Jump to content
Find Professionals    Deals    Get Quotations   Portfolios
Sign in to follow this  
dietgalvon

Project Muji Home - of white, wood and chrome

Recommended Posts

Happy news first - that is we have already cleaned up the house again after the tiling rectification and moved things back to where they belong. So glad now fiance and I can shop online/play game in the same space. This journey had been rather exhausting especially nearing the end, I don't even have the mood to update on my buys for the home anymore. Coupled with the endless OTs and wedding in 2 months, I try to avoid this whole renovation topic because it stresses me out. I am scared, lol. But I'm here because I just gave some serious thought to what I need to reply my contractor on some outstanding issues.

IMG_9096.JPG.04803d8b0c475f056443f463fbe655e6.JPG

We bought the silicon tube from Home-fix promptly because the gaps bother me to no end, especially the one above because it face the main door. Just need to scrape the excess off the flooring, haha.

IMG_9094.JPG.5de494f450d1881f2b7f892d43311de9.JPG

We also decided to clear up the service yard - the cleaning, sorting, assembling the shelves and eventually putting the stuff back took us almost a day. Got the shelves from taobao, but each shelf consists of 160 screws to tighten! Poor fiance, I do not recommend DIY-ing this at all, should just pay to get this done lol. Ladder also from taobao - really useful as I cleaned every single tile in the kitchen! Pheww, the amount of dust from the tiling rectification is crazy.

Here's a picture of our completed living area!

IMG_8921.JPG.c41efcfc22bedbdfc777df39aff74412.JPG

We decided to go without a sofa but surprisingly both our mums seems to like our beanbags! :wub: We thought the older generation would prefer seeing a sofa in the living room haha.

What's outstanding is the common toilet, which we are still waiting for HDB to get back to us because we want to re-grout the entire toilet ourselves. Initially told E there are gaps in the grout, tiler patched up some gaps with cement. When we said we want the effect as in the kitchen (it was nicely done), tiler's next move is ... as what the pictures below show.

IMG_9086.JPG.33c7f8ca3d0155e3dd390be8bd9e3b71.JPGIMG_9085.JPG.34785372f95b930cb8e6e7778bcfccf8.JPG

The toilet floor is completely dry at the time of taking the photos and it's so gross I don't know what to say. This certainly wasn't the state it was in when I handed the flat to my contractor.

THE LAST...

I think I mentioned that I took 5 hours to clean the service yard windows and bi-fold door because of the many paint stains on them. When I was re-cleaning the last weekend (after tiling rectification), I noticed that... the door was 'disfigured'.

1.PNG.45b4167ebdcd4f57bad4e16457020a6f.PNG 

IMG_9081.JPG.6ebd8dcb1a2c9212248ae3b85205d5e3.JPG

We didn't even highlight any defects on this door, but it somehow this happened. The marks in the second picture gives me goosebumps everytime I look at it. :~ This was the last straw. I was angry that this happened, but even more angry that the workers did this but no one surfaced to us. I do not condone dishonesty. I don't believe it is not obvious that these are defects, please.

IMG_9084.JPG.a514c1e3bbcb64293f5eb3e645e750f6.JPG

New scratches and dent too, but at least it doesn't give me goosebumps.

IMG_9083.JPG.c13d6f78008c9e53cae0dce097e23ba5.JPG

I'm sure someone, somehow, somewhere, something was done because this patch of grey was not there when I cleaned the area previously.

2.PNG.1089f16e927fe7d390dfebdcf26d9e3a.PNG

These were the scratches I found prior to the tiling rectification (in this pic they have sanded the sharp edges) and together with other scratches, I agreed to live with because J said it is BSC's windows and he can't do anything about it. Buy hey, doesn't mean you need to give me more scratches lei! :angry:

We decided to take down J&E's padlock - at that point, we only knew that we cannot afford to let their guys into our home anymore because there's more destruction every single time. I have emailed HDB to see if these can be salvaged, though I highly doubt.

