Ergonomics Table & Chair for My Boy

We finally bought a set of ergonomics table and chair for our boy. It isn't branded stuff like Scool or Ergoworks but they're rather affordable, and there's other buyers who recommended the shop on various online media, so I thought we would give it a try. 

We bought from Take A Seat (http://takeaseat.sg/) via Qoo10 during group buy and during the promotion period that we could use a $50 cart coupon, so I considered the purchase a steal! I paid $378 for the set. :-)

We opted for self collection and the seller was kind to push the items down using their trolley and help us to load them into our car (not many companies would do that for you), thumbs up! We found a minor defect on one of the table legs and seller did an exchange for us without any question, just showed him the said defect would do, another thumbs up! In fact, the service was fantastic that my hubby, son and I were so delighted about their service but I won't go into greater details, hee... 

Based on price and service, I would recommend this shop. It seems cheaper to purchase from Qoo10, especially when there's coupons and Qoo10 points that you could use, which helped to save quite a bit. As for the quality and effectiveness (in terms of the good of using ergonomics versus non-ergonomics), I can comment much later on after my boy starts to use it for a period of time. 

Baron WC 888

As I shared previously, I had bought Baron WC 888. I read some comments from online media that the flushing was not that powerful. My personal experience was that the flushing was indeed not that powerful if you used the "light mode" (refers to the one that people normally used for flushing urine) if I were to press the flush button and let it go immediately. If I pressed and held on to it until I could hear all the water almost flushing out, and let go, then the flushing seemed to be stronger. Anyway, kind of common for weaker flushing due to the "number of ticks" system implemented by NEA, isn't it? As for flushing away poo using the "full mode", we don't have any problem yet, even if it's flushed by my 9 years old boy. 

Overall, I'm quite happy with this WC. Well, except for a tiny problem, some water seems to be trapped at the side as there's some kind of sunken profile there but it's nothing major, I would say.

Our Air Con Installation

Our new air cons piping was installed on on 17 Jun .The FCUs and compressor were supposed to be installed on 25 Jun but we had to postpone it as the FCU in MBR was supposed to be installed on this wall... 

Who caused this problem? Was it the electrician when he was removing the old wiring casing or was it the air con guy when he was drilling the hole where the fan coil was supposed to be installed? Anyway, we were not able to pin point the culprit and no point finding out whose fault is it, not as though the party at fault would make good... A good example is our ID himself, who isn't going to make good our bedroom doors that his guys had destroyed, which we are pretty sure about this as his contractors were the only ones who dismantled the doors when they were hacking the laminated flooring and laying of new floor tiles in the bedrooms. No one else has touched our bedroom doors! How irresponsible our ID is, right? Want to know who is our ID and the company name? Well, you're welcomed to email me at bunnybluey@yahoo(dot)com(dot)sg and I'll be glad to share more details with you!

We told our ID to get someone to repair it and we'll just pay for it, just like we're going to pay for new bedroom doors, hiaz... What exactly happened to the doors? Well, the bottom of the doors was bloated, probably soaked in some wet works or stuff as the contractors just anyhow chucked our doors. We should have taken photo of the doors when we saw them chucked in a corner of the bedrooms where hacking, cement, tiling works were done, and cautioned him that he would have to make good if our doors got spoilt but isn't he the PM whose supposed to oversee the whole renovation and prevent such thing from happening in the first place? We can only blame ourselves for trusting him too much, yes, indeed, we trusted him to give us sound advice and ensure that our renovation is in good hand, and our trust was taken for granted!

Sorry for deviating out of topic, need a venue to rant, haha... Coming back... the wall was repaired, yay!

We managed to arrange for the air cons to be installed on 9 Jul. This guy was the main installer of our FCUs and compressor that day. They are a team of 3 and this guy's brother is the boss of the installation company. They do installation mainly for the company that we bought our Starmex. Well, at least, they bother to take care of our carpentry by laying cardboard on it and also, sweep the area/room after they finished the installation, very very rare of a contractor who would clean up their mess!

Oh yay! We tested the air con in one of the bedrooms that very night, cold!!!

Now, here's to share some details. We engaged Harvest Aire to provide and install the air cons. It was recommended by a friend and she shared with me that she did not encounter any problem with the air cons after they had been installed for coming to 2 years, so it means installation wise should be fine, we pray that our installation will be fine too. Price wise, their quote was cheaper than the few air con installers you could find on Renotalk forum. Materials wise, we had requested for the better quality ones, e.g. G22 copper piping, 1/2 inch Armaflex Class '0' insulation, etc. Our experience with Harvest Aire wasn't that good in the beginning but we cleared our misunderstanding, and subsequently, we didn't really face any major issue with them. They would call the day before to reconfirm the installation and arrange timing with you, just that they may be late if you're not the first installation of the day as they may be held up at the earlier customer's house. Installation had been smooth and installers were friendly chaps. Well, at least, they were friendly to us as we bought them lunch and drinks when they came to install the piping, hee... "bribe" them to do a better job for us. :-)

Heritage Bathroom Gallery Delivery & Post Sales Service

If you haven't read my earlier post on Heritage Bathroom Gallery, please read here. This post is in a way, a continuation from the previous post. This post would focus on the delivery and post sales service provided by Sharrine/Heritage Bathroom Gallery.

