snoozee

contact Nparks on this. you can't just cut any tree outside your house. even if the tree was planted by the previous owner, it is planted on state land so it belongs to Nparks.

since you already paying for rewiring then get your ID to itemise/breakdown the quotation. since you already know how much SP will charge you, the only other big ticket item would most likely be how much it would cost to pull the new cables from meterbox to DB. your entire DB would most likely need to be changed when you switch to 3 phase. breakers in the meterbox would also need to be changed to cater for the 3 phase cables.

your ID's estimate isn't that far off. SP already charging $5K+ for pulling in a 3 phase 60A cable. rewiring the house may cost another $20K+. if you need to excavate to pull in the new cable then this is another additional cost. Unless your house already has existing lead in pipes which can be used for the new 3 phase cables, else excavation to lay the pipe from the meter box to your DB box will be required.

what do you want to convert? do you have an existing attic storey already or you want to add on an attic? either way, consult a professional engineer on whether you can or cannot do what you plan to do. staying in a house during construction is not advisable due to safety concerns. not sure whether insurance will cover if anything does happens if there are occupants residing in the property during construction. unless what you are planning to do is more of renovation like work, then staying in the house could be possible.

If workers are not there, you might get away without needing to do the swab test. But this will only be for a few months (early stages of construction) as your contractor may apply for your site to be a temporary dormitory and have a few workers staying on site. So if this happens, then you will need to do the swab test and ART as and when you want to visit the site

My friend’s builder offered to put his name in for RRT a few months ago when it wasn’t mandatory yet. do you have architect or PE to fall back to? If not you can try to email BCA on this and see what is their reply. See whether BCA allows you to book for tests directly or through your builder. If BCA allows you to do through your builder, show the response to your builder. edit: FAQ from BCA. Main con can submit for RRT for visitors to sites.

Nope. You should be able to do an A&A to enclose the attic level without paying for any DC. Look for an architect to advise you on all the regulations and fees you would need to pay to the various authorities on the works needed.

I'm sure you are very experienced in your job. Anyone can have their own interpretation of the regulations but ultimately URA is the one to decide what can or cannot be done. You and I can spar over this until the cows come home but there will be no outcome since you and I are not working as a URA planner to approve/reject this. Anyway TS has mentioned he will consult an architect so he will have his confirmation from a qualified person. And oh, I has spoken to an architect to confirm my understandings was correct before typing my last posting.

your this sentence and your subsequent references to GFA is implying that additional shelter is not allowed to be built for the house because of GFA limitations. if the house was built based on envelop control guidelines and architect had designed the house to have a roof terrace instead of and enclosed attic, it doesn't mean that URA doesn't allow it due to GFA reasons. and if the new owner choses to convert the open roof terrace to an enclosed attic, as long as the enclosed attic area falls within the building envelope, I don't think URA will object even if this results in an increase of GFA for the house. the word "permissible" would most likely mean what URA permits/allows the developer to do based on their guidelines. in a standard 2 storey landed housing zone, a terrace house will have the permissible GFA of the 2 storeys and the attic floor. But if a developer decides to insert a mezzanine floor, it is till considered as permissible GFA since suitablly sized mezzanine floors are allowed under envelope control now. But if the developer tries to put in 3 storeys plus attic in a 2 storey landed housing zone, this will become not permissible as it doesn't fulfill URA's guidelines. for strata landed housing, industrial, commercial buildings and other building types, the GFA would have different requirements and again based on what URA permits.

I missed out on your “in another post” which is why I amended my original post after reading your posting again. You were implying that TS can’t add any sheltered areas on the roof terrace due to GFA limitations which is wrong since GFA limitations are not apply for landed residential houses except detached houses for site coverage. original architect may have designed the attic as an open roof terrace and this was approved by URA. But this doesn’t mean that new owner cannot apply to URA to build to enclose the open roof terrace as long as all planning regulations are adhered to.

correct me if i'm wrong but i don't think there is a limit on GFA for private landed houses unless it is a strata housing or bunglows where a site coverage percentage applies. if this is indeed a strata housing, i don't think the neighbour would be able to cover up the roof area already since there is a MCST to go through.

