22. If you buy silicone, GE imported ones are absolutely the best, and the second best is GE packaged in Shanghai. Of course, if it's used in a very unimportant place, those 7 or 8 yuan ones can also be used. For example, I used low-quality silicone to block up all the gaps inside my aluminum alloy window frames. However, I chose GE silicone for my bathroom and kitchen, which was worth the investment!
23. Undermount sinks are more delicate, aesthetically pleasing, and easier to clean than top-mount sinks. When selecting faucets for undermount sinks, consider the thickness of the sink edge; the faucet spout should be longer.
24. The slope of the bathroom floor must be considered before laying tiles. Following national standards may not achieve rapid drainage, and using anti-odor floor drains or ultra-thin floor drains will significantly exacerbate drainage problems. Some people say that a larger slope is not aesthetically pleasing, but I think that's nonsense. On the contrary, a steeper slope allows water to drain quickly, which is a very satisfying experience.
25. The stainless steel legs used for bathroom vanities are highly profitable. You can find them much cheaper in less prominent store locations. When making vanity cabinets for your bathroom, make sure to determine the sink dimensions beforehand to avoid future installation issues.
2. Among the three main series of toilets: Whirlpool is quieter; Siphon is a more traditional method, but consumes more water; Jet is more water-efficient.
3. Don't buy double-bar towel racks. The glass shelves for cosmetics in the bathroom should be of good quality. Once, while showering, I placed too heavy a bottle of shower gel on the glass shelf. Due to poor quality of the glass clamps, they loosened, causing the glass to fall and break.
37. Decide in advance whether the washbasin will have wall drainage or floor drainage. It’s best not to change the position of existing drainage pipes and floor drains. Improper changes can easily lead to water overflow.
38. The test method for sanitary ware: use a cigarette butt to test, the one that can flush it down in one go is the best. Integrated sanitary ware is better, as separate pieces can leak over time.
39. When installing a washbasin, consider its relative positions with the mirror, toothbrush cup rack, and towel rack.
40. Installing an undermount sink countertop is not a simple task; workers often try to take shortcuts, which drove me crazy! After several attempts, I was quite satisfied with the quality and processing of "Montreal," but not with the installer.
44. Angle valves should not be omitted, nor do they save much money. With angle valves, leaks at copper joints can be detected early during installation. Without them, leaks can only be checked when connecting pipes to the faucets later, which is less safe due to the need to pressurize for some time to detect leaks.
45. Faucets: Choose reputable brands, as a sudden failure when no one is home could be disastrous. Ensure all faucets in the house have consistent cold and hot water directions. Also, don’t connect the toilet's water supply to the hot water pipe, or the water heater might activate every time the toilet is flushed. The distance between cold and hot water holes is approximately 16 cm, and this can be adjusted within a certain range. The reserved outlet shouldn't be too large or too small.
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1. Regretting the open-plan kitchen design; saying there's no grease problem is definitely false.
2. Regretting not installing a small instant water heater in the bathroom and kitchen; it makes hot water available faster and is more convenient to use.
3. Regretting using a European-style exhaust hood; it looks good but isn't practical, should have used a Chinese-style one.
4. Regretting not installing enough power outlets; extension cords are everywhere in the house. Install as many as possible.
5. Regretting not reserving a power outlet next to the toilet; unable to install a bidet.
6. Bathtub vs. shower, if choosing one, recommend shower. Many bathtubs are installed but never used for soaking baths. Shower rooms have glass that is hard to clean, consider hanging a shower curtain instead.
7. If there are two bathrooms, installing a bathtub in one is still necessary; useful for soaking large items or bathing small babies. Massage tubs aren't necessary, used rarely and expensive.
8. Regretting not installing air conditioning in the kitchen; even a window unit would have been helpful.
9. If you like surfing the internet, each room should have at least 2 network ports and more than 2 power outlets on each wall. Wireless routers can solve the problem, but sometimes they are reportedly unstable.
10. Regretting not venting the kitchen exhaust duct outside; now whenever someone cooks in the building, the exhaust fan must be turned on simultaneously to prevent the whole house from smelling of oil.
11. Various socket positions in the room deviate from the furniture dimensions bought later, wasting many sockets.
12. If you can buy something in a store, don't have carpenters make it!!!! Unless the carpenter's skills are exceptionally good.
13. Floor color should be slightly lighter, less prone to showing dust; kitchen and bathroom tiles should be slightly darker, less likely to show hair everywhere, thus most dirt-resistant.
14. It's best to install a ceiling fan in the dining room; super comfortable.
15. Have as much storage space as possible; the need for organizing clutter increases after moving in.
16. It's best to use tiles on the balcony walls; they are more waterproof than paint.
17. Regret buying so many lights; actually, only a few are used regularly...
18. Super regret having a glass washbasin in the toilet; it gets dirty very easily, should have used ceramic.
19. Group buying doesn't save much money; sellers are smarter than buyers. Believe that windfalls don't fall from the sky. With tens of thousands spent on house renovation, it's still worthwhile to walk around the market and compare prices. Never be swayed by so-called "bargain hunters" at group-buy events.