Delivery
We arranged a delivery date with Sharrine. She was unable to promise that our items would be delivered within certain timing, so I called up on the day before the delivery date to confirm on the timing. Sharrine was not in but the staff who took my call told me that he would get his delivery man to call me when he's back from delivery. Later that day, the delivery man called me, so we managed to arrange a mutual timing and he delivered within the time agreed on the next day. However, not all items were delivered as the WCs were to be delivered separately and another delivery person would be delivering the Grohe Eurosmart bundle sets. We told him that we would go to the shop to make payment once we received all items. Shortly, Sharrine called us as they have concerns about payment, so I told her not all items had been delivered. She did not know about a third trip by another delivery person, so upon checking, she told us that the supplier forgot to deliver the Grohe Eurosmart bundle sets to them beforehand, so they're delivering the sets to us directly but could not confirm the timing when we asked. While she was checking on the third trip, we received the Baron WCs, which were delivered directly by Baron. We told her we could go to their shop before they close to make payment but could only do so after all items had been delivered, so we asked if her supplier could deliver the sets to them, which we'll then collect from her and make payment at the same time. Later that night, which was quite close to their shop closing time, Sharrine messaged me if we would be paying the next day, which I replied saying yes, so long the sets were ready for collection, and then she replied they were already ready. Hubby went down the next day to collect the sets and make payment.

+ points: 

1. The staff who took my call did pass the message to the delivery man.
2. The delivery man called me, arranged a timing with me and delivered within the timing agreed.
3. Sharrine/Heritage did arrange with Baron to deliver the WCs after 2pm as per my request.
4. Sharrine/Heritage was flexible enough to get their supplier to deliver the Grohe Eurosmart bundle sets to them so that we don't have to wait endlessly at home. I was sick, so was really glad that I could go and see my GP after Baron had delivered the WCs. 

- point:

1. They did not contact me when the sets were delivered to them until later that night. Well, we were not in a hurry and not worried since we had not yet paid the balance, which was far more than what the sets cost.

A little out of topic here but thought I mentioned my curiousity here... if the delivery of Baron WCs is made by Baron themselves, why is Best Toilet Bowl charging additional for delivering of sanitary wares, particularly for Baron WCs that I enquired? The WCs are so heavy that Baron has to send 2 guys to deliver them, so probably that's why Baron is delivering themselves and not the retailer's delivery guy, so does it mean that Baron is charging their retailers for delivery when the retailers are helping them to sell their products? Heritage didn't charge me any extra for delivering of sanitary wares. 

Incident #1 - within first week of installation

After our things were installed and we did an inspection, we found that 1 of the mirrors had a manufacturing defect, so hubby took a photo and sent it to Sharrine to confirm. The LED bulbs for the 2 lights that we bought for the kids' room were supposed to be white light but they turned out to be warm light. The mirror was replaced with a new one and the bulbs were exchanged to white light.

Incident #2 - within 2 weeks of installation

After about 2 weeks of using the Samaire fans, we noticed that the fans were producing some noise, which was kind of irritating. The sound for both fans was different, one seems like it has a loosen screw in the fan as it kept producing "tik tik tok tok" sound while the other has a "tsk tsk" sound. The sound was only more noticeable when the fans were on medium speed. We informed Sharrine and she helped us to call Samaire, providing our invoice to them, and Samaire contacted me shortly to arrange for an appointment to check the fans.

For both incidents, Sharrine helped us to look into our issues and did what she could. She didn't ignore us just because the purchase was already completed with payment fully made. I'm not sure if it's due to the Lemon Law but at least, she did help us and did not take 3 weeks to get back to us, unlike another contractor who did so and also did not pre-arrange an appointment at least a day beforehand, well, this shall be left for another post on another day.

Would I recommend Sharrine/Heritage? Well, conclusion is pretty obvious, isn't it? Look for Sharrine if you're going to Heritage. Other salespersons may be equally good but I can't really comment much since I don't have much dealing with them except that they helped to follow-up when Sharrine is not around and one of the guys (I don't know his name, can only recognise his face) was really nice to offer my son a drumstick, some fries and soft drink during our first visit when the staff was having their late lunch.

Heritage Bathroom Gallery @ Geylang

Heritage Bathroom Gallery, a place where we spent 4+k! Why did we choose to buy from Heritage? What did we buy? Whom did we deal with? How's our experience with them?

Why Heritage Bathroom Gallery?
I read from several forums that Heritage offers rather competitive pricing, so we decided to drop by the place and take a look. We were greeted by Sharrine, whom we felt friendly and approachable. As it was a weekday, she was able to accompany us throughout and showing or recommending products to us. They sell a wide range of products although not all products are displayed in the shop due to space constraint, so just ask them if they sell a particular product or brand. We did not purchase on the spot as we did not bring out our full shopping list. However, we were more or less decided to buy from Heritage as prior to visiting Heritage, we had visited Best Toilet Bowl at Yeley Building (same shop as KS Lighting & Electrical), Bathroom Warehouse, both Bukit Merah and Changi showrooms, and Hoe Kee at Kaki Bukit, and the experience from visiting these shops wasn't as great as compared to visiting Heritage, as shared below.

Best Toilet Bowl - We visited them as we were actually there to get a quotation for electrical rewiring works under KS Lighting & Electrical, and since they also sell a variety of products, we decided to take a look. One thing that I do not like is that they charge extra for delivering of sanitary wares even if you meet the minimum amount of purchase for free delivery. When I asked if there's any discount from the price tag, I was told that it's already the best price as their price is already quite competitive (not really, imo).

