Lots of things were done concurrently at the same time.
Before last week, its ONE TASK at ONE TIME.
Last week, watching many people working inside these four walls; knocking here, nailing there, makes my heart sing.
There was a day whereby there were 7 people working hard in my new house at the same time.
So Exciting!!!
However, last week was also a week of problems.
Some made my heart dropped.
Others gave me a fright but was settled hours later
And then there were some still unsolved.....
As you can see, from the above two pictures, different groups of people specialized in different task came last week.
1. Finally! My rubbish chute cover is up! The tilers, who started first at the beginning of this big renovation project returned to cover the smelly hole.
2. See the smooth ceiling and walls? Yup! The Plastering group was in my house too....
From THIS :
To THIS :
3. Wires! Lots of them hanging all over the house. Yes, the Electrical team came as well...
The first issue occured when my electrician used the holes in the wall, which was meant for the gas pipe and water pipe. My electrician arrived before the gas and the water pipe team.Yes, I said MY electrician because we chose to use our own contact instead of using the renovation contractor's contact right from the beginning.
This electrician is our indirect relative. He is skilled and experienced in commercial and private estates and is still doing well in that area. However, he had little experience in government residential units.
My renovation contractor said that some guys who lay the gas pipe, who are from the government, may just leave when they do not see any holes in the wall that could be linked to the kitchen. If they do so, I will need to make another appointment for them to come down again and they need the booking to be 3 days in advance. So EVERYTHING will then be delayed by 3 days!!! I do NOT want that!
We went down to our new house in the evening and saw that the hole in the wall (meant for the gas pipe and water pipe) was not only used, it was SEALED up by my electrician. There was no way the gas pipe people nor the water pipe people can drill another hole, because the original hole was on the beam!
Beam is super hard because there are thick metal wiring inside which helps to secure the Entire Building. Thus drilling is made difficult or almost impossible!
I could not sleep that night because the gas pipe people were coming down the next day and we could not think of another solution other than undoing the hardwork of my electrician, that is to pull out all the wires which he had laid that ran from the living room through the storeroom to reach the kitchen. We do NOT want to do that too! 'Cos we saw the amount of effort he put in.....it hurts my heart if he needs to redo the wiring.
When we called our electrician that night to tell him our suggestion of removing his wires and trunking, he was shocked and kept saying "The gas pipe guy will know what to do. Don't need to remove my trunking and wirings."
I had problem closing my eyes to sleep that night, thinking of how would the gas pipe guy react when he comes the next day....
Thank goodness my hubby decided to call the renovation contractor and they came down to solve the problem.
I felt so apologetic because the electrician is NOT under them.
It is NOT their responsibility to solve the issue created by my electrician, yet they came down early that morning to fix the mess.
I was so touched! Thank you...Thank you...... *hugs*
They suggested to let the gas pipe and water pipe to run below the beam of the storeroom and as a result, we would end up having a shorter storeroom door. Actually I should say that AFTER this arrangement, my storeroom door will have the same height as the rest of the doors in the house.
Yes, previously, I wanted a taller-than-usual-door for my storeroom door, but now, the height of the door will be just like every other door in my new home. *smile*
So my renovation contractor did all the talking when the guy who laid the gas pipe came. I was standing there feeling afraid and relieved at the same time.
Afraid : fear that the guy who laid the gas pipe would refuse to go by the alternative 'route' suggested by my renovation contractor, which requires more work as there were more bends to make.
Relieved : at ease because when the guy mentioned some new issues arising from the alternative 'route', my renovation contractors had all the answers. If our renovation contractors were not there, we would not know how to answer him.
Hence, with that suggestion, the problem was solved. Gas pipe reached our kitchen 'safe and sound'.
*Thumbs Up*
4. Oh yes! I will never forget how efficient the uncle who fixed the gas pipe was! Amazing speed and accuracy. Totally no nonsense from that middle age man. *Salute*
5. My toilets and kitchen were washed with acid to clear stubborn cement away...
After my kitchen floor dried up, my dear little boy helped us lay the cupboard sheet over it for protection.
6. Now that I mention acid wash, I realised that I had forgotten to mention that the new windows came two weeks ago. However its just the glass and the frame, without the grilles. The window grilles will come later.
Some splashes or droplets of acid landed on my window during the acid wash period, causing the screws and other metallic parts of the window to corrode.
We have requested for a change of screws (at least), but yet to see anything done. Anyway, the grilles are not fixed up yet, so they might change the screws only when they come again to put up the window grilles. Well, I think it makes more sense to do so too.
