BIRD CAGE? PRISON CELL? BALCONY?

It had been long a common complaint among estate neighbours - their own balcony is being treated as a dumping ground, intentionally or accidentally by the upstairs units.

From cigarettes, papers, tissues, toys, clothing everything except money!  The design of the estate's balconies simply cannot make it!  Some big, some small, some long & narrow.  Some are lucky to be sheltered by the bigger balcony and escape being littered.

Homeowners who has regular balcony throughout the floors already faces such problem - what's worse, the design of our estate's makes it more easy for littler bugs who simply opt to fling their stuff out of the window.

We use that limited amount of space to dry our laundry, to park our bicycles, to grown some green, a small outdoor area for the kids to play, yet there are people who throw all sorts of sort out of the windows without sparing a thought for others.  Parents are ignorant of kids throwing down books, stickers even toys - the maids cant be bothered to with their mischief.

Parents worried for their kids safety put up grills like the first pix from the top on your left.  Even putting up window grills also caused some ridiculous  hoo-haa at some properties.  READ REPORT HERE

Those who wants safety but hate those bulky metal rods, can go for invisible grills, like the 2nd pix from the top on your left.  The unit below mine has a big balcony, and they did invisible grill.

I guess they are simply fed up with all the nonsense found on their wood-deck balcony so here's what they did recently.

Simply add a "roof" to it!

Is the additional approved by the authorities? I'm not sure and I'm not going ask them.  After all, they have spent money putting it up to protect their own space... do you expect them to tear it down?

Quoting an estate's neighbour - in the first place "they" never put it in writing that there's a plan to incorporate a eatery among the void deck, now "they" are going ahead with it despite some opposing the idea.

So... last time cannot put up the 'roof' b'cos it will spoil the outlook of the estate, but now because of increase littering problem, so house owners are allow to take things into his own hands?

I first posted the "Roof Added" in our estate facebook page but similar to the equally sensitive issue of having the eatery, it was later taken down.

Now, my personal blog space, doesnt mean to bring trouble to any neighbours, not mean to stir any trouble, just wanted post some happening around the house - can I or cannot publish this post?  Or post first delete later?

DAY 27 OF RENO

the grilles are being installed today after we confirmed the deal with Invisys over the weekend.

can u see the grilles?
the nuts & bolts will be tighten after the wire are in place
the gap is approx 3.5"-4" apart. this is to avoid the handles on the casement windows
the hook to finalised the tension

with and without flash. did u notice the vertical thread - 'stabilizer'. acts an additional support and it's necessary if the length of the window is more than 2m
close up view of the stabilizer
but i would give it a 3.5/5 rating for their workmanship. some of the bars were slanted, and of one of it was drilled on the wrong side. the workers didnt replace instead just seal the correction with a stopper and some white silicon gel. paint on the wall and window framed peeled off due to drilling. of course, all this mistakes arent really visible unless you really pay attention to it.

anyway, the job for 3 bedrooms and 1 study room was completed within 150mins. finally, some peace of mind when it comes to my kiddos' safety.

btw, the 10mm tempered glass shower screen was also being installed today.

mbr's bathroom
common bathroom
just settled the windows, now there's another thing for me to remind the kids to be gentle with...zzz.

DAY 24 OF RENO

since renovation began on 20 October, we had spent the past few weekends in various furniture malls and hardware stores scouting for bargains and best deal to furnish the new place. today however, we packed our lunch and picnic mats and head off to site.

we are waiting for sale reps from different company that supply invisible grilles to give us a quote to have the grilles installed at living room, study and the 3 bedrooms.

it's not difficult to track them. after all, with a search on google, there's only currently 3 companies doing it in Singapore.

1. Invisys Technology Pte Ltd
2. Invisible Grille
3. Le Gate

same window measurements but 3 different companies 3 different prices that ranges between SGD11-12psf.

the only sale rep that came prepared with his mock up grilles and various materials. no hard sale, not pushy. did his work and left. the only company that follow up with a black/white quotation after the meet up.

came with a bunch of wires and some nuts/bolts. prices quoted was the most expensive yet insisted their material is the best, price difference will not be too great between their competitors...etc etc. showroom/office doesnt seems to operate on weekend. calls to the office were directed to a mobile.

the only locally established company. cant believed the sale rep came empty-handed because her previous client taken her samples and she doesnt have any extra in her car. only picture catalogue for reference when such info can be easily obtained from their website. patiently took measurements for all 3 bedrooms despite telling her the window sizes are the same. offered to drop by again with her gears and wares.

all 3 companies gave a warranty period of 3yrs for normal wear & tear and claimed that they uses only 316 grade stainless steel.

regret i'm not in position to reveal the amount each company quoted. but do stay tuned... installation is tentatively scheduled on 15 November 2011.

window grilles - down. one more very important item left to buy.