Bathroom Warehouse - I first visited Bukit Merah showroom, alone. As a lady, I don't know much about sanitary wares and toilet stuff, so I approached a guy, who happened to be the manager, for help. He's friendly and approachable, and taught me a lot of things. Some of the things that he shared, which I could still remember:

1. When buying a WC, you need to know the distance between the wall and floor trap.
2. Choosing a one-piece WC, e.g. Baron 888, is better than a two-piece WC, as it is easier to clean. 
3. If you're planning to get a Baron WC, only the 888 model is installed with Gerbreit flushing system; other models are installed with their own flushing system.
4. To maintain the shiny look of a WC, do not use any toilet washing detergent, just water will do. The shine will slowly fade off if you use detergent to wash it frequently.
5. When choosing a tap/mixer, put 2 fingers in front of the tap/mixer, which is usually the distance from the tap/mixer to the edge of the basin/sink. This is to assess if your hands would be too close to the basin/sink during washing.
6. There is no 100% stainless steel product for bathroom stuff, so stainless steel product will still rust.
7. To maintain chrome products, always rinse off any shampoo, body wash, etc so as not to let the chemicals in these products settle on the chrome.

I told hubby that it was a pleasant experience to visit Bathroom Warehouse, so he suggested that we tried the other showroom as it was supposedly to be bigger. I was really tempted to buy the Baron 888 WC with a free basin priced at $488, thinking that it's a pretty good offer. However, we only need a WC and basin package, and another WC as we do not plan to change the vanity top in MBR toilet. We asked for the price if we were to buy just the WC and were told that it would be the same even if we don't need the basin. When we probed further, the staff told us that she could only offer 2 sets of Baron bidet. Again, we only have bidet installed in common toilet, so why do we need 2 sets? Since they were not flexible with their promotion/package/pricing, we decided not to make any purchase as we believed we could always find better promotion elsewhere, especially with GSS coming then (it was back in May then). Well, luckily we didn't buy from them as the deal from Heritage was better. :-)

Hoe Kee - I don't quite like Hoe Kee as they have limited choices for WC, mainly is Roz. When I asked about Rinnai hob, the salesman tried to dissuade me from getting Rinnai and recommend another brand instead. He also kept pushing us to put a deposit if we're keen to purchase an item, unfortunately, we didn't like to be pushed in this manner.

Our Shopping List
1x Baron 888 WC with Basin as a package
1x Baron 888 WC
2x Grohe Eurosmart New Shower Bundle Set (includes basin mixer, bath mixer & shower rail set)
1x Grohe Sink Mixer 
1x Joven 35l Heater
1x Rinnai 3Si Hob
2x Toilet Accessories (paper holder, towel bar, 2-tier glass shelf & mirror)
1x Door Bell
1x Bidet
2x Samaire SA493 Fan
8x Lights
*They expanded their business to sell lights and fans as well under Heritage Lighting Gallery.

The Baron 888 WC with Basin as a package was cheaper than the offer by Bathroom Warehouse, more than $50 difference. The pricing for the Grohe Eurosmart bundle set was further reduced from Grohe's promotion price, so meaning it's cheaper than Hoe Kee's selling price. Sharrine also matched the price for Grohe sink mixer and Joven heater that I found elsewhere. There was also price reduction for items here and there. Overall, we spent ~4.2k for the above mentioned items plus some small things like pan collars and exposed brackets. It was a happy deal with Sharrine.

Our "Dealer"

Sharrine is quite popular. When we went back the second time to place order, on a weekend evening, she was serving a couple and another couple was waiting for her. Subsequently when we tried to contact her on weekends, she was often busy attending to customers, but she would follow-up with our queries, with a bit of reminders though... Nonetheless, we did get our issues resolved with her help. At least, she would look into our queries or issues, and try to help us to resolve them, so she does provide post-sales service. Well, if you're expecting immediate reply or wait endlessly for them to call you back, then it isn't going to happen. It's common with many retailers and contractors, you only get a reply after a few phone calls or messages to check with them. If you proactively check with them, the chances of getting your issues resolved are higher, of course. In the next post, I would share more about our experiences trying to get our issues resolved, stay tuned!

Would I Recommend Our Electrician? Yes!

We did rewiring of our 5 rooms flat, except for our bomb shelter aka storeroom as we cleared our stuff from the main living area and chucked them into it till no room to enter, lol! Interestingly, we learnt that the DB installed in the bomb shelter is actually connected to the main DB in our house, and the main DB is connected to the DB (not sure if it's also called DB) outside our house along the common corridor. What this means is if war really breaks out in Singapore and we have to hide in the bomb shelter, we would still not have any electricity if the block is bombed, leaving only columns of bomb shelter standing, because the main DB and/or the DB at the corridor will be gone as well, hmm... Anyway, I'm not really sure if our HDB flat bomb shelter is really that hardened if you have seen a real hardened facility.

As posted here, we have gotten our own electrician. I decided to come out with the following plan/layout to run through with our electrician as we can't really depend on our ID. Speaking about our ID, it's a long story, which we'll share it later, hiaz... Let's come back to electrical part first, so what do you think of the plan/layout that I did, not bad, right?

We spent ~3k for the whole house rewiring, not including any cost for SPSL Testing. Overall, our electrician is not too bad. He's often the first contractor to appear at our house to do his work and he's one of the punctual guys who appeared at the arranged timing, plus minus a bit of 5 to 10 minutes, which I think is reasonable as traffic on the road can be unpredictable. He also called my hubby to check if everything was okay even after we had fully paid him.

Here's his price that he quoted us for our house wiring. If you think his price is reasonable and you would like to engage him, feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me at bunnybluey@yahoo(dot)com(dot)sg. However, I cannot guarantee that he'll quote you the same price as it may also depend on the amount of work that you need him to do, e.g. if you only need him to install 1 or 2 points as some contractors may also quote transport cost on top of installation cost if it's minor work. Another disclaimer to make, I'm not sure if he would take up minor work as I know he's rather busy with several installation projects going on.

