HO BEE RENOVATION WORKS

[aprilgal]

hi gals,
just came back from new hse. Very satisfied with what i saw already especially in such short period of time.

Most of the items were rectified within jus 2 days with the help of Keong and my FH. **Thumbs UP**

Light points were shifted, feature wall at toilet done, cabinet at hall done, kitchen gas up and all cleaned up for my shifting in tml.

Though there are still things that need to be rectify, overall, i'm very satisfied.

 

[bluzcorner]

Hi ssmilezz~
Yup, P is working reali hard. Diff to get hold of him.

Yes, Hennie is Chinese. Quite pretty n young. But dunno she experience or not. A bit blur blur...

Hi Aprilgal~

Gd to know u r satisfied wif d retification. Do keep us update again.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Aprilgal ~

Good to hear that. Are u located at 76A?

Cos i went down to my place today too and Ah Keong rushed over to my side. My carpentry got a bit of problem...need to bring back to factory to re-work. He looks ultra stressed sia....cos I'm also adding pressure at my side. hehe..also noticed his new perm hair look!

Good luck with your shifting tomorow. Do update us soon yes?

Hi Bluz ~ yeah, quite true. So she's a young girl lar. Guess she'll prob check with P if she's unsure so can't be that bad!

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi ecym, Pax from IKEA not 'flimsy' but not that solid either. But can use lah. IKEA pax - think about $500+. The door from Alumix - $1200+ and P construct the side walls for $230. (Alumix charge $300-$400) So all in all approx - $2K. Reasonable?

Hi ssmilezz, chepare to buy from IKEA rite? (than to get Ah Keong to make them?)But of course make ones - u can customize lah.

Hi Aprilgal,
I am so glad that all have turned out well and good for you

Hopefully, everthg will be smooth sailing from here on. Yeah! I have confidence that P will help put eveythg right. Keep us updated. Got pictures to share??

 

[aprilgal]

Hi bluzcorner,ssmilezz, hunny,

We'd so-call given ah keong 2 days off due to moving, he will start work again tml.

okie, shall keep you gals updated again.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Hunny,

Yeah, i need to customised it a little. hehe...Cos my wardrobe a bit odd shaped.

Hi Aprilgal,

That's good to hear. How did your big move go today?

Long time no hear from OCH~ Are u around??

 

[aprilgal]

Hi ssmilezz,
i'm not at 76A, i'm at fernvale lane...

btw, just got one situation. M told us to get a 30L storage heater 3-4 months ago for both bathrooms and the storate heater was installed jus last week.

Now P inform us that we have to get another heater for MBR due to 2 separate pipeline done by HDB.

really caused us more work... sigh...

btw, where u staying?

Heard that there's one under M also got big prob.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Aprilgal ~

Oh dear, so you can't bring back your storage heater to exchange for another one?? How come like that?

What type of heater you need for the MBR now?

Really ah? Another M's case ! Oh dear...P must be busy erm....clearing the mess again. tsk tsk.

At my side, the carpentry is going at a very very slow pace. Supposed to be done today but nothing was done. I really have no idea what's going on. The painters have already come down to do the final painting and as I have parquet for my rooms, I realised there are some gaps (between parquet skirtings & wall), P told me previously, that during final painting, the painters will definately fill up the gaps cos they look really unsightly. Unfortunately, it was not done. Or rather one room was done and another not. Very slack. FH commented - eh like no difference at all..doesn't even look like final painting was done. Come and think abt it, how do u know if they did come down and do the final coat of painting (and not do touch ups only?) Is there any way we can check or tell?

I'm getting a little paranoid here....grrr...

But seriously, my carpentry is taking an awfully long time! I met up with Ah Keong like more than 5-6 weeks back. Everything's moving at a snail pace...perhaps my house will be only be ready in the next leap year. LOL!

 

[och]

hi ssmilezz,
still here.

my hubby's granny just passed away. just returned fr the wake. so tired.

so jialat, the painters seems to consistently get pretty poor reviews. looks like i shouldn't engage p's painters ever. i was thinking of painting my whole house end of this yr.

