The Challenge With Old Homes

The challenge with old homes, you never know what you are really gonna get. They have their secrets and owners who do well to keep them. The only way to uncover them is when you hack everything till you are left with bare walls and base flooring.

So we have the horrible ceiling leak which threatens to stop all renovation at the bathroom. Pretty common I hear of old flats, the original waterproofing has most likely worn out after 10-15 years. So I'm putting it down to a surprise that this surfaced after the flat is already 36 years old.

Then there are the would-be danger spots. You can see here that the ceiling is starting to turn mouldy, though there are no visible water droplets as yet to justify an enforced repairs by the upstairs neighbour. Again this was concealed by the previous owner's kitchen cabinets. We are putting up cabinets too at the same spot so this may be a disaster waiting to happen.

Another spot where the ex-owner, or their ID, conceal an unsightly section of spalling ceiling at the balcony where the steel rods are already showing. They cleverly covered it with cornices, and purposefully extended to cover the section, more than you would normally do if it was just to hide the pipes.

This was covered by laminated paper as part of a 'feature' wall for the master bedroom tv console. You can tell from the brown patches that water has been sipping in. We are gonna have full height wardrobe here so we need to fix the leaks before we cover it with carpentry.

Well with all that said, I would have still bought this place even if the problems were visible. Hmmm ... wait maybe not if the bathroom ceiling leak was there. But anyways that goes to show how much I want a unit here. I rather spend and fix all the issues then to give up the opportunity to live close to my in-laws. And that's also because they happen to stay at an amazing location with every facility you need within walking distance. Now that's something you cannot put a price on.

'Friendly' Neighbour

I'm at 405 for my regular renovation progress checkup during lunch. As I drove into the carpark I noticed workers hauling broken tiles and marbles from the lift lobby. Oh! someone has started renovation too, but which unit was it? The 8th or 12th floor? That was answered quickly the moment I saw the lovely Terrazo tiles.

Omg. Speechless. Why would they tear up the Terrazo??!! Oh goodness. This is practically the only thing we had planned not to hack if we bought a unit with it in the area. You can't get these anymore. Seriously if the unit we bought had Terrazo flooring, we wouldn't ever think of changing it. Arrgghhhh, but sadly our 8th floor neighbour doesn't seem to think so.

Anyways I was surveying our unit and about to leave when I noticed an unfamiliar face at the door. It was an old bespectacled man in his late 50s or early 60s.

Pokpok: "Hi yes? who are you?"

Stranger: "Ehh hi, oh I live in this block ... on the 5th floor"

Pokpok: "Oh hi, how can I help you?"

Stranger: "Can I come in to take a look?"

Pokpok: "eh? why?"

Stranger: "There is very loud banging noise, so I came to take a look."

Pokpok: "Orrrhh, the loud banging is coming from downstairs, the 8th floor has just started renovation today."

Stranger: "Oh is it? I walked up from the 5th floor and didn't see any renovation." (looked at me with disbelieving eyes)

Pokpok: "Oh thats cos they closed the door. I was there earlier too when I hear the loud banging. You should go check it out"

Stranger: "Can I come in?" (this time in a slightly sterner voice)

Now it has occured to me that this busybody was irritated by the loud banging and came to investigate. When I saw him, he was checking the renovation permit pasted on the wall beside our front door. The fact that he insist on coming in meant one thing, he didn't believe me when I told him the constant hacking sound was coming from elsewhere. He wanted to get in to 'catch me in the act' and file a complaint to the authorities. How friendly!!!

I knew what he was after so I casually said ok, please come in. I caught a slight grin from him when I said it ... he must be thinking "Yeah! now I can catch him and screw him! Damn inconsiderate neighbour! I must upheld Justice~!!!."

Well, there was nothing much to see. As I led him around the house, the constant hammering can still be heard. Once it was evident that my unit was not the culprit, his glee started to fade. He tried his best to hide it but I can tell he was anxious to go once he figured that he had made a boo-boo and was barking up the wrong tree. Yeah mongrel ... you can try to act all neighbourly but you are not fooling me.

