Choosing Ceiling LED Lighting (How to check and ask for quality)

With the emergence of a large variety of products from the "emerging" economies, (no pun intended) it is sometimes difficult to tell good value for money.

In my context,
Good value for money = fair price + good quality
Fair value for money = high price + high quality OR fair price + fair quality OR cheap price + cheap quality
Poor value for money = fair price + poor quality OR high price + fair quality
In short, you pay for what you get.

After some investigation, we would like to share our 2 cents worth with all the readers.

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light before installation

1. Look for thick plastic

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light, thicker plastic is better

2. Look for Metal hinges (plastic ones will crack after 2 years when you try to remove cover for bulb changing)

HDB renovation 2009- Ceiling Light- ask for metal hinges

3. LED ( aka Light emitting Diodes) are the latest trend in the market. They are energy efficient, requires lasts much longer but are more expensive. We will not cover the details of LED here. But in short, the LED must work with a driver (which converts Singapore Power's AC current to Direct current) The drivers usually fails before the LEDs.

So the trick is to ask for 2 sets of LED with their independent Drivers. If 1 driver fails pre-maturely, the other set is running, so you will not experience a total blackout.
This is of course on top of the warranty!


HDB renovation 2009- In 1 Ceiling light fixture, 2 independent sets of LED (Small squares arranged in a circular fashion) and drivers (the white boxes)

Also read:
Shopping for Lights
Problems with False Ceiling and Lightings
Lighting- cost savings
Lighting Concept

Ceiling Fan Installation (Part 1)

We have shared the benefits of having a ceiling fan in a HDB flat and the choice of ceiling fans was also explained for the readers' benefit. To complete the story on this topic, this post covers the ceiling fan installation process.

1. Preparation and Delivery
a.   Clear a working area below the designated ceiling fan area.
b.   If there is an existing installation to be displaced or removed, plan in advance.
c.   Standby a home ladder if you have one
d.  On the arrival of the fan installer, explain what needs to be done.
e.  Check the delivered items against your order form.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan and Ceiling Light delivery

HDB renovation- Check the delivery item to your order document

f.   Prepare some refreshment for the installer. Helps increase the quality of work!

2. Removal of existing installation (if any)
a. Plan beforehand if this installation (eg lighting or old ceiling fan) is going to be used else where or to be disposed of.

HDB renovation- Removal of Existing Lighting

b. By briefing the installer when he arrives, he can plan his sequence of works effectively. You can also negotiate for disposal into your purchase.

HDB renovation- Preparing the Lighting for disposal

3. Anchor Bolt
a.   Check the instruction manual for the recommended number of bolts required
b.   Most ceiling fans will recommended at least 3 to 4 secure bolts per fan. Note that the bolt is only considered secured if the bolt-nut can be tightened with increasing resistance.

HDB renovation- Installing the Anchor Bolts for the Ceiling Fan

c.   There is also a minimum spacing between all bolts, including those from the previous installation.
d.   Most experienced installers will know how to reduce dust using paper and plastic bags. However, it cannot be 100%.

4. Assembly and installation (Ceiling fan and Ceiling lights)
a.   Take the chance to check that the parts are new and in good condition.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan Assembly

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan Assembly, LED light kit add-on

b.   Most fans would include a safety lock mechanism that would prevent the fan from falling in case of failure and would stop the motor spinning.

HDB renovation- Ceiling Fan mounting onto the bracket (in black)

5. Testing
a.   Try out all the fan speeds, light kits and remote controls.
b.   Go through and clarify the warranty card as required.
c.   Ask the technician for his name and direct contact number. In case of any troubleshooting, at least you will be talking to the same guy.

In case anyone is interested, we bought our ceiling fan and ceiling lights from, drop me an email.
Service was good and prompt.

Also read:
How to Choose a Ceiling Fan
Ceiling Fan Comparison Chart
Advantages of a Ceiling Fan
Shopping for Lightings

Decorating Baby Girl's Room Wall

Having conditioned the baby to sleep through, we managed to find time to decorate her room, but was on a tight budget. My wife was keen to make the room more lively and "girlish".

She found an elegant and economical way to create a theme wall for our girl's infant room, DIY decal style. It is a quiet forest theme with an owl, porcupine and squirrel.




Take a look at the finished product here. Stickers are reusable and of surprisingly high quality. So there was no worry about adjusting the picture arrangements to your preference.

Decorating Baby Girl's Bedroom economical DIY

There are other 2 choices which we found to be pleasant and suitable for baby girls, but without being too pinky



Also see
DIY- Changing cabinet knob
DIY- Decorating Glass Door with Decals
DIY- Decorating a boy's room

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303 (part 2 of 2)

This is a continuation of Part 1.

