Monday, May 31, 2010

Our vendors - Build and Make part 8

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

There were so many vendors that we searched for different purposes. Other than civil work by my brother-in-law almost all other materials we have bought from multiple. vendors. Vendor selection was through many criteria like - availability of materials we liked, quality, referral, cost and reliability.

Let me try to list down the same ans some information, which might be useful for others.

Wood: This was our first purchase. We bought most of wood from vinayaka timbers mysore road. All wood was teak and we also bought a lot of around 42 cft. Cutting log was an amazing experience. It costed me around 1550/_ per cft. Cut pieces was around 1800/- . In total we purchased almost 150 cft of teak wood.

Note: you need to have sufficient time for seasoning especially if you go for log. At least 3 to 4 months

Granite: The second important purchase we made was granite stones. We roamed almost every place in bannerghatta road for our choice of stones. We liked few stones like amba white, chickoo pearl, madhura gold. Out of which chickoo pearl was most favourite. But it was tooo expensive, around 180/- per sft. So we went for madhura gold which we got at 125/- at Natural Granites. We bought around 1000 sft

Ceramic tiles: just above natural granites they have their own ceramic showroom, with the name of south india ceramics. We bought most of tiles there. We liked kajaria brown and cream (our most loved combination) a lot. We selected that for our bath room. Selected a white tile for pooja and a grey combination for mom's room. Average cost for tiles was around 60/-. Pooja tiles were around 79/-. Flooring tiles were around 40/-. We wanted to buy wood looking ceramic tiles for kitchen which have non-skid surface. We could not get in natural granites. We searched a lot in many places and at last found in tile print near lalbhag west gate. But it was too expensive. 120/- per sft.

Attangudi tiles: These were our favourite tilies which we bought from village in tamil nadu called attangudi. These tiles are hand made clay tiles which usually come three basic colors and some patterns. Red, green and yellow. We bought red tiles which gives us feeling of red oxide. They are 26/- per sft. We bought around 500 sft. The company is called as shivan shakti tiles and contact person is called as ayyappan. We did money transaction over internet and material was dispatched through KPN. It was very prompt and neat service. But you need to have skilled labourer for laying the same. Point to note, its better to buy 10 to 15 percent more as there might be some wasteage and its difficult to re-ship few more tiles.

Wood fittings: latches, handles, locks, curtain brackets rods, gate hooks etc. We bought all these items in mahaveer hardware at kathriguppe. He was having good quality and good price. More over he has good consulting capability. Expenses for wood fittings were around 60000/-.

Plumbing fittings: All our plumbing fittings were bought from mahaveer hardware, katriguppe. They include commodes, wash basins, jaguar wall mixers, spouts and taps, mirrors and other accessories. Only bath tub we bought from tile print. Plumbing fittings alone costed me around 50000/-

Interiors: Most of the materials for interiors were purchased from maruthi glass and ply wood at chandra layout. The materials cost was around 2.0 lakhs as a whole. This includes 2 wardrobes, 1 library unit, TV unit, crockery unit, shelves and few drawers.

Electrical fittings: We bought all our electrical fittings from JP lights in BVK Iyengar road. It included wall brackets, drop lights, bulk heads, ceiling roses and all fancy lights. All costed us around 20000/-.

Clay products: clay tiles, henchu for chajjas, clay floor tiles and for mural work. For all these things, we went to clay shop near JSS circle banashankari.

Few more places: Metro hardware city market, Town hardware beside metro.
Regards,
Karthik Sunil

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Interiors - Build and make - Part 7

ld

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6


I am back with next part of build and make series. Its about interiors.

The idea: It's always better to think about the interiors very early in the game. May be during civil design itself. Atleast an idea of what you would like to do later. That helps a lot in making arrangements during each stage. Like keeping an opening during wall construction, providing an electrical or water point, paneling etc. I know it is not so easy to think about finishing during early stages. You would have multiple other things to worry. But still if you can spend some time to make an idea it would help later and avoid breaking walls :)

The concepts: Once you have some idea in your mind try to conceptualize. May be you try to visualize on a particular position or wall. May be you have make some provision for electrical socket, water outlet or may be you need wall hole or inner finishing for some art work. Advantage of conceptualizing early is that you can any provision during civil work itself. You have workers available for doing things. You can think about pros and cons very early. And over all above you reducing a lot of rework later for interiors and hence saving a lot of money.
Regards,
Karthik Sunil