Brief Update (20 Dec 2008)

I've arranged with Jovi for a HDB worker to come over at 11am to replace my rusty door magnets. I was late for 15mins. So sorry to keep the poor guy waiting outside my unit.

After he left, I went through the house and noticed that:
1) the glass door for kitchen entrance is up
2) the plumber had came in to do up the pipes for the sink and replace my broken glass cup. He however forget to install the handsprays in both toilets. "C" got him to come back at 3pm to do it.

I got my dad to ask for the delivery of LPG gas cylinder with the necessary safety value and hose. Cost me $140. Reason being "C" ask me to test if the hob is working properly before getting her worker to seal up the hob with silicon gel to prevent water from seaping into the cabinet.

My ID "D" and his assistant "C" came in at 3pm as well. Reason being my dad want to talk to them with regards to the flooring. "D" acknowledge that some of the tiles doesn't match after my dad pointed them out to him. He even get the foreman of the tile layers to come down to take a look. The foreman tried to say that it's because of water seeping into the tiles. But we have our doubts. After a fair bit of discussion, "D" decided to ask the tile supplier Marcus to come down to take a look on Monday, thereafter advise him on the tiles that really need to change, he also ask "C" to order another crate of 20 tiles of the same batch, and hack those non-matching tiles to re-lay again. He also promise to get his workers to do another round of washing as the first time wasn't done properly.

During our discussion, the fan installer came in at 3.30pm to replace the chipped fan blade in the living room, and to re-do its balancing. I also asked him to re-do the balancing for the ceiling fan in the MBR because it's wobbling after someone knocked into it accidentally.

The plumber was the last to leave at around 4.30pm after installing the two handsprays.

Oh, and the handover will now be delayed to 26 Dec. Really a big TENTATIVE.

Brief Update (19 Dec 2008)

The painters came in the morning to patch up all the places that I've left post-it-notes. They left around 10.30am. My dad was there to check on the floor tiles at the same time.

I came over around 12pm to pick up the granite cutouts. The electrician came in shortly after to do up the wiring for the hob and hood. Spoke to him briefly and I left. With the help of my colleague, I sent the cutouts to a table fabricator in Ang Mo Kio for them to do a coffee table and two side tables. If their workmanship is acceptable, I will recommend the company to fellow LGians. ;)

I went back to the unit again at night. This time to do a check on the touch-up work done by the painters as well as some carpentry issues. At the same time, I was expecting the fridge and washing machine to come in. The delivery pple came at 8pm.

Brief Update (18 Dec 2008)

The granite cutouts was delivered today. But when I went over in the evening, I realised that the sizes are wrong! -_-;

The cutout from the sink is slightly smaller in width, while the cutout from the hob is bigger in length and smaller in width. I believe they gave me the wrong pieces. Whether it's on purpose or not I don't know and don't care already. I've already made an appointment with my table fabricator the next day and I don't want to cancel it and waste time for Lian Hin to get them replaced.

While I was there, I also noticed that the wall outside my unit, beside the door bell button was chipped. The dust lining on the wardrobe door is not installed. The unit has been washed but it's still quite dusty. Noticed a lot more places on the wall that need to be touched up. Not satisfied with the washing also and noticed some granite tile color and shade doesn't blend well with the neighbouring tiles. I put up a lot of post-it-notes with arrows. To the extend that our unit look like a Road Safety Park. keke

Brief Update (17 Dec 2008)

Aircon pple came in the morning and look at the trunking. They then told my ID assistant "C" that they cannot open up the trunking cos if open have to redo everything. But they tell "C" that the curtain installer will know if they drill into the pipes cos will have noise. o_O; So ok lor, "C" say next time after hand-over, on the aircon for a few hours to test if it leaks or not cold enough. If so, then they send the aircon pple to fix. Sigh.