At this point, a second thought came to me. Could this be our upstairs neighbour? Maybe ... so I started my 2nd act.

Pokpok: "Wah you know ah buying old house very problematic!"

Pokpok: "My master bedroom leaking and the upstairs neighbour don't want to repair!"

Stranger: "How can?"

Pokpok: "Come come I show you, aiyah very troublesome"

Pokpok: "See! There is constant dripping!"

Stranger: "Aiyoh, but no worries I also had the same problem previously. Did you speak to this indian fella at the HDB branch office?"

He continued to give me neighbourly advice on who to approach while slowly walking towards the front door. Sensing he was gonna scoot away I offered the last morsel of good neighbourly act. "Oh when I celebrate house warming, please come join us hor!"

Hahhahahhaha the look on his face was priceless. You can tell he was feeling guilty for attempting to put me in trouble and yet I was being so friendly and nice towards him. I can't for the life of me recall his name now while I'm writing this post. All I can remember is his face and that he lives on the 5th floor facing south east. 

Oh well, that's good enough. I've marked him as the block's troublemaker. I'm not letting you close to any of my family. Shoo, go away you fool!

A Little Electrical Work

Since none of the masonry works can continue, Norman decided to ask his electrician to come in to do up the living, dining and bedroom yesterday.

Its good to see some work done, however little it is. At least we have something to show for this week. Cos apart from this, I doubt there would be anything else till the permits are approved.

The permits are getting on everyone's nerves. They have been coming back 3-4 times to request for new stuff. I cannot understand why they couldn't simply list all they need at one go! Every query entails a 3-4 days turnaround ... and it all adds up to several weeks since Norman first submitted the request. 

Sigh ... really hope they get their act together quickly. Already the momentum is gone, we don't need further delays to dampen our mood.

A Long Night Of Renovation Discussion

Since everything was at a standstill we thought we might use the down time to work on the rest of the renovation details. We have been spending some nights discussing the colour scheme for the kitchen. It's a tough choice between a mink or organic white caesar stone counter top. That itself drives the colours for the laminate. So to give us more options, we are back at Ciseern's showroom to run through the ton of laminate samples from Arova, Formica, Jennings etc.

There is just so much to choose from. We started at 7.30pm and didn't finish till past midnight at 12.30am. It was extremely tough to try and judge laminate shades, especially where the samples are so small. It was a good thing Ciseern had booklets of bigger samples for Arova and Jennings. Oddly they only have wood grain series for Formica. So eventually we went with Arova and Jennings since we could better visualise the shades of the carpentry.

I'm never one for colours ... all shades of white look pretty much the same to me. So the tough chore of choosing the right tones for our home fell to Meimei. While she was at it, I shared with Norman the homework we have done on the kitchen cabinet, master bedroom wardrobe and TV console.

I used excel to draft out the sections of the carpentry. One for what we think we will be using that section for, then another to mark down the type of accessory we need to fix. All these took us a couple of weeks to tie down. And it wasn't all smooth sailing ... we had our differences and quarrels along the way while going at it.

Now besides the laminates, there was also the colours for the frames of the various aluminium bi-flod and swing doors. And to add on to the mix, different shades of laminated glass for the door panels. By this time, we were already exhausted. We shortlisted the glass panels and took a picture with the frame and promise Norman we would get back to him on our selection the next couple of days.

Finally to top it off, Norman passed us a Nippon Paint catalogue. By this time I was totally drained from all the different colours. Somehow even through the coughing and tiredness, there was a tiny shimmer of light in Meimei's eyes when she saw the booklet. Colours are her thing and I'm gladly passing her this responsibility to decide the colours for our walls. Phew ... what a night!

Standstill

Norman just whatsapp us today that he does not expect any works to be done the next few days. There is little he can do since none of the major masonry are approved. And because of that, the subsequent carpentry and tiling cannot continue.