20. Regret forgetting to install switches by the bed; every time I have to get out of bed to turn off the light, especially difficult in winter.
21. Regret buying cheap hardware; bathroom hardware, faucets, etc., are truly worth their price.
22. Try not to leave unreachable corners during renovation; cleaning these dead angles is very difficult.
23. Families planning to have children must calculate dimensions carefully; reserve space next to the bed for a crib.
24. Recommend installing cold and hot water pipes for all faucets; it doesn't cost much more during renovation, but fixing it afterward is extremely difficult.
25. The fewer impractical designs in the room, the better; once attached, they cannot be removed easily and will soon become outdated!
26. When buying anything, check the size of the doors in your home; don't buy something that can't fit through the door.
27. Solid wood floors feel good underfoot but require maintenance; laminate flooring is easier to clean.
28. Regret buying invisible doors; they look good but aren't practical, troublesome to ventilate.
29. Walk-in closets are good but tend to accumulate dust easily; open bookshelves and display racks (without doors) look nice but are painful to clean, especially books covered in dust.
30. Lampshades should never point upwards; they'll just collect dust once hung.
31. The project of installing residual current devices and air switches in distribution boxes cannot be skipped, and they should be indoors rather than outdoors. Originally, I wanted to save labor costs by using the old outdoor distribution box, but the electrician suggested placing a new one indoors, which proved to be a valuable suggestion.
32. Residual current devices and air switches must be branded products.
33. Undermount sinks are more delicate, aesthetically pleasing, and easier to clean than top-mount sinks. When selecting faucets for undermount sinks, consider the thickness of the sink edge; the faucet spout should be longer.
34. Walls without any decorative trim on the ceiling corners look beautiful, but this must be clearly communicated to the painters during the painting stage. Snapping lines on the ceiling helps keep the edges straight.
35. Surface treatment before applying putty on the cement surface of wire grooves is crucial; cleaning balls are suitable for treating loose surfaces.
36. Gypsum is suitable for filling large holes on walls, but for very large holes, cement is still needed.
37. Be sure to protect the back of frosted glass from getting painted; it's hard to clean if it does.
38. Kitchen faucets should be operable with the back of the hand; those requiring finger operation are harder to keep clean, and turning them with oily hands is difficult.
39. Luxury automatic clothes drying racks have excessive price markups; after comparison, some lesser-known brands have superior structural designs to first-tier brands at much lower prices.
40. Ground-mounted metal sockets can be considered; though expensive at over 100 yuan, they are convenient. Normally flush with the ground, stepping on them pops them out. Suitable for large living rooms or under dining tables for hotpot use (to prevent tripping over wires).
41. Storage room regrets not having cabinet doors; things inside easily gather dust.
42. Regrets saving space by buying a bed with a cabinet underneath; extremely poor ventilation.
43. Inefficient double-bar towel racks! Currently serve the same purpose as single-bar ones; rarely hang towels on the inner bar.
44. Definitely don't install door-type trash cans or countertop trash bins; they smell bad in summer when opened. Trash cans are better kept outside.
45. A small cabinet beside the dining table is handy for storing items, very convenient.
46. The performance requirements for mops aren't high; you can build one yourself, then lay matching tiles or mosaics that blend with the surroundings, both aesthetic and cost-saving.
47. Nails or hooks can be nailed in the bathroom to hang items.
48. Design a small closet in the bathroom to store clothes; no more worries about forgetting clean clothes when showering.
49. Washers with drying functions are highly impractical; aside from a few moldy days a year, thick clothes and towels still don't dry well. Let the sun disinfect; I've overspent and need to save some money.
50. Built a laundry sink in the laundry room to hand wash items. Initially thought it would be rarely used, so bought a cheap faucet. Unexpectedly, this laundry sink became the most frequently used washing area in my home. Everything from rags, socks, to floor cloths are washed here, and even handwashing mostly happens there.
51. Regret installing LED strips. They're useless; haven't been turned on since the renovation was completed. Guests coming over only see the spotlight show, and we've forgotten we even installed them. Originally intended for romantic parties, but now even the spotlights aren't used much.
52. The biggest insight is that simpler renovations are better; less pollution, less spending, less trouble.
53. Useful items: ① Well-designed storage room. ② Sink for washing dirty objects in the north balcony, different from the bathroom sink and kitchen sink. ③ Pull-out showerhead in the bathroom (unless you never wash your hair in the basin). ④ Easy-to-clean floors and appropriate cleaning tools. ⑤ Work lights on the kitchen countertops.
