Designing your first home? It pays to make room for lasting materials and kids in the future
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/designing-your-first-home-it-pays-to-make-room-for-lasting-materials-and-kids-in-the-future
2024-06-16
SINGAPORE - You have bought your first home and it’s design time. It’s also time to put to rest the first home that existed only in your mind – where there is just the right amount of space for whatever it is you need, the windows and doors are perfectly placed where you want them to be, and there are no awkward corners. And also, where issues of clutter and inadequate storage do not exist.
For the 77.8 per cent of Singaporeans who live in HDB flats, with the majority in four-room flats, this is the reality: The home must cater to the needs of several people of different ages and requirements. One room often needs to double (or even triple) up on functionality – a dining room-cum-study area, a living room that doubles as a play area for toddlers, and so on. Thinking of where to store things is a perennial issue.
With the rising costs of raw materials and labour, it pays to be practical and get it right from the start.
Home owners may find themselves saving more money in both the short and long term when they plan for a home that will last for years to come.
Here are some ways to do so:
1. Cheaper materials can be just as good
Working within budget and sometimes going for the cheaper option does not necessarily mean going for the “poorer” choice. Take the time to understand different materials and their strengths so that you can make an informed decision, and ensure that money is not spent excessively.
For bathroom or other wet areas, laminated doors are a better choice as they are cheaper and more water-resistant than wood veneer doors, says Mr Wee Eu Dee, owner and director of renovation company The Builder’s Box.
Save further on your bathroom by using quartz stone or a type of engineered material commonly known as Kompacplus (made of kraft paper and resin) for the countertops. These are cheaper than sintered stone, natural marble and granite. While quartz stone turns yellow with ultraviolet rays, it should work just fine in a bathroom, as long as there isn’t a huge amount of natural light coming through.
Still, Mr Wee cautions against poor-quality quartz, which tends to discolour very quickly. “Sometimes, it’s better going for the branded companies over non-reputable ones because the quartz they use will last.”
Another area where home owners can cut costs without compromising on quality is in the tiling. Tiles from China are cheaper than those from Europe, and comparable in quality.
“Tiles from China are about 30 to 40 per cent cheaper compared with tiles from places like Europe. All tiles, from whichever country, have a hump in the middle, but tiles from China also have minimal bend in them,” Mr Wee says. “As long as you get the tiles from a reputable shop, which has already done the quality control, it’s okay.”
And when it comes to lights, go ahead and buy the cheaper decorative lighting fixtures from online or wherever else you find them, but stick to buying light bulbs from Singapore, says Mr Wee: “I recommend buying light bulbs from Singapore because they are safety-rated. If you buy them from overseas, we don’t know if the safety mark is true. You risk getting a short circuit or fire if you use faulty bulbs.”
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2. Rethink the open concept for your kitchen
The open-concept kitchen has become the renovation standard, and it makes sense – the absence of walls separating the kitchen from the dining and living areas makes the whole area more expansive, and improves airflow too.
Newer Build-To-Order flats already give home owners the option to have their unit without the kitchen walls, removing the need to knock down any wall during renovation and thus allowing them to save on pricey hacking costs.
However, home owners who cook daily may want to take into account the cooking fumes settling on walls and furniture. The smell will be especially pungent on fabric sofas and cushions. Over time, the smell will be absorbed into the sofa cushions and filling, and deodorising the sofa by yourself is a time-consuming process. Professional deep-cleaning of a four-seater fabric sofa will set you back between $200 and $340.
There are also the air-conditioners to think about, if one plans to hold cooking parties at home with the air-conditioner on. That would mean more frequent servicing of the air-conditioner to remove the accumulated residue from the cooking fumes.
Some home owners get around this by replacing the kitchen walls with clear sliding glass panels, though that would still create a clear demarcation line between the kitchen and dining areas and defeat the purpose of removing the original kitchen walls.
One solution is to separate the wet and dry kitchen areas, by enclosing the wet kitchen with a half-wall topped with a glass screen and sliding door. This still allows for an uninterrupted flow from the rest of the kitchen to the dining area, and prevents much of the cooking fumes from interfering with the air-conditioner and permeating the home.
3. Two air-con compressors are better than one
A compressor can power up to four fan coil units. However, Mr Wee recommends adding another compressor for better cooling efficiency and to prolong the life of the machinery.
The initial outlay for two compressors against one would probably be about 20 per cent more, but the benefits may be worth it.
Assuming one lives in a four-room flat with an air-con in each room, that one compressor will be in use whenever an air-con is on. Mr Wee says: “It’s a workhorse and working non-stop. As with any machine, you shouldn’t leave it on for a long time as it could cause an electrical trip.”
Furthermore, one compressor will have to work harder to power three air-cons simultaneously, a common scenario at night when they are switched on in the bedrooms. That would result in a weaker cooling system, where perhaps two of the air-cons will be emitting a slightly warmer air flow, says Mr Wee.
