Building our dream home.. walls no longer bare!

kexkez · Dec 23, 2008 9:25 am

HI VJ assuming your floor is concrete upstairs. Get an old fashioned string mop , wet it so it's really sloppy and dripping and wash the floor. rinse the mop regularly in a bucket of water as you go. Do the whole floor area so that it is wet as you finish each area. This will pick up heaps of the concrete dust. sometimes it takes a repeat job. This should get rid of most of the dust until you tile.

VJ · Dec 23, 2008 1:20 pm

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What you do next is entirely your decision. The most important thing is that it is yours now So forget about him, he will just go onto the next house perhaps a little more bitter and dissatisfied with his job

Thanks Mrs B.
Probably that is what we should do...

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forget the SS - you have your house - enjoy the moment! And congratulations!!

thanks brittany!

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HI VJ assuming your floor is concrete upstairs. Get an old fashioned string mop , wet it so it's really sloppy and dripping and wash the floor. rinse the mop regularly in a bucket of water as you go. Do the whole floor area so that it is wet as you finish each area. This will pick up heaps of the concrete dust. sometimes it takes a repeat job. This should get rid of most of the dust until you tile.

kexkez, will do that in the ground floor, as we have concrete slab there.
but upstairs, it's not made of concrete :shock:

that would be too heavy :lol:

i don't know what's it called... looks like plaster board but not white...

petal · Dec 23, 2008 5:18 pm

Congrats, VJ - FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So sorry to hear that your SS spoiled the day for you

Good on you for taking photos - at least they can't deny any existing problems :wink:

I hope your gorgeous new home is everything you dreamed of and more - you certainly deserve it!!!

Clarity · Dec 24, 2008 3:14 pm

Congrats on getting your keys, sorry you won't be moving in before xmas.. we too have to wait for our floors to be done.

Sorry about the awful time you had with your SS... not fair..

Merry xmas

VJ · Dec 29, 2008 10:09 pm

Thanks petal and Clarity.

We've been taking photos everytime we notice defects before we finally move in. We don't want to be told during the 3-month maintenance period that they won't fixed the issues, as they were caused by us. :roll:

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I hope your gorgeous new home is everything you dreamed of and more - you certainly deserve it!!!

petal, after a week since we got the keys, we've been visiting the house more than once a day. we are happy with it... it's just that some outstanding issues are spoiling the fun. love the mudroom! my shoes (ooppsss.. our shoes, i mean) will finally have their own storage

.

update..
we just found out that the home security system that was installed was the wrong one. DH rang the supplier to ask the difference between the different models. we ordered for the NX-12 series, which according to them should have 12 sensors (thus, the model name), but the one installed was the NX-4 (4 sensors only). we kept on reminding our CSR to check if the correct models of security, heating, etc were installed, and she kept on confirming they were correct.

hmmm... need to test the heating for zoning.

might have to ring the supplier of our ceiling board to check whether our garage ceiling would need replacement due to the recent leaks it had. as per our SS, they replaced the whole ceiling. but DH noticed some patches when he was working in the garage.

oh, BTW, DH tried his first DIY project - our gate! will post photos tomorrow.

tiles will be delivered on 5 Jan, tiling will start 6 Jan and carpets will be laid a week after. i'll be on leave starting 6 Jan for 2 weeks

VJ · Dec 29, 2008 10:12 pm

... and i just realised that i haven't posted any photos since we got the keys! :shock:

... and... we didn't receive any gift from our builder......
except for a key ring! :shock:

...

Mrs B · Dec 30, 2008 7:34 am

VJ

... and i just realised that i haven't posted any photos since we got the keys! :shock:

... and... we didn't receive any gift from our builder......
except for a key ring! :shock:

...

How pathetic :shock:

Another little game your ex SS is playing! I assume its his job to organise the gift...

Who needs their crappy gift any way VJ! Most gifts get sold on ebay :lol:

Cant wait to see pics, but only when you are ready

Mrs B

donuts · Jan 03, 2009 4:24 pm

VJ, your handover sounds a lot more stressy than mine :shock:

you poor things. What an awful SS you have :evil:

or should I say HAD! At least you don't have to deal with him anymore!

Bet you can't wait to get that flooring started, not long now!!

Look forward to more of your pics soon too. Can't wait to see the house get decorated!

Paula · Jan 08, 2009 10:34 am

Congratulations VJ!!!!

::cheerleader::

VJ · Jan 09, 2009 6:33 pm

Thanks Mrs B, donuts & Paula!

Time to give another update...

I'm currently on leave for two weeks (since Tuesday) to look after the tiler/carpet layer, etc.
Tiles were scheduled to be delivered Tuesday morning, so tiler could start late morning.
Unfortunately, tiles were delivered late... around 2pm. So tiling started the next day.

Here is day 1 (family room):
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(sorry, forgot to take photos where I could show more areas tiled :oops:

).

Today (day3), almost 80% of the area to be tiled in the ground floor has already been done. We are very pleased with the result... our tiler is very good! Will post photos tomorrow. He will be working tomorrow and on Sunday, and his target is to start/finish grouting on Monday.
Once tiling is finished, we could start with the carpet laying.

