Advice needed for resale 4rm hdb - to rewire or demolish and full reno

[dawngel 0]

Hi, I need some advice.

I have short listed a resale 4 rm flat.

1) The previous owner built in a lot of storage shelfs, wardrobes and tables with quality materials. Condition of built-in is pretty good. I initially thought of keeping all the built in. However, I realised that the sockets and power points are located within or behind the built-in. The electrical appliances are all plugged in to extenders that are plugged in to the hidden wall sockets. I can not see the wall sockets even when I open the cabinets door so I assume the wall sockets are covered by the built-in. I am not sure why the owner did the set up that way. The wiring for the whole house - electrical, internet, tv cable are all in a mess, with extenders and wires dangling across the ceiling etc.

The agent told me I could get a carpenter to 'take out' the built-in items, rerun the wiring and put them back.

Is that really possible? How much will the taking out and putting back and the rewiring cost?

2) The previous owner laminated the floor which looks like it needad replacing. The laminates are lay over the original tiles in the bedrooms and living rooms. Can I just remove the laminates and repolish the tiles to save some money or do I need to hack away the tiles and lay new materials?

The above two considerations seems like massive work to me. Should i go ahead with them if they can be done or Am I better off demolishing everything and just do a full renovation instead?

Thanks in advance!

[kangeroo168 10]

advice:

1. pulling the carpentry out, re-run and putting them back sounds easy, BUT if u go micro into the problem, u will see that its not as easy as it seems. firstly, taking the carpentry out sometimes involves breaking the laminate, wood etc. once broken, are u able to find back the same tone of the laminate? if no, are u able to accept some of the edges jagged? secondly, no carpenters (or those desperate for sales) will accept your proposal. this is because if those things happen to break in the process of taking out, it will be chargable to who? 3rdly, sometimes those trunkings of the cables will intersect with ur carpentry. cutting an allowance might not be feasible.

2. yes and no. u can take out the laminates, but u might not be able to repolish the tiles. also must depend on what tiles. u can only do deep cleaning to remove the glue stains. but will not be 100% removed. sure will have some spots here and there.

[dawngel 0]

Hi Kangaroo168,

Thanks a lot for the advice.

Will note that.