Leveling The Kitchen

I arrived today to find the kitchen floor levelling in progress. Per HDB regulations, contractors have to use light weight blocks to fill up the floor before they can fill it up with cement. This helps to reduce the weight load on the structure.

When I returned again at night after sending Mama home, the cement screed was already complete. This is the beauty of coming regularly, you get to see what really goes on in a renovation, the before and after.

But I must say its a luxury that most people don't since they don't always work near to their home. I know we couldn't do the same with our first home.

The wall extension at the master bathroom is also completed. I'm finding the entrance a little narrow though. Or maybe its a visual thing since its all dark and muddy right now. Hopefully it will turn out looking like a five-star hotel bathroom!

Wet Works Starts ... Again

I'm certainly delighted that renovation works has started again. It's always exciting to see new things get done.

The first new thing that greeted me was the kitchen door where the tiler has 'make-good' the edges around the entrance.

In the short span of morning, the tilers have already hacked the original bathroom wall and have started on constructing the new extension walls.

When I returned again in the evening, they have already laid down the first layer of water proofing for the kitchen.

I'm glad I try to come everyday as I can catch a glimpse of what is really done in the renovation. These are things you will not be able to see once they lay on the rest of the cement and tiles.

Famous Muah Chee

There is only one you ever need to try. Hougang 6 Mile Muah Chee at HDB Hub Toa Payoh.

Finishing The Marble

With the permits approved it's all systems go. The marble team is back today to finish off the balcony and fill the grouting with beige coloured cement.

I was there during lunch and confirmed with the tiler that we had about 6-7 full slabs of marble left. I immediately called Alex to ask the team to use the remaining ones for the storeroom. No sense in letting the marbles go to waste. I doubt Mondo will entertain the return of a couple of pieces ... they are unlikely to be able to sell them.

When I returned later in the evening, it was all completed. It's all looking good. The next step would be to wait for Norman and Alex to organise the polishing and completing the marble skirting. I love how the place is coming together, especially the marble.

Back In The Game

Phew! HDB has finally approved all the remaining permits!

We have already stopped for about a week and a half. I was fearing the workers have gone on to commit to other projects and will not be available to continue. Thankfully Norman updated that Alex's marble tilers will be back tomorrow to finish up the rest of the marble flooring at the balcony. His workers will progressively come to finish the rest of the areas too.

If you are wondering why HDB is taking so long for permits, let me list down some of the renovation works we are doing which required approvals from the authorities.

1) Levelling the Balcony floor - This looks simple enough. The ex-owner had the place levelled too. I supposed if we hadn't hack the floor there wasn't any extra permits we need. But since we are changing to marble, it has to go through the process all over again.

2) Levelling the Kitchen floor - Most old HDB flats have a slight descent at the kitchen. You are unlikely to find this in the newer ones as they are now more elderly / wheelchair friendly. To maintain a smooth flow into the kitchen it made sense to level it. Plus if we have grandma coming over to stay it really helps .. she is after all close to 90.

3) Levelling the Common Bathroom - Again it helps that we can level the common bathroom. We don't have go down a sharp 5-6cm descent when we want to use the wash basin.

4) Hacking and Erecting Master Bathroom Extension - The master bathroom is simply too small to squeeze in a wash basin, especially when we are craving out a section for a shower screen. The best option was to move the wash basin out into the master bedroom while constructing extension walls to keep it enclosed.

I think most of the delays has to do with the weight consideration. 405 is after all a 36 year old flat, which may not have been made to withstand excessive weight loading. I get that ... except I didn't like that it took so long for the permits to be approved. Whatever we are doing isn't anything out of the ordinary. You are likely to find the same renovation details in other point blocks. Oh well, enough grumbling ... at least they approved it. 

Now to worry about how to solve the rejection on the kitchen exhaust ;-P

Flooding The Neighbours

When our HDB officer spoke with the upstairs neighbours a week and a half ago, the feedback she got from the wife is that she prefers to wait for the bathroom upgrading via the HDB Home Improvement Programme (HIP).

HIP has been announced for this cluster last August. The voting begins in Q1 2017 and renovations likely to commence only in early 2018. This means it will be another 2 years before the bathroom upgrading is done, assuming the vote is successful. Plus the bathroom upgrades are an add-on, not the essential items.

This makes the suggestion to wait till HIP sound completely ridiculous. Is she crazy? We can't tile the area as the cement is popping up and if we did, it would be a serious safety issue. And what were we supposed to do? Put a bucket there in the middle of the bathroom for 2 years to catch the drips? ...

Furthermore, she didn't believe her bathroom was leaking as it was dry when the HDB officer and plumber visited her unit. Because of that, HDB is flooding them today to test if the leak is truly coming from their place. Good! This lady needs to wake up!

When I arrived at our unit in the morning (I was late and gave them the number lock combination so they could come in), I was surprised to find 5 persons in the place. One of them was the HDB officer, the husband and wife of the upstairs neighbour were here and they brought another couple too. What is this? Were they trying to outnumber me? They must have thought there was no leak and simply dark patches in the ceiling and attempting to convince me. I look at the wife and she looks like those bossy loony office aunty. Yuck!

Anyways, the HDB officer updated me later that they first came into the unit to survey the leak. There was only a droplet on the ceiling and the drip was very slow (about a minute a drop). But after the flooding (above picture of my neighbour's flooded master bathroom), the dripping became quicker at 10-15 seconds a drop. It essentially confirms that they were the culprit. But because the flooding was for a standard 4 hours, we were to come back again at 1.30pm in the afternoon.

I took the time to run some errands like setting up the conservancy charges giro. When I was back at lunch, the dripping is still going on pretty rapidly. The wet parts on the cement has also extended downwards. Haiz I would think this definitely classifies as a major leak.

Thankfully the outcome was rather cordial. I was already dreading having to be firm with the neighbours should they come back with nonsensical suggestions, like waiting for HIP. I couldn't go barking on them since they are after all the upstairs neighbours and makes no sense in destroying any neighbourly relationship.

The HDB officer came back, but this time with only the husband in toll. And they immediately offered that they are going to apply for the Goodwill Repair Program (GRP) for the repairs. Meaning they are going to engage contractors to hack the bathroom, relay the waterproofing and tiles for both bathrooms. We would each need to fork out about $300 for the repairs.

Ok, not the most ideal situation but at least they are now willing to hack. I suppose they are out of options too since it was evident to everyone the ceiling was leaking. So no matter what they were going to have to hack to repair. Now the tough part for us is having to wait for the GRP which will take around one to one and half months. Then another couple of week to schedule the actual repairs.

We need to circle back with Norman to see how we can manage this. Maybe not work on that portion first? Sigh ... 

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!!