Stirling HDB Terrace - #36 New walls!!!

update: new walls are slowing coming up!

Stirling HDB Terrace - #34 More Discussions

Materials are being loaded at our new place now. Loads of red bricks, hollowcore bricks both thick and thin, cement and sand. Most of the hacking works are finished by now, so uncle Will decided to text us for a short meeting to discuss the new walls which are going to be laid.
Uncle Will has also talked to our neighbour with regard to the parti wall. Our neighbour has been really nice and they have agreed to us having erecting a new parti wall as previously it was a metal grill between the 2 houses.

There was more discussions about our floor traps and washing area for the washer too. More trenching has to be done. Floor trap going to be fully exposed too!!! in the centre of the kitchen! Shucks! uncle Will says most likely to use back the current floor trap position which is currently 'floating' in our floor plans too. Somehow i get this impression that it's going to be somewhere in between my dining and kitchen area!! SOoooo weird!!! O_o


Uncle Will, WJ and the foremen discussing where the new wall has to be erected. Due to site conditions, what we have drawn in our plans currently cannot really fit all our toilet fixtures. So now we are in the midst of deciding 'where to draw the line' literally on the floor!!!
After much debate, we decided to 'eat' more area of the master room so that our toilet can be bigger. Next was the decision of the toilet windows. So on the spot, we decided to have 2 top-hung windows, frosted for modesty. The room looks so spacious now with all the windows and grills off!!! But there's no stopping birds and bees into the house now!!!


Measuring the 'existing' floor area for our toilet.


more on-the-spot sketches to decide what goes where. We are also having some issues with the toilet downstairs due to the 'funny' column which we are keeping. After hacking the walls, and measuring the space again, we realised that our door cannot be put at where we had initially drawn which was on the right of the column. So we decided to put the toilet door on the left of the column. So instead of an overall gain of 1000mm for the living area, now that the door is placed on the left of the column, we have an overall gain of 800mm for the living area.



Finally uncle Will explains to us about our front porch having to deck higher at localised areas due to the extg RWDP. Ok, no choice here.

Stirling HDB Terrace - #33 More layerings!

as with most re-sale flats, there are lots of laying over tiles, plaster, skirting etc. No difference to ours too!

Stirling HDB Terrace - #32 Before Afters

Stirling HDB Terrace - #31

In 2 days time, Uncle Will had his workers digging up a trench for our new toilet which connects back to the extg IC. The first one revealed an extg drainline so he had to abandon it and dig another one further out.







Next the old toilet walls are removed so that we can do a smaller one. The previous owner had only one toilet on the 1st storey, thus it was a big toilet with shower cubicle, long vanity counter and WC. However, since our toilet on the 2nd storey has been approved, we are going to make the toilet downstairs smaller with a small basin, WC and a smaller shower area. With this smaller toilet, the wall can be flushed with the extg column which Mr Wrong wants us to keep. Previously the column was 'jutting' out in the dining area.

More holes have been 'punctured' in our yard area for rainwater drainage. We are having a row of planter against our wall to soften the boundary wall.

Stirling HDB Terrace - #29 Updates

Pile of rubble already filled to the brim at our carpark area as we approached our flat. Next we saw the boundary wall has been removed. Making way for our new one!!! We are thinking of original brickwall for the textured feel. Yep, we are going to paint it white. Originally we were thinking of picket fence, after giving it much thought, we decided to have a more solid, sturdy wall, besides picket fence is quite expensive. So on a tight budget here, brickwall is AFFORDABLE.


wj trying to salvage our letterbox, uncle will's workers have left it on top of some other stuff! worried that we might not get our snail mails, wj went to put it along the railings between our unit and our neighbour. Next, is the picture on the right, the 'funny' column which Mr Wrong said we can't removed but our PE said that it was not a structural member. Sigh. Yes yes, it will be there, our floor plans have to 'revolve' around that.


holes in the wall??!!! well that's our new toilet location. wj says that "it's more friction/grip for the wall tiles" hmm...okay. poor birdie, wings broken and laid on top of our rubble.

Stirling HDB Terrace - #28 Off with the Walls!

Let's check out upstairs first!