The kitchen top pple from Lian Hin came in to install at 7.30pm. One local foreman and one young chinese chap. The foreman left ard 8pm after the kitchen top was done and never came back. Leaving the chinese chap to do up the skirting, apply silicon gel and clean-up. Well done. Lian Hin found themselve a "responsible" foreman. The young chap finish his stuff, pack-up and left at 8.30pm. Worksmanship looks ok though. Another issue is they never bring along the granite cutouts from the sink and hob. The young chap says his foreman forget to bring.

Brief Update (16 Dec 2008)

The carpentry people came in today to do the following:
1) Drill a hole at TV console top for running cables through it.
2) Rectify "pigeon hole" in wardrobe.
3) Install the wardrobe sliding door. It was brought back to their factory to place it's laminate due to stain.
4) Rectify top potion of shoe cabinet which is slanting
5) Change the shoe shelves to "flat" version as the shoe cabinet doors cannot close after placing high heels shoes on the "sloping" version. =(

Installers from Jimmy Textiles came in at 12.30pm to install our day curtain track as well as the rollerblinds. Took slightly over an hour to fix up everything. For the rollerblind at the A/C ledge window, the installer told me no choice have to drill onto the aircon trunking. o_O; Hope don't affect the pipes inside. After these guys left, I noticed that they left some scratches on the wall and chip off a bit of paint. Sigh. Called my ID's assistant "C" to arrange for aircon pple to come down take a look.

Brief Update (13 Dec 2008)

Reach our unit at 11am today. Was quite surprised that the carpentry guys are in today. I'm even more surprised when I saw that the painters are in to do their touch-up as well. Hmm... thought they are scheduled to come in only on Monday. One thing I've learnt through this reno process. Some of these sub-contractors don't adhere to the ID's instruction. They like to come and go at their own convenient date and time. Even when it's not their turn to start work yet.

Anyway, I just let them do their work while I waited outside along the corridor for the guy from HDB that was supposed to come and check the household shelter door. I waited till 11.30am, the guy wasn't here yet so I call Jovi. She says she will check for me. So I waited again till 12pm. Not reply from Jovi so I called her again. This time she says that the guy might be held up. Ask me to go have lunch first and will ask the guy to come to our unit at 1pm first thing after his lunch. But since I'm not hungry, I stay around till 1.30pm. Finally he is here... a tall and big built Indian guy who take less than 30 mins to fix the problem. I amazed at his speed and happy at the result. =)

Reno Photo Set #13 (12 Dec 2008)

The electrician came back today to install the remaining lights and rectify some of his mistakes.

Remember our glass light that has a defect? I've got it changed and here is a picture taken of it.

Hmm... how come the effect looks a bit different? The one we have now has the effect we actually wanted when we bought it... so, was the person who sold us the light initially trying to pull a fast one on us? trying to sell us one with defect, and with a different lighting effect as well... really suspicious there... Anyway, I'm really glad that I've decided to go back and got it changed. ;)


The light that was broken has also been replaced. TADA!


And here's some sneak preview for carpentry works. We still have a number of issues to sort out. Hopefully everything can be done by the coming Wednesday.







Noticed that the household shelter door could not be closed recently. Have arranged with Jovi to send the contractor down to look at it on Sat 13 Dec 2008 11am.

Reno Photo Set #12 (9 Dec 2008)

It has been a short while since the last update. Work resumed today with the start of carpentry works. Our custom made furnitures were minimum. It basically consist of (1) TV console, (2) Shoe cabinet, (3) Kitchen cabinet and a (4) Wardrobe in Master Bedroom.

I had to dropped by around 12pm to hand over the hob, hood and sink. The ID's assistant "C" ask for them because their workers need them to do measurement. It was only when I got back to office did I remembered that I had already passed those information to "C" in an email some time back. -_-;;

Anyway, when I was there, I had noticed that most of the "skeleton" were pre-fabricated at the factory and brought up to the unit to assemble. Any touch-up will be done on the spot. It also meant that carpentry works will be completed in no time. Hehe.

I dropped by our unit again in the evening to check out the progress. I'm quite impress with the progress but as per all carpentry works, there are bound to have issues with worksmanship and mistakes made due to communication breakdown. Sigh.

