Plumbing and electricals are essential to any HDB renovation or, for that matter, any home construction. Yet, the sight of those exposed, chunky pipes snaking around your house ruins the otherwise picture-perfect look especially on older built HDB flats.
Thankfully, we have a few tricks up our sleeve to put these blights out of sight. We’ll list them right here. However, we would also like to touch upon the regulations for home renovation Singapore.
HDB Renovation Guidelines
There is set of regulations that every homeowner is expected to adhere to in Singapore when undertaking renovations on their HDB. These rules concern the construction of the structure as well as for sanitary, electrical, plumbing, and gas installations.
As per the guidelines, HDB homeowners can box up plumbing, but not gas pipelines. Boxing up is permitted provided there is 600mm x 600mm opening to complete inspections and maintenance in the future. This becomes important especially if there is a blockage in the pipeline and it needs to be fixed.
Box it up
The thick PVC pipes used in plumbing and sanitation are big and bulky in size. They use up valuable space. Not only this, depending on their orientation they disturb the image.
Having them enclosed is the best approach to conceal them. You’ll achieve a polished, smooth appearance.
The only downside is that boxing up is an option only if you have the luxury of space. It is ideal in situations where the pipes sit in the corner as boxing up could interfere with the usability of the other fixtures.
Touch up with paint
If your budget does not permit a complete remodel, there is a cheaper yet effective method of camouflage – paint.
The exposed pipes can always be painted to complement the bathroom interior design. You can paint it the colour of your walls or in a contrasting colours. Some Singapore interior designers recommend painting the piping black to highlight it instead of hiding.
There is no hacking or rebuilding involved here. Painting is indeed a creative way to beautify ugly piping. It is a solution where piping is impossible to box or enclose due to odd placement.
False ceiling
Piping running overhead, across the ceiling, is distracting and unsightly.
A false ceiling is a suspended ceiling. Installing a false ceiling is functional and decorative. The drop in height helps hide structural elements, ducting, and wiring. To add, it gives you greater freedom with installing of lights.
Use cabinetry
Cabinets do a great job at hiding piping too, especially under-sink piping. It can be incorporated as part of the HDB kitchen design as well as bathroom. The cabinets offer yet another advantage.
They double up as storage. Here you can stash your toiletries, bathroom essentials and cleaning agents too. Use a tall, ceiling-mounted cabinet to mask pipes extending downwards from the ceiling.
Decorative coverings
In homes that do not have too many pipes to hide, wrap them up.
You can purchase decorative adhesive coverings. You will find films for different pipe materials including metal and plastic. All you have to do is spray the glue onto the surface and apply the coating.
Free-standing furniture
Often, piping is installed in line with the baseboards. In the event, one can always position free standing furniture in front of it. Leave enough space between the furniture and pipes, for safety, in case of expansion.
You can also create custom furniture that fits snugly around the piping or follows its course. However, this method of disguising piping is expensive and also requires precision.
Use similar finishes
Instead of disguising ugly piping, you can, alternately, match the fixtures to it.
For instance, your bathroom interior design could feature copper hardware to complement copper piping across the washroom.
Industrial Interior Design
The best one could do is adopt the industrial style makeover; a home interior design style typified by its raw, unfinished look.
The industrial look highlights the architectural aspects that contemporary interior designs try to enhance or conceal. Piping is one of them.
The exposed pipes pair well with the bare look of the industrial interior design style. Copper piping installed against a cement wall is a style statement in itself.
So, which of these methods will you choose? Do let us know and why!