The wall between Matthew's and the master room has been knocked down! And so spacious the place is now!!! More stilts were put on top of rubble to support the roof. Going to install new insulation and false ceiling for better comfort in singapore's hot weather. These days, it's getting so hot! The workers have left some laminates on the floor to protect the extg parquet.

More stilts here. Look at them balancing on rubble! Like ballet dancing! Tip-toe.tip-toe and reach for the stars. So the stilts will provide some support to the roof here again before new walls are being erected. William (our contractor) advises us on a lintel here to support the roof. I think we need one too, look at the way the roof is sagging! Just behind us is our new neighbour who is renovating as well!!! So it's a noisy neighbourhood here!

Last but not least, our IC within our kitchen area. smelly smelly!

Stirling HDB Terrace - #27 MORE YAY!

we won! ! !
thank you so much for all your votes and support!!!

Stirling HDB Terrace - #30

whoopee! a photo of us at time 0830. day 11th March 2010. and it's time to head down for work!

YAY!

did i mention that my reno works have been approved??!! Well i did, did i...hahah...

anyway THANK YOU HDB, especially the unforgettable Mr Wrong.

wanted to go down to site early this morning to take some photos since hacking works have started yesterday. But it was raining cats and dogs! Shucks, what a let-down, and i was so eager to wake up early this morning. How often do i really want to wake up earlier than 830am in the morning and it had to rain like this.

but, there's always tomorrow. So fingers' cross now. and await for new pictures and updates!!!

Dulux Color My Home Photo Contest

Did i mention that I've been chosen to the top 10 finalists for this particular contest? i was really lucky to be chosen out of the many participants. Guess the judges could really tell that i needed the paintover from the 3 photos that i submitted and of cos i did a write-up(submission requirements) though i did a poem instead which turned out all wrong as it turned out as one paragraph on the website instead of a one liner thingy.

Here's the little poem i wrote

Please revamp this lit’ place of ours
She deteriorates quickly by the hour

The previous owner had Mediterranean taste
Alas! For us it’s such a waste
The awful paper trimmings
We find them rather gleaming

Our walls are filled with dusty mould
With plastering in tears and fold
A fresh new coat is what we need
But painting cost makes our hearts bleed
Help us dulux!

Please come quick,
For we are in a needy fix

I know I'm a little late in this post, as I thought I had garnered enough votes from friends, relatives and friends of friends...until i was kicked down to no.2 on the leaderboard!!! And it's so tough cos the website is rather nuts, i have friends who have voted so many times for me, and I don't get to see their votes reflected on my dulux webpage. And wj's brother doesn't even have a facebook account to vote for me, and of cos there's my father, my mother etc...sigh...

so

please vote for me now peeps!!!
Voting closes on 10 Mar 2010,
here's the link:
CLICK

I really want to win the Grand prize!!!! and save some money from the painting!!!
Here are the photos which we submitted during the first round.

Hacking works going to start AGAIN!

thank you HDB for finally approving all of our works.

wonder why it took you guys so long.

Stirling HDB Terrace - #26 Updates

last saturday was the 4th submittal to HDB already. Comment: Please submit the (after) renovation plans.

But our plans are already showing the new walls to be erected in blue!!! what else do you want???







why can't u people approve/disapprove everything at one go???

Stirling HDB Terrace - #23 keep keep keep

TO BE RETAINED
contractor says the ceiling fan still looks in good condition. Should keep. We also think : yah...can save some cost, then save. So we are keeping the ceiling fan. Contractor is also keeping the wall fans for us too, although i dunno where he is keeping them. hahahha....

Next, there's this little outdoor lamp which we thought was rather quaint and pretty. So we decided to keep this one too. Of cos, after my dad took it down and found that it had a wasp's nest attached to it!! My dad was pretty cool about it, although my mum's face cringed a little. Anyway, it's been scrubbed clean. A little rusty at some ends, but at the end of the day, we'll give it a good coat of new paint and I'm sure it will look just as good as new! More keeps are - the grill from the ceiling light, we're just keeping the grill which i'm going to use it as a photoframe and not the cover. Although my dad is thinking of using it as a fruit bowl! More grills to keep from wall lights too...which i thought had a lovely pattern to it. Although i haven't found a suitable function for it yet.



more ornate wall lights which I'm keeping, although still pending to see whether it will match my interiors at the end of the day. Also found lots of dead corpses - insects in them too...gross.