Reno For Tikihouse @ Tampines

[Tikimum 0]

Hi June, I think its not the degree of difficulty for this job but the amount of time required to do a good whitewash effect on the 3 doors. As we understand from a friend who is in the furniture line, it would take a workman at least 3-4days to complete the job. This will work out to almost the same cost if we were to change new doors. Hence, our contractor suggested changing the doors and we can choose the designs we like.

[tikiman 0]

Hi tikiman,

I'm not sure if your doors are nyatoh or veneer.

But my contractor told me that painters who do walls only are not skilled to do painting/varnishing for doors.

He got me a separate sub-con to do my doors. Used Nippon's timberlac to make it black.

I watched the sub-con do it - takes a very small fine brush and have to do like many many layers. He waited for each layer to dry and wait for the wood to absorb the timberlac then applied another coat. He took a full day to do one side of my main door and two sides of my storeroom store.

Gd luck!

hi gerglhc,

thanks for the info. it is real tedious work, and we know. that is why very few contractor will do it. most will just ask us to change new doors.

our doors are nyatoh. do you have to contact of the subcon? and how much he charge for doing the door?

Edited September 21, 2013 by tikiman

[sarah833 3]

Painting over old doors can be really time consuming, especially if it has been painted over and over by the previous owner(s). A friend of mine

did the painting job of her walkup apartment herself with the help of her bf. She is a Jack(ie) of all trade who can polish her own car and practiced on mine for a small fee once, and said she thought painting door should be easy and can be done within half a day. But after spending many hours sanding away the old layers of paints on one side of the door she is no where near finishing!

[Harriette 42]

Hi greglhc, could you send the contact of the sub con for doors? Thanks.

[tikiman 0]

This morning we started our DIY with the MBR door. Sanding away the lacquer on one side of the door was fast as I borrowed my dad's electric sander using 180 grit paper. After cleaning away the dust, we can see the color of nyatoh wood. We started painting, and then we noticed that the door was cracked, just like the main door. On closer inspection, we found that the second bedroom door and lock were also damaged. TikiGrand said his present room doors are still in excellent condition after 20 years!! TikiFamily came to a conclusion that the previous owner has an explosive temper. We had earlier hoped to salvage the solid wooden doors but now, we decided to change all the doors and give our new home a brand new, happy and comfortable aura. .

To cheer Tikimum up, we went back to EquipDesign to look for a door bell button and we bought this

Edited September 22, 2013 by tikiman

[greglhc 30]

Hi tikiman and harriette,

I sms-ed my main con to try and get the contact but unfortunately he didn't respond

Guess he doesn't want to share I'll ask him directly the next time I see him.

[Makanology 29]

Wow your door bell is very unique! I think it will be a talking point whenever your friends come over. LIKE!

[tikiman 0]

Hi tikiman and harriette,

I sms-ed my main con to try and get the contact but unfortunately he didn't respond

Guess he doesn't want to share I'll ask him directly the next time I see him.

thanks.

[tikiman 0]

Wow your door bell is very unique! I think it will be a talking point whenever your friends come over. LIKE!

thanks makanlogy.

[tikiman 0]

On Saturday, we designed our 'random' floor tile arrangement to show the tiler how it should be laid. Each tile is 16 x 100cm. We divided the length into 5cm intervals to arrange the design as random as possible for 20 tiles. Why 20? 20 tiles will produce 3.2m width, when visitors come into the house, they will not notice the repetition.

A photoshopped birdeye view:

Edited September 24, 2013 by tikiman

[tikiman 0]

This morning, the tiler, Ah Meng started to lay the floor tiles. We like him. he is very meticulous in his work.

In our quest to have wood-like porcelain tiles, we did lot of research on the different length, quality and installation processes. We have been adviced by sales person at SBH that we have to keep a 2mm gap between tiles. This is due of possible warping. We also heard of such occurrence with long tiles that comes from china. The large spacing will be an issue in the later years when the grouting starts to look dirty and trap dirt. The betulla tiles we choose did not warp, and I told Ah meng to lay them as close as possible (within 1mm). We also told him that in an event where the tile beside looks about the same, either twist it 180degree or place it somewhere else.

Update: After completing tiling the hall, ah meng told me there were few piece of the betulla tiles that were slightly warped.

Edited September 25, 2013 by tikiman

[hismuzo12 0]

HI will you be able to share contractor A's contact pls? Thanks.

[tikiman 0]

HI will you be able to share contractor A's contact pls? Thanks.

Will pm u the contact.

[tikiman 0]

Ah meng has finished tiling the hall. ah wheng (the tao-chew) advised us to use white grout, and it turned out beautiful, looking like real wood flooring. But before tikimum can snap a picture, they covered the floor with cardboard to protect it.

[tikiman 0]

Just finished another "random" floor tile design for the rooms. Each tile is 14.5 x 60cm. We divided the length into 5cm intervals and arranged a design for 12 tiles. As usual, used photoshop to create a birdeye view of how it would look.