbr. now i can tell you that the floor is very smooth, as shiny as your grandma's cement floor and also not dusty at all. so if u want to do the cement floor, get ready a few nights to do hard labour.

there will surely be hairline cracks. there is no way to escape it. if you cant accept it now, must not do it.

i have no idea about this vinyl flooring. never seen it before so cant comment about it.

there is a way to just skip the sanding part and that is to put epoxy on the floor. it will give u the shiny look, non-dusty and glossy look. BUT the drawback is you wont get the random raw look because its going to look even and the colour is going to be much darker.

valuation of the flat? i think it will affect..by how much? i dont know. remember that we are saving money by not doing tiling so valuation will be lower.

[XTR 1]

How come your fan switch also black? You spray paint it?

Are these light switches given by Alan's electrician?

yah sprayed the fan switch...the fan switch got some crappy logo that i didnt want to see. was Fanco if i rem........

yes the light switches are given by Alan. there is no need for u to go buy. He will provide MK or Scheider switches. good!

[XTR 1]

close up of the dining chairs

studs

behind view of the tv arm

[XTR 1]

our coffee table. carpet hasnt arrived. cement slab with rusted legs and uneven edges.

brass magazine rack

table deco.

sharkie.

[haven32 0]

hi haven...thanks for your comments.

yes we do like the cement screed floor. it has those unpredictable patterns and it hides my wife's hair very well. u are right about the dusty feeling on the feet. before we did the cement screed we were trying to research and the only answer we got was to let the dust settle down over the YEARS. i am sure a lot of the reno ppl who did cement floor had dusty feet, cuz we did. we also asked our tilers and they mentioned that we have to mop everyday for a yr before the cement will become smooth n shiny. of course all these info were like discouraging us to go ahead with the cement floor. but we still took the decision to try it out because we prefer to have such flooring. there still was 2 ideas that we were banking upon; that was to either mop everyday and sand the floor.

we tried the first idea but were utterly disappointed. every day we will mop but the feet will be grey powdered. so we went to the 2nd idea. we asked our contractor to help sand it down because we had an idea that if the surface was smooth enough, all the fine cement will be removed. it was very nice of him to hire a worker (for free. it wasnt included in the quotation)to sand buff the floor with those sanding machines. so what is the final result? it still was dusty. the floor wasnt smooth enough.

we didnt give up and went to buy the finest sand grid paper, sat down on the floor and manually sand the whole floor from the kitchen to the mbr. now i can tell you that the floor is very smooth, as shiny as your grandma's cement floor and also not dusty at all. so if u want to do the cement floor, get ready a few nights to do hard labour.

there will surely be hairline cracks. there is no way to escape it. if you cant accept it now, must not do it.

i have no idea about this vinyl flooring. never seen it before so cant comment about it.

there is a way to just skip the sanding part and that is to put epoxy on the floor. it will give u the shiny look, non-dusty and glossy look. BUT the drawback is you wont get the random raw look because its going to look even and the colour is going to be much darker.

valuation of the flat? i think it will affect..by how much? i dont know. remember that we are saving money by not doing tiling so valuation will be lower.

Hi XTR, thank you so much for the reply. I was looking for this information in this forum and you hit the nail on the head. what would you have done suppose the sanding down did not work i salute both of you in putting in the dedication to resolve the dust issue to be align with what you want from the overall design. from what i gathered, you love the random raw pattern from concrete. at any time did you consider painting the floor ? i read online overseas, this is a common practice and also there was a posting in this forum about a white painted floor by a ID for his own flat. wondering if paint can take care of the dusty feel

once again..keep posting. i am a follower of your blog

[adidaem 6]

Wow a lot of work.

From H&D:

http://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/asksophie/smooth-finish

Question: my bathroom’s new raw cement floor is rough and dusty. What can seal the floor and walls and give a smooth finish?

Answer: A finished cement floor should not be rough. Your contractor needs to add the top layer of fine cement screed, then apply a coat of polyurethane sealant (available at builders’ shops) to further waterproof and protect the smooth finish of the floor.

Don’t worry about the cement dust. It will decrease as the concrete dries out and hardens. Once you apply the sealant coat, dust should stop clinging to your feet.

A more decorative way to seal floors is to use tinted cement grouting in the screed. Go for delicate tints like aqua, grey-blue or sea green. You’ll find lots of grout colours at the tiling and builders’ shops. It pays to spend more for grouting with an epoxy mix as this incorporates a sealant and ensures that the colour and texture stay matte and silky.

[XTR 1]

haven--> yah... i understand. i couldnt find any info about the cement screed issue. everyone just say "it will settle down after a while" so i know how you would have felt. if the sanding didnt work, i would have either gotten the contractor to re-lay another layer of smooth cement. There are different grades of cement. OR i would have paid extra for those marble polishers to come in. should be about 1-2k. Ah! yes we did consider painting the floor man. we did, we did. but while touring around, we saw that once the paint is scratched off by eg table legs, its going to be really scratchy with parts of it scratched off. if u do like this effect, then paint is definitely great solution.

adidaem--> thanks for the info and spending time finding it.

totally forgotten about this. my contractor did tell me about this option but he said this one can be scrapped off too. its like an in between option of either sanding the cement (natural) or epoxy which is a thick and durable layer.

[XTR 1]

adieu

wine crates for storage

[XTR 1]

study table lamp

rubbish bin

[XTR 1]

industrial rack. (powerpt will be hidden later!)

rare stones

silver pitcher picked up from our travels

Edited May 5, 2012 by XTR

[XTR 1]

wife's limited edition baby blue golden half camera

jacqui the sailor.

other detailings

[Twinkie 0]

our coffee table. carpet hasnt arrived. cement slab with rusted legs and uneven edges.

brass magazine rack

table deco.

sharkie.

Hi XTR,

Once again , great stuff you've got there!!

Btw, please tell your wife she's got great taste in shoes , especially that pair of yellow YSL Tribute sandals! Lovely!!!

[Twinkie 0]

I would like to share one of my favourite things in the whole wide world.

My vintage style art deco flapper mannequin head. Another weird item too. Even the boyfriend thinks so