House Renovation ( WEEKs 1 TO 4 )

Finally , we got our house keys on 3rd November 2007. It has been a long process since we first laid eyes on our dream flat in June 2007 , located in the East, in a very private corner between Upper East Coast and Bedok South. We took one last look at the flat in it's original condition before the demolition team came in to hack off everything, the first of the total makeover process of our dream house. However, we made good use of the time in between so that by the time we got our key, we had already shopped and bought most of the stuff for our flat from the furnishings to the switches and even the floor traps. Like every couple with their first home, we really had to control ourselves from exceeding our budget which we did with some limited success..haha... With detailed consultations with our ID - Jacky from Ingenious Design @ Marina Square, we came up with a very contemporary look for our house. In this post, we will track the progress of our flat, from plan to reality.

WEEK 1 - DEMOLITION WEEK

HACKING OF THE HALL TILES AND EXISTING FURNISHING ( 3 DAYS)

HACKING OF KITCHEN TILES AND DEMOLITION OF KITCHEN CABINETOUR MASTER BEDROOM AND FUTURE WALK IN WARDROBE UNDER DEMOLITION WORKS

WEEK 2 - MASONRY WORKS

LIVING ROOM KITCHEN

MASTER TOILET ( CEMENTING )

COMMON TOILET ( CEMENTING )

TILING OF FLAT :

We selected our tiles from 3 shops (LSH, HAFARY,Hup Kiong) along Balestier Rd during a trip down with our ID. We chose the following tiles :

HALL - HOMOGENOUS WHITE TILES FOR FLOORING( Hup Kiong )

As our furniture feature comptemporary colours of red and black and our walls would be grey, we decided to brighten the house a little with white tiles. While Hafary had the whitest tile, it also had the most costly tile at $3 plus per square feet. We decided on the next best alternative, priced at a more reasonable $2.80 per sq feet, from Hup Kiong which was just in our opinion, slightly a little darker than Hafary's. We were told that the higher price at Hafary reflected the more intensive polishing of the tiles at the factory during production to make it more white. However as Jacky pointed out to us, after some time, our eyes were get used to the white colour and we would not be able to dsitinguish the difference in the slight variation in white. More importantly was the strength and reliability of the tile. Jacky did some research and found the tiles from Hup Kiong to be okay and so we decided to source from them. This also served the objective of lowering our renovation cost with no negative effects.

KITCHEN / MASTER & COMMON TOILETS- DARK GREY HOMOGENOUS TILES FOR FLOORING ( LSH )

Initially, we chose a very glossy black floor tile which would have given an expensive feel to the toilet and kitchen areas. But after some consideration, especially for safety, I consulted Gayle and we decided to opt for a non gloss grey homogeneous tile with better grip surface. This is especially so for wet or oily areas like the kitchen and toilets. We were indeed quite happy with our new choice as it not only makes a safe house but also blends in with our black laminate kitchen cabinets.

Here, you can see the grey homogeneous tiles being laid for the kitchen and toilets.MASTER TOILET WALL - GLOSSY BLACK TILES FOR WALL WITH GREY BLACK PATTERNED GLASS MOSIACS ( HAFARY )

We wanted our master toilet to have a sophisticated, classy feel and opted for black glossy wall tiles on the recommendation of Jacky. we specified to Jacky that we did not want the usual square wall tiles common in HDB flats. We managed to source for rectangular shaped tiles from Hafary.

COMMON TOILET WALL - GLOSSY BLACK AND WHITE( WITH GOLF BALL DESIGNS) TILES FOR WALL. ( HAFARY)

In contrast to the classy sophisticated feel of the Master Toilet, we decided on a funky image for the common toilet. We had already decided on a 'space' theme for the common toilet just to inject some wacky fun into the house. We had already purchased a rocket shaped lighting and an alien shaped toilet roll holder along the space theme. We also plan to have a black ceiling to provide tha spacey background. Jacky recommended to us the use of white and black combination of golf ball design tiles ( Look at the picture closely and you notice the concave golf ball patterns on the tiles) which provide that funky , planetary look. We are really happy with how the look of the tiles after it has been put up.