r u hving dark colours or light colours? usually for light colours, it's much easier to see when there's no 2nd coat. touch ups show up obviously under bright lighting conditions, cos they reflect light so much better that u can see the additional brushstrokes. it's much tougher to spot bad paint jobs using matt dark colours. i honestly cannot tell whether my husband, who helps paint his parents place every 2-3 yrs, paints a single coat or double coat using darker colours. normally, i check edges, e.g. edges of walls with switches, edges of wall with skirting n edges of walls with electrical casings. at these edges, the paint tends to thin out. this is especially if the painters r lazy n don't use tape to tape all edges to prevent paint fr dripping onto surfaces not meant to be painted. honestly, it's a lot of effort lah, so my experience is that most painters don't bother to tape the whole house. what they do instead is to lightly brush over the edges, so that even if they paint over the "untouchable" surfaces, their mistakes r not so obvious. their light brushes cause the paint to thin out, n u can usually tell if a single or double coat has been painted. if the painters r meticulous n tape, then u might not hv this convenient spot check. what i do for all paint jobs is to check the painting under sunlight n under bright fluorescent light. sunlight n fluorescent light r less forgiving towards bad or uneven paint jobs. if touchups r done, then there's a chance that the touchup brushstrokes show up under sunlight n fluorescence. those r all that i know. v. limited, i know.

hi aprilgal, glad to hear things r going better. is m going to compensate u for the additional trouble of buying a storage heater? does hdb actually allow 2 storage heaters?!

hunny, u hv a v. nice bathroom! how long is ur mbr wardrobe?

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi Och, my condolances to your family. Yeah - wakes - its emotionally draining and physically tiring.

My MBR wadrobe is about 3.3m - 3.6m from end to end. Quite long actually. It was my hubs idea to put everythg inside the wardrobe so that we can close it up and hide all the messiness! I must say its an excellent idea

Hi ssmilezz
I cant balme u ... cos we also suspected that the painters did not do a second coat for us. And the paint peels off and chip off rather easily. When this happens, we realise that the coat of paint iws very thin. Then again, I am not sure so I wont say the workers slacked. Maybe, the paint is not thick enough.

Oh! We prefer Nippon paint to ICI. We have been using Nippon all these while (old hs) and realised that the colors are more vibrant and don't stain as easily as ICI. So really regret choosing ICI this time

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Hunny,

Actually, the painters just touched up some areas ba cos we can see those brush strokes very obviously around the switches etc. In any case, we told P to get the painters down again cos we prob need them for the final touch up and perhaps since we'll be around at that time, we can make sure they really paint "properly".

And yes, we used Nippon too. The colors are definately better after hearing feedback from so many ppl. So what made you chose ICI in the end?

Can i ask u something? After the final cleaning/washing, how long did u take to clean up your place?


Hi Och ~ Sorry to hear abt that. You must be really tired after these few days. Take care ok?

Seriously speaking, pls don't use his painters if you can cos we aren't very happy with their standard of work at all.

We used dark colors for almost the entire house. Quite hard to see lar..but when we told P we suspected they didn't paint certain areas at all, he didn't say anything. Hmm...

Carpentry's finally 1/3 up. The carpenters really work late man..they start around 11.30-12 and end off close to 8! Gosh. We were there the entire day and my gosh, the glue really smells very very toxic.

The fat uncle is definately very experienced. Can see the rest of the team look up to him and follow his instructions. Ah Keong's younger brother (the short blond hair chap) is also very good. Can see him guiding the tall worker as they do their work. Hardworking and chatty chap. Looks really like Ah Keong man..perhaps a younger version. LOL!

 

[och]

hi hunny, ssmilezz, thanks for ur concern.

think i won't use p's painters liao. the contractor who did my renovations many yrs ago had lazy painters too. our house is primarily white, we could actually the underlying pink colour on wire casings.

hunny, ur wardrobe is really long! ur mbr must be huge. my mbr wardrobe is quite similar to urs, everything is hidden behind sliding doors. my hubby says it's v. soothing to sleep in a room where most clutter r hidden.

 

[stressedl]

hi och,
condolences to your family.Hope everything is settled smoothly n you are taking enough of rest.

I do miss your postings here...lots of sound advices mah. Esp on painting.I have decided to do some wall painting on my own.No choice,cos there are some raw cement on parts of the wall when they adjusted the bathroom door.Hope you dont mind me always asking for your advices.

hi hunny,
I too find nippon paint better.Been using nippon paint all the time(vinyl silk) Very easy to clean off stains n dust.
I love your the way you did your wardrobe,TV console,all in one.Very creative n neat. THumbs up!

hi ssmilezz,
my carpentry was supposed to have started last Fri as well but Ah Keong told me that the ABS couldnt be done on time so it was postponed to today...AT LAST!. I saw a slightly blonded guy today n I asked if he is Ah Keong's bro. But I know the same team should be at your place today.When Ah Keong called, I said he didnt look after me cos his best team is in Redhill.Haha,he was so taken back and asked how I know his bro is working in Redhill.
Nway,I told him if the 2 carpenters allocated to me are not as good as yours,I m going to call n bug him everyday.LOL.So far seems quite ok. Touch wood.
Hey, are you using cresto or klasscut? I have yet to decide.
Regarding the painters, P is only doing the bathrooms n kitchen ceilings , pipes and service balcony walls. LOL... I think P is more fussy than me abt their work. He saw some "blisters" on the kitchen ceiling n took a long stick n scraped them off n told me that they have to paint /touch up again.
P also told shower glass pple to change 1 piece of the glass cos I told him I found it was slight chipped at the top corner.Wah , quite garang the way he talked to the lady cos she was defensive n wanted to check 1st.P said"just do it,no need to check". I was abit startled.
She did come n checked tho( dont think P know she came) n agreed to change.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Och ~ yeah, we all miss your postings! Welcome you back.