Carpentry material wised, I remember telling ID we wanted to use "三夹板" (1st pic below), i.e. Solid plywood, before we signed up with them. And in one of their email reply, they told us they are using solid ply as well. However, we only discover that they are using "石心板" (2nd pic below), i.e. blockboard, after they had assembled partly. ID "D" pushed away responsibility saying his carpenter always used this kind of material and there has been no issues so far. Lesson learnt, next time must show them pictures of what we want and get them to document down clearly. Sigh...




Here are some photos and I'll add some comments if any.


There are supposed to have concealed wall sockets for 2 additional electrical points and 1 scv point. Both are not done and the TV console is already up. =(


We were told that there will be four shelves for shoes. Now there are only three. And "C" says that cannot do four shelves due to mis-calculation. I'll wait till Iris has tested it using her high-heels before deciding if we want to change.


The cut-out for the sink is only 1cm smaller than the sink itself. "C" did pass the measurement (provided by Teka) that we had emailed to her to her workers. Am quite upset about this but "C" and ID "D" keep saying that the cut-out side is according to their normal practice. The alignment for the copper piping is not directly below the sink tap opening. And someone knocked into the "black" sticker patch on the bottom of the sink bowl thus a potion of it is peeling. =(


No comments on this cos it's still work in progress.


The hob cut-out was done near to the fridge. Very upset about this as we had original intended it to be as far away from the fridge as possible while not "facing" the sink. "D" and myself had done a lot of on-site measurement prior to this. BUT "C" mentioned that the norm is to take center alignment from the cabinet doors below the Hob. Somemore, she says it's my dad who asked for it to be move another 1" nearer the fridge. Showed the issue to Iris and she decided that she can live with it. Ok lor. So I've wasted effort and time over this. Suck thumb.


Hoob installed partially.


Wardrobed for the Master Bedroom is still work in progress. The parts and laminates left laying around.

Brief Update (3 Dec 2008)

Made another trip down to Balestier today to collect the entrance glass light and bulb casing for my dining light. Did a brief check on the items before i left both shops. I'm crossing fingers that everything will be ok after this. =)

Brief Update (30 Nov 2008)

The guy from Jimmy Textiles was right on time. He came at 5pm and started to do his measurements immediately after stepping in. He took around 20-30mins to take down all the measurements and left.

We then took a bus from Linear Green to Expo. It was simply over crowded. Seldom do we see queues at the Burger King outlet and this day was one of the exceptional days. We decided to eat at the Thai restaurant instead, even though we were told that food will only be served after around 30-40 mins. At least we get to wait in a place that is not too crowded and air-conditioned. Oh did we say that the weather was not forgiving as well. We had our dinner and by the time we were done, it was already 7.30pm and time for bargin hunting. =P

We stayed in there till 9.00pm and we left happy. We bought a Sharp Aquos 37" LCD TV (LC-37A33M) from Harvey Norman for S$929 (incl. S$30 delivery fee) and it came with a free Sharp DVD player. =)

There will be a lull period for the whole of next week. Reno works will start again on 9 Dec 2008. Carpentary works will start then.

Brief Update (29 Nov 2008)

My light supplier's worker came at 1.30pm to check the kitchen light. Rectify the problem in less than 30 secs. What’s the cause of it? My ID's electrician didn't push the light bulb all the way in. -_-"

I also requested his help to take down the glass downlight at the entrance foyer so that I can bring it back to the shop to exchange.

After that was done, we went to one of the shop selling TV to check on the pricing of LCD TV. We were quoted $1199 for Sharp LC-42A53M and $1020 for Sharp LC-37A33M. Both does not come with any free gift. Told the uncle we need to consider and left the shop to eat lunch.

Next stop was Jimmy Textiles @ Tanjong Katong Complex. We want to do roller blind (full block) and day curtain for all our bedrooms and living room. After choosing the material that we like, we paid an S$300 deposit and arrange for them to come to our unit to take measurements at 5pm the next day.

