HDB Household Shelter Renovation Rules: What You Can and Can't Do

Many HDB flats have a household shelter, the small room with the heavy steel door that many families use as a store room. It looks like any other room once it is filled with shelves, but HDB says it is designed as a civil defence shelter, with a steel door and strengthened floor, walls and ceiling to protect the people inside during a wartime emergency.

That is why renovation in and around the shelter follows its own rules, set by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and published by HDB. This guide sums them up. It is general information, so check the latest rules for your own flat with HDB before you start.

What must not be tampered with

HDB's renovation guidelines for building works say that, like other structural parts of the flat, these shelter features must not be tampered with during renovation:

• Reinforced walls

• Reinforced floor slab

• Ceiling

• Steel door

HDB also says fixtures that cannot be removed easily in an emergency should not be placed or installed in the shelter, because they could get in the way of preparing it for use.

Works allowed without a permit

The SCDF guidelines on HDB's page list these works as not needing a permit, subject to conditions:

• Floor finishes: tiles must be bonded with wet cement mortar using pre-packed material, finishes and screed must stay within 50mm in total, and adhesive or a second layer of finishes is not allowed.

• Vinyl or linoleum flooring: allowed.

• Skirting tiles: up to 100mm high, bonded with wet cement mortar to the shelter walls. No adhesive and no second layer.

• Painting walls, ceiling or door: allowed, but you must not paint over or cover the door notice, locking bolts or door seal. Old paint on the door and frame should be removed before repainting so the door still closes properly, and the new coat must dry completely before you shut the door.

• Shelves, cabinets, pictures, fans and lights inside: you can drill into the inside face of the shelter walls and ceiling to a depth of no more than 50mm to fix non-metallic inserts with removable screws. Owners must be ready to remove these fixtures within 48 hours when notified, and are responsible for making sure the inserts are strong enough.

• Ventilation sleeves: you may paint only the outer face of the 6mm stainless steel fragmentation plate. The plates may be removed if they are kept together with their bolts and nuts for when they are needed. Removable finishes may cover the ventilation openings as long as at least 25% of the two openings stays uncovered.

• False ceiling outside the shelter: where a false ceiling runs below the ventilation sleeves, it needs a perforated access panel of at least 600mm x 600mm directly below each sleeve.

• Outside walls: power-driven nails are allowed on the external face of the shelter walls only, and splatter dash may be applied to the external face to give feature panels or wall tiles a surface to grip.

Works that are not allowed

The same guidelines list works that must not be done to a household shelter, including:

• Wall tiles, rock stone spray, cement sand finish or gypsum plaster on the inside walls

• Floor tiles laid with adhesive, or a second layer of floor or skirting tiles

• Cornices inside the shelter

• Power-driven nails into the inside walls

• Hacking or drilling the walls, floor slab or ceiling slab beyond the permitted drilling, including hacking either face of the walls to key tiles or mount feature panels

• Modifying, removing or tampering with the steel door, or removing or covering the door notice

• Altering the ventilation openings, plates, bolts and nuts, or painting the inside face of the plates, the sleeves or their rubber gaskets

Planning a store room that follows the rules

• Freestanding first: freestanding shelving and storage boxes leave the walls untouched and are easy to clear quickly

• Fixed shelves: if you fix shelves to the inside walls, keep screws and non-metallic inserts within 50mm and choose shelves you can take down within 48 hours

• Keep the door free: nothing should stop the steel door from closing and sealing, and the door notice must stay visible

• Leave the vents breathing: keep at least a quarter of the ventilation openings uncovered and store the fragmentation plates with their bolts

• Lights and power: plan points with a licensed electrician, and read our HDB electrical works guide first

• Ceilings nearby: our false ceiling and cove lighting guide covers the wider rules for ceilings outside the shelter

• Floors: compare the shelter rules with our HDB flooring rules guide, since overlay methods allowed elsewhere are not allowed inside

• Permits: our HDB renovation permit guide explains which other works need approval

• New flat? Check the shelter door, seal and finishes at key collection with our BTO key collection defect checklist

During a wartime emergency, SCDF will tell residents to prepare their shelters. HDB points owners to the SCDF Emergency Handbook, which you can download from SCDF's publications page.

Where Blackwoods Interior stands

• Blackwoods Interior Pte. Ltd. (trading as Blackwoods Interior), UEN 201909521M

• CaseTrust accredited for Renovation Businesses (the standard tier, not Gold), valid through 28 April 2028

• Listed on HDB's Directory of Renovation Contractors (DRC)

Talk to Blackwoods Interior

Turning your household shelter into a neat store room? Book a free 30-minute consultation: WhatsApp us at 8754 3212 (Mon-Sat, about 10:00-19:00 SGT) or email Hello@bwi.sg. Visit www.bwi.sg to see more.

Cover image: illustrative concept, not a completed Blackwoods project. This guide is general information based on HDB's renovation guidelines for building works (household shelters, including the SCDF guidelines HDB publishes), checked on 3 November 2026. Rules can change, so check the latest requirements for your flat with HDB before you start.