It has finally happened - we moved from block 12 in BP to block 12 in HV on Monday, 14 August!
In fact, we also moved from block 12 in HV to block 12 in BP in
2018 :p
First photo was taken in 2012; second on 16 August when I went back to pick up loose ends; third on 15 August after dinner.
After we
completed the resale, we approached our old ID who did up our first two homes. It took three meetings spanning over four weeks in February-March to get a quote, which was beyond our expectations. It happened to be March school holidays right after so we arranged meetings with some seven IDs from Qanvast and HL's recommendation - online and F2F, and some twice - to get more quotes.
Most quotes were about 60-70% of the original quote! Within two weeks of returning from Legoland, we decided on an ID who gave us a design totally different from the others and from our expectations. Went to his studio only twice in total, which was good coz it was in Tampines!
Next was handover of keys. Seller asked for an extension and moved out on 30 April. I went over on 1 May with Yu after lunch with the grands. The seller simply left the doors unlocked and placed the keys on the kitchen counters! As the seller did not knock down the wall in between, we went in and out of both sides. I put transparent table leg covers over the bamboo pole holders to prevent rainwater pooling inside while Yu pottered about on his own. Later on, he would tell his brothers that there were two houses :)
Renovation started on 3 May, woohoo! We went down on 11 May to discuss aircon and electrical wiring on site. But we changed the electrician later to someone in EMA's list coz kiasi. Later I found the original guy was also in charge of tiling *.*
Sito said I looked like a boss :p
In the following three months, we went to the house every fortnight when we visited the grands and whenever there was a delivery. We started checking things for rectification early - when the pipes were up, when the windows were up, when the grilles were up, when the electrical end points were up, when the carpentry was up.
And good thing we did! We adjusted the position of the washer drain pipe, found wobbly grilles which could not lock, and worst was the horrid electrical job which we found out on 21 Jul, 10 days before handover:
What is this?!
And the other set is different while being equally ugly?!
We had to get the electricians back to reposition the wiring, and even adjust the positions of the lights and remove extra wiring (!), which took one whole day. The position of the sockets for the TV was off centre from our bed position but we let it go and adjusted our headboard instead as it was to close to the wardrobe.
Later on when I was cleaning on the eve of National Day, I found this in Yang's room
Luckily, I could fix this easily just by unscrewing the cover and pushing in the wires into the back box. But I had to get the electrician back to fix the back box in Yu's room which had a hole at the bottom - in the previous rectification, they inverted the back box when we asked them to shift the wiring instead of using a new back box!
Anyway, the original handover date of 31 July did not happen smoothly coz some things were still pending, e.g. study room door, vanity mirrors, quartz backing etc. But it was ok enough for us to go in to check, start cleaning and bring in blinds and washer etc.
And check we did! Had to replace one cracked tile and one hollow tile. The rectification happened fast enough but the house had to be cleaned again.
The surprise was carpentry. Our drawers and frame had unfinished sides - raw wood. I can imagine moisture especially in the kitchen eating away at the wood over time. ID and later the carpenter said this was industry standard; if we wanted finished sides, we had to specify. Huh? We were not even aware of this option! And we certainly had finished sides in our past two homes. Got them in to stick PVC all over. Took one whole day.
The quartz installation was interesting. The central backing had a chip at a corner. We were asking supplier via ID how long it would take to get a replacement (from Malaysia) when the installer took things into his own hands - he saw 1cm off a side and install it, and used the box-up backing to cover the gap perfectly. Someone give him a bonus please!
Also found lots of renovation dirt in two toilet drains. The plumber came in to clean and pulled up one plastic bag full of debris! He was very nice and checked all the drains.
Summary of renovations:
- Great design but the ID had not been a good project manager.
- There was obvious lack of supervision for the electrical work.
- The timeline was also badly managed - not much work was done in June.
- We were also not kept informed of the kitchen carpentry layout after the first discussion on carpentry.
- Then there was no proper thinking to link carpentry and plumbing - the kitchen floor trap is behind drawers instead of shelves. If we need serious plumbing work in future, we probably have to saw off the horizontal bars of the drawer frame!!
- Painter told me he didn't get a response from ID about the type of paint to use for the door frames so he used the wall paint. When we moved in, we had to get the painter back to paint the frames glossy else the bottom would become back after a few mops!
- Main door did not follow my design so they had to replace it.
- The gate curiously does not have a "tongue" to keep it closed. Apparently coz I said I didn't want a key lock *.* Digital lock installer said the gate could not close properly and would strain the digital lock so we're now still waiting for the ID to install a roller to keep it closed.
Anyway, we had only 11-13 August to clean - again, coz we started cleaning up from 3 August! - after the carpentry work before the big move on 14 August. It was so crazy! At first, Sito and I cleaned together. Then he went on to assemble Ikea stuff while I cleaned. Then he stayed back in our old place to pack and dismantle stuff, and settle the kids after school.
3 August when I used Magiclean to sweep the inside of cabinets *.*
I think I stopped cooking two or three weeks before the move. The week before moving, I got home only at dinner time. More than three weeks in, I haven't started cooking dinner yet as this happens to be term break.
Happily using our new drill set!