2 Gang (or what we call double gang) 13A power socket - $60

Lighting Point - $35

SCV Point - $120

Heater Point (for storage heater) - $100

Cooker Hood Point - $60

Door Bell Point - $50

Install Light - $10

Install Fan - $50

*Price is per point/light/fan.

Rinnai 3Si Hob, Another Great Buy!!!

I did some research on the Internet and many people had recommended Rinnai hobs, particularly those with the inner burners. After discussion with hubby, we decided to go for a Rinnai hob and choose a stainless steel model instead of the glass top ones, with inner burners. As a SAHM, I do cook quite a bit for my family using traditional wok (except during this period when renovation is still on-going), so we have concerns about the durability of a glass top, especially if we forget not to put any hot pot directly on the glass top. Afterall, both of us are getting old, haha... Also, the stainless one goes better with our pocket, hee...

3Si is the only stainless steel model with inner burners, at least that's what we saw on Rinnai website, so we didn't have to headache over whether to get the 2 or 3 burners. We tested to see how small the fire can go and were really impressed with it as our previous hob wasn't able to have such a small fire. The fire can go smaller than what you see on the photo, just that I took the photo with slightly bigger fire so that people can see the burning flame.

At this point of time, I cannot say if this hob or inner burner technology is good as I have not yet really started to use it. So far, we only used it to boil water as kitchen is still "down". Perhaps, I would share my review later, probably some time 6 months down the road.

We bought the hob from Heritage Bathroom Gallery with Sharrine Yeo. She wasn't able to match the lowest quote that I got for the hob, which was a $15 difference, but she gave us further discount on other items that she's able to "slash" the price. As her explanation, recommendation and service were good, we decided to just buy the hob from her. It would be easier for us to arrange delivery if we were to just buy from one party. The savings from buying from another source may not justify the time that we have to wait at home for the delivery to be made, especially the delivery was done during the renovation period that we did not stay in the house.

Hope readers who have read my blog so far have gained some knowledge on the things that I had shared regarding my renovation journey and have helped you on your renovation journey if you're currently embarking on it. Upcoming posts... just to mention a few, in no particular order as I have not yet decided what to write next - review on Heritage Bathroom Gallery, Baron WC 888, air-con installer, electrician...

Update - 16 Jul:
If you have just bought a Rinnai hob and having difficulty to turn on the flame, you can read the following tips shared by http://renovation-greencoal.blogspot.sg/2008/05/using-rinnai-inner-flame-burner-hob_6584.html.

1 - Push down the burner flame knob and gently turn anti-clockwise until you reach resistance i.e. you feel the knob cannot be turned further. That resistance signals the "end" of the knob-turn but do not let go of the knob yet, continuing to pushing it down.

2 - As you continue to push the knob down, turn a bit more anti-clockwise until you meet resistance again. At that point you then turn back the knob in a clockwise direction until you hear a "click" sound. That' a "locking" indication you've turned on the fire successfully.

My Kraus Sink, I love it!!!

If you had read my previous post, you would know that I had spree a Kraus Sink from Amazon US. It's Kraus 32 Inch 16 Gauge Undermount Single Bowl Stainless Steel Sink, KHU100-32. I managed to ship it to SG with shipping charges waived, thanks to tips shared by fellow Kraus sink owners who posted on Renotalk forum. 

The sink was installed recently, matched with a Grohe faucet. Well, I certainly love how big and deep it is! It looks gorgeous. Whether it'll be long lasting, I can't share with you now for sure, as it's been installed for barely a week. For the price that I paid, which was less than SGD450, I certainly think it's a good buy considering the quality, which you may not get similar quality at similar pricing in SG.

How to get shipping charges waived? Well, you have to write some kind of "grandmother story" to convince the CSO. For me, I had been spreeing a number of times from Amazon US since 2007, so they considered me as a valuable customer and offered me free shipping as an one time exception. Get creative and good luck to you if you're keen to get one of these sinks! 

It's been more than a month!

Oh wow, I have not been blogging for entire June about my renovation journey since my renovation works kicked start on 30 May! Well, we moved out temporary to my in-laws place to stay during the June school holidays. The internet connection there isn't that fast as compared to our house and not convenient to stay up late since it's not our home afterall.

The renovation journey has been kind of roller coaster for us... tiring, thrilling, hectic, traumatise, horror, etc... Good news is that we have moved back home on 26 June, just before school re-opens. Bad news is that the renovation isn't fully completed yet and there's been several hiccups along the way, which I would blog about the bad stuff later after I'm done deal with all the contractors that I'm not happy with, even my hubby who is easy going, mild or no temper person, would agree with me wholeheartedly!

I'll be blogging at a slower pace since renovation works hasn't completed and I'm also doing some freelance audit assignments, which will keep me busy for quite a while. Meanwhile, watch out for my updates!

A No Word Posting

Choosing The Electrician

Our ID didn't include quotation for electrical and plumbing works as he told us that he could recommend his electrician and plumber to us but we pay them directly should we decide to engage their service. We thought no harm getting a quotation from them first, so the ID brought his electrician for a site survey because we have a false ceiling, which may pose a problem when doing electrical rewiring. At first, he said it could not be done but after my ID prompted him, he replied okay. 