your neighbour's sloping roof is done to comply with the requirements to be within the building envelope. judging by the photo, your lift shaft is at or near the 3.5m setback line for the building envelope for the rear already. so if you want to add anything it will be like the slope of your neighbour's house or be below the height of the roof line such that you can go a bit more to the back. basically your neighbour has show you the allowed area you can built for the back already. for the front, basically you need to measure 3.5 from the front edge to know where is the limit you can build your shelter. though you could cheat a bit by adding 1m of additional roof eave but any enclosure must be at or before the 3.5m line

no way you can do it legally if the house is already at its maximum allowed height limit URA regulation states this "Pavilion, canopy or trellis may be allowed over the roof terrace provided it is located within the permissible building envelope." since you have a lift shaft going all the way up to the roof, you may be able to add a shelter provided it is within the building envelope. the question is your 4 storey house is a 3 storey house with mezzanine in a 3 storey landed residential zone or a 1.4 plot ratio zone or not. if yes, then you could add the shelter. but consult a PE as you will need to know what is the structural loading allowed for what you want to construct.

old tiles unlikely to be able to be found anymore for sale. even manufacturer may have stopped producing this tile years ago

This design is using 150 or 200 square hollow section steel posts. If you want to use it, then the door should be set inside such that the door is flushed on the inside with the frame. Else you will have problems installing strike plate of the rim lock

I don’t think anyone will have this button installed just inside near the gate. If any, it should be installed inside the house. Mine came with the button but I didn’t install. I just use my intercom monitor to do the remote unlock

just plaster and paint it. I see my neighbour's house has some sort of cladding or tile on their external wall and cleaning and scrubbing seems to be a yearly affair to remove the streak marks from the rain.

before deciding on which rim lock to buy, look at the design of your side gate and the frame/wall first. if your side gate and frame/wall has the faces in line with each other(on the inside), then the Viro or Cisa lock which AWS recommended would work. but if you have gate which has its face not in line with the frame/wall, then the Cisa lock which AWS recommended can't work since you can't mount the strike at the side of the gate frame or wall. Even for the Viro rim lock, you will have to find creative ways to mount the strike plate as well. for my house, the gate and frame/wall is not in line so I had to do some modifications for the rim lock to work properly.

lock is $160. Search online for duro dot com dot sg power supply can buy from the major online shopping sites unless you want to buy those with backup battery and connection back into the house for remote operation

my SI was terminated at 36.4m and SPT100 is at 30m with STP100/260mm at around 36m My house is built on footings with lean concrete poured on the soil before footings are cast. No piling was done. so whether pilling is required depends on your PE's interpretation of the SI report.

No two ways about it. Either you swab every 14 days or you don’t go. Even if you do regular swab tests, you may be subjected to ART on site before you enter it. if you fail to comply and just nice that MOM or BCA goes to your site for inspection and you are there, this may cause your site to be shut down.

Legally is no. Since that is the roof, you don’t build a roof over a roof. even if it is within the 2m setback doesn’t mean you can do anything you like legally. normally RC roof terrace and inaccessible RC roof are meant to be open to sky.

Suggest you don’t do lodgement since you need waiver for your lift protrusion beyond the permissible envelope. The worst thing that could happen is that there are irregularities after your house is completed and can’t get TOP because URA didn’t go through and approve the plans because a lodgement is done.

the situation is still very fluid even 1 year plus on since the start of the pandemic. if there's no urgent need to start works now, better to delay until at least the construction labour market improves. construction delays are costly especially if you are planning to take loan to finance it. the construction loan interest rate is much higher than a mortgage loan rate and you will continue to pay the high interest rate until you get your TOP/CSC. if work has to be stopped on site due to whatever reasons, the bank doesn't stop charging you interest. do you have your original build plans from BCA already? for a house built in 1960s, i doubt there is a RC slab cast for an attic. my own house which was build in late 1950s does not come with a RC slab for attic. one thing to note for old houses is the existence of asbestos. asbestos is a cancer causing material which was widely used in construction before is was banned in the 1980s. so if your house does has asbestos, you will need to have them removed for safety reasons and this needs to be done by a licensed contractor.

suggest you find an architect and have a PE look at your existing building plans first and advise you on whether your planned additions can or cannot be done. 250k in today's context is highly impossible. 600k may seem high but could be reasonable depending on your scope of work. 30k for carpentry work isn't that expensive. honestly, today even if you have money, you may not be able to find carpenters to take your job. the construction labour market is very bad due to the border closure measures so if you want work done, be prepared to pay for it.