Hi VL ~ They only have 6 in their team. So if 4 guys are at my side (actually, not 4 lar..cos two of them, the fat uncle and his apprentice is settling some final stuffs at my neighbour's unit), only left 2 with you.

Yup, they should be at my place today. A lot of things half done. Will update if they manage to finish tomorow. Not to worry, his carpenters are all very kuai. After they finish up my side, can all go over to your place.

So did u get to see his brother? hehe...alamak, Ah Keong must be wondering how come his bro so popular. LOL!

I'm using Cresto. Same as the rest. The solid surface ppl are quite alright. They didn't clean up after putting up the solid surface last week, my entire kitchen was so powdery. Think we commented on it and they came down to clean up the mess.

Talking abt the shower glass ppl. The first time they came down? They brought the wrong piece of glass - due to wrong measurements taken. So on their 2nd trip down, I think they didn't co-ordinate with P, so couldn't get into my place. You know what they did? Squeeze the glass panel into the utility cupboard (where the meters are) outside the house. I nearly fainted when I opened up and saw the glass panel squeezed there.

 

[och]

hi, hi, vl, ssmilezz,

thanks for the welcome.

enjoy chatting with u gals too. n always glad to help if i can.

all of u recommend nippon paint, maybe i shall try nippon when i repaint my house end of the year. haha.

ssmilezz, is ur shower screen finally installed? the workers not scared they will chip the glass when they chuck it into the utility cupboard arh?

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Och ~ Yah, go for Nippon. The colors are much closer and I find it true.

Are u going to repaint the whole house? Or just partially?

Erm, it's finally installed but crooked. The alignment not done well and they say it's due to my crooked wall. In any case, waiting for them to rectify. Yah boy, the workers prob very lazy and didn't want to carry it back lor..to find ways to squeeze it some place.

 

[stressedl]

hi och,
wah, repainting the whole house? I think of it n I feel tired already esp painting the area near the stairs....so high.You are indeed a very patient gal!

A qtn pls, do I need a primer or undercoat or wall sealer for those area which is bare cement? How abt those walls which have been painted before?

hi ssmilezz,
It wasnt Ah Keong's bro I saw,just another blond dyed young man.All followed Ah Keong with well coiffured hairdo.

The glass showerdoor pple.....ya,kind of sloppy.Never align the round gasket for the glass door(toilet door) handle properly(not centre).Can see part of it at the top.
I cleaned the area where I know they will fix the silicone cos I dont know they will do clean before applying silicone.I miss some part n now the dust permanently inside the silicone.Arghh....
You have the check the perimeters of the glass cos I only notice the chip when I was diligently wiping the top. BTW, is a good idea to polish with RainX off n on.The water will just rolled off n wont leave water marks after a shower.

hi hunny,
you only spent $2K on your innovative idea? Very well worth cos look so nice n functional. Thinking of changing my cupboard as well but if I ask Ah Keong, I think he will pengz. At last count he told me he has another 7 kitchen carpentry to do excluding mine.

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi ssmilezz, Trust me when I say that I am STILL cleaning. Ah Keom's workers came to install timber stripes in my studyroom and they whole house is worse than war zone. Cause the ceiling is not level and they had to shave the wood in my home. Wah ! The dust - like kena hit my atomic BOMB! The workers also came to do the grout in the kitchen. Could not finish till Tuesday. I am so glad all is finally 'almost' over. The 4 things outstanding 1) Toilet grout 2)Altar Cabinet not ready 3) They so kind - 'chop' my coffee table legs for me for free cos I needed the legs to be shorter and 4) They even more kind to stain a wooden box we bought from IKEA for me FOC. Hope they will be able to complete everthg by this week.

Hi Och, my Master room is about 3.6 by 4.2. Yeah. the old type of HDB (5 rm) quite large. whole area is about 1200.

Hi VL, Err, maybe slightly more than 2K. But definately less than 2.3K

I calculated. If I use the pole sys with the ALUMIX cabinet will cost about 2.8-3K. If use IKEA much cheaper.