The quote came back with a total price of $4,662, and this price does not include any PUB testing. A 13A single and double socket outlets cost $70 and $80 respectively, installation of a lighting point is $45 and a cooker hood point costs $120. The most ridiculous price was for the cooker hood point as the market rate is about $60!!! Seriously, double the market rate? I didn't bother to think twice and drop this electrician/company immediately as I find myself being chopped like a carrot. 

Next, we got a quotation from KS Electrical at $3,163. The staff who quoted us, not the electrician, told us that we have to remove the false ceiling in order to do rewiring. A 13A single and double socket outlets cost $45 and $60 respectively, installation of a lighting point is $35 and a cooker hood point costs $60. When I asked if can do a site survey, she replied that there would be a $40 charge, if I were to sign up with them after the site survey, the $40 will be taken as deposits. Also, the quote comes with standard package with 15A socket for air-con & never quote upgrade to 20A isolator despite us telling the staff. We were also told that we have to shift our DB box down as that's new HDB regulation but it's not true, only so if you need to get PUB testing. We were also told that we need to change the wiring from our DB to the main outside but other electricians said no need. After hearing from other electricians, we decided to drop KS Electrical as we were quite skeptical about what we were being told.

My hubby got his cousin to recommend an electrician who does electrical works for HDB residential flat. At first, he said site survey was not necessary, asked my hubby to take photos of the false ceiling and whatapps the photos to him. After seeing the photos, he arranged with my hubby for a site survey. He told us that it's possible if we really want to do electrical rewiring with the false ceiling intact it but he needs to open 3-4 ~450mm by 450mm holes to access to the top of the false ceiling, which our ID would have to patch them back. He may not be able to remove old wirings/pvc casings in the false ceiling & not possible to fix new pvc casings, so he would have to use conduits instead to run through the false ceiling.

After weighing the pros and cons of keeping the false ceiling, we decided that it's time to have a change! We'll remove the false ceiling. Overall, we would spend lesser as compared to keeping it. We also decided to get the electrician recommended by hubby's cousin. His quote for a 13A double socket outlets cost $60, we didn't ask for single socket outlet as the price difference between a single and a double is about $10-$15. Installation of a lighting point is $35 and a cooker hood point costs $60. For these few items, they cost the same as KS Electrical but I guessed speaking to the electrician and a sales staff make a difference when you were clarifying your doubts with them. After making some adjustments, the cost of rewiring our 5 room flats is close to 3.2k.

Scope of Work for House Renovation

I met my secondary school pals recently for dinner and I was late for our appointment as I was still in a shop finalising the list of things to purchase and the pricing. When I reached the restaurant, they asked me why I'm doing renovation and the extent of the renovation works. Well, it's coming to 16 years and it's already quite amazing for things to last that long since things nowadays are not made to last, haha... 

In a nutshell, we have engaged ID/contractors to do the followings:

Whole House

• Electrical rewiring
• Paint ceiling, walls, bedrooms and bomb shelter doors, partition cabinet in living room and water/sewage pipings
• Install new windows and window grilles except for the toilets, and also install in the balcony area, which is currently installed with wrought iron grille
• Install new air cons for living room and all bedrooms

Living Room

• Remove existing doors between balcony and living room, lay new floor tiles and level up balcony area with living room, and box up the water pipe
• Install shoe cabinet with sitting bench at the door entrance area

All Bedrooms

• Lay new floor tiles to replace existing laminated flooring
• Install built-in wardrobe with sliding door and pull out mirror
• Install cupboard
• Install platform with storage

Kitchen

• Install new kitchen cabinets, with pull out drawers where possible
• Change the location of washing machine
• Install new sink and hob (not replacing existing hood as it was bought not too long ago)

Toilets

• Install new doors 
• Install new WCs, basin, shower mixer/bracket/head set, toilet accessories

Our considerations:

Electrical Rewiring - Since we have already been staying in our current house for coming to 16 years and our flat was actually ready at least 1 year before (we choose leftover unit), some of the electrical wires that HDB first installed were at least 17 years. We are likely to stay here for at least another 8 years, so it's time to change the existing electrical wiring. A friend told us to do it since we're going to do a major renovation, suggestion accepted!

Air Con - Our existing air cons, Mc Quay brand, have been performing well although it's not a well known brand. This brand is no longer available in Singapore but it's still selling in Malaysia. In recent months, the compressor started to get quite noisy. When we asked our servicing guy, he said there's nothing much that can be done and no point doing any repair. It's already long lasting enough, so either continue to use or change new air cons.

Laminated Flooring - It's just not as lasting as tiles. In the bedroom that my mum used to occupy, there's scratches due to dragging of furniture and even a small hole. The skirting for all the bedrooms, particularly noticeable at the bending, starts to "peel" off. Well, at least it lasted for 16 years, it's time to "retire" them. It serves its purposes when we first considered installing laminated flooring for bedrooms. It's not that cold when you step on it when air con is turned on for some time. Also, the impact when your child falls from the bed, it isn't as hard and painful as compared to tiles. This point was personally tested by my hubby! He was carrying our boy (baby then) on his laps at the edge of the bed, then he dozed off. I went in the room to check on hubby and baby as they were too quiet and I got a shock when I saw ah boy on the floor! Apparently, my hubby let go of him when he dozed off and baby fell on to the floor but he didn't cry at all. I also didn't hear any loud bang sound when baby landed on the floor. I supposed the "cushioning" under the laminated flooring helps to "break" the fall.

Wardrobes and Cupboards in Bedrooms - Well, we can't redo the flooring without removing existing ones. Anyway, the existing ones also start to show signs of "ageing", particularly the wardrobe in our bedroom, anyway that's the only built-in wardrobe now. The doors are no longer closing properly and the internal carcass often has yellowish spots (that's the problem when it's left white). The cupboards in the study room (eventually will be ah boy's room) are actually still okay except for the white internal carcass, then like I said, cannot redo flooring without removing them.