We then went over to Palace Lights @ Balestier to exchange our glass light. It was the only light that we bought over there. The person who sold it to us initial was Kelvin. When we step in again, this time we were served by Raymond. Told him our intention and showed him the defect. He did a quick test and agreed to replace it. However, since it was a Sat, he said their warehouse was closed and can only get the replacement on Monday. I agree to drop by again to collect it. Overall, no frill experience.

Reno Photo Set #12 (28 Nov 2008)

1.18pm - "C" called to inform that the carpenter went to our flat to do some measurement. She also mentioned that the aircon installer was already there.

1.24pm - My dad called me shortly after that saying the same thing.

2.02pm - My dad called again that the aircon installation was completed. The installer took the remote controls with them when they left.

6.45pm - Dropped by to check on the aircon installation as well as the entrance light.


Upon switching on the light, we notice that the lighting effect is affected by the defect. So die die must return and replace this light. But come to think of it, the lighting effect is nothing to shout about as well. hahaha.


The wrapping for our dining light was left dangling.


And there were pieces of glass swept nicely aside. I feared the worst.


The white acrylic casing for the bulb of my dining light was broken. I called "C" to tell her immediately. After her investigation, she said her workers were not the ones who broke it. However, she still offered to pay for the replacement as a gesture of goodwill.


Our Teka sink and tap has been delivered. Found them left in the household shelter.



Lastly, aircon were installed. I had reminded the installer to leave me the boxes. Might have use for them later. =P


7.30pm - Left the place and head to Sitex fair to look around for LCD TV promotion.

Brief Update (27 Nov 2008)

9.30am - First group of my ID's workers came in. They are to work on plumbing and toilet accessories installation.

9.45am - The fan installer arrived with his assistant. I asked them to install the master bedroom fan first.

10.45am - Ceiling fan in the living room installed. So far so good.

11.00am - My ID's electrician group arrived. They are late by an hour. Gave them a quick brief before they start installing the lights.

11.30am - The toilet workers are done. Saw one of them holding a box and speaking to "C". She noticed me looking and told me that they broke one of my thumbler cups. Will get it replaced the next time they come back.

11.45am - My ID's floor tilers came in to fix up skirting in some areas.

12.00pm - The electrician are still installing the lights but i had to go so left my ID in charged.

3.49pm - "C" contacted me saying that the electrician cannot find the bulb to my dinning light. Checked with my light supplier to deliver again on Sat afternoon.

6.45pm - Reach the unit and did a check on the work done in the day. Noted that:

1. the light above the entrance was wrongly positioned.


2. One of the florescent tube of the kitchen light is not working.


3. One of the downlight was wrongly installed at the room passageway so now we have two downlights at that position instead of one.


4. Casement of electical wiring for water header not very nicely done.


5. Safety clips for the kitchen and bedroom lights were discarded on the floor and not installed.

Reno Photo Set #11 (26 Nov 2008)

Our toilet accessories, lights and fans were delivered in the afternoon. Went through the items and had the impression that everything was in order. My ID assistant "C" had arranged for installation the next day. At around 9.30pm, my fan installer called up to re-schedule timing from 1pm to 9.30am.


Our cheap glass downlight (not swarovski yah) for the main entrance foyer.


There is a cutting defect for the part in red box. Will need to change it if the defect affects the lighting effect. Will see how after installation.


Our whole stack of boxes of lights.


Our FOC standing lamp. My wife-to-be likes it a lot.


One of the VS ballast for our downlights and toilet lights.


One of the ATCO ballast for our bedrooms and kitchen light.


The box for our FOC Legrand doorbell.


Our bathroom accessories. The set on the right is for the common toilet. The set on the left is for the master bedroom toilet.


The Fanco remote kit for the master bedroom ceiling fan.


The RUBINE bathroom accessories for our master bedroom toilet.

Reno Photo Set #10 (24 Nov 2008)

Windows grills are up and painting works started. Noticed that the curtain pelmet has been done wrongly for the bedrooms. Requested "C" to get it rectified.