The household shelter: what you may do to it
Part of the questions on Flat sizes and dimensions
The household shelter, often called the bomb shelter, is a civil defence shelter with a steel door and strengthened walls, floor and ceiling. None of these may be tampered with. You may paint it, lay floor finishes bonded with wet cement mortar, and fix shelves with removable screws no deeper than 50 mm. None of this needs a permit.
What it is
HDB describes the household shelter as designed to serve as a civil defence shelter, fitted with a steel door, along with strengthened floor, walls and ceiling, to protect occupants in a wartime emergency. It is only to be occupied then, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force will tell residents when to prepare it. The rules below are the SCDF’s guidelines, as set out in HDB’s Renovation Guidelines for Building Works.
Four parts must not be tampered with during renovation: the reinforced walls, the reinforced floor slab, the ceiling and the steel door. Fixtures that cannot be removed easily in an emergency should not be placed or installed inside.
What you may do, without a permit
| Work | HDB’s conditions |
|---|---|
| Fix shelves, cabinets, pictures, a wall fan or ceiling lights | With removable screws in non-metallic inserts, drilled no more than 50 mm deep into the inside face of the walls and ceiling slab. Fixtures on the inside must be removed by the owner within 48 hours of being notified. |
| Paint the walls, ceiling or door | Do not paint or cover the door notice, the locking bolts or the door seal. Remove the old paint from the door and frame before repainting, so that the thicker coat does not make the door hard to close. Let new paint dry completely before closing the door. |
| Lay floor finishes | Bonded to wet cement mortar, with pre-packed material. Finishes and screed no more than 50 mm thick in total. No adhesive, and no second layer. |
| Lay vinyl or linoleum flooring | |
| Lay skirting tiles | Up to 100 mm high, bonded with wet cement mortar to the shelter walls. No adhesive, and no second layer. |
| Tile or panel the outside of the shelter walls | Spatterdash or an equivalent may be applied to the outside face only, to give a rough surface. Power-driven nails are allowed on the outside face only. The outside face may not be hacked. |
| Cover the ventilation openings | With removable finishes, as long as at least 25% of the total area of the two openings is left uncovered. The fragmentation plates may be removed if the plates and their bolts and nuts are kept together for use when needed. |
| Put a false ceiling outside the shelter, below the ventilation sleeves | With a perforated access panel of at least 600 mm by 600 mm directly below each sleeve. |
What is not permitted
- Modifying, changing, removing or tampering with the shelter door.
- Tampering with, removing or covering up the door notice.
- Indiscriminate hacking and drilling of the walls, floor slab and ceiling slab, beyond the drilling allowed above.
- Hacking either face of the shelter walls to form a key for tiling, or hacking the outside face to mount feature wall panels or wall tiles.
- Laying wall tiles, or applying rock stone spray, cement sand finish or gypsum plaster, on the inside faces of the walls.
- Laying floor finishes with adhesive, or laying a second layer of floor or skirting tiles.
- Installing cornices inside the shelter.
- Fixing anything to the inside walls with power-driven nails.
- Modifying, altering or tampering with any part of the ventilation openings, their plates, or the bolts and nuts that hold them.
So the shelter cannot be hacked away to enlarge the room beside it, and its door cannot be swapped for a lighter one.
Its size, and planning around it
HDB’s renovation pages do not give a size for the household shelter, so this page does not quote one. Yours is drawn on your flat’s floor plan; how to read a floor plan explains the dimensions and the thick structural walls.
In Setout, bring in the plan and draw the shelter at its true size. Since nothing inside may be fixed permanently, plan it as storage: freestanding or screw-fixed shelving that can come out. Then furnish the rooms around it as they are, because its walls are staying.
Sources
- HDB, Renovation Guidelines for Building Works · read 12 October 2026
Rules and fees change. The linked page is the authority; if it differs from this one, go by it, and tell us.
Questions
Can I hack the bomb shelter in an HDB flat?
No. The household shelter’s reinforced walls, floor slab, ceiling and steel door must not be tampered with, and HDB does not permit hacking of its walls, inside or out.
Can I remove or change the bomb shelter door?
No. Modifying, changing, removing or tampering with the household shelter door is not permitted. It may be painted, as long as the door notice, locking bolts and door seal are not painted or covered.
Can I drill into the household shelter walls?
Yes, within limits: into the inside face of the walls and ceiling slab, no more than 50 mm deep, for non-metallic inserts and removable screws. Fixtures put up this way must be removed within 48 hours of being notified.
Can I tile the household shelter?
The floor, yes, with tiles bonded to wet cement mortar and no adhesive. The inside faces of the walls, no. The outside faces may be tiled or panelled over spatterdash, without hacking.
Plan around the shelter: your own flat, furnished at true size, in 3D.
Open the designer