Space line focus Furniture and ID in penang

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Are these fires a common occurances in Malaysia and penang in particular,  living in HK,  most people live in a high rise building (all though I don't),   my place in Penang will be on the 25th floor,  sod all chance of jumping or getting the wife and kid down a 600 foot rope

The open kitchen design was a good point by Scott,  my place will have one and I did not think of the issues until now,  the layout takes the kitchen away from the entrance,  having looked at the design of the Latitude Scott mentions above, it won't be anywhere as close to your exit route as that place.   In HK recently there were some off plan apartments sold with open kitchens but when delivered to the buyers,  they were not open because the developer could not get permission,  it ended with the developer having to return all monies paid to those who wanted the open kitchen,  bit of a farce really how even the estate agency did not question the legality of the kitchen layout. Then just hope thant2 years later the buyers  would all forget the open kitchen that was supposed to be there.

I may have to investigate the door quality and install some additional measures

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hi,

I haven't noticed any condo fires being reported but then I haven't been looking. Usually the only fires reported in the news media are those with deaths, and they tend to be wooden houses.

The idea is to be making sure that you can get out out if there's a fire in your apartment. And having a plan on what to do, where to go, if there's a fire somewhere next door or above/below.

A fire blanket is great.

So is upgrading the doors and stops to 1/2 hour Fire Resistance, if they're not already meeting this standard. And this is a very basic standard.

And switching off all appliances.

The general advice is to bear this in mind if you're renovating so you can cover such stuff at the same time. Same with bathrooms. Make sure that tiles are really non-slip, there's no hard edges on the units, and put in a couple of handrail supports to make life easier getting in & out of the bath/shower. Might as well do it all in one shot as, most of the time, it doesn't cost much extra.

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hi,

The place I'm getting is designed for an open plan kitchen. It's too small for anything else. It's another Ivory Properties design.

Next to the kitchen is a laundry space with a door. It's about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Many owners have converted this "laundry" space into a very narrow "wet" kitchen. By "wet" is meant a cooking area. There's just enough space for a gas cylinder, 3 foot x 2 foot worktop , and a double gas ring.

Practical, yes, elegant, nope, make-shift, certainly.

The problem for me with an open-plan kitchen is the cooking smell, even with an extractor over the hob.

Martha Stewart advises boiling water in a saucepan with lemon slices and cloves added. But she's got loads of people around to buy the lemons, peel them, clean-up the mess, source the cloves, wash them, put it all together and wash up the pans at the end of the show.

Stale food smells drifting everywhere. Hmmm . . .  and the Developers promised a concept lifestyle living for the discerning affluent.

So, I'm going to knock down the wall to the laundry space and get a larger kitchen. Then install sliding panels so that the kitchen can be opened-up to get some visual space, and closed down for cooking and provide a safer escape route to the front door. With smoke detectors and CCTV linked to the bedroom computer it should be a fairly reasonable solution.

I haven't, of course, seen all the units in the development.Maybe about 30. But of those that I've looked at/sneaked a look, about 95% try and make something out of the "wet" kitchen way to go, and keep open plan small kitchen.

About 4% have gone for knocking down the wall and making a larger kitchen but keeping the open-plan.

And the other 1% are doing what I'm doing. It doesn't cost much more, except some attractive panels. At least they'll keep smoke contained for escape time.




PS : IMO, the open plan kitchen concept for these type of unit is a fraud. It's simply Developers getting away with providing less but selling more. An open-plan kitchen turns all the other spaces into kitchen accessories. Sit on the sofa, watch TV and look at the dishes/scrubbing stuff/cooker during the ads.

Open-plan kitchen works with an open dining area. Or next to the pool, the patio, or the tropical palm grove. Other areas being encloseable and at some distance.
 

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 I know what you mean about open kitchens but they can really make an apartment seems very spacious when its opened up. To me its a novelty, never had one before and the wife fancies the breakfast bar,  and honestly with the price of food being so reasonable in Penang, I don't think much cooking will ever be done really,  perhaps heating up some takeway or breakfast in the morning.

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Per Scott's comment above     - doors and stops to 1/2 hour Fire Resistance -    naturally you don't want to be in a place in 1/2 hour the most important aspect of fire protection is to reduce smoke migration through the whole place (open plan    ).

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hi,

Anyway, 1/2 hour fire resistance only means that the doors will stop the spread of flame for 20 minutes. Folks using the room behind the door as a last resort obviously need to block the gap between the door and the floor. And hope.

Watch the film "Towering Inferno" for a perspective on how things can go really wrong.   

Especially the bit where the architect (Paul Newman) pulls open a duct cover, looks at the wiring, and declares that wiring AB1A/4/Code 43/Sub-Section4x isn't up to spec. Every architect in our group at the cinema doubled-up at this.

Another script gem from the Architect :

"Building code? Jesus. Building code. Come on, Dunc, I mean now that's a standard cop-out for when you're in trouble. See, I was crawling around up there. I mean duct holes weren't fire-stopped! Corridors without fire doors in them, sprinklers that won't work..."

I hope Ivory Properties have seen the film.   

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hi,

Developers are always going on about their new concepts, which aren't new even when they bother to explain them. And they're not concepts just floor plans.

Here's a new one. The closed kitchen with al fresco dining balcony.

Most balconies that I see are empty. A withered plant, some plastic furniture and a mop or two. I guess it's the tropical sun glaring down all day. Better to stay inside with doors open & fan, or air-con.

So, make use of the balcony with an enclosed kitchen, dining-balcony arrangement. Great for breakfast, even greater for late suppers. Have a separate utility space at the back of the apartment. Usually the kitchen is at the back because of it's utility/laundry/washing connection. not any more.

Liberate the kitchen. That's a new concept for Malaysian developers.