54. When buying a toilet, measure the hole distance in your home accurately; otherwise, returning it after purchase will be troublesome.
55. After laying the bathroom and kitchen tiles, it's best to measure the level before they dry, ensuring the lowest point is where the drain is located. Otherwise, arguing with the renovation team after they dry will cost a lot of brain cells.
56. The shower room must have sufficiently large dimensions, and transparent glass should be used to avoid feeling cramped while showering.
57. Tile grouting shouldn't use white cement; it turns black within a month, looking terrible. Ended up buying grout and doing it myself, which was exhausting.
58. There should be plywood under the artificial stone countertop of the kitchen cabinet; found none after installation, now dare not chop meat on it. Promised to retrofit it, but it's been almost two months and still not done (only polished once).
59. Regret trusting the designer's persuasion. Visit multiple decoration companies to extract truly useful elements from each design, key is knowing how you want your home to look.
60. If the original developer-installed anti-odor "bowl" in the floor drain exists, don't remove it.
61. Test the bathroom floor immediately after laying the tiles; if water flows slowly, redo it immediately. Our water flowed slowly, and now there's always some standing water when showering, leaving our main bathroom's expensive showerhead idle, still figuring out how to fix it.
62. When installing a washbasin, consider its relative positions with the mirror, toothbrush cup rack, and towel rack.
63. Consider the position of the mirror light when buying a mirror; if temporarily not installing mirror lights, the mirror size should cover the reserved wiring for the mirror lights.
64. Build a small cabinet on the balcony for the washing machine to conveniently store miscellaneous items like detergent. Both aesthetic and practical.
65. Must supervise the upstairs neighbors to do waterproofing...otherwise, dripping water from upstairs can cause cabinets and walls to become a mess...
66. Don't blindly follow online group buys; later found that bargaining yourself can be cheaper than group buying. Personally recommend Liangju Network (Liangju decojoy), things there are indeed cheaper, but only under group-buy conditions.
67. The TV background wall must have multiple outlets; once the TV and DVD are placed, you'll find the outlets insufficient. Can pre-bury a PVC pipe with bends inside, power cables enter from one end and exit from the other directly to the back of the TV, very useful.
68. Before modifying water pipes, consider the model of the planned washbasin, such as left or right basins, and where the water inlet and outlet should be placed. Otherwise, after modification, you may find the desired washbasin won't fit!
69. Regarding curtains, everyone should keep a copy of the dimensions, inform the boss that dimensions cannot be short. If they are, specify consequences. Alternatively, watch the fabric being cut yourself.
70. Construction procedures for renovation:
(1) Entry, demolition, masonry work.
(2) Bathroom, kitchen floor undergoes 24-hour water retention test (completed by the developer).
(3) Chisel grooves, water and electricity modifications and inspection.
(4) Seal grooves for concealed water and electricity projects, conduct water retention test without leakage before starting waterproofing works.
(5) Bathroom, kitchen wall tiles installation.
(6) Carpenter enters, suspends ceilings, gypsum corner lines.
(7) Door casing, window casing. Wooden cabinet framework production.
(8) Simultaneous production of various wooden doors, shaped doors, and flat pressing.
(9) Wooden panel brushed with dust-proof varnish (clear oil).
(10) Marble sill leveling and laying.
(11) Wooden veneer bonding, line production, and precise installation.
(12) Wall base layer treatment, sanding, leveling.
(13) Furniture, door edge seams bonded with adhesive tape (protective edge).
(14) Wall painting with ICI at least three times.
(15) Furniture paint enters, nail hole filling, painting.
(16) Edge handling, tile laying, real wood or laminate flooring, waterproof marble strips, skirting boards.
(17) Lighting fixtures, sanitary ware, handles, door locks installation and debugging.
(18) Cleaning, tile joint filling, site clearance.
(19) Preliminary acceptance by the interior decoration company.
(20) Tripartite appointment for formal acceptance, delivery to the owner.
71. Before reinstalling the flue valve, it must be cleaned thoroughly to ensure the valve can open and close freely and fully, otherwise, it will affect the exhaust effect of the range hood. Two parts of the ceiling can be left uninstalled until the range hood is installed and tested successfully, then complete the ceiling.
72. Ceilings should be avoided if possible in large spaces like living rooms and dining rooms.
73. Regret not considering the air conditioner position during wiring; the power source should be closer to the air conditioner to avoid seeing a dangling power cord when installing the air conditioner.
74. Measure and record all available dimensions in the house personally; you can redraw lines on the layout plan to reannotate dimensions. Final dimensions will directly impact renovation design and furniture purchases.
75. Poorly designed small units with dark walnut tones may lack grandeur; choices need to be made, either compromising with reality or sticking to personal preferences. Ideally, both should be balanced.
76. Start looking for renovation personnel