Hi everyone, eh...I have been imagining how all your place look like ... can sahre some pics

Once the studyroom is ready, I will take some pics. Have taken some photo of my kitchen ... will upload then later

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi VL ~ haha..you are right man. I'm always amazed at Ah Keong's hair volume. LOL~ He came over today and wrote down a list of final stuffs to rectify/complete for us. Very detailed and he looks extremely harassed. Must be stressed up over the workload ba. 7 kitchen cupboards to fabricate? Hmm...actually the fabricating is quite fast as long as they have time to do that in the factory. The problem is they have all been busy fixing up the carpentry at different houses, prob no time to go back to do fabrications.
Our carpentry is already 7788 but somehow, due to the running of electrical wiring within my cupboard, it has affected my MBR lights. It's not working.

Oh dear, I didn't check the corners properly leh...shucks. Will take a closer look when i go back to my place. And thanks for the tip to use Rainx.

Sounds good and I shall do that.

Hi Hunny ~ Oh wow...your grouting still not settled ah? Where are the timber stripes for? My grouting was done 2 weeks back and although the color is a much closer match, it looks very painted on and very thick. But I guess it's the best P can do. So we just accepted it.

We went to Ikea to buy some stuffs this week and they'll be delivering the items on May Day. Looks like more work for us. A lot of assembling to be done!

I haven't been taking pics lately...really busy @ work and also running up and down with the reno.

Going into my final lap of the reno. Handover will be this week *confirm* although i know it's likely i'll be seeing P for other erm..issues if they do crop up. LOL~

 

[och]

hi ssmilezz, yup, thinking of painting the whole house. the painting in our house is 5 yrs old liao, time for a new coat.

thinking of adding a bit more colours to the study n spare rooms too. when u get pictures, send them to me too ok.

hi vl, no, no, i'm not repainting it myself. i cannot imagine painting the stairs myself. think i will need to train my muscles in the gym for several months b4 i can start painting, else i cannot control the paint brush.

thinking of engaging some painters, but i haven't read good reviews of painters yet leh.

should use sealer on bare cement. nippon only has sealer i think, though ici dulux calls it primer sealer. already painted walls can usually be painted immediately. exception occurs when existing paint is flaking badly, then u will need to peel off the flaking paint, patch up the holes n paint a layer of sealer to ensure better effects.

good idea to clean with rainx. think that's what i will do to my shower screen fr now on.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Och ~ Sure, not a problem. Will definately share the pics with u.

Then u can see how my basin and cement top looks like. hehe...

It's fun choosing colors for painting. But it'll be some time before i do painting again man.

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi all, someone asked me for the brand of 3M polish ... so sorry, forgotten all about it until I see VL's post on the RainX.
OK, the 3M polish that you can use to polish stainless steel is "3M Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish"
Check out amazon for further details.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AR7EYS/ref=olp_product_details/104-8976519-2577554?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=1064954
Quite good. We use to polish our kitchen tops and kitchen cabinets. So when there is dirt, we simply wipe them off with a dry cloth. And extremely useful to poslish frosted glass. We have frosted glass for our toilet door, for the wardrobe (ALUMIX) and when we use the polish, the glass look very clean and clear. Apply on the COARSE side NOT the smooth side.

BTW, where to get the RainX?


Hi ssmilezz, the Timber stripes is for the study room. Wait, me get some pics to show u all

Wah - why not get the IKEA pp to install for u? We can spent the whole afternoon installing the IKEA stuff but the men only took about 20mins! And installation is .. think ... 5% of the product price only. Not that ex.

Hi Och
When u get good painters rem to recommend. Last year, I pianted the whole hs on my own.! But that was a 4Rm lah. Talking about painting, I have to paint the clouds in my son's room this weekend

 

[stressedl]

hi hunny,
thks for the info on 3M cleaner n polish. So it can be used for both metal n glass? I hate to see those streaks marks on glass bathroom door.

i bought my RainX from Homefix at IMM branch. There is another brand which is almost identical but made in Malaysia. Make sure the one you get is made from the States. Used to buff my car windshield with it. Very very good for heavy rain conditions.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi VL ~ How much is the Rainx? FH's dad uses it on his car and it's very effective.

Hi Hunny ~ Thanks for the tip too. Will check out the DIY shops to look for it. Aiyah, FH loves to do build things and get his hands dirty, so he wants to do up the stuffs himself. In fact, today, when Ah Keong and P were helping to fix up our wide view holefinder together with Fat uncle...he was like helping them too until Ah Keong said..Eh, let me hold something leh..don't take everything for yourself lah...LOL!

Was a busy day today. P spent a lot of his time with us today doing drillings and what nots. Hands on. Fat uncle was very detailed (slow n steady type) and managed to drill all the stuffs (esp the tiles) without any problems. Unfortunately, there are more carpentry issues yet to be resolved so they need to come back again.