We have 4 permits pending and each contain several work items. Without the approvals, none of the flooring can continue. It's frustrating to see good progress come to a standing halt. But well there is nothing we can do but wait.

I'm going to give it a week ... and if things don't move, we are considering paying out new MP a visit. Surely he will try to help new residents moving into this ward? ;-P

Steady Progress

It's been steady and very fast progress so far. Things are coming together and looks good so far. But we may be nearing the end of what we can do as far as the permits allow. We have a few pending and I'm hoping they would be approved as we can keep this pace. Below are some of the notable progress.

The marble is turning out beautifully. Even the entrance curb looks a tad more stylish with marble.

They have completed the living and dining area, except for the skirting which will come much later.

The kitchen area are also completed as much as possible. I think they need to work on the carpentry and piping before further tiling can continue. Also the pending levelling of the flooring is holding up the bottom tiling.

The master toilet tiles are also up. Hmm do you find the right ones a different shade from the ones on the left of the picture? Did they send the wrong shade? I'll have to check this out clearly tomorrow.

Tiling Begins

As the marble progresses, Norman has his tiling team work on the kitchen and bathroom masonry works. The common bathroom door shift has been approved so most of the tiling works can begin for that area. The permit for the master bathroom wall hacking is still pending so we'll gonna have to wait to start there.

Pretty surprised with the rate of progress. If we keep at this pace, we might just be able to move before the end of August. Of course that's assuming we can find a good date to move. Nonetheless happy to see the place coming into shape.

No Go On Kitchen Exhaust

Since we have had the experience of living in 303, we know exactly what are common inconveniences and areas which we like to improve.

One of the key renovation detail we wanted was an exhaust fan for the kitchen, similar to the ones we have for our bathrooms. We cook a lot and sometimes the kitchen would be a chamber of grey smoke. It's especially bad when we try to make chilli or curry.

Atlas, it wasn't to be. We received a flat no from HDB, "Exhaust fan: Only allowed at bathroom windows, kitchen NOT allowed." There was no reason attached as to why the decision was made as such.

Norman tried to offer that HDB may be afraid that the exhaust fan will blow out the fumes out of the kitchen window and stain the upstairs neighbour's clothes. Hmmm even without a exhaust fan, isn't smoke already traveling out a kitchen window? It's called proper ventilation ... HDB should come by my block on the weekends when my neighbours cook up a feast. The whole place is a marriage of many different smells and aroma. I never hear anyone complaining about it.

From a technical perspective I don't see any concern. The area is where the clothes hanger are so there shouldn't be any concerns of the exhaust fan cover protruding out and obstructing scaffolding for exterior wall painting. I really wonder if I should appeal, or at least follow-up with the officer to understand why it was rejected.

The Marble Arrives!

The marble is arriving today. Meimei was so excited that she came along on the daily lunch trip to 405. I'm trying to make it a point to go there everyday where possible.

The first sight that greeted us as we drove into the carpark was that of the supplier's truck. Meimei skilfully took this picture while I drove in.

We went up to find that the marbles are all uplifted and laid across the room in stacks. The dry lay plan has been sticked onto the living room wall for reference. I'm glad I finally met Alex in person. He seems like a trustworthy fellow.

His team were in the midst of calibrating the layout. They had drawn thin line across the cement screed to mark out the tile position. We left shortly after as we didn't want to get in their way.

While we were at work, Papa came over to 405 to check on the progress. He even video-ed how the tilers were laying the marble slabs. They would throw glue on the area and lay the tile down. Then one person would step on and push the tile from left to right using his body weight. And while doing so, try to steer the marble into alignment and close the gap with the other pieces. It was interesting to see how it is actually done.

We came again in the evening, anxious to see how it is turning out. I'm amazed at their speed of work. Already most of the easier pieces are done. I'm guessing the next couple of days would be on the side pieces where they would need to cut into shape and size. I can't wait for all of the marble flooring to be done!!

