Casement hinges and friction stays

Singapore casement windows, top-hung and side-hung, carry the sash on a friction stay. The stay is fixed to the frame and to the leaf. HDB’s window-works sheet asks for stainless steel grade 304 or equivalent, thickness not less than 2.50mm, and a length not less than half the leaf width. The leaf itself is limited to 700mm wide. The connection uses grade 304 screws, minimum size number 8, with at least four screws on each side of the stay when the window is installed or replaced. HDB’s common-problems note distinguishes existing casements, where at least three rivets or screws each side are expected, from retrofitted or newly replaced casements, where four are the minimum. BCA’s retrofitting instruction is to replace aluminium rivets in variable-geometry stays with type 304 stainless steel. Those are the rules. They are not a new price.

The only published dollar for this hardware on HomeySG is the window repair catalogue: exterior rivets, stays or rollers via an RW01 contractor, S$180 to S$600. The comparison table on that page also groups exterior works, including full replacement, at S$180 to S$900 a window. A single rusty stay is matched to the hardware sentence when the photo fits, not inflated into a whole new window. Homey Furnishing does not drill the new rivet. The approved contractor does. V On Construction carries the HDB permit invoice when replacement of the window needs a permit. A permit is required for window replacement. A stay replacement that is part of making the window safe sits with that contractor, not with a handyman drill from the corridor.

West-facing kitchens and stoves corrode these stays faster. The safety guide already says that. Oil on the stay is not a repair. A stay that has sagged, a corner bracket that has crumbled, and a sash that drops when you open it are stop signs. HDB’s own sheet tells the owner to engage a BCA-approved window contractor listed with HDB for broken or non-stainless rivets, sagged stays and deteriorated corner brackets. Cleaning dirt from the hinge track is the step the sheet allows the household to do. Lubricating a sound track is close to the published track clean of S$60 to S$100, and only when the metal is intact. Grease on a cracked stay hides the crack.

Handles are the neighbouring row. Window handle replacement is S$60 to S$120 when the handle is the failed part and the stay still holds the sash. People search “window hinge repair” and mean the lever. Say which one moves. A restrictor that limits how far a sound casement opens is the child-safety lock page. No restrictor price is published. Fitting a restrictor to a stay that is already loose is refused. The child is not safer on a sash that can leave the frame.

Interior silicone at S$180 to S$380 a window stops rain at the inner perimeter. It does not replace a rivet. Condo casements on the elevation need the MCST as well as the approved contractor, because the frame is the facade. Landed casements are still the BCA window if they are the type the retrofitting order covers. Nobody leans out to change a stay. The photo is taken from inside, with a small mirror if you are checking the underside of a rivet, which is the method HDB’s sheet describes.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices permit-exempt window work done from inside the flat. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices an HDB renovation permit when the window scope needs one. The exterior rivets, friction stays, rollers and glass are done by a BCA approved window contractor registered under workhead RW01. Homey Furnishing is not that RW01 contractor.

Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking. Fabric is a different product, and these pages do not quote it.

Photograph the stay from inside. A phone and a small mirror are enough. Do not hang out of the frame.

1. Count the rivet or screw heads you can see on each side of the stay.
2. If they are powdery, silver-soft or missing, stop and book an RW01 contractor.
3. If only the lever is broken and the sash feels tight, say so. That may be the handle row.
4. Do not add a child lock to a loose stay.
5. Do not order curtains as the repair.

The building changes the permission. It does not invent a second price.

How you're charged

A window job that already has a sentence on HomeySG uses that sentence. Nothing in this table is a fuel surcharge, and the hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so.

Who is allowed to touch the window

HDB’s window-works guidelines require a BCA approved window contractor listed in HDB’s directory for installation and replacement, and an HDB renovation permit before that work starts. BCA registers that contractor under workhead RW01. Retrofitting replaces aluminium rivets in variable-geometry stays with type 304 stainless steel. Homey Furnishing does not issue that rivet.

• Interior silicone or PU reseal, at S$180 to S$380 a window, is the exempt interior job on the window repair page.
• A handle at S$60 to S$120 is that published row. A failed stay or rivet is not a handle.
• Film on intact glass is not a sash replacement. On an HDB flat, film over existing window or balcony-door glass does not need a permit when it is non-reflective or not above 20% reflectance.
• Service-yard and balcony parapet grilles need a permit. Flats handed over from 1 July 2007 use HDB’s approved grille designs. Older blocks may take an internal grille that does not protrude, without that permit.
• A condo facade is the MCST’s elevation. Reflective film, a grille and an external screen are uniformity questions before anyone sticks or drills.
• Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not quoted here.
• Nobody leans out of the casement. High glass is cleaned from inside.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Photograph every opening before a film roll, a mesh panel or a grille is cut. A wrong reflectance or a wrong grille design is a wasted visit.
• Put the windows in one room on the same visit. A second trip is a second booking.
• If the track is only dirty, the published clean is S$60 to S$100. That is not a new roller.
• If the stay is rusty, stop. Film and a child lock on a failing sash do not make it safe. The approved contractor comes first.
• If only the handle has snapped and the stay is tight, use the S$60 to S$120 handle row instead of a stay replacement.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

The hardware band is the one already printed for exterior stays and rivets. A full new window is not hidden inside it.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection.

• Window repair catalogue
• Rivets, stoppers and penalties
• Handles, if the lever is the part
• Sliding rollers, a different mechanism
• Who the approved contractor is
• Window child-safety locks