I understand that P has 5 handovers to settle this week inclusive of ours.

Wow ~ paint clouds!! Pwetty...!! You must be really good at art n craft in school. hehe..unfortunately, i never passed my art so erm..no murals drawings for me.

Yes, pics pics please.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

[stressedl]

hi ssmilezz,
the RainX is abt $9.
Haha,I also flunked my art & craft in school.I think hunny is neat n artistic.och is oh ..so intellectual.And I think you are ever so cheerful.

 

[och]

count me in as another person who flunking all painting classes. only thing i pass is craftwork. haha.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi VL ~

I bought the rainX too. Around S$9 from Homefix. I saw it at Giant for S$11.

My arms ach like bad today man. They came to do final cleaning today and it was very sloppily done. In any case, FH and I took over 2nd shift and bascially cleaned the entire house (walls+windows+etc) from noon all the way to 8 plus. Can't believe I cleaned all the windows in my house...(damn those full length windows. LOL!)

In any case, we're waiting for Ah Keong to finish up some other stuffs for us next week. I hope they don't mess up the place too much. grr...

The painter came over to touch up yesterday morning and he did a LOUSY job. I could still see white patches...the plastering was also very very uneven. Looks really bad.

P say can ask the guy to come back next week but i dunno man, if it's the same guy...i think we rather touch up ourselves. *sighz* He's a chinese chap..prob in his twenties, clean cut looking with centre parting. So erm..be warned.

How's everything @ your end VL?

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi, uploaded some pics for the kitchen and study @ my renoblog

Does not feel very 'complete' Feel free to give me suggestions

*Yawn* How come the long weekened seemed so short ?

 

[stressedl]

hi ssmilezz,
I was not around when the painter came to the house last time. Painting havent completed yet. Hope my painter is not the same as yours.
My dining room light didnt work after the electrician came and did some work. As it is, my kitchen,service balcony n toilet lights all cant be used as the switches for these lights has to be removed cos they were blocking the kitchen cabinets.
P was kind enuff to come n rectify things today even tho it was a PH n he wasnt feeling well yesterday according to Miki.
Ya, every time the workers come, I have to mop n mop.
I just read hunny's blog.Wow, she got a lot of stuff done FOC.....Preferential treatment huh? LOL..
There is a guy in renotalk who is having his flat in Holland road area done by Ho Bee. He has nothing but praises for the tilers. Hey..are females more fussy or what?

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi VL, No lah .. only 2 leh LOL
My altar table - when I ask P to quote - he quoted me about $250. U know, he usually does a lum sum discount. Well, we added about $5K worth of work but he dint give us any discount on that ... so maybe the altar table kind of 'square' off lor.

Also, the altar table, is a 'last min item' added in. They kind of owe me for some time also. We did not to chase them .. until somethg happened. During Qing Ming, my son said that he say an old man waving to him from outside the window. He said that the old man 'cannot come in' but he was scared. So we told him it was just a bad dream. Still we did not really chase them for the altar, but when I related the story to P, the altar table came within the week. LOL. And Ah Keong knew about the incident too. He kept saying 'pai seh ... pai seh...'

Now that the altar is in, we just need to write in to get the priest to bless the home.

Yeah. As for the bench ... actually when the workers came to varnish my platform, wanted them to varnish the IKEA bench for me also. So happen, Ah Keong was ard and he said that he will take back to factory to varnish for me. When the thg came back he told me FOC.

*all beam*

Errr ... must grill P - or maybe after all our complains he changed all his tilers.
Aiyoh, we put pp out of job! LOL

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi VL ~ Take note of the corners yah after the painting is completed. And also if they do touch up (plastering) for you, make sure he does it properly else it will be very very bumpy. Cos he just applies the plaster and don't bother to sand it nicely down.

Who say females are more fussy? hehe..if we didn't raise our concerns, the rest of the other customers cannot benefit mah. hehehe... *excuses excuses*

Anyone of you guys using a front load machine? Would like to know which brand of soap powder you get.

Hi Hunny,

Yes, i saw your blog updates. Now I see those timber strips! they look great....hehe...

We will be getting a priest to bless our home too. Are you catholics?

I need to move in fast and start planning for my AD end of this year. I have not done *anything* yet. Running short of time actually.

hehe...we also assembled some Ikea stuffs in one day (May Day). Boy was it Labour day for us man..slog and slog. Felt good when all the stuffs were built. Ahh..the color doesn't seem to match. Perhaps when Ah Keong comes down on Sat, i shall lament woefully abt the color and see if he can do anything for me. LOL!

