Is attic required? Can I do this?

[AlanQuah 0]

Hi all, 

I m thinking of getting an old house and to maximize space I m thinking of removing at attic space. Not sure if it is allowed and what is the benefit of having it apart from hiding conduits. Also heat is a concern too right?

[snoozee 98]

Yes it is allowed to remove the existing false ceiling and redo it. But do understand that you will have to redo the false ceiling inside the house and do up the insulation as well to block out the heat. 

If you are intending to build lofts in each room, do note that you will be required to do submissions if your loft exceeds 5sqm. It would also be good to get PE to do load calculations to determine if the structure can take the load of the loft or not.

Also it seems that your house had undergone some A&A most likely in the early 90s. But your house might be very old so the ceiling boards at the 2nd floor might contain asbestos unless they had been removed during the last major renovation. If asbestos still exist, you will need to get specialist to remove them. 

On the roof on the left side, there is a vent pipe for the toilet there. So you may want to redo this pipe if you really want to reclaim all the available space.

of cos if you have enough budget, you may want to build an additional attic floor which will really allow you to maximise the available space

[petetherock 13]

I use my attic space for storage... very useful especially if you have many family members.

Remember to add power points and some lights. Remove all debris first. 

[AlanQuah 0]

On 4/14/2019 at 8:40 PM, snoozee said:

Yes it is allowed to remove the existing false ceiling and redo it. But do understand that you will have to redo the false ceiling inside the house and do up the insulation as well to block out the heat. 

If you are intending to build lofts in each room, do note that you will be required to do submissions if your loft exceeds 5sqm. It would also be good to get PE to do load calculations to determine if the structure can take the load of the loft or not.

Also it seems that your house had undergone some A&A most likely in the early 90s. But your house might be very old so the ceiling boards at the 2nd floor might contain asbestos unless they had been removed during the last major renovation. If asbestos still exist, you will need to get specialist to remove them. 

On the roof on the left side, there is a vent pipe for the toilet there. So you may want to redo this pipe if you really want to reclaim all the available space.

of cos if you have enough budget, you may want to build an additional attic floor which will really allow you to maximise the available space

Wow, thanks for being so detail. Can i check, by meaning of additional attic floor means that remove the roof and build upward. It would be considered as A&A  as long as it did not increase the build up by 50% right? plus on top of that need to see if it is structurally sound to tahan the loading.... budget around 300k enough?

just wondering, I saw a lot of attic conversation in angmo country doing an additional small area roof extension for their attic. (in the picture). Is it possible to do it in SG? would this be A&A or just re-roofing? 

[snoozee 98]

Additional full attic is reconstruction as that is considered a storey. 

300k budget unlikely possible for additional attic. 

What you mentioned is dormer window. Think that is still considered as A&A

[AlanQuah 0]

1 hour ago, snoozee said:

Additional full attic is reconstruction as that is considered a storey. 

300k budget unlikely possible for additional attic. 

What you mentioned is dormer window. Think that is still considered as A&A

Thanks a lot for your information!

[AlanQuah 0]

2 hours ago, snoozee said:

Additional full attic is reconstruction as that is considered a storey. 

300k budget unlikely possible for additional attic. 

What you mentioned is dormer window. Think that is still considered as A&A

Any idea on cost of dormer window? 

[snoozee 98]

You have to check with contractor on cost of the window. But are you doing it for aesthetics purpose or for additional space. If additional space, then you need to build an additional floor within the room so this will be additional cost. 

[Bluesky3000 1]

You can liaise with an architect and theres a way where the attic wont be counted as a level. Seen my friends house before and his attic is a nice movie theater and its not considered a floor/storey.

[snoozee 98]

if the "attic" is squeezed within the exiting roof profile and the 2nd storey, then yes, maybe can get away with not being counted as an "attic" since it is somewhat like a loft within the same 2nd storey. however if the entire roof is removed and the building height increased to cater for the attic, it will be counted as a new storey and will be classified as reconstruction instead of A&A.

[AlanQuah 0]

On 5/23/2019 at 9:04 AM, snoozee said:

if the "attic" is squeezed within the exiting roof profile and the 2nd storey, then yes, maybe can get away with not being counted as an "attic" since it is somewhat like a loft within the same 2nd storey. however if the entire roof is removed and the building height increased to cater for the attic, it will be counted as a new storey and will be classified as reconstruction instead of A&A.

if i do mezzanine, would it be considered then?

[AlanQuah 0]

On 5/23/2019 at 12:31 AM, Bluesky3000 said:

You can liaise with an architect and theres a way where the attic wont be counted as a level. Seen my friends house before and his attic is a nice movie theater and its not considered a floor/storey.

any picture to share?

[snoozee 98]

17 hours ago, AlanQuah said:

if i do mezzanine, would it be considered then?

Mezzanine should not be considered as an additional storey. But you need to check that you have enough headroom for the new mezzanine and the floor directly below it. Need to clear at least 2.4m else can’t pass BCA

Edited December 15, 2019 by snoozee

[AlanQuah 0]

13 hours ago, snoozee said:

Mezzanine should not be considered as an additional storey. But you need to check that you have enough headroom for the new mezzanine and the floor directly below it. Need to clear at least 2.4m else can’t pass BCA

headroom at the highest point is more than 2.4 but not at some point. So have to plan as such a point that the lowest point is 2.4m?

[snoozee 98]

You need to know if the height from the 2nd storey to the underside of the roof has 5m clearance or not. If don’t have, there’s no way you can do any mezzanine. 
 

authorities fees would just differ by a few k between doing A&A and reconstruction

if your intention is to gain as much space as possible, then built a new attic storey rather than trying to squeeze in a loft which would end up as more of being a storage area since you are unlikely to get the needed height to make use of it properly