DAY 14

Seeing the house today, I felt a sense of elation with the place cleaned up, and the final wall which we had been awaiting a hacking permit for, taken down. The expanse of space was amazing and the house will never look as big as it does right now, at its barest state. Once the fittings are assembled and the furniture moved in, it will never be the same. Things are well on its way and I've never been more proud to be the owner of this new apartment, despite the cost getting here!

The permit finally came yesterday and the contractor wasted no time in taking the wall down. We realised the problem: The contractor submitted the wrong form to the HDB and hence the delay was on that end! 

The balcony has been filled with lightweight dry concrete blocks, instead of the tradition pouring of cement screed which would be too heavy. 

This is where the wall between the balcony (left) and the study (right) stood no more than 24 hrs ago. 

The wall was 'problematic' because it had 'stiffeners' embedded inside of it, thus requiring a PE's (Professional Engineer) drawings and endorsement before submission to the HDB. All these drawings by professionals cost money! And it's not a small sum!

After the wall was taken down, another problem revealed itself. The two ceilings were of different heights! The balcony ceiling was lower than the study so we had to flush both to accommodate the suspended 4 metre strip light. It was an additional cost to add a false ceiling over the study room which we had eliminated from the original quotation to save some money. Both our designers and contractor did not anticipate this problem because it really is quite hard to tell that there was a difference in ceiling height with the wall still up. 

All debris had been removed from Meg's room. We love how taking down this wall has really opened up the space between the two rooms. Even when the partial wall and pocket door is installed, we intend to leave the door mostly open for the girls to communicate and bond. 

The door frames awaiting installation.

Symmetry.

Our AO Smith water heater tank was installed yesterday. It will eventually be boxed up, together with the existing waste pipes.

When you purchase this system, you get a complimentary 3 metre cable to connect the tank to the digital temperature thermometer. I anticipated that the length would not be enough if we placed the tank on that end of the bathroom, and true enough, I had to purchase a 10 metre (though I definitely didn't need that much) long cable at an additions $85.60 (after gst)! Money continues to 'flow out'. 

The water pipes in the master bathroom are concealed behind these concrete blocks.

Rooms with a view. Looking out from Meg's room.

Tools - or rather, pails - of the trade.

The sand-screeded kitchen walls (left).

Kids' rooms on the left, storeroom wall to centre left, an open study room on the right.

This is how much debris that we've generated. These bags are the height of my chest.

It was a dusty, messy affair prior to this stage.

The tallest bag on the right probably reaches my eye level.