He did this chest of drawers for me to use as my standing vanity too high. Gosh...looks really wierd man...but he was kind enuff to bring it back to the factory. Think he overlooked the measurements cos prob too busy with his projects.

 

[och]

hi ssmilezz, i use persil on my front load washer.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Och ~ hehe..that's good to know cos I bought Persil too. heh heh....which brand front load are u using right now?

Thread has been rather quiet these few days..wonder how are the rest of the gals doing.

 

[stressedl]

hi hunny,
just pulling your leg lah.Im sure P is fair to all his clients though at one stage I did tell him that I felt I was kind of "neglected" by him.
Wow, you added another 5K for the reno! I guess abit here n there does add up.

hi och,
are u using laminated wood for your bedrooms? My floor skirtings are falling apart.I asked A Keong to change but he said that they dont do that type of softwood skirtings,only solid wood or ramin.Maybe I should change the floorings altogether end of the year as laminated wood floorings will come with skirtings.

hi ssmilezz,
the electrician,the plumbers n solidtop pple came and did most of the stuff today. I did some cleaning after they left. I cant clean off the white cement marks on the kitchen walls. Now that the cabinets are up, I dont want any more acid washing.Will let P solve this problem.

I also used persil when I was using a frontload washer last time.But the rubber gaskets always get mouldy so I changed to LG topload. But lately the clothes dont seem very clean.Thinking of getting a topload Thomson.

 

[och]

hunny, i just saw ur blog. wah, the wooden screen is v. nice leh. must say u keep ur study v. neat.

ssmilezz, i'm using whirlpool. u leh? my wm came with persil samples, so i've been sticking to it ever since. heh heh.

vl, nope, my flooring is a kind of ceramic tile. u mean laminated flooring cannot go with solid wood skirting? haha, learn something new every day.

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi ssmilezz, Yeah. I am Catholic. Outstanding ones. (u know the ones that STAND OUTside the church bc always late for service!! ) LOL. Mmm. heard that have to write in to get the Priest to come and bless the place.

As for washing machine - Ours is Electrolux. Find it very good, quiet and sturdy. Mine is almost 3 years old already and still running. Just got a dryer too. Also Electrolux. And we use PERSIL too.

Hi VL, LOL. I know. But I would sure feel very bad pp starts asking for discount from P based on my post. Already he make a big lost making the timber stripes for me. He quoted me laminates. But the laminates were too soft thus he ended up using solid wood. We kind of suspected he made a lost. P dint tell us at all. But when we asked Ah Keong, he told us that he cost is already almost double of what P quoted us.

Hi Och
There will be another desk for the kids comming in. Since the platform is higher than the main area, we needed the timber stripes. Our study is small. Previously, we used a room for our study thus a luxury of space. Thus now, have to keep it tidy - otherwise no working space.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi ladies,

VL ~ I was actually considering laminates for my bedrooms but i decided to go with parquet in the end. To be frank, i think out of all the subcontractors, i'm the happiest with the parquet done.

Very neatly and closely placed strips and we opt for a matte finish. It looks lovely. Now it's up to us to take very good care of it. We invested in a vacumm cleaner with a parquet floor head so it won't scratch the floor.

Wow, very qiao! All of us are using front load machines. hehe..wat are the odds man. Ah, need to wipe the rubber gaskets so that the water won't be stuck inside. I have been using Whirlpool for ages too at home and that's how my mom takes care of it. It lasts for years.

Hi Och ~ Mine is Bosch. hehe...yeah, many front loaders promote Persil hor...i wonder if i will get FOC samples when they deliver mine. LOL! I also bought a Bosch dryer.

Will be moving in very very soon. Bear with me a little more once i get settled then can take piktures.

Ah Keong was supposed to install glass panels for my kitchen..but he said his worker erm..broke it while spray painting it. So i think i'll just pass on it lar...no fate with those glass panels. Leave the kitchen wall bare so i can "enjoy" more of my tiles. I had to top up for the kitchen tiles cos they were more expensive. sheesh.

Hi Hunny,

That's funny...the priest is coming down to my place in abt 2 weeks time to bless the place. FH's mom arranged for us.

Which church do you attend? I'm not catholic but FH's family are. We attended EE (Engaged Encounters) i think like 1.5 years back...finally decided on our actual day only this year. haha...

I agree lar, P sometimes absorbs the cost (give n take). He told us to chose our bedroom doors from a certain selection but we erm..asked for something else instead. He thought for a while and said ok lar...do for you. I think he knows how particular we are abt the standard of work so when it was time to install some of our stuffs, he came over and did the drilling for us. First time i saw him wearing a short sleeve shirt and I was teasing him abt revealing his arms. haha..he said no choice cos need to be coolie and do work so wear short sleeves.