Just to share some issues (yes, unending story of issues...) that we saw during handover, but decided to sign accept the house anyway, as our SS told us that they will be fixed during the 3-month maintenance (as long as we take photos of 'em that they were really defects/issues found during the handover date):

can somebody tell me what's that thingy that covers one of the roof tiles on the front garage?
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and notice that one tile is not aligned... this happened after the leak we had on the garage ceiling.

kitchen stone benchtop - chipped off (one more on the other side):
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ensuite stone benchtop - deep scratch:
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this happened while they were fixing the issue with the cornice.

bathroom stone benchtop - scratch to the right sde :
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we also noticed some haze... can you see it? we were thinking that the cleaner might have used some strong cleaners because it doesn't look like that before.

The kitchen benchtop had it too, but we were able to remove it after cleaning with a stone cleaner. I wonder if CS stone can be buffed to remove the haze?

My kids and I are staying in the house during day. I enjoy every minute of staying there! Even if it's dusty upstairs (even after mapping the floors)

.
We brought in the old TV (51 cm and chunky!) we had, a single bed and the new couch (only the single-seater one) and placed them all in our master bed room. Kids brought most of their toys in boxes and we layed rubber mats on the floor where they could play.

I'm enjoying the daily chores of cleaning the ensuite and bathroom/toilet areas (those are the only areas I could clean upstairs anyway :lol:

)...

Once floor tiling is finished, we can have the fridge delivered.
We will move in after the carpets are laid next week (scheduled on WEdnesday).

Rental unit has already been inspected by prospective new tenants yesterday... our last day here is on Saturday... hope we can move in to our new house as scheduled - Thursday night.

joles · Jan 09, 2009 6:40 pm

VJ.... as you know I have been waiting very, very patiently for photos of your floor tiles. And this is all you come up with! :lol:

I expect photos of the entire area as soon as possible! :wink:

Even just a few of them look stunning!

Jo

VJ · Jan 09, 2009 6:47 pm

joles,

i understand you..
i couldn't believe it when i checked the photos that i took for the last 3 days... not even one showed even the entry hallway!

i promise.. tonight I'll post more... because i'm coming back to the house.. right after i post this.. to show DH the progress and take some shots for you guys..

i love it!!!!!!!!!

Michelle · Jan 09, 2009 6:56 pm

VJ….apart from the scratches, your home is looking stunning!

kexkez · Jan 09, 2009 9:17 pm

oh I love the glossy look of those floor tiles. Sigh. my knees would find it too hard to take. Dh and I would dearly love to be looking at tiled floors.

VJ · Jan 09, 2009 9:23 pm

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VJ….apart from the scratches, your home is looking stunning!

Thanks, Michelle!

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oh I love the glossy look of those floor tiles. Sigh. my knees would find it too hard to take. Dh and I would dearly love to be looking at tiled floors.

kexkez,
we really love porcelain floor tiles. we had those when we were still living overseas. when we came here, it's all ceramic/matt tiles. i'm looking forward to have those shiny porcelain tiles again.

VJ · Jan 09, 2009 9:36 pm

ok, as promised, here are the photos of the floor tiling as of today (day 3):

Hallway area (from the family):
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family:
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kitchen:
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(we removed the dishwasher first)

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dining:
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laundry:
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powder room:
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(tiler pulled out the water closet, as the tile that our builder used to hold it is thinner than our actual tile)

Our tiler was very good. On day 1, he started with planning the layout of the tiles. It was hard to decide on the layout along the Entry hallway, as there were varying distances between the walls in between entry/HT, entry/stairs, entry/study. We had to decide in which area we want to center the tile. He layed most of the tiles during day 1 & 2. Today (day 3), he did the areas near the walls (cut outs), which, according to him, is the hardest thing to do because he had to measure the remaining untiled areas and cut the tiles according to the size. He hasn't fixed it to the slab yet (so you would notice that the tiles near the walls are a bit lower than the rest of the iles). He is planning to finish it up to tomorrow. Sunday, he wil be doing the mud room. Monday, he'll start and finish the grouting.

Very exciting!!!

Eager · Jan 09, 2009 9:41 pm

VJ, regarding the haze on your CaesarStone. We were advised by our cleaner at handover that the best thing to use on stone benchtops is the very finest steel wool that you can get.

Admittedly we haven't tried it, and you would want to try it on an inconspicuous area first, but maybe it's worth a try?

As for your absolutely stunning looking floor tiles, I can only imagine your house will be a Socks Only area? :lol:

Bam · Jan 09, 2009 10:27 pm

I love your tiles! And your tiler is awesome, cant fault him from here

haywgl · Jan 09, 2009 10:50 pm

Wow! Those floors are STUNNING!!

I am sort of regretting not going to polished tiles in our bathrooms/ensuites - Oh well atleast I can always rip the old ones up and lay them down the track

Are they hard to keep clean? They look so beautiful and I love the fleck through them!!

Hopefully the issues with the scratches will be sorted soon

Your home, especially the shot with the kitchen and floor tiles looks like a display! Beautiful

brittany · Jan 09, 2009 10:58 pm

Wow - Shiny!!!! Looking good !