Possible Mistakes during Renovation Work

1. Misalignment of Rain Shower Arm

When the plumber installed the rain shower fitting, the misalignment was not apparent because the partition wall was then not tiled yet. It was only when the partition wall was tiled (on 24-Mar-08) that the misalignment became painfully obvious.

He should have, but did not, used a plumb line to determine the vertical alignment of the rain shower piping. Lapse of concentration, perhaps?

The tiler should have alerted the ID when he first noticed the misalignment, but did not. Maybe he was tired, because he arrived late in the afternoon at about 4 pm to finish the tiling of the partition wall. When asked by the ID, he maintained the owner saw the work and said nothing, so he thought the owner did not mind!

Mistake again!

After the tiler had completed the re-tiling, I noticed he had used his own initiative to further "adjust" the position of the pipe. The result was that now the rain shower arm was not vertically aligned with the concealed tap fitting, although the plumber had earlier already corrected the vertical alignment. Golly, what was the tiler thinking?

The tiler was apologetic.

I decided to let it pass as the misalignment was slight and not obvious to the casual observer. But it is a sore sight to my eyes!!!

I should have been there at the bathroom to supervise the tiler's work, and never took things for granted. OK, lesson learnt.

2. No hole for basin waste water discharge

Owing to a lack of foresight or focus, the tiler inadvertently cemented and covered the original hole in the bathroom floor that was meant for the hand basin discharge pipe. This was a major error, for the hand basin could not simply discharge its waste water into the bathroom floor!

And because hacking would damage the waterproofing layer in the bathroom floor, the tiler could not now hack the cement away to expose the discharge hole for the basin pipe.

Finally, a less elegant solution was to cut a hole in the plastic trap for the hand basin piping. Luckily there would be a partition wall to box up the ugly piping in the bathroom.

3. Side-by-side doors not top-aligned with each other

4. Other issues

Uneven skirting
Problem was caused by the uneven wall, and tiler simply cut and tiled the granite skirting to follow the unevenness. Neither the ID nor the owner were alerted. When the problem was subsequently discovered after an inspection, tiler had to remove the skirting, then hack away part of the uneven wall, and re-tile.

Fault was due to the uneven wall. Would be appreciative if tiler had alerted owner to the issue before tiling.

Wrong positioning of double socket point
Electrician will correct the positioning in subsequent days.

Internet piping in floor
Tiler did not discuss with owner or ID how the PVC pipe will be aligned with the skirting. Not a major issue, can live with it.

One instead of two feed cable for SCV
Electrician on his own initiative laid one SCV cable instead of two from the SCV junction box outside the flat.

Probably too late to lay 2 cables now as it will spoil the nice plastic trunking laid. Will try and see what can be done.

Mistake in light switches
Not yet discussed. Probably could change design of light fixtures to accommodate the switches.

Smelly toilet
Plumber claimed silicone sealant not normally applied to seal pan collar to the sewage hole when I asked him to apply. Should have insisted, because after installation the toilet still smells.

Self-applied silicone to the base, that reduced the smell somewhat but bad smell still detected.

Plumber will remove toilet and apply sealant to the pan collar, then re-install the toilet, if the smell persists after a few more days.

Completion delay
The window fabricator had already stopped taking orders when the contract was signed with the ID. That caused the delay, but the extent and severity of the delay on project completion was unforeseen.

Will know and prepare better in future.

Poor water outflow in toilet
Problem occurs in toilet, so is not severe as mop will be used to clean the toilet.

Thus can live with the problem, although problem should not have happened if tiler had correctly sloped the floor in the course of the tiling.

Fridge door unable to open fully to 270 deg
Fridge depth was 80cm and tiler created cement wall with same 80cm depth. As a result the fridge door could open only to 90 deg, whereas it must open to 150% or more to permit frdige shelving to be taken out for cleaning.

Wrong color for laminated flooring
ID asked the worker to remove the wrong color tiles and redo the laminated flooring. However the color was still too dark for owner's taste. Decided to live with it.

HDB approval delayed for hacking wall
The HDB officer claimed 10-day delay was caused by incorrect submission by the design firm. However, approval was given immediately when ID submitted correct drawings.