7. For the very first time, I have Air-Con in my house.
Not my wish though, it was hubby's. I am someone who cannot tolerate low temperature, I fall sick easily when my surroundings are cold. Thus, only the 3 bedrooms, none in the living room and it had been an agreement between us that the Air-Con will ONLY be switched on during those 'hot hot months' of the year.
The person who did the Air-Con is a friend of my electrician. He is a very interesting guy. *giggle* On the outlook, even the way he talks, he gave me an insecure feeling. I was worried about his skill or workmanship. First impression of him was far from the word professional. *laugh* But I hang on to my faith in my electrician (aka my indirect relative), I chose to trust this Air-Con-Guy.
When the day came (last Monday), for him to work; OH MY! He was REALLY GOOD!!!! Fast and Good! *laugh* Sounds like fast food outlet! *laugh* He was also very professional when he started drilling here, hacking there with his subordinate. He would give new suggestions and advise us when there are new issues, instead of going ahead without our consent.
*Thumbs Up*
The Air-Con units and compressor will be up only after the painting works are complete. So for now, its just trunking here and there and everywhere along the sides of the bedrooms....
8. There is electricity, there is gas, so what is missing? WATER!!! The plumbers came!
A day before the plumbers came, we were busy labeling all the accessories so that they know which item goes where.
Not only did they lay the pipes, they helped us fix up some accessories too. But to see crack lines appearing on our wall tiles gives me heartache.
The Air-Con guy also drilled holes through the wall, but no crack lines appeared beside the holes drilled by him. I think this has got to do with the skill of the person drilling the wall....I guessed the Air-Con guy was either lucky or more skillful than the plumbers.
Hhhhmmmm....
 |
| We did NOT throw away the old shower heater. We kept it and reused it. Since its old and 'unsightly' *laugh*, its hiding in my master room toilet and NOT the common toilet in the kitchen |
My beautiful blue toilet bowl!!!! Aaaww.... I LOVED IT!!! Hand-carried them back on our own. Full details of my toilet bowls story are in another blog post : "Progress of New House - Update 4"
However, this also created the second problem last week. Few hours after the electrical-cum-gas-pipe issue was solved, we were getting ready for the plumber to fix the toilet bowls and realised that ONE of the toilet bowls were of the wrong size!!!
Before we ordered our toilet bowls from overseas, our renovator measured the distance from the wall to the piping that drops down from the ceiling. Based on that, one toilet bowl should have a distance of 250mm and another 140mm.
To our horror, both became 250mm!!!!
*Scream*
As this blue colour tone from this particular brand is discontinuing, for us to re-order another 250mm will take us another month!
If we opt for this, then for some weeks, we will not have toilet bowl in one of our toilet AND we will have to wait for the plumber to come again to fix (wonder if there will be extra charge) AND we will have one extra toilet bowl!
What would we do with it???
Use it for SteamBoat???!
Just like the toilet bowl restaurant in Malaysia???!
*laugh*
Then we thought the tiler had shifted the position as it was impossible for our neighbour (above us) to have a different setting as us. Afterall this was built by the government. So we were really puzzled when the renovator said that the tiler did not make any changes. *scratch head*
We then asked if it was possible to hack away some of the tiles to shift the toilet hole on the ground back to 140mm from the wall, but my renovator rejected as there will be too many other issues involved.
Two suggestions were turned down already. What should we do???
My renovation contractor suggested to build a suspended wall from the existing wall so that the water cistern could be supported. Thus, the toilet bowl with the measurement of 140mm, will be placed away from the original wall of the toilet so as to fit into the hole in the ground, and the suspended wall will bridge the gap.
*laugh* This might sound really confusing for some of you, I think. No worries, when all of that are done, photos will definitely be posted to give you a clearer picture. Picture is worth a thousand words, yes?
Alright, so I had another heart attack (the day after the electrical-cum-gas-pipe problem) and after many phone calls, this hiccup was settled too. *phew*
9. Next, my new main door finally arrived!!! And that marks the beginning of carpentry work!
So since it is already a MUST to do a box up at the storeroom entrance, we might as well box up the rest of the pipes in the living room. *wink*
Its amazing how small issues here and there can make the amount on the renovation quotation jump fast. The quotation has been amended again and again and again!!! *laugh*
Oh well, these are things that we NEED, so the money is well-spent.
No regrets.
No complains.
*smile*
My oh My!
This had turned out to be a super eventful week right?
My blog post is sooooooooooooooooo long!!!
*faint*
Next week might be the shortest post of all, as its just box up and painting involved.
*laugh*
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