Platform with Storage - We started to think of renovation is to have more storage, besides that things are falling apart. It used to be enough when it's just 2 of us but with 2 kids, I find myself keep throwing away my things just to house kids' stuff! Hence, we're building a platform with storage in it and we just put a mattress on it, so it becomes our platform bed.

Kitchen Cabinets - Since I'm now a SAHM, I cook and bake more, so I'm buying more kitchen gadgets like my Rowenta oven, KA mixer, double boiler, etc. I need more kitchen top to put them and also more storage to put the cooking and baking stuff. As my current kitchen cabinets are using shelves, I find it's a bit tedious to take the things that are tucked further in, so I put in my requirement that I want drawers where possible.

Kitchen Island - It's not really an island as one side of it will be connected to the kitchen cabinets. This serves as a dining area for us and also gives me more preparation work space when I need to prepare for cooking or baking.

Sink - My current sink is a double bowl and it's not that deep, so now I bought a single deeper bowl so that I can "dump" more things inside if I'm cooking a storm or bake.

Does it sound like we're going to do a lot of renovation works and they're going to cost us a bomb? Well, I'm capping the budget at 70k for the entire renovation works, including buying some furnitures/furnishings. So far, glad to say that we're still within budget. :-)

Air Con Installer - Part 5

This should be the last part of my "Air Con Installer" series posting. It would be about the company that we had "re-awarded" our installation job. I would not name the company yet since works have not yet started, so I would just call it HA.

I only started to look into HA seriously after SC disappointed me. A friend introduced it to me much earlier on but I didn't really look into it as I could not find the company name when I googled it previously. When I was researching on the Internet again, I came across a rather familiar name but the company's name was spelt slightly off from the contact that my friend gave to me, with an additional letter "e" in one of the words. Hence, I decided to give it a try and whatsapp the person. I asked him if he's still in the aircon business and still with the same company. Well, he replied yes, so my friend's contact and the one I came across online were actually referring to the same company. 

Therefore, I asked him to give me a quote based on my specifications. When I saw the amount quoted, I could not believe it and asked "are you sure this is the price?" and told him that his quote was the lowest so far. He asked me if most of my quotes where somewhere just slightly under 4k or above 4k, so apparently he knows his competitors' rate, haha... He told me that they are having promotion and that's why they can quote such a price. While I'm aware that All Best or Best Tech could provide a very attractive quote, I didn't approach them to quote as I read many bad reviews about them.

Subsequently, I also asked him if he's able to do three trips at no extra cost, which he replied that it can be arranged but they would have to bring back all the old aircon stuff and I told him that I expected the installer would bring them back. If you're not aware, the old aircon stuff could be sold off for a bit of money. He said that this is to help them to recover the cost for making another trip.

A site survey was arranged to discuss about the piping route, especially we have concerns for the one that's going to be installed in the living room. Well, he may be a sales executive but he knows his stuff. He told us that the best route for the living room unit, is to install the piping through our master bedroom (MBR) toilet. Now, he's the second installer who told us this besides the one from NC. It is the shortest route with minimal bendings, so it can cool down the room faster. When NC told my hubby previously about this route, I was kind of skeptical. Toilet will have moisture and we bathe there, will there be condensation problem??? Hence, after probing this guy from HA, he told us that we have to avoid bathing in MBR toilet when the aircon is on... He explained that when aircon is on, the gas (coolant) pumped through the copper pipes is cold and when we bathe, the hot water would heat up the toilet. It's not good to have hot and cold in the same area at the same time as it would cause condensation. Now, this will pose a great challenge for me!!! Sometimes I bathe after my kids are asleep, don't tell me that I have to bring my toiletries to go to common toilet to bathe. If not, I have to off the aircon and let my kids "suana" in long wears with the fan on but it's not good that they perspire during the "suana" and cool down again in aircon environment, hot and cold don't go well for kids too! 

Well, after much discussion, we decided to install the living room unit on an alternate location. It would take a longer time to cool the room as the copper piping route is longer but still within 15m and it goes through more bendings. However, the drainage pipe is still short as it will be routed to my balcony's floor trap. We're hacking away our sliding doors and convert the balcony as part of the living room with a box up for the drainage pipe that will have a door or open access panel.

My friend told me that her aircons had been installed for coming to 2 years and there is no leaking problem so far. She was recommended to this guy/HA by her neighbour. Well, if there's no leaking problem within the first year of installation, the workmanship should be quite alright. With a real friend's testimony, not gathered from online sources, I decided to try out HA. Also, hubby is comfortable with this guy as he's able to share with us on quite a lot of things regarding aircon installation. Now, we may not know if there's any part that he's "smoking" us based on a commoner's understanding, I think it does make sense for some stuff like hot and cold don't go well together.

To summarise, we decided on HA based on the following considerations.

• They quoted the cheapest so far, which was lower than what CE and SC quoted.
• They provided a free no obligation site survey and we were satisfied with the sales executive's replies to our queries.
• They can do a third trip without any additional charge.
• They could do according to our proposed schedule for all the three trips.
• There is a real friend's testimony.

For now, I pray hard that all will go smoothly for my house renovation. I would share my reviews on HA after the installation works have completed. Hope you have enjoyed reading my blogging about my house renovation and that the 5 parts Air Con Installer series has been a helpful or interesting read for you. I'm not sure if you have counted the number of air con installers that I've approached for quotation but I did... a total of 10! It's even more than the number of IDs I've approached for quotation, which was only 6.