By the way, E has responded that they will compensate for the glass top, I will let him know that I want the full sum to be compensated. And also after discussion with my mum, I decided to surface a few other issues. I haven't had the time to talk to my mum (no thanks to OTs) so I haven't replied E for 2 days. In case E thinks that we want to run away from the last payment, I better text him right after this.

Important! Please always hold the last payment of the renovation amount until you are 100% satisfied. I am so glad I held the last payment though initially I didn't intend to do so. I even overpaid from the initial quotation amount. But there was a VO so there's still outstanding payment to be made. Sigh.

Edited by dietgalvon
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Looking for good contractors? Click here for your request

Your toilet tiles look terrible. Hope you will reconsider about regrouting yourself. My advise is to get your contractor to regrout the tiles. The funny thing with tile grouting is the more you want it to stay, the more it comes off on its own. Those you wanna remove, just holds on for dear life. Especially grey coloured grout, it seems tougher and stick better compared to the white

My prev reno, the living room tile near the entrance had cardboard stain. Area was 1/4 of your toilet. Tiler took abt 1.5 hrs to scrape away and regrout. He was v careful, and still a tile chipped in the process. It wasnt obvious so i just let it pass.

However if u think u are up for it, do get a pair of gd knee guard. You'll most likely be on all four for hours.

Good luck with the rectifications......the final bit of the journey can sometimes be a nightmare.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the wonderful & helpful review! I've learnt alot from you. 

Understand that your reno cost you 31k, can i check roughly how much you spent in total? 

I'm thinking 50k inclusive all electronic & furniture purchase for 5 room... Not sure doable or not..

 

Can you pls provide the contacts for: 

SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR

BLINDS - U SERVICE

GLASS WORKS - AH JIA

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 hours ago, fingerscross said:

Your toilet tiles look terrible. Hope you will reconsider about regrouting yourself. My advise is to get your contractor to regrout the tiles. The funny thing with tile grouting is the more you want it to stay, the more it comes off on its own. Those you wanna remove, just holds on for dear life. Especially grey coloured grout, it seems tougher and stick better compared to the white

My prev reno, the living room tile near the entrance had cardboard stain. Area was 1/4 of your toilet. Tiler took abt 1.5 hrs to scrape away and regrout. He was v careful, and still a tile chipped in the process. It wasnt obvious so i just let it pass.

However if u think u are up for it, do get a pair of gd knee guard. You'll most likely be on all four for hours.

Good luck with the rectifications......the final bit of the journey can sometimes be a nightmare.

@fingerscross I know right, but what can we do when this is the kind of work we are given? My contractor is rather popular so I'm truly stunned by the quality of work!

6 hours ago, Lunffy said:

Thanks for the wonderful & helpful review! I've learnt alot from you. 

Understand that your reno cost you 31k, can i check roughly how much you spent in total? 

I'm thinking 50k inclusive all electronic & furniture purchase for 5 room... Not sure doable or not..

 

Can you pls provide the contacts for: 

SERVICE YARD WINDOWS - JUN CONTRACTOR

BLINDS - U SERVICE

GLASS WORKS - AH JIA

@Lunffy Renovation cost us about $31k, other works that I outsourced and appliances cost us about $13k but together with the items needed for a home to be functional, I think we spent a good $47-8k. Actually I'm not too sure where the money goes to especially when I bought a considerable portion from taobao. :o It's good to cater for unexpected spending; in the course of setting up a home, the money really flow out like water lol.

By the way, PM-ed on the contacts!

5 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

waa looks terribe with all the damages.. definitely a no-no to accept it.
make sure they rectify it before any VO or last payment is made. This is not acceptable.

