House Renovation ( Weeks 5 - 7 )

WEEK 5

ELECTRICAL WORKS( PART I )

Hall lighting point and Downlight points

This week, the electrician came on his first of a few visits to route and realign the electrical wires and set up the new lighting and socket, switch points. We had spent some time before his visit, looking at the floorplan and drawing up where we wanted to locate the lightpoints, sockets and switches. You will need to know how many lightings you plan to put, inclusive of all pendant, decorative and downlights. You would also need to check the quality of the wiring if you are renovating a resale flat to see if you need to rewire the flat.

3 lighting points for the kitchen( Stove, sink and wash area )

Electrical works is a very costly item in the renovation works and for us, with 9 downlights and 13 lightpoints, plus changing of the MCB switch box, relocation of 3 SCV points, 17 double socket points and 10 sets of rocker switches cost us slightly over $1700 inclusive of lights installation, excluding lightings and switches and sockets. We had many socket points as we plan to have a number of electrical appliances and also were planning for any future requirements. We also got the electrician to install a fan point for the KDK ventilator fan that we want to install in our master bath.

You should make it a point to be present on the day that the electrical works are started to ensure that the wiring is laid according to your specification and to answer the queries of the electrician.We will share in a later posting about where we got our switches, for those who are keen to install Legrand switches.

INSTALLATION OF FRAME FOR FALSE CEILING AND LIGHTBOX

Week 5 also saw the putting up of the supporting frame for the subsequent installation of the false ceiling and lightbox for the hall.

Supporting frame for mounting of false ceiling

WEEK 6

FABRICATION OF FALSE CEILING

Week 6 saw the fabrication and completion of the false ceiling and lightbox for the hall and foyer of the main bedroom entrance.

We asked the ID to level the original recessed ceiling with a false ceiling and remove the old ventilation vents as shown above. We will be installing a downlight in the false ceiling.

We also asked the ID to fit in curtain pulmets into the false ceiling for the hall curtains and master bedroom so that the rails for the day and night curtains are hidden from view. We also made pulmet in front of the main door entrance(see above) to hide the rail for the string curtains which we are putting up to give some privacy to the living room.

FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION OF FALSE WALL BACKING FOR WALK IN CLOSET

Our ID also fabricated and installed a false wall backing which the walk in wardrobe will be built into. The wall will also serve to partition the study area from the walk in wardrobe.

We will be mounting an IKEA Full height mirror at the side of the wall. We took the dimensions of the mirror and got our ID to build the sidewall to the mirror dimensions so that it will be a good fitting.

WEEK 7

LAMINATED FLOORING LAID
Master Bedroom Laminated Flooring from Supreme

This week, the contractor laid the laminated flooring from SUPREME. This brand was recommended by our ID due to it' s combination of higher quality and 'dont breaqk the bank prices'. We chose a dark shade of brownish black grain to blend in with our rooms' grey, black , red , cozy concept. The workmanship is quite good especially in the skirtings and most importantly, the flooring was level and there were no hollow sounds when walking on it.

Common Room Laminated Flooring

ELECTRICAL WORKS PT 2

The electrician also came up to complete the cabling of the electrical wires. We were surprised that he installed a "branded'' Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)Box - HAGER brand from France ( See Below picture) . We know about this brand because we bought a HAGER Contactor Unit ( Used to link two separate switches to one storage heater)for our storage heater, which was recommended by the electrical shop where we bought our LEGRAND switches. In preparation for the painting of the house, our contractor gave a first wash up of the house which finally meant we could step into the house without our shoes and also to see the flooring as one whole complete uncovered layer.

Finally , Shiny homogeneous flooring of the Hall ( Above and Below pictures ) !



Our cleaned kitchen , common toilet and master toilet! Sparkling !

PAINTING

Mid-week, the painters came to our house and brought some colours to our house. We chose primary colours of two shades of grey and one shade of white with two fun colours of red and orange. Pictures tell a thousand words so view the pictures :

Living Room

Living Room colours - Nippon 5069 Galaxy(darker Grey) and ICI Dolphin 20278(Light Grey)

Dining Area Wall Colour - Nippon 5069 Galaxy ( Dark Grey )

Master Bedroom

(Above) Master Bedroom Colour - ICI 20278 Dolphin

(Above and below) Walk In Wardrobe - ICI 20278 Dolphin

Passage to Study Area and Walk In Wardrobe

(Above) Wall Colour :Nippon 5046 Spectrum Red

Common Bedroom ( The Fun Room )

(Above) Common Rm Colour : ICI SP27801 Fiesta Orange

Master Toilet
Common Toilet

Kitchen

Store Room

INSTALLATION OF CARPENTRY WORKS ( PART I )

The first installment of the carpentry works began today on the last weekday of Week 7. The contractor put up the first sections of the kitchen cabinet and the complete walk in wardrobe. The hob and kitchen sink were also laid in before the second stage of mounting the solid top of the kitchen cabinet.

( Above ) L -shaped Black Glossy Laminated Kitchen Cabinet ( 38ft)

Sink and hob adjacent with workspace for two persons to be simultaneously working in kitchen together. ( Above )

( Above )Unfinished Wooden backing for dish rack and shelving cum sink section

( Above ) Cutlery drawer sourced from Blum

Our half installed Rinnai RB2C-G Inner Burner Hob

( Above ) Insertion of the BLANCO kitchen sink ( Anthracite Grey colour)

( Above ) 1st section of Walk In Wardrobe with glossy grey laminate

( Below ) 2nd section of the Walk in Wardrobe ( Below ) We constructed a pulmet for installation of a suede curtain in place of doors ( to reduce cost ) to reduce dust retention and for privacy.

NEXT : WEEK 8 - ELECTRICAL WORKS ? PLUMBING ? CARPENTRY PART 2