Black colous are placed on top to blend in with the black painted ceiling and at the lower end to blend in with the dark grey floor tiles. White tiles laid in the middle to brighten, provide contrast in the common toilet.

WEEK 3 - MASONRY WORKS ( TILES , CEMENTING OF WALLS )

Week 3 saw the continuation of the tiling works for hall. kitchen, toilets. For the toilets, wall tiling was halted to allow for the future hacking and installation of new window frames before the final phase of tiling. There was also the addition of smaller details like the drainage inlet for the shower area in the master toilet, tiling of shower kerbs in the toilets and also the construction of the cabinet, washing machine and fridge base in the kitchen.

COMPLETION OF TILING OF LIVING ROOM FLOOR AND WALL KERB
The wall kerb for the living room was laid and completed this week.
Below, you can see that the workers have placed cardboard layers to protect the laid tiles from damage during the renovation work. You can see that there is a leveling ruler to see that the tiles are laid evenly. The hall tiles are laid higher than the kitchen to ensure that if the kitchen is washed, water will not spill into the living room.
TILING OF SHOWER KERB AND DRAINAGE INLET IN TOILETS

You can see above that the shower kerb has been tiled. To allow for water to drain from shower area, Jacky constructed a dainage inlet(white circle) to guide the flowing water into the main drainage trap. We bought classy looking chrome plated stainless steel floor traps to cover these inlet and traps in the toilets. We did not want the ordinary white plastic trap which though very much cheaper at $1.50 each, in our own opinion would have 'spoilt' the look of the classy and funky toilets. Each stainless steel floortrap costs $15 and can be bought at hardware shops. We bought ours from a hardware shop at Parkway Parade, Basement floor opposite Delifrance.

CEMENTING / COVERING WORKS ON HACKED WALLS AND PIPED AREAS

Cementing works were completed on the walls which had been hacked, to repair and cover up exposed concrete related to hacking works in the previous weeks.
Tiles were also laid to cover up the piped areas as depicted in an example below. We were quite pleased withe the good workmanship in cutting the tiles to fit the pipes.
FITTING OF ENTRANCE SEALS TO COVER EXPOSED AREAS BETWEEN GLASS DOOR FRAME AND WALL TILES FOR MASTER TOILET. ( Note the good workmanship )

INSTALLATION OF STAINLESS STEEL RUBBISH CHUTE DOOR

Instead of the usual aluminium brushed rubbish chute door, we decided to splurge abit and install a stainless steel chromed rubbish chute door to blend in with the contemporary classy look of the kitchen design. Also, a stainless steel chute has a clean look. The chute costs $120 for those who are interested and you can get your ID to source it for you. Featured below is the chute which still has it's yellow protective sticker over it.

CONSTRUCTION AND EXTENSION OF KITCHEN BASE.

This week also saw the completion of the base for the kitchen cabinet , washing machine and refridgerator. We opted to extend the kitchen cabinet as we found that the initial length was too short after considering the installation of the hob which left little table top space. In thinking of the design and length of your kitchen cabinet, do consider how much table top space you require and what are the appliances and size of your hob. You can see the extension above, represented by the darker cemented area. We thus extended our kitchen cabinet from 34 ft to 38 ft ( inclusive of both top and bottom cabinets) as we decided we needed more table top and storage space. Also, do remember to inform your ID the dimensions of your fridge( is it a side by side door fridge or single door fridge - to provide allowance for doors opening on either side? ) and washing machine so that the bases are built to the correct dimensions.

ABOVE : Completed and tiled Fridge Base

WEEK 4: PLASTERING OF WALLS / ELECTRICAL PART I /WINDOWS / AIR CON TRUNKING

We were pleasantly surprised when we went to see our flat on Monday evening on Week 4 to find the windows all done up. It really made a difference to the whole flat and the entire flat looks brighter, perhaps due to the clear glass and the white powder coated frames. We had to pay slightly more for our windows as pre-fabricated flats like ours have a longer length so that is one additional renovation cost to consider if you are buying HDB Type 4A Pre Fab Flats.

