The style of your HDB main door and gate can have a significant impact on the overall appearance of your home. When your gate or door does not match the decor or the style of your home, it can be quite annoying to look at.
Are you planning to renovate your HDB flat? Aside from aesthetic and design, there are guidelines to follow when determining what to do with your HDB main door and gate. While it is your contractor's responsibility to ensure that you comply with HDB's building work requirements, it is important that you understand what is allowed so that your design and renovation process can be simplified.
We break down HDB’s door and gate guidelines for you in today’s article.
Works that Require a Permit
- Replacement of Main Entrance Door and/or frame along the fire escape route
In HDB blocks, the fire escape route is any pathway that leads to staircases or lift lobbies. You will require a permit to replace your main door or the frame of your door if your unit is located along these paths.
In addition to obtaining a permit, HDB requires your replacement door and/or frame to be a half-hour fire-rated door capable of preventing the spread of a fire. A self-closing device must also be installed to ensure that the door remains closed in the event of a fire. Apart from units near fire escape routes, those within a 3-metre distance of the nearest lift or stairs must also have a 30-minute fire-rated door installed.
- Repositioning of internal door entrances
You must get a permit if you intend to reposition the internal door entrances in your home, regardless of the purpose of the repositioning. The new entrance can only be created through non-structural lightweight partition walls, and the Reinforced Concrete (RC) walls must not be tampered with.
Works that do not Require a Permit
There are many more things you can do to your HDB main door, internal doors, and gates, but some of them require you to follow certain guidelines in order to protect the structure of the building and your neighbours’ units. There are some works that don't have any guidelines to follow, including
- Painting the external side of your HDB main doors or metal gate.
- Replacing HDB main doors and/or frames that do not need to be fire-rated doors.
- Replacing existing internal doors with ornamental timber or plastic doors.
- Replacing internal door frames for non-prefabricated flats.
- Installing sliding glass doors, PVC folding doors on bathrooms, W.C. and/or kitchen entrances without the removal of RC lintels or hangers, which are top reinforcements and hanger bars in your home.
- Removing sliding or swing doors without removing RC lintels or hangers.
- Replacing sliding doors with swing doors in your home.
The works that do not require a permit, but are subject to guidelines include
- Replacement of HDB main entrance metal gates
If you’re planning to replace your HDB gates, you need to make sure that the gate width, number of gate panels and swing are all the same as those that were provided by HDB originally. The gate swing must also not obstruct public escape.
If your unit is situated along the common corridor, when the gates are opened perpendicular to the corridor parapet wall, there must be a minimum clearance of 0.6m between the gate and the wall.
For units situated next to the stairways, at whichever angle your gates are opened, the distance between the edge of your gate and the staircase railing must have a distance equivalent to the width of the staircase.
Lastly, units situated at the corner ends should make sure that their gates will not hit the neighbouring flat’s window.
- Replacement of door frames at all location for prefabricated flats
Prefabricated flats are three-dimensional modules of entire rooms that were built ahead of time to reduce on-site work. This method and technology are used in the construction of many BTO flats today.
If you would like to replace your door frames, regardless of where they are in your house, make sure you are not tampering with RC walls, that existing door frames are removed using a torch or a cutter, that a layer of waterproofing membrane is applied to the affected area after the door frames are removed, and that the new door frame is within the original door opening provided.
You can make informed decisions about your HDB main doors, gates, and home design now that you have a clear understanding of the guidelines you must follow.
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