Meanwhile, stay tuned and see what's my next topic...

Air Con Installer - Part 4

In this second last part of my "Air Con Installer" series posting, I'm going to write about the company that we first choose to do the installation for us and why we subsequently decided to switch to another installer. Guessed which company did we choose first?

*drum rolls* It's Star Cool Air-Condition Engineering - Aron & Ah Boon! Do note that they are different from StarCool Aircon Singapore. I read many good reviews about them on online forums and even individual blogs. They quoted the same price as Cold Engine (CE) except that they only provided 1 year warranty for workmanship. I did ask Aron if they could match the warranty offer but he replied "we believe in good workmanship and materials use for the installation at the very beginning, that is why we give only a year of workmanship warranty."

While I was planning the renovation schedule with my ID, I thought perhaps it's good that the installer could remove the old piping/aircons but without installing the new piping before painting starts. I was thinking in long terms, in case, I need to remove the old piping due to unforeseen circumstance and need to install new piping via another route in the future. If there's no painting on the wall where the piping (or trunking) is going to mount against, that part of the wall would look very ugly after the piping is removed. Not forgetting that the trunking used nowadays is quite big as compared to the current trunking that was installed 16 years ago. Hence, I asked Aron if they could do three trips for me instead at no extra charge. First trip is to remove the old piping/aircons, second trip is to install new piping and third trip is to install new FCUs/compressor. He replied that they could do so without extra charge. He asked me to arrange a site survey with Ah Boon as he was not in town, which I did, and the site survey was done quite fast. Ah Boon said he would confirm with me again on the piping route when the actual installation starts.

When I met Ah Boon during site survey, I asked him when would Aron be back, he replied that he's in Malaysia as he has another business there but he would still reply to emails. To be fair, Aron was quite responsive to my emails, which he usually replied within a day. After discussing with hubby, we decided to get them to do the installation based on the following considerations. 

1. They could do three trips at no extra charge.
2. Ah Boon, the head installer, who came for the site survey, would also be the one doing the installation for us.
3. They have many good reviews.

After informing Aron that we would like to engage their service, he asked me to liaise with Ah Boon on the installation and so I did, which was when my "nightmare" began...

My correspondences with Ah Boon via iMessage:

• On a Monday 8+ am, I informed him on what Aron and I have agreed, and my proposed installation schedule, which he replied that day noon time, saying that he would check and update soon. 
• On a Wednesday 12+ am, Ah Boon finally replied me after I prompted him twice and emailed Aron that Ah Boon did not get back to me. He proposed to install piping / dismantle old unit on another date. I messaged back to tell him that I could reconfirm with my ID about removing the old piping/aircons on his proposed date. However, I wanted the installation of the new piping on another day after the painting has completed and that was why I asked Aron for three trips. Ah Boon didn't reply me. Hence, I messaged him again on that same night to let me know if he could make the necessary arrangement and could call me the next day if speaking over the phone was easier.
• On a Thursday 7+ pm, he messaged saying that he called me but could not ring me. I didn't quite understand what he meant, so I replied asking him what he meant because I had been receiving a few phone calls on my mobile that day but none from him. My phone also never recorded any missing call from him. He replied saying that he called me at 7+ pm but could not contact me, maybe due to line problem. At this point of time, I had actually started to look for another installer as I felt very uncomfortable with Ah Boon's response time. Now, I could understand that he might be busy during the day doing installation works. However, I felt that he should be able to confirm with me on the installation schedule, can do, cannot do, etc, within 3 full working days, which I think it's quite a reasonable time frame. After he failed to contact me via phone call, he did not follow up with any message to say anything about the installation schedule, even up to this point when I was blogging this post, which today is a Sunday with 2 full working days passed by. That's it, I gave up!!! Luckily we didn't place any deposit, nothing to lose on our end except for time loss but I'm glad that it happened earlier so that I still have enough time to find alternative.

For those considering to engage them, do think thrice, not just twice! I do believe that their response was much faster in the past when Aron was still doing this full time with local presence, and hence, all the past good reviews about them. No doubt Aron's response to my emails was quite fast but the lack of his presence here and leaving only Ah Boon to do the coordination works made this a sucking experience for me! It's just simply too difficult to get Ah Boon to respond. My hubby and I did try to call him as well but no one picked up the call. I didn't bother to email Aron again as I can't be going through him all the times just to get Ah Boon to contact me. After going through this experience, my guts feel telling me that they are either no longer as keen and active in keeping their bustle aircon business or they're simply too popular that they can't handle every deal that they agreed to. Should you decide to go ahead with them, I wish you have a much better experience than me when trying to get in touch with Ah Boon.

Air Con Installer - Part 3

I've also gotten quotation from a few other companies, which I would briefly share here. The quotation is based on my specifications that I mentioned in my previous post (looked at the wordings in blue) and also requested for two trips installation. 

Please note that the pricing mentioned is only for reference purpose as companies may run promotion from times to times, so you may get a better or worse deal than what I've gotten. The points that I mentioned were based on what I've found out/understood and the decision to drop them was based on our evaluation criteria and experience while dealing with the various companies.

They are listed according in alphabetical order and not in any order of dislike.

1. Aircon Citi - $4,350

• They do provide free no obligation site survey.
• Dropped this company due to pricing not really that attractive. For this price, I would rather pay a bit more to engage more established companies. 