@Clarence Lye I really wondered if I was being all too perfectionist by picking on these. We have decided not to let their guys come into our flat because they cause more damage every time they came to rectify things. What an irony. I've told them I will hold payment until I find someone to rectify these, though I'm not sure where to begin other than waiting for HDB to reply me. Until now, contractor is still trying to deny that damage caused by them though. Would anyone in the right mind do this to their own flat? *rolls eyes*

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

btw, can u share with me ur contact to do the metal trimming for ur vinyl?
iwanna do for my main door only. evorich say theirs can't do and will have to trim door -.-
Suggest me the ugly rounded trimming which is nono

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

btw, can u share with me ur contact to do the metal trimming for ur vinyl?
iwanna do for my main door only. evorich say theirs can't do and will have to trim door -.-
Suggest me the ugly rounded trimming which is nono

@Clarence Lye Evorich did it for me. Initially my liaison told me that too, but I don't believe that trimming will result in the need to trim door because it's really thin. So I told him to get his guy to bring an extra piece for the main door nevertheless (if need to trim then I will not go ahead). But end up, it works fine. Lol.

You need to confirm if the trimming is the same as mine though. Heard that there are some bulkier metal trimmings in the market.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 21/09/2017 at 6:04 AM, fingerscross said:

Your toilet tiles look terrible. Hope you will reconsider about regrouting yourself. My advise is to get your contractor to regrout the tiles. The funny thing with tile grouting is the more you want it to stay, the more it comes off on its own. Those you wanna remove, just holds on for dear life. Especially grey coloured grout, it seems tougher and stick better compared to the white

My prev reno, the living room tile near the entrance had cardboard stain. Area was 1/4 of your toilet. Tiler took abt 1.5 hrs to scrape away and regrout. He was v careful, and still a tile chipped in the process. It wasnt obvious so i just let it pass.

I am also having headaches about my toilet's grouting. I had some gaps, and my ID came by to patch it up with cement powder (mixed with water). But the cement powder is white, while the rest of my grout was beige. So yeah... different grout colour now. You mentioned the living room tile had cardboard stain. Was it on the grout or the tile itself?

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, dietgalvon said:

@Clarence Lye Evorich did it for me. Initially my liaison told me that too, but I don't believe that trimming will result in the need to trim door because it's really thin. So I told him to get his guy to bring an extra piece for the main door nevertheless (if need to trim then I will not go ahead). But end up, it works fine. Lol.

You need to confirm if the trimming is the same as mine though. Heard that there are some bulkier metal trimmings in the market.

i check with my evorich guy he say cant do leh. he even brought down the trimming. butnevermind, mine still ok..

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, spooky said:

I am also having headaches about my toilet's grouting. I had some gaps, and my ID came by to patch it up with cement powder (mixed with water). But the cement powder is white, while the rest of my grout was beige. So yeah... different grout colour now. You mentioned the living room tile had cardboard stain. Was it on the grout or the tile itself?

Hi spooky, the stain was in the grouting. The cardboard was soaked and the colour kind of seeped into the grouting and chemical washing did not lighten it one bit. So ID had to get tiler to scrape it off n re-grout.

White and beige might not be as bad as white and grey. Does it look really weird? Care to share some photos on your tiles? 

If you gals know of anyone with one of those high powered water sprays, u can try it out in the toilet and see if the different coloured grouting comes off. Scraping it off yourselves and re-grouting is really not advisable. Very very hard work.

Upon completion of my pass projects, i've made it a practice to ask tiler for some grouting powder to keep in an air tight container. As and when required i just fill the gaps myself. 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 9/21/2017 at 1:11 AM, dietgalvon said:

 

Here's a picture of our completed living area!

IMG_8921.JPG.c41efcfc22bedbdfc777df39aff74412.JPG

We decided to go without a sofa but surprisingly both our mums seems to like our beanbags! :wub: We thought the older generation would prefer seeing a sofa in the living room haha.

 

The beanbags look so comfy !!! 

Just to check where did you purchase the bean bag and how much dies it cost ?? 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi dietgalvon, 

Thanks for sharing your reno journey. I would like to check with you for the name and contacts of the 3 ID/contractor below, and also for the window installation please. Thanks so much.

ID/Contractor - N from R*******
Contractor - E from DX I*******
ID - MH of L**** P****** S*******

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi @dietgalvon, may i have the contact for your windows? For the taobao items that you've purchased, do you assemble them yourself or you get your contractor to do it? Do they come with assembly manuals?

Lastly, any particular reason for not having wall skirting? Many thanks!

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×