Emptied Kai's room to put boxes - can spot his bed frame and mattress near window?
That was like halfway done. By the time we were all packed, we had boxes in front of our bookshelf. I think we had close to 50 boxes. We also moved a lot of things with big bags and suitcases in the two weeks before moving. Yes, we have a lot of things!
My hub with his toolbox :)
Dismantled all the beds on Friday, 11 August - all on floor mattresses!
All the frames and boards in our room
We flipped the bedsheets to protect the mattresses from the dusty floor, and slept on mattress protectors instead. Very OCD of me :p
I wasn't there but Sito said the kids were keen to help, including laundry - so sweet :)
Sweet to each other too? :p
On Saturday night, Sito removed the wall-mounted TV which had green lines across the bottom of the screen
We broke a stand while fixing it, oops... But we had two sets thanks to the bedroom TV so we were able to stand the TV on the console. The kids didn't seem to have realised the change on Sunday :p We left the bedroom TV for the buyer as requested.
Sunday, 13 August, was the day before the physical move but also our ceremonious moving day. I had meant for this day to be light but we ended up doing siong work too, sighs.
Made the kids help carry stuff
Kai carried the drill set, Yang a bag of food from our fridge to store in Mum's fridge, and Yu carried water bottles - his bag was behind him in the photo.
We dropped stuff at our place before going to Mum's place for lunch. Sito and I left after lunch to work hard - I cleaned while Sito assembled more Ikea.
And we cooked and had black sesame glutinous riceballs! :)
Finally, we were as ready as possible! One hiccup - Yu lost his student card on the way home on Sunday *.* He said it was still on him at Botanic Gardens but it was not on him when we left the train at BP. We went back into the train to find but nope. So the kids went home first while Sito and I went to the kiosk to make a new card for him.
That wasn't the end. Yang damaged his card somehow on Monday! He couldn't tap when coming home on Monday but no one said a word *.* I only discovered this on Thursday morning as we went to school *.*
Anyway, Monday morning, Sito sent the kids to school while I settled the final packing.
Waiting for the movers
It took two trips to move everything. We left right after the movers so we could open the door for them, and left the access card and door pin with them for the second trip. After the morning trip, Sito went to fetch the kids and sent them to Mum's place before returning to assemble the kids' beds and unpack some stuff.
The second trip was somehow delayed. By the time they got here, it was raining so they waited for quite a while before moving up. We don't have an adjoining carpark so they had to unload at the bus stop.
Then the fridge could not come in *.* More time was spent dismantling and assembling the two left doors. But the three movers were nice - after all these, they even helped put the fridge on my rollers. We took the chance to assemble our bed.
By the time the fridge was in position, it was 6 pm! We had to let the fridge settle for two hours before we could turn it on. So Sito cleaned the fridge. Somehow, the left door did not close nicely. After some adjustment, he sorted it out and fixed a longstanding problem in the process, yeah!
Due to a miscomm, we told Mum not to cook for us. So Sito fetched the kids while I packed dinner. When the fridge was cold enough, Sito bought some water and milk to stock up a bit. I almost forgot to put our cold stuff into the fridge - Mum brought them over in the morning so they were at room temperature already but ok, no strange smell.
Then we couldn't take it and went to bed.
The next few days, we unpacked madly. Also did laundry madly. By Friday, we were done. But the movers only came to collect the boxes on Monday afternoon, just nice coz our study sideboard arrived on Saturday and we laid pieces of it on the cardboard while assembling it. Our sofa, TV console, dining sideboard, dining table and dining chairs also arrived during the week.
Kids unpacking their box of stuff from their books cabinets
Found Sito's big toy!
Yang helped to assemble too!
Almost done with the study sideboard
The first week was busy but we were pleased with our new house. Except for the water pressure. Since day one, kids had been unhappy with the shower. We removed a mesh inside the shower head. Very slight improvement. We used a different shower head which I brought back from our old place on Wednesday when I went to pick up loose ends - it was a new one which we never used; can't remember why. It was marginally better.
We were thinking of calling the town council but didn't get down to it. Then, MP visited on Saturday. We took the chance to ask about this and woah, the town council sent three guys down within the hour and tested the water pressure. Their conclusion was that it was only the shower as the rest was fine. Sighs.
That evening, we went to Star Vista and found shower heads at Japan Home. Bought one to try and what do you know?! The next day, I bought another one while Sito was assembling the study sideboard :) But our Grohe shower heads have been cold-storaged :(
With the boxes gone, I could map Robot-kun! I had developed a callus on my right index finger after sweeping and mopping with the Magiclean for days :(
The area is now 50% more than before!
And I need two full charges to mop the whole house. So now, I mop the bedrooms when I sit down for coffee and the rest after Sito leaves to fetch the kids. Weekends, I can close an eye and mop just the more used areas.
So we're moved in and more or less settled down. Still need to tidy stuff - Lego sets are still in plastic bags, books are overflowing, some clothes and bedsheets are scattered with no proper home, bamboo pole holders need some paint work to cover up old paint, etc. But yes, we're moved in :) I started cooking lunch last week. Next week, I'll start to cook dinner.
Happy! :)
