Hacking Of Common Room Wall On 3 Room Resale Flat

[Tini 0]

Hello,

I'm a newbie here on renotalk. Just bought a 3 room flat and was thinking of making my living room more spacious by hacking down the wall of the common room and putting up a folding glass door.

Has anyone here did that before and could share some ideas and pics? BTW, I'm planning on doing a total reno for the entire house but on a very tight budget. Any suggestions on reliable and reasonable contractor is much appreciated.

[sgpuser 0]

Hello,

just wondering is that a brand new 3rm flat? or resale?

I don't know about new 3rm flats, but for older resale flat, i think it might be a better idea of knocking down the wall seperating the kitchen instead, cos once you come in, it looks bigger, and if you seldom cook, you can easily shrink the kitchen area.

My 2 cents worth, as for budget wise, quite difficult to get good pricing now, can only wait till after CNY. there are some things that perhaps you can consider DIY - save some money.

[EdensMom 8]

I agree .... we knocked down the kitchen wall of our HDB, and it made a really big and spacious feeling dining / living area. In fact, the old owners came in and saw it and wished they had done it themeselves!! We love it. The only drawback is if you want to cook smelly food, then you need to install a good hood over the cooking area.

We did our renovations one year ago, and our ID/contractor was great. We did whole new kitchen, bathroom, bathroom cabinets, two wall hacking, new built in wardrobes in three rooms, repainting, and new shelving, feature wall, install fans, etc for less than 20k, and used very good quality / brand name materials. PM me if you want the details. Other ways to save money would be to buy all the pieces yourself (ie hob, hood, basins, oven, lighting fixutres, etc) and just get contractor to install. Also, you can get Nippon or Dulux to paint it for you and save that cost. I you place isn't too old, you can overlay the tiles rather than hack them, and that saves cost too. Also, don't get all the anti-slam hinges etc as they are expenses.

All the best and enjoy.

[edenstrauss 3]

Hi Tini,

Do you intend to sell off the flat in the future? And are kids applicable in your family nucleus used by HDB to procure this 3-room HDB flat e.g. planning for kids in the near future if this is a matrimonial flat?

If the answers are Yes for the above questions, then I would not recommend that you bring down any bedroom walls. Reason being that you might have difficulties selling off your unit unless the location is absolutely fantastic; and putting back the walls while your personal effects are still in the flat isn't an easy task. There are plenty of considerations to make e.g. rewiring of powerpoints, airconditioning units, risking damages to your existing flooring, spending $$ to put back the wall (workmanship is important for us as home owners) etc.

And for open concept kitchens, it does make your flat look spacious. However, there are drawbacks too if you cook often. Even with a kitchen hood, no amount of "power" could stop cooking fumes, grime & dirt from moving to other parts of your flat e.g. living area, bedrooms & other personal effects (furniture, electrical appliances) that are placed in your living area. Reason being that exhaust pipes channelling cooking fumes out of kitchen windows aren't allowed in flats & condos.

Unless you are prepared to clean up the entire flat after cooking each time, I personally wouldn't recommend that you take down kitchen walls.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[EdensMom 8]

On the open kitchen concept .... we did it to ours, and like I said above, we love it! It is great to have a breezy kitchen, and a feeling of space. It really made our whole dining space feel so much bigger. We have never had a problem with dirt and grime.... we have a good hood, and it takes away the fumes well. Most European / Western kitchens use the open concept, and these countries cook a lot! I think there isn't too much to be worried about in that regard,

[sgtrends 0]

If your hdb flat is prefab type you won't be able to knock it down. view some examples here : hdb apartment

[Tini 0]

Hi All,

Thank you for all your input. I bought a resale flat at Pandan Garden. I'm getting the key to the house in 2 weeks time.The house have not been renovated for a very long time. Believe it or not they still have a squatting toilet with the metal door .

I finally found a renovation company who will hopefully make the vision of how I want my flat to be like. Anyone here heard of Dezign Culture? Well that's the company I'm putting my faith in.

Hoping to see the 3D design soon and I will gladly share them here with you guys.

Edenstrauss…to answer some of your questions….there are no kids in the house. I'm single and bought the place by myself for myself and planning on living there for a very long time I hope I do more baking then I do cooking so I'm not too worried about having the open kitchen concept. I've even ask my ID to construct a 3 x 3 kitchen island where I could put 4 chairs. The kitchen is huge so I think I could get away with a small island.

The downside of all these stuff I want done in the house is my original budget of 30-35k now has gone up to 43k Sounds hefty I guess so huh considering it's only a 3 room flat! ……..I'm trying to bring down the budget by buying some of the stuff like main doors and gate, bedroom door..my ID's quote to me for each of the door is $700 including the casing and installation and 450 for the aluminium gate….. does that sound about right? Or could I get it cheaper somewhere else? I'm also looking at possibly finding a cheaper frosted glass door for the toilet and shower. If any of you know a place where I could get some of these items for less please share it with me.

Appreciate your time reading this and I will keep you posted on my reno

[claypot 46]

Nice. Looking forward to your photos of your flat transformation.

Bedroom doors no need get so ex/high-end so can be cheaper than your main door.

[tanmeng 4]

I have contacts to get cheaper lights/ fans and water heater. If you need, PM me.

[surfbuyer 0]

May I ask how is your experience with Dezign Culture? Thank you

[angyee 2]

Hi,

We are also intending to hack the walls of the adjacent room with our master bedroom. Do you have the quote for the hacking works?

[Brian Huang 4]

Hi EdensMom can pm me your contractor's contact? Thanks!

I agree .... we knocked down the kitchen wall of our HDB, and it made a really big and spacious feeling dining / living area. In fact, the old owners came in and saw it and wished they had done it themeselves!! We love it. The only drawback is if you want to cook smelly food, then you need to install a good hood over the cooking area.

We did our renovations one year ago, and our ID/contractor was great. We did whole new kitchen, bathroom, bathroom cabinets, two wall hacking, new built in wardrobes in three rooms, repainting, and new shelving, feature wall, install fans, etc for less than 20k, and used very good quality / brand name materials. PM me if you want the details. Other ways to save money would be to buy all the pieces yourself (ie hob, hood, basins, oven, lighting fixutres, etc) and just get contractor to install. Also, you can get Nippon or Dulux to paint it for you and save that cost. I you place isn't too old, you can overlay the tiles rather than hack them, and that saves cost too. Also, don't get all the anti-slam hinges etc as they are expenses.

All the best and enjoy.

[sleven 0]

Hi Edensmom

can i have the contacts too?

cheers

[mererenovation 2]

Hello, for us we knocked down a lot of walls to make our small apartment looks bigger and to allow more light to pass through..you can read more about it in my blog

[chivaslife88 0]

hi edensmom . can i have the contact as well ? thanks !