Reference
Singapore Home Upgrade Glossary
Plain-English definitions for every term used across our buying guides: drive systems, membranes, motors, rail types, plant rooms, permits. One canonical source, alphabetised.
A
- A&A
Additions and alterations. Adding to or altering an existing building within URA's limits on added floor area, replaced outside walls and structural change. An extra storey or a change of house type makes it reconstruction.
Defined in: What A&A works mean for your landed house
- Appliance schedule
A coordinated list of exact models, installation documents, service needs and approval status.
Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?
B
- Backwash
A filter-cleaning discharge used by some filter systems; its route must be designed appropriately.
Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Balustrade
The barrier along an open stair or landing edge.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
- Brief
A short record of how your household uses each room, what isn’t working and what the design has to fix.
Defined in: Landed interior design from terrace house photos to handover
C
- Call control
A control used to bring the chair to a landing, subject to the model’s instructions.
Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide
- Carcass
The box of a cabinet, meaning its sides, top, bottom and back, which carry the doors, shelves, hinges and runners.
Defined in: How to choose the best carpentry for wardrobes and cabinets
- Circulation
Movement of water through the pool and its treatment system.
Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Close-range inspection
In BCA's statutory facade inspection, a hands-on check of at least 10% of each face of the building, tapping the surface to find hollow or loose plaster and tiles that can't be seen from a distance.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- Combination table
Manufacturer information describing supported indoor/outdoor combinations and relevant performance.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
- Commissioning
Checks and setup needed to establish correct operation of the installed system.
Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide · Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
- Compressor
The pump inside the outdoor unit that circulates refrigerant through the system.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
- Condensate
Water produced as moisture is removed from indoor air during cooling.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
- Conditional allowance
An amount in a quote that depends on something not yet known or chosen. The contract should say how it's adjusted once that's settled.
Defined in: What A&A works mean for your landed house
- Coping
The finished edge around a pool.
Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Cove light
An LED strip hidden in a ledge or recess of the ceiling, so its light bounces off the ceiling and you see a soft glow rather than the strip.
Defined in: Which type of false ceiling is best for your home?
- Crest level
The bottom level of any opening into a basement, including ventilation and service openings, or the top of a ramp or accessway leading into it. For a landed house, PUB's code sets it at least 150 mm above the minimum platform level.
Defined in: Can you build a basement under your landed house?
D
- Driver
The small power unit that feeds an LED light. For a downlight or cove strip it can sit above the ceiling, so it needs an access panel or another way to reach it when it has to be replaced.
Defined in: Which type of false ceiling is best for your home?
- Dry kitchen
An open kitchen area near the dining or living space for preparing food, making drinks and serving, away from the smoke and grease of heavy cooking.
Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?
- Ducted unit
An indoor unit hidden above the ceiling that sends air through ducts to grilles and draws it back through a return grille.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
E
- Efflorescence
White salt deposits on plaster or brick walls. BCA lists it among common facade defects.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- ERSS
Earth retaining and stabilising structures, the walls, props and slopes that hold the ground back while a basement is dug. Excavation deeper than 1.5 m should use one, designed by a Professional Engineer and submitted to BCA for approval.
Defined in: Can you build a basement under your landed house?
F
- Facade interface
A connection between the wall and an opening, roof edge, pipe or adjoining material, such as the joint around a window frame.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- Filler panel
A strip of board that closes the gap between a cabinet and a wall or ceiling, and gives a hinged door room to open past a side wall.
Defined in: How to choose the best carpentry for wardrobes and cabinets
- Finished-level schedule
A coordinated record of the final heights of floors, landings and steps.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
- Flashing
A detail that manages water at a junction, edge or penetration; its form depends on the roof system and adjoining materials.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
- Floating floor
A floor whose planks lock to each other but aren’t fixed to the subfloor, so it needs a gap at its edges to move.
Defined in: How to choose the best vinyl flooring for your home
G
- Glue-down vinyl
Flexible vinyl planks or tiles stuck to a level subfloor with adhesive.
Defined in: How to choose the best vinyl flooring for your home
- Going
The horizontal distance used to describe stair-step geometry.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
H
- Hold point
A stage where work stops to be checked and recorded before it is covered, such as the ponding test on the membrane before tiling.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof · Choosing bathroom fixtures and fittings for a landed home
I
- Interface
Where new work meets the house you're keeping, such as the new roof against the old wall, or a new drain joining an old one.
Defined in: What A&A works mean for your landed house
L
- L-box
A strip of false ceiling built along one wall to hide aircon trunking, pipes or wiring, leaving the rest of the room at full height. It can hold a cove light or a row of downlights. Also called a bulkhead.
Defined in: Which type of false ceiling is best for your home?
- Landing interface
The connection between the lift entrance and the building, including approach, threshold, doors and finishes.
Defined in: Home Lifts in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
M
- Major alteration or replacement
A regulatory classification that must be assessed for the proposed work; it can require a new PTO.
Defined in: Home Lifts in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Making good
Restoring affected finishes after installation or alteration, to an agreed scope.
Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?
- Manual release
A model-specific means of disengaging the powered drive, used according to the instructions.
Defined in: How to choose an auto gate for your landed home
- Minimum platform level (MPL)
The minimum first-storey level PUB sets for a site. On low-lying sites, URA treats internal areas below it as a basement storey.
Defined in: Can you build a basement under your landed house?
- Moisture-resistant board
MDF made for humid rooms, or plywood in the humid or exterior class. Moisture-resistant MDF swells less when damp, but it’s made for damp air, not standing water, and its cut edges still need sealing.
