My House Renovation Project

Discussion in 'Adrian Wong' started by Adrian Wong, Oct 30, 2012.

  1. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Oh, there will be a door on the other side. It's the last thing to go in, after they paint the house. :thumb:
     
  2. marc

    marc Team Tech ARP

    Just checking in. Looking good so far! :thumb:
    Hope to see the completion soon! :D
     
  3. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Thanks! They kinda slowed down a bit. Must be lethargic from the CNY holidays. LOL! :haha:
     
  4. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Putting up the plaster ceiling!

    We finally finished the plaster ceiling!

    These are the pictures from when they started work.

    1 - The plaster boards.
    2 - The "nail gun" used to fire the nails that secure the scaffolding in place.
    3 - The nails and mini-cartridges.
    4 - My, what "big" bullets... :D
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    1 - They started by laying a scaffold of zinc-coated mild steel trusses spaced about 18 inches (45 cm) apart.

    2 - The fan bracket was actually constructed of these trusses. I hope they are strong enough to prevent the fan from wobbling!

    3 - A few days later, they started installing the plaster boards and plastered over them.

    4 - This uncle is really skillful. It was really quite interesting to watch him work.

    5 - The living hall is almost done. These guys work real fast!
     

    Attached Files:

  6. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    1 - The skylight is almost done!

    2 - This is how the skylight looks from the side now.

    3 - Plastering the edges.

    4 - The master bedroom after the plaster ceiling was installed.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Installing The Ventilation Duct Covers

    Because this is a terrace house, ventilation can be an issue for rooms on the inner side. So I will be installing several ventilation fans.

    Thanks to Jason's advice, I went for 4" Greenwood fans ventilation fans. The model I chose comes with a timer, that allows the fan to continue sucking out air after the switch is turned on, for a preset time of 1-30 minutes.

    The fans have a very nice design (I'll take pictures of them later), so that was no problem. The problem was the ventilation duct covers. There is a dearth of 4" duct covers in Malaysia!

    1 - The installer recommended me this steel cover. It looked a lot nicer in the photo he sent me, but wasn't very well-made. It was expensive too at RM 45 each!!! :hand:

    However, since he already ordered a bunch of them, I reluctantly took two of them. The other reason why I didn't like them was the fact that they didn't come with a filter to prevent insects from going into the ventilation system.

    2 - So I jury-rigged a filter by buying a strip of mosquito netting and wrapping them around the base of the duct cover.

    3 - The installer had a clever idea of quickly and easily affixing the netting - using cable ties!

    4 - Simply cut off the excess and you will have a very nice filter for the duct cover.

    Since they don't look that nice, I used these two where it wouldn't be visible from the outside.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    For my other ventilation ducts, I finally found some nice duct covers from Ace Hardware!

    1 - This is a wide-mouth dryer vent, which is also 4" in diameter. They have an aluminium version but I didn't like it as much as the plastic ones, which came in brown and white. I chose the white because it suited the house colour better, and was actually cheaper!

    2 - These dryer vents actually come with a round plastic anti-insect cover. The cover is designed to lie flush with the duct to cover it when the ventilation fan is turned off, and is only lifted up by the exhausted air. So I didn't need to install my makeshift insect filter, except for one.

    For my dry kitchen, I've designed a passive ventilation ducted system for the refrigerator. Since it's passive in nature, it wouldn't produce enough air pressure to lift the plastic cover.

    So I removed the plastic cover and added a strip of mosquito netting, using the cover's own clips to keep it in place.

    3 - Then I cut off the excess to make it look more presentable.

    4 - That's how they look like, after installation. If necessary, they can be painted over.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    1, 2 and 3 - They started painting the house. Basically a sealer for the new walls, and an undercoat for the old walls, followed by one layer of top coat. They will then leave the last coat until the tiles have been installed.

    4 - Yorker, this is what I was referring to. To passively ventilate the roof space, I hacked a small hole in the wall. Then I installed the 4" steel cover (with the mosquito netting) on the other end. You will see a short aluminium flexible tube protruding out, but I will cut it clean later.

    Because I have at least two ventilation fans blowing upwards into the roof space, the air will get hot and humid. That hole that would allow air in the roof space to passively flow out. Save me money on another ventilation fan and/or flexible ducts and covers. LOL!
     

    Attached Files:

  10. peaz

    peaz ARP Webmaster Staff Member

    Looking good and awesome!
     
  11. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    I hope so - with all the time and money I'm spending! :wall: :wall:

    Every day, something crops up... Argghhhh!!! :snooty:
     
  12. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    1 - They finally moved the electrical and water meters, and knocked down the old meter box.

    2 to 5 - They also finished the first phase of painting the exterior and interior walls. Basically, they applied a layer of sealer (or undercoat) and a layer of top coat, leaving the final coat until after the tiles are laid and other major work is completed.

    The external colour looks a bit reddish... but the interior designer and contractor seems to think it's very nice. What do you guys think??? :think:
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Apr 13, 2013
  13. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    I have to say that Nippon Paint's Odourless AirCare paint seems to give a very good finish, and I cannot really smell it! My painters seem to concur but according to them, ICI Dulux's Maxilite is a better undercoat paint than Nippon's Matex.

    These are some pictures of the rooms upstairs.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. karhoe

    karhoe Newbie

    Why would you need odourless paint when you are not moving in yet?
     
  15. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Normal paint will still take a few weeks for the fumes to clear, and it wouldn't be good for the workers to breathe in as they work. I also go quite often to the site. :D

    Even after the smell dissipates, normal paint will still release small amounts of VOCs, including formaldehyde. This is a bigger problem in tropical countries like Malaysia because of the high humidity and ambient temperature.

    I'm also getting a good price on the odourless paint, which means there's very little difference between the odourless paint and the non-odourless one. So I might as well just pay the little extra for the better paint which has a longer warranty (although I'm not sure how useful is the warranty!).

    BTW, I opted for the AirCare version which includes active carbon particles which will absorb other sources of formaldehyde - from the furniture, cabinets, etc.
     
  16. Skyhawk

    Skyhawk Newbie

    It is really good to see the whole procedure of construction.
    Your house is looking really beautiful and will be stable for along time also. One thing that i liked very much is the color scheme of your house.
    I would like to live in a house like this.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2013
  17. peaz

    peaz ARP Webmaster Staff Member

    I used the Nippon odourless one too. Really good and easy to paint. Great paint for amateur painters like yours truly who DIYed the painting. It came out all even and nice.
     
  18. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The paint I used is also Nippon Odourless, just the slightly more premium version called Nippon Odourless AirCare. It's supposed to contain active carbon particles which will absorb other sources of formaldehyde.

    I would have gotten just the standard Nippon Odourless, but the shop had a great deal on the AirCare version, which was cheaper than the standard Nippon Odourless elsewhere, so it's like getting the AirCare feature FOC. LOL!
     
  19. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Thanks! That reminds me.. It's time to update the thread. LOL!
     
  20. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Time to tile the floors. They started with the bathrooms.

    1 & 2 - Levelling the floor with cement.

    3 & 4 - The first batch of porcelain tiles from Feruni.
     

    Attached Files:

Share This Page