“If you power three air-cons every night with one compressor, it would last for about four to five years before you have to change it. If you have two compressors, it should last up to nine years, provided you are also regularly cleaning and maintaining your air-con units.”
If a home has at least four air-con units, Mr Wee recommends having two compressors, with two or three units connected to each. As air-cons in the living and dining rooms are less frequently used than those in bedrooms, Mr Wee suggests pairing the living room air-con with the one in the master bedroom, and the dining room air-con with those in the other bedrooms.
“This will balance the usage between the two compressors and prolong the lifespan of the air-con compressors. And in the event of one faulty compressor, not all air-cons in your home will be down,” he adds.
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4. Choose loose furniture over built-ins
Built-in furniture is typically more costly because it needs more coordination on the part of the contractor or designer, as it would require putting in lighting fixtures or the use of special materials, says Ms Eelaine Toh, senior interior designer at global workplace strategy, design and construction firm Unispace.
The average cost of a basic laminate built-in wardrobe with four doors is between $3,000 and $4,000, estimates Ms Toh. She adds that prices have increased by about 20 per cent since the pandemic, mostly due to rising labour costs.
While she finds built-in furniture to be more lasting, off-the-shelf furniture from places like Ikea is “good enough too”, she says.
“Loose furniture doesn’t mean that it won’t make a nice house. If you know how to style it, it would look quite nice. You can play around with wall paint too. Just make sure you secure things like shelves and wardrobes to the wall properly.”
And when it comes to furnishing a child’s room, loose furniture allows you to change the space to adapt to their tastes and needs more easily, and at less cost, when they grow up.
If you still want custom-designed furniture but without the high price tag, Ms Toh suggests going to Chinese online marketplace Taobao: “A friend got a nice teak dining chair for about $100. In Singapore, it will easily cost about $300. You save a lot.”
The catch is that you will need to have a good command of Mandarin to communicate with the suppliers, or you could always ask a favour from a friend who speaks good Mandarin.
5. Having kids later? Make room for them now
More often than not, new home owners would hack down walls to “open up the space”. It is not uncommon to knock down the walls of one bedroom for a bigger living area, and to convert the second bedroom into a walk-in wardrobe that connects to the master room.
“A lot of couples do that without consideration for anything else. Then when they have a child, they have to reinstall the walls and build things back to carve out a space for the baby,” says Mr Wee.
That would mean either putting up with the dusty renovations and noise while that happens, or renting a place to escape from all the hassle. All that adds to the cost, stress and burden for those who did not plan ahead.
Now, you will know to tell your designer to leave a provision for a partition on the ceiling should you wish to close off the space for more privacy in the future. That way, no floors need to be hacked when glass walls are put up, says Mr Wee.
Plus, having the option to close up the space will also help if you plan to sell your flat in the future.
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Tips when renovating a resale flat
The older the flat, the more important it is for home owners to consider ways to prolong its life for a comfortable stay in the long run. Here are some things to consider.
Redo the waterproofing
Redoing the waterproofing for the wet areas of resale flats is generally recommended, especially for any property older than eight years, says Mr Wee.
“The overlaying of tiles itself has no waterproofing properties. A lot of people assume there is but it’s not true. It only improves the aesthetics but you are still dependent on the existing waterproofing that has been laid since day one,” he adds.
“From my experience, usually between 12 and 15 years on average, you will start to have a bit of leak here and there at home. You have to think of the future. You don’t want to hack the tiles and relay them again just four years later when you do get leaks. So do it now.”
Ms Shyn Sum, creative manager at interior design firm Rubiks Studio, recommends water tests to ensure the waterproofing is done right. While most would do it for the bathrooms, they opt not to do so for the kitchen as they want to save money. But they might start to see leakage in the kitchen about two years later, she adds.
She suggests hiring professional plumbers to check main water pipes in resale properties too. “It’s better to check during renovations than after they move in. If the main pipe bursts and starts leaking, the built-in carpentry will also be damaged.”
Look out for hollow tiles when overlaying floor tiles
A lot of home owners lay vinyl flooring over existing floor tiles, but there is a risk there might be hollow tiles underneath, says Ms Sum, who recommends replacing the original flooring if there are hollow tiles.
“If the bottom base is not good, it might pop up and damage the vinyl tiles. Safety is one thing, second is possible damage to furniture, and you will need to redo the flooring, which is a hassle as well.”
Stick to guidelines if you want to sell your flat later
It was previously reported that a home owner who spent $20,000 building an unauthorised loft in the master bedroom could not list the flat for sale until it was demolished. The risk of doing unauthorised works is a fine of up to $5,000.
Some common unauthorised works include the overhacking of walls or renovating without an HDB permit. There are different renovation guidelines for Build-To-Order and Design, Build and Sell Scheme flats, and home owners are expected to acquaint themselves with these via the HDB website.
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