Defined in: How to choose the best carpentry for wardrobes and cabinets
- Movement envelope
The space occupied by every part of the gate while opening and closing.
Defined in: How to choose an auto gate for your landed home
- Multi-split
An arrangement in which one outdoor unit serves multiple indoor units.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
N
- Nosing
The leading edge of a tread.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
O
- Overlay or recovering
Installing a new specified assembly while retaining some existing roof layers, subject to assessment of their suitability.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
P
- Parking position
A specified resting location that must also respect the model’s charging requirements.
Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide
- Photocell
A sensing device with a defined detection arrangement; it does not protect every gate hazard.
Defined in: How to choose an auto gate for your landed home
- Ponding
Accumulation of water on a roof. Its cause and significance require assessment of drainage, geometry, system limits and structure.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
- Ponding test
Holding water on a finished membrane for a set time and checking for leaks before it is covered by screed and tiles.
Defined in: Choosing bathroom fixtures and fittings for a landed home
- Pre-construction survey
A record of the condition of buildings near the site, made before demolition, piling, foundation or excavation work. It's required under Regulation 32 of the Building Control Regulations.
Defined in: What A&A works mean for your landed house
- PTO
Permit to Operate for a regulated fixed installation.
Defined in: Home Lifts in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
Q
- QP
Short for Qualified Person. A registered architect or professional engineer holding a valid practising certificate, who advises on the approvals your building works need and prepares and submits building or structural plans where they’re required.
Defined in: Landed interior design from terrace house photos to handover
R
- Rail envelope
The space occupied by the rail and moving or parked chair.
Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide
- Recirculation
A hood arrangement that filters air and returns it to the room, subject to the selected product’s requirements.
Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?
- Render
The plaster layer applied over an external wall, under the paint. Renewing it means replastering.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- Revision
A numbered version of a drawing. The latest approved revision is the one every trade should build from.
Defined in: Landed interior design from terrace house photos to handover
- Riser
The vertical distance or face between adjacent steps.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
- Roof assembly
The connected layers and details that make up the roof, including its support, waterproofing and any finishes or protection.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
- Room load
The cooling demand assessed for a room under stated conditions.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
- Rough-in
Where a toilet’s waste outlet has to be: measured out from the finished wall for a floor outlet (S-trap), or up from the finished floor for a wall outlet (P-trap). The installation drawing for the exact model gives it.
Defined in: Choosing bathroom fixtures and fittings for a landed home
- Run-back
The area into which a sliding gate moves when opening.
Defined in: How to choose an auto gate for your landed home
S
- Scribing
Trimming the edge of a panel or filler on site so it follows an uneven wall, floor or ceiling without a gap.
Defined in: How to choose the best carpentry for wardrobes and cabinets
- Scupper
An outlet through a parapet or edge that allows roof water to leave; its size, level and connection need coordinated design.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
- Section
A vertical cut through the building showing the relationship between levels, roof shape and the finished space.
Defined in: Attic Conversion in Singapore: A Buying Guide
- Service clearance
Space needed to inspect, maintain and replace equipment, beyond its static footprint.
Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Service opening
The opening behind a concealed cistern’s flush plate, through which parts such as the flush and fill valves can be reached without opening the wall.
Defined in: Choosing bathroom fixtures and fittings for a landed home
- Solar heat gain
Heat from sunlight entering through glazing; it is one part of a room’s comfort and cooling design.
Defined in: Attic Conversion in Singapore: A Buying Guide
- Spalling
Concrete flaking or breaking away from its surface. BCA lists it among common facade defects.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- SPC
Stone plastic composite, a rigid vinyl core made with limestone and PVC, often with a click-lock system.
Defined in: How to choose the best vinyl flooring for your home
- Subfloor
The surface the new floor is laid on, such as existing tiles or a cement screed. How flat, firm and dry it is decides what can go on top.
Defined in: How to choose the best vinyl flooring for your home
- Substrate
The surface or underlying material that a finish is applied or attached to.
Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?
- System number
The count of indoor units sold with one outdoor unit, so a System 4 has four.
Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?
T
- Transfer
Moving between standing, a wheelchair or another seat and the stairlift seat.
Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide
- Tread
The horizontal surface of a step.
Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide
U
- Upturn
A continuation of waterproofing up an adjoining vertical surface; dimensions and termination are design-specific.
Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof
- Usable cabin or platform space
Space available to the user after allowing for the actual doors, controls and internal construction.
Defined in: Home Lifts in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide
- Usable zone
The part of a room that supports a particular activity after construction layers and furniture are included.
Defined in: Attic Conversion in Singapore: A Buying Guide
V
- Variation
A change to the agreed work after the contract is signed, with its cost and its effect on the schedule written down and agreed.
Defined in: Landed interior design from terrace house photos to handover
W
- Wallwashing
Lighting a wall evenly from top to bottom, unlike grazing light from close up, which shows off the wall’s texture.
Defined in: Which type of false ceiling is best for your home?
- Waterstop
A strip or profile set into a concrete construction or movement joint so water can't travel through the joint. Sika's joint-sealing range includes waterbars, swellable strips, injection hoses and sealing tapes.
Defined in: Can you build a basement under your landed house?
- Wet kitchen
A kitchen closed off by a door or screen for frying, wok cooking and washing up, which needs its own hood and air route.
Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?
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Every term above comes from one of our long-form buying guides: real cost ranges, BCA compliance walkthroughs, and the disqualifiers nobody else writes.