Singapore Home Upgrade Glossary

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

A coordinated list of exact models, installation documents, service needs and approval status.

Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?

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

The barrier along an open stair or landing edge.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

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

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

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

Movement of water through the pool and its treatment system.

Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide

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?

Manufacturer information describing supported indoor/outdoor combinations and relevant performance.

Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?

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?

The pump inside the outdoor unit that circulates refrigerant through the system.

Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?

Water produced as moisture is removed from indoor air during cooling.

Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?

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

The finished edge around a pool.

Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

A coordinated record of the final heights of floors, landings and steps.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

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

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

Flexible vinyl planks or tiles stuck to a level subfloor with adhesive.

Defined in: How to choose the best vinyl flooring for your home

The horizontal distance used to describe stair-step geometry.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

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

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

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?

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

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

Restoring affected finishes after installation or alteration, to an agreed scope.

Defined in: Wet kitchen or dry kitchen for your landed home?

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

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?

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

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

An arrangement in which one outdoor unit serves multiple indoor units.

Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?

The leading edge of a tread.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

Installing a new specified assembly while retaining some existing roof layers, subject to assessment of their suitability.

Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof

A specified resting location that must also respect the model’s charging requirements.

Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide

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

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

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

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

Permit to Operate for a regulated fixed installation.

Defined in: Home Lifts in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide

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

The space occupied by the rail and moving or parked chair.

Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide

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?

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?

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

The vertical distance or face between adjacent steps.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

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

The cooling demand assessed for a room under stated conditions.

Defined in: Is ducted aircon right for your landed home?

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

The area into which a sliding gate moves when opening.

Defined in: How to choose an auto gate for your landed home

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

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

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

Space needed to inspect, maintain and replace equipment, beyond its static footprint.

Defined in: Swimming Pools in Singapore: A Landed Home Buying Guide

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

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

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?

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

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

The surface or underlying material that a finish is applied or attached to.

Defined in: Does your landed home need a facade inspection?

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?

Moving between standing, a wheelchair or another seat and the stairlift seat.

Defined in: Stairlifts in Singapore: A Practical Buying Guide

The horizontal surface of a step.

Defined in: Staircase Renovation in Singapore: A Buying Guide

A continuation of waterproofing up an adjoining vertical surface; dimensions and termination are design-specific.

Defined in: Choosing waterproofing for your roof

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

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

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

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?

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?

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?