2. Cold Engine - $3,950

• They provide 2 years warranty for workmanship. Most installers provide only 1 year warranty for workmanship, so this seems attractive to us.
• They do provide free no obligation site survey.
• Scott, who is highly recommended based on a number of online comments that I saw, is no longer doing the installation himself. He now does mostly site survey.
• We did consider them when we decided to give up on the first installer that we choose to do the installation for our house. The pricing was comparable but they could not do a third trip for us without charging additional. Also, I asked if Scott would be the one doing the installation for us but was told that he can only do the site survey. The good reviews about Scott were on his installation, so we were not sure how the workmanship would be if he's not the one doing the installation. I feel that installation is much more important than the site survey because no matter how good the person can advise during site survey, ultimately it depends on the installers' skill to do a good installation job for you to minimise possible issue from happening. Of course, the person doing the site survey has to be experienced enough to provide sound and convincing advice; if he cannot convince you, you'll probably strike his company off the list. Hence, between this company and another company in the running of our second choice, we decided to go for the other company instead. I would write on a separate post why we gave up on the first installer of our choice and why we wanted a third trip.

3. Cool Serve - $4,590.30

• Supply and install 1 no. of Normal L or opening bracket, if any - $160.50
• $60 for site survey, which can be waived off at the final bill upon confirming order.
• Dropped this company due to high price and no free no obligation site survey.

4. Cool World - $4,230 

• We can request for a site survey if we confirm that we're engaging them.
• Dropped this company due to no free no obligation site survey.

5. Dynomatic - $4,500

• It was recommended by my ID, so the person came down with my ID for a free no obligation site survey. 
• Dropped this company due to high price.

6. Natural Cool - ???

• They do provide free no obligation site survey and we arranged for one. The person doing the site survey was late and did not inform us he would be late.
• They did not follow up with a quotation. I'm not going to bother chasing after quotation because to me, if a company doesn't follow up with a quotation automatically, it means they don't really care if they get your business and if the company isn't proactive during pre-sales, it left me wondering what will happen during post-sales.

Recommended Materials for Air Con Installation

Before I moved on to share more about other air con installers, let me share about the recommended materials so that you know what I'm looking for versus what's available in the market by default without upgrading the materials. 

These are the default materials quoted by most installers (I put most as I didn't get quotation from all available installers):

• 3/8 inch Armaflex (or can be Thermaflex or other brands offered by installer) Insulation Class 1 
• G23 Copper Piping
• 3 Core 40/70 Wire Cable
• 16mm PVC Drainage Pipe

Insulation
Armaflex is a rather popular and safe/reliable brand to be used for insulation in air con installation. It is a black rubber foam, which goes around the copper pipe. 3/8 inch is usually used for the copper pipe but many people opt to upgrade it to 1/2 inch to provide better insulation against condensation. The class (class 1 and 0) refers to the fire rated properties of the insulation, so some people comment that it's not necessary to upgrade to class 0.

If you see the picture, the insulation that wraps around the pvc drainage pipe is 1/4 inch. The insulation that wraps around the gas inlet and outlet, the set in the middle next to the pvc drainage pipe, is 3/8 inch. The insulation for the extreme right set of gas inlet and outlet is 1/2 inch.

Copper Piping
Copper piping is the one that carries the coolant gas. There are 2 pipes. The bigger pipe is the one that carries the gas from the indoor unit to the outdoor unit and the smaller pipe is the one that carries the gas from the outdoor unit to the indoor unit. G (guage) 23 or 22 refers to the thickness of the copper pipes, so G23 is 0.61mm and G22 is 0.71mm. I read that copper pipes should be bent using a pipe bender so that it will a nicely bent pipe, and that if the copper pipes are not installed properly, it may cause condensation of the pipes at certain area. 

I checked with an installer and was told that they have the tool to bend the bigger pipe but there is no tool available to bend the smaller pipe, so it will be bent using hand. They cannot use the tool provided for the bigger pipe to bend the small pipe. He also shared that since the copper pipe's length is 15m, it is best to keep the running of the copper pipe within this length to avoid joining two copper pipes, this is to minimise condensation happening around the joint. Also, the longer the copper pipe runs, the longer it will take to cool the room, and if there are many bends along the piping route, it will take even longer to cool the room.

Hence, besides looking at the thickness of the copper pipe, do take note of the piping route. The shorter it is, the less bends there are, the better it is. It's not that installer wants to cut cost or do shortcut and hence, propose the shortest route.

Wire Cable
3C70 is usually used to wire up the outdoor unit to the power point while 3C40 is usually used to wire up the indoor units to the outdoor unit. Brands that people usually recommend are like Keystone and Sigma. Important thing to note for wire cable is to check if they are manufactured in Singapore, and not China.

Drainage Pipe
There are 2 sizes, 13mm and 16mm. Most installers would propose 16mm drainage pipe. Some installers (I'm not sure if all do so, it's best that you check with the installer) also install insulation for the drainage pipe, which 1/4 inch is more commonly used. 

The points that I shared here were mostly what I gathered from my online research and what I learnt from the various installers whom I spoke to (I'm not an expert in this area). I'm not sure if all the points mentioned above are 100% accurate but I've learnt a lot about installing an air con system. On the surface, it looks so simple but once you start looking into the details, you would realised that there's actually a lot of information to absorb. Based on what I've learnt so far, these are my specifications for the materials to be used for my Mitsubishi Starmex System 4.

• 1/2 inch Armaflex Insulation Class 0
• G22 Copper Piping
• 3 Core 40/70 Wire Cable (Keystone Singapore made)
• 16mm PVC Drainage Pipe with Armaflex insulation