Insert Square headed bolt through bolt and slide catch into seat base assembly.

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- Bolt + catch on seat base (viewed inverted)

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- Bolt + catch on seat base slide in (viewed inverted)

 Repeat for other side.

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- Bolt + catch on seat base 2 sides (viewed inverted)

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- Bowl without seat and cover

 Insert 2 x transparent rubber spacers.

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- Insert 2 transparent spacers into 2 anchor holes on toilet bowl.

 Align bolts and insert into bowl anchor holes

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- align seat assembly's bolt to bowl's anchor holes

 The bolt needs to be secured with nuts from underneath. See below pics for a thousand words.

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- bowl without seat and cover elevation

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- nut and washer to secure inserted bolt from under the bowl.

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303- nut and washer to secure inserted bolt from under the bowl.

Repeat for other bolt.


Also see:
Feedback of water cabinet baron w303

Other Maintenance Postings:
Changing chair fabric
DIY home repair cabinet knob
Does a refrigator need plinth
Wet floor toilet design

Changing Toilet Bowl Seat Cover- Baron W303 (part 1 of 2)

After 4 years of use, we decided to replace the toilet seat in the master bedroom with a standard oval shaped cover-seat (aka non-original) which was commonly available costing SGD26.

It proved to be an unwise choice as

1. The seat and bowl shapes did not match. I guess it still works well, but we started questioning why the decision to get a designer toilet bowl in the first place.

2. Due to the incompatible dimensions between the bowl and our purchased seat, the sitting position became awkward, which required the user to lean forward. In short it did not work.

Without much options, we searched for original seats and had 3 quotes, ranging from SGD40 to SGD55 all before GST. Naturally the cheapest one was picked from Klisss.

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303 invoice

It came in a rather plan box for a designer product.

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303- simple box

 However, the box was clearly labelled as "SLOWLYFALL". See the video here to know what it means.

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303- Labelling

Supplied components included (clockwise in picture below) assembled cover-seat, 2 rectangular catch, 2 sets of plastic bolt + nut + washer and 2 transparent spacers.

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303- Supply components

 Plastic rectangular catch.

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303- Catch

 Complete assembly of the Catch + washer + nut + Bolt  assembly

HDB renovation DIY- change toilet seat cover Baron W303- Catch+ washer+nut+bolt assembly

See Part 2 here

Feedback of Water Cabinet Baron W303- 4 years

Initially, we provided a feedback after several weeks of usage and are not sure if we should be providing a 4-year feedback as it seemed like a pretty "unhygienic" topic to dig into so much detail. Since we have done the dirty job, we might as well save the readers the trouble of the same journey.

After 4 years of use, we observed the following:

1. The Baron W303 was the most economical designer bowl we could find in 2009. It added to the hotel-like toilet look we were after.

2. As a designer toilet bowl, the seat came with a "Slow fall" or silent falling function, which started to show that it is wearing out after approximately 2 years. At 4 years the cover was behaving like any normal cover, ie when released, you can hear the contact sound. Ironically, this made life easier as the new cover took more than 20 seconds to "fall slowly".

2. In addition, the toilet seat was less child friendly when compared to a standard oval shaped bowl, specifically:
a. The built-in resistance for the "fall slowly" cover poses a slight challenge for our 3 year old boy learning to pass urine on his own.
b. Baron W303 had a non-standard seat shape and curvature that was not compatible to some child-potty seats.

3. The dual flushing power was decent so far. There was no significant loss of flushing power over the period of use.

4. Seat cover surface started to deteriorate after 4 years of use by 2 adults. However, we have to admit that it is still functioning well except with a slight loss of contact comfort. Baron's original seat replacement was not commonly available and the cheapest quote was SGD40 before GST. In contrast, a conventional oval shaped seat-cover is readily available island wide for SGD 10 to SGD 26. See posting replacing the Baron W303 seat cover.

In conclusion for the above feedback, while the Baron W303 provided high aesthetic value at a decent price, the maintenance cost expectation should be kept at that of a designer bowl. Recommended for the Master Bedrooms but not for common toilets with heavy wear/tear and toddler use.

Also see:
Feedback on Baron W303 after 2 weeks of use

Concerned about maintenance cost: also see:
Advantages of installing ceiling fan
Lighting concept cost savings
Compare LED vs energy saving lighting

Compare LED vs Energy saving lighting

What are the benefits of using LED lights at home?

There is much hype about LED lights claiming to save significant wattage over the compact Flourescent Lights (CFL) and replacement cost. Is it really worth considering this for HDB dwellers?

Before that, lets start by some definition.
LED = Light Emitting Diode
It is a solid-state lighting technology that has been around for decades. The technology has only picked sufficiently for LED to be increasing reliable.

To be continued...