 

[aprilgal]

Hi gals,
glad to know that everything is progressing well. As for us, Ah keong was busy so we told him to do his stuff first and he'll only be starting work on our hse next mon.

Hi ssmilezz,
Our rooms are also parquet (done by HDB). Like the solid feeling of parquet but think will have hard time managing it.

We also in the midst of searching a vaccum cleaner that doesn't sratches the parquet. May i know wat's the brand?

 

[hunnybunz]

Hi aprilgal, Gald to hear that all is well on your side and progressing smoothly.

Hi ssmiless, that was a sensitive qn LOL. Actually I am the Catholic. My DH and sons are not. But we've kind of stop going to Church.

We went for EE too and find the session really very beneficial. We will be going for ME (...................soon)LOL. So will u be having a church wedding. Somethg (really good)
happened during my church wedding. Can can pm me ... then can share with u ...

Wah u all very 'cheem' leh. Got vaccum for parquet one huh? My stury area is parquet. Since we have chairs with wheels - sure scratch one. Also with kids - very difficult to maintain. But we can always sand it and varnish again in a couple of years.

As for vacuum - we use VAX (the green one) for almost 5 yrs already. Uses water as a membrane. Really clean! And durable because its industrial grade one. U know, like the one u saw in the car polish ctrs. I got mine $50-$60 (cld be more) from a shop in the East. Anyone need the contact let me know.

Bought a Samsung LCD 2 weeks agao during their rd show. Free Home theatre system. They will be delivering today .. so will take pics and share with u gals.

We had a long thick pipe running under our parquet platform. That's for a wire connecting our PC (in the study) to our LCD TV (in the living) so we can surf net, watch movies, listen to music, etc in the living. And the thg we like best is sharing of digital images like photo and video clips.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Aprilgal ~ Have you settled into your new home well?

Everything going ok? Yeah, guess they'll still have to come down a few more times to rectify this and that. It's normal.

I bought Miele (German brand). It's quite light and quiet actually. And we bought their parquet vacumm head separately. Parquet vacumm head usually has softer bristles. Managed to get the sales person to give us two free boxes of refill bags (5 in each box). We bought it from Best Denki at IMM.

Hi Hunny,

Oops..no offense ok? Hope you don't mind me asking that. Actually, FH has not gone to church regularly for years! He only goes on occassions like Christmas, Good Friday, etc. I tried to PM you lar..but your PM was not activated! hehe...else u can PM me.

The problem with re-sanding and varnishing your parquet after a few years is the mess lor..the fine dust will be all over your house. Not to mention your study room is an open concept. We bought this protector thingy from IKEA ($65) to put in our study room so at least when the chair with wheels swivels around, our floor will be ok. FH calls the parquet floor "my presssscious" cos he never had parquet flooring done in his house before. keke..

How much was your Samsung LCD ah? What size did you get?

I didn't buy any TV for my new place. FH's uncle gave us a small FOC 14 inch TV (yikes, even smaller than our LCD comp monitor ~ LOL). Prob will use that first ba.

Yes, I rem your pipe that you got them to run for your PC and TV. Very cool...hehe...it'll be a good surfing experience. Did you sign up with Starhub for the broadband?

 

[aprilgal]

Hi ssmilizz,
not yet ready cos still got few items need to change and rectify. looking forward this coming monday, whereby ah keong will start work...
Changes like:
- solid top have to change to non-drip edge
- kitchen cabinets need to be rectified.
- foyer mirror dimension wrong
- Master bedroom toilet vanity cabinet not ready

Btw, Miele vaccum must be really XX man... really concern abt the parquet, that's why sourcing out for affordable vaccum cleaner which doesn't cause scratches...

Hi Hunny,
Where to get VAX vaccum cleaner? nv heard before, is it a brand name? cost $50-60 only?
have been eyeing on water-based vaccum but wondering whether it will damage parquet flooring.

sigh...

 

[paper]

Hi!

Hunny Bunz,

Can you give me the contact for VAX, vacumn cleaner? =) You can PM me. thank you very much!

Paiseh to say that I have been following the Ho Bee Thread and HO Bee is currently renovating my house too. There are ups and downs in the process but nothing very dramatic.. =)

We are doing our carpentary work now, thus I think y aprilgal's has to wait till monday.. =)

After all the carpentary are up, there are the windows, windows grilles, whole house painting( now I worried about this workmanship) all lightings and all plumbling works, then we should be ready.