Screeding The Living Area

I decided to pop by during lunch to see if there was any progress. Alex and his marble team were working on Saturday morning so I wanted to see the works.

I was greeted with this the moment I stepped out of the lift. Wow, they are fast! They were supposed to do the waterproofing first and then lay the cement screed. Looks like all these were only done this morning.

I opened the door to find the rest of the living room in wet cement. Notice the footprint on the bottom of the picture? That's another group of workers, the tiling team working on the wall screeding and minor touchups for the kitchen and bathroom.

Since I couldn't enter the flat, I came by again later at night. The packs of prepack cement are now gone from the living room and the rest of the dining and balcony area are done too. Looks like everything is going at bullet pace.

Meimei's Gift Blitz

Meimei is devising a gift blitz to win over Emily. She's pulling out all her cards with this bright red tricycle.

Marble Hunt 之 Mar-nificent Vanilla Cream

Today's one of the highlights of the renovation so far, the marble dry-lay. This is the first time we will be seeing the marbles to be laid on our living, dining and balcony area. It was pretty much a leap of faith when we confirm the Vanilla Cream. We were just hoping it will turn out as beautiful as we have dreamed it will be.

We were not disappointed. It was white-ish cream with a greyish undertone. Exactly what we wanted for the flooring to suit our white / beige / greyish colour scheme. And it looks stunning in 90x90 cm cut. Perfect.

Because these tiles do not have lines, the dry-lay was simple. We just had to make sure the shades were consistent and flowing. Also to check that there were no unsightly blemishes in the tiles at the walkways. Meimei has an eye for colours and details so she was directing the workers to move slabs around. I, for my part, was like a little kid in a new playground, walking around gleefully, examining and "sayanging" the tiles heheheh. Oh I can't wait for them to start the tiling works!

A Major Leak

There are many things you don't see when buying a old flat. Areas of potential issues are usually covered by build-in furniture. Or owners may strategically place cabinets or beds to cover unsightly areas or pop-up tiles. I was mentally prepared that there will be unforeseen things we need to fix. But that said it still bothers me while we have to deal with the situation.

In our case, a bad leaking problem at the master bathroom where the water is sipping down behind build-in wardrobe. I recalled I was very cautious in checking the two bathrooms for leakage ... and still I didn't catch it. It was only when we inspect the unit a week ago with our ID that he spotted a droplet falling from the bathroom entrance beam. We immediately called Julina to schedule an appointment with HDB to review the leak. This is going to be a problem for our renovation.

So this week we hacked everything in the unit and now that the carpentry is gone we can inspect clearly the magnitude of the seepage. It looks like it has been happening for some time. The wall has gone all mouldy and soft.

The HDB officer has come to look at it yesterday and she is commented that the leak is pretty bad. Great that she acknowledged it, but cold comfort for what's to come. She's going to engage her plumber to check the upstairs unit. 

I've done some snooping online and it seems getting the upstairs neighbours to make the repairs is not an easy process. Most don't want to go through the trouble or pay for it ... it doesn't affect them anyways. So we are crossing our fingers that they would be cooperative. We'll know more next week once they have checked them.

And So It Begins

We officially started the renovation yesterday. The first step was to clear a section of the floor in the living, kitchen and bedroom to figure the depth of the as-is cement screed and how much we can drop in for the floor thickness.

It seems there is a new regulation since we last renovated our existing 303. The thickness of the cement base plus the tiling cannot be more than 5cm. We were also drilling in hopes that the flooring was thicker than expected so we can drop the height to achieve between 255-260cm ceiling height to fix up a ceiling fan in the living room. 

Sadly it wasn't to be ... The reduction in height is only about 2-3cm. As it turns out, the ceiling at 405 was lower than 303! And all these years I was under the impression that the older flats had taller ceiling.

There is huge progress in the hacking works today. A key find is that we can confirm the bedroom laminates were not overlay over original tiles. That means we don't have to redo the cement screed and thereby saving $2.2K from the ID quote. That money can now go to doing up top hung cabinets in the living room.