We requested for sliding windows for all rooms except for the kitchen where we requested for casement type ( swing open model ). We spend about slightly over 2.5K for all windows including the toilet windows. All were power coated white frames. While aluminium standard windows are cheaper by a few hundred dollars, the white frames do give a clean contemporary look to the flat and also helps to brighten up the place. The disadvantage is that white frames do get scratched more easily and dirtied too. So it's really dependent on what appeals more to you and of course, one's budget. We asked for clear glass so as to keep costs low and we may tint the windows at a later stage if there is a need to.

COMPLETION OF WALL HOMOGENEOUS AND MOSIAC TILING FOR TOILETS

With the window frames up, the contractor completed the tilings for the two toilets. As mentioned before, we had the top 2 and lower 2 rows of wall tiles in black to provide a colour contrast and also to blend in neatly with the dark grey flooring and black/blue ceiling. We would be painting the pipes white in the common bathroom and black in the master bathroom.

The completed tiled master bathroom can be seen above with two parallel strips of glass mosiacs to mark out the shower area. We will be putting up a fixed tempered glass shower panel at a later stage of the renovation. You will need to inspect the tiling works like I did. I found two cases of tile chips and crooked laid mosiacs and will be getting the contractor to rectify them. In addition, one section of the glass mosiac was overplastered (see above ) so I will be getting them to remove the over plaster.

The 18 pieces of SD004 glass mosiacs were from Harfary priced at $2.60/ft sq.

ARRIVAL OF COOKER AND HOB / TOILET BOWLS / VANITY STEEL CABINET

We also took delivery of the toilet bowls, vanity basins and cooker hob and hood. We will share more about these purchases in a new posting, in particular where to source from, in our own opinion. You will need to ask your ID for the schedule of your renovation process so that you can time when you need to purchase and deliver certain items and not cause any unnecessary delay.

PLASTERING OF WALLS

This was an unexpected additional cost as we found that the original walls were very badly plastered, making the surfaces very rough. This would impact on the repainting of the house since the unsightly plastered lines would show. Also , we were planning for a wall papered feature wall for our master bedroom so plastering would be a must. Plastering costs around 1.5k for the whole house so you may need to check the condition of the walls when you purchase a resale flat and factor this costing in. You can see the white plastered areas of the wall above which shows the extent of the plastering required.

AIR CON TRUNKING

Week 4 also saw the installation and trunking of the system 3 inverter aircon's wires and water drainage piping. We will discuss more of the aircon purchase in a new posting later. We had mapped out the location of the fancoil units in the 3 bedrooms to the ID and the Air con sales representative so that we would know if it would be feasible or if it would affect the layout of the room, especially for the walk in wardrobe room. We had to accept an unusually long trunking due to the longer length of our rooms,which are much bigger than those in new HDB flats. Hopefully, once the trunking is painted over and much of it is hidden by the built in wardrobe, it will not look too outstanding.

You can see the trunking laid out above in the 2nd bedroom. I requested the installers to try to align the trunking in a not too obstructive manner so that it would blend in with the lines of the wall and windows and the guys from Natural Cool did a good job. It is important to be there to observe the trunking as you need to tell them of your renovation design so that they can align their trunking with your design and they can check with you if anything requires alteration or is not feasible. The Natural Cool guys were quite conscientious and even apologized for their poor plastering skills. They plastered those areas which they had needed to drill through. You can see the water drainage pipe through the bedroom wall.That was not a big issue as I would be getting the contractor to replaster those areas. I also got the Natural Cool guys to extend my air con water drainage pipe so that it would be hidden behind the shower kerb. You can see from above that they had to put in some effort to extend the grey external water piping (extreme left of picture)way out. You can also see the mounting for the spilt unit. I must say they did a good job to ensure that the water pipe would be hidden from view.

You can see the drainage pipe above protruding from the wall and hidden by the shower kerb.