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.

DAY 10

It's hard to photograph after sundown but it looks like there's not much choice since it's almost impossible for us to get there before 7pm before the light goes. It's down to the phone light and the torchlight to illuminate the scene for some photos. A set of drawings have been put up on the walls as a visual reference for the workers I suppose. However one of those drawings is inaccurate as it's from a design that we changed in the end. I hope they know it! It's quite a thrill to open the door every evening, not knowing what we're going to see on the other side. It's become a little game where we try to spot the new elements.

Some plumbing work's been done. This is where the water heater storage tank is going to be located. I called AO Smith today to try to arrange for delivery of the tank on Monday. Luckily, they had an open slot. Otherwise the usual lead time is 2 weeks for delivery and installation. I paid for them to install as well in case something goes wrong, I can still seek redress. If I have my contractors install it, the dealer may not honour the warranty. So best to get the dealer to install to ensure expert installation and warranty thereafter.

One of the issues at the design stage was how to power our reclining sofa which is a piece of 'floating' furniture, a standalone in the middle of the room, with no power point to plug the power for the reclining mechanism to. Then I saw that my designers had designed a power point placed at the side of an island with no trace of an electrical trunking so I knew it was possible. The solution: Drill a channel in the floor that would accommodate a pipe to pull the power cord through. I have no idea how they are going to do this but since they've done it before, I'll leave it in their good hands!

The new walls where one of two entrances to the study is located has been erected. The storeroom is on the left. The pocket door and air-conditioning units will be installed where the opening is right now.

The beginnings of electrical work starting. These pipe casings are up on the ceilings. If you look carefully, you can see the word 'Fan' marked on the ceiling at the top of the frame and another X in a circle.