The whole place was already torn up when I arrive at noon to inspect the progress. They have even hack the new kitchen entrance. Tomorrow's dedicated to hauling the debris out of the unit and uplifting all the pre-pack cement and tiles. The exciting parts are likely to only come next week.

Scouting For Toto

I am on leave again, this time for the vaccination appointment at Mandai before my trip to Australia with my reservist unit. I was done with the jabs by 2pm and decided to drop by the Toto showroom at Bukit Timah. I've been trying to find other retailers but it seems W.Atelier looks to be the sole distributor for Toto in Singapore.

Toto products are known to be pricer than your average bathroom wares. Interestingly though you'll see it often at the toilets of all major shopping malls. 

LW642CJ - List Price $405

Meimei wanted the LW642CJ model of wash basin which she has been using in her office washroom. She like that it has a longer depth and is deep so water will not splash onto the clothes. I get that it is good but at $400, it is really steep for a wash basin. And we are likely to be installing this in the common bathroom since we cannot afford the protruding design in the master bathroom.

LW540J - List Price $305

For the master we are likely to go with a fully recessed basin. Although it may seem that this is more economically priced, you have to consider that the faucet for a recessed basin are typically more expensive than a basin mounted one.

LW645JN - List Price $480

If I had my way, I would go for a counter top sink. It looks classier for a master bathroom vanity counter. Meimei veto-ed it immediately when she saw it. The sink wasn't deep enough so its a no-go.

I think I might come by again when we are ready to purchase the bathroom wares. I'm excited to bring Meimei here to check out all the Toto stuff hehehe.

Needle Attack

5 jabs for our country. 2 on the left, 2 on the right and 1 right in the tummy, right beside the belly button.

Finding Baby's Treasures

Emily has a habit of putting her toys into bags. It's like a treasure hunt with unexpected finds in your bags.

16 Months - Picking Up Bad Habits

16 months and she is now picking up bad habits. We have to be more careful in how we act as she may just pick up silly gestures and movements from us. Already she likes to shrug her shoulders and she does it often. Oh and she seems to understand what we are saying, but refuses to mouth proper words. Hopefully she'll start to articulate better next month *cross fingers.

Emptying her cupboards ... everything is a toy!

Queen Amidala headwear?

Pure glee~

Getting stuck in a box

Messy breakfasts are always the most fun~!!

Catching the wind with Mami

Blum Adventure

Our ID has been chasing us to look through the design we want for the kitchen cabinets. It may look simple from the 3D drawings but the key is making the cabinets useful in line with our lifestyle.

There are many regrets with our existing kitchen cabinets. Sections where it is too deep and we couldn't reach in to grab the bottles of sauces and condiments. A pantry which is on the upper shelf blocked by a breakfast counter. A corner door mechanism that doesn't really work and closes weirdly. Many many examples to fuel our experience and what not to have in the new place.

So it's with this mindset that I insist we make a trip to Blum. I wanted to see what all the hype is about and also see if we can steal some ideas for our kitchen. They have showflat kitchens so that really helps in visualising the different sections of space.

Sauce drawers beside the stove. Meimei list this down as a definite must have. And I have to agree, it's just so convenient. And below that we can put the cooking oil and other miscellaneous cooking accessories.

Multi-tier long drawers for the cutleries and plates. Yes, we are replacing a set of casement doors with this for sure.

Half depth drawers below the sink to keep the washing accessories. Hmm I'm undecided about this one. We would lose some of the space at the deeper end. And imagine the hassle of trying to remove the drawer to make repairs on a leaking sink. I might just opt for a casement door section for the sink.

Another must-have. Very useful to house pots and pans below the stove. The pull out drawer makes it easy to reach them unlike the normal casement where you have to squat down to reach your desired pan.

All in all it was a very fruitful trip. We learned a couple of new ideas for the kitchen. I think the only stumbling block to getting our dream kitchen would be the cost. I'm gonna have to work out how much all these extra Movento runners for drawers are going to set us back on the budget.