We actually wanted to outsource the painting.. and found one who charges us $1.4k unlimited colours, for EA, but because we wanted to give Patrick the business, so we asked him to do.. hearing all this bad remarks.. I am quite worried.. now the first coat of paint is up but very patchy.. hope it is will be fine after another 2 more coats of paint.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Aprilgal ~ The carpenters came over to finish up most of the carpentry work yesterday. As usual, although our appointment was 11.30, they *finally* arrived at 2.30-3pm..and they worked till 8 plus. By the time I cleaned up and left my place, it was already 10.30pm. Barely had strength to grab my dinner. They need to come back to fix up the cushion panel for my bed head.

Gee, Ah Keong says he has not gone back to Malaysia for weeks. Hasn't got time to see his wife and kids. Very terok man.

Since you already shifted in, does it mean u need to take leave and wait for them @ home?

Miele was around $388 and I paid via instalment. Other than this brand, I think Rowena also has one vacumn for parquet. Phillips model for parquet is expensive too! About $500!

Hi Paper ~ Aiyoh, better to have nothing dramatic. hehee... Basically, I feel that when it comes to electrical works and plumbing works, you may wish to get them to come on a day when u are around. Cos for me, i found that we need to direct them the way we wanted to do our stuffs if not, they just any o how do. Like even my toilet bowl was crooked etc etc.

Talking abt painting, when we spoke to the painter, he says he only did ONE coat and then touch up. Thought they were supposed to do two coats? Anyway, we are getting them to come down and re-paint at least the hall cos the whole place looks really patchy. Told P we need another painter. We won't be getting them to do the rooms anymore, cos our parquet is already done and so are our cupboards. *sighz*

 

[aprilgal]

Hi ssmilezz,
we have not move in yet cos still not completed then (due to that issue) and we had to proceed with the move-in cos everything had been arranged for that day.
Ended up, we managed to move in all big items and also all lights and gas were ready.
And seeing ah Keong and P really put in effort to make it feasible, we also being reasonable, told them to do other projects which also requires their time.
Ever since that day till now, we had so-called given them 2.5 weeks 'off' liao.

As we know so many ppl can have the keys to the Ho Bee padlock, we decided to change to ours and passed the key to ah keong ONLY so as to have better control against theft.

We can't shift all items to the 2 rooms which were already done 7788 cos the rooms too small and moreover its parquet flooring, so... sigh

quite worried abt the painting job too and the plastering job is very bad. though it's so-called done but still can see the 'unevenness'.

So have you started using miele vaccum cleaner already? how you find it?

Dear all,
Btw, we're still sourching for fridge, any recommendation?
heard that Fisher & paykel will sort of save on electricity, dunno how true is it cos it doesn't come cheap.

 

[stressedl]

hi aprilgal,
you can check electricity consumption here:

http://www.nccc.gov.sg/energylabel/fridge.asp

I just bought a mit folio cos bill quite low per year.

 

[ssmilezz]

Hi Aprilgal ~

Yeah, it's safer to have another set of lock since it will only be Ah Keong's ppl going down. If not, quite dangerous since your items are already in.

I know what you mean abt the plastering...they don't bother to sand it down so it's very uneven and gritty to touch.

Yup, been using the vacumn cleaner for the past two weeks. Am happy so far with the performance.

It's not that heavy and the wheels are kinda cute..hehe..it can roll around in 360 degrees rotation.

I also bought Mitsubishi. But I didn't get the folio, bought the twin instead in stainless steel to match my grey cabinets. But i do love the Folio series for their quality and sleek look. What color did you get VL?

I was also considering F & P initially, but gave up the idea cos i saw the white color one being scratched very badly (one of the display sets). The white coating was already gone cos badly scratched.

 

[aprilgal]

Hi VL,
thanks alot, very useful website indeed.

 

[stressedl]

hi ssmilezz,

It was a decision between the bigger "twin" CU46P n the baby folio.Both stainless steel.The twin is even bigger but was advised to get the Made in Japan one. Frankly speaking the CU 46P looks just as good even though is Thailand made.

 

[stressedl]

hi aprilgal,
u are welcomed. Is good to share information.

 

[och]

hunny, really admire ur discipline. my study has papers n books everywhere, n there r only 2 of us using the study!

so ur kid also has a table in the study? i thot his bunkbed already has a table?

oh yeah, can i ask what r the paint colours u used in ur kid's room? i'm trying to shortlist appealing bluish colours for the study.

ssmilezz, my dryer is also bosch. quite reliable, still going strong after 5 yrs.

the painter is so terok, only did 1 coat?! hm... looks like i really shouldn't get p's painters.

besides painting, are the rest of reno completed? after hearing the description of your reno for so long, cannot wait to see your pictures.

vl, r ur reno completed?

aprilgal, i also hv a mit fridge. for vacuum, i'm using kaarcher's water-based vacuum. not sure if it has a parquet attachment though, but it has hepa filters, so it's good for allergy-prone person like me.

paper, can share with me ur painter's contacts?