Renovation Contractor
in SS2

Local facts last reviewed 29 September 2026. Sources are listed at the end of the page.

The “SS” in SS2 stands for Sungai Way–Subang, not “sub-section”, as The Star’s fact-check explained in 2023. MBPJ’s draft local plan places the SS areas in the 1970s as a spread of garden-suburb housing to the north-west of the original town, built for homes and supporting services. SS2 was first developed in that decade, and its housing is still mainly landed — terraces, semi-detached houses and bungalows — with some newer condominiums added.

SS2 is also one of the city’s food and market landmarks. The draft plan cites SS2’s morning and night markets as a model for placemaking, names SS2 among areas with potential as a creative and cultural precinct, and proposes a waste “Smart Lab” there. It also notes the area is short of pocket parks. Renovating in a street this busy means thinking about parking, deliveries and neighbours as much as design; the Taman Bahagia LRT station is the nearest rail link.

SS2 at a glance

MBPJ’s street-facing rules for SS2 houses

Additions and alterations to an SS2 house are drawn up on MBPJ form PB.B03 by a registered architect, engineer or registered draughtsman, and the form’s technical checklist is written with terraces like these in mind:

• Fences: terrace fences are capped at 5 ft. A solid wall must be 30% open for light, and plastered and painted on both sides. Every wall on a boundary with a neighbour is plastered and painted on both faces.
• Gates: an entrance gate, including the bin enclosure, may be up to 16 ft wide on a terrace lot narrower than 20 ft, 18 ft on a wider terrace lot, and 20 ft for a bungalow.
• Balconies: a 2.1m dividing wall is required on the side of a balcony facing the neighbouring lot.
• Roofs: original roof height and facade kept, party walls raised 230mm above the roof, gutters shown, and a shared porch kept shared.
• Stores and stairs: a store room no larger than 7 ft by 7 ft, ventilated through a louvred door; stair treads at least 255mm and risers no more than 180mm.

Smaller jobs — new floor or wall tiles, a new roof finish on the same structure, repainting — can go on MBPJ’s minor-works form instead, as long as no concrete wall is broken.

What fifty-year-old SS2 houses need

At around half a century old, SS2 houses were built before many of today’s standard details, so it is reasonable to expect original plumbing, older wiring and wet-area floors without a modern membrane (an inference from age, to be confirmed on site). A full kitchen or bathroom rebuild is the right time to replace hidden pipes rather than tile over them.

Layout changes run into the room-size minimums in MBPJ’s checklist: a first bedroom of at least 11 sq m, a second of 9.3 sq m and others of 6.5 sq m, each at least 2m wide; a kitchen of at least 4.5 sq m and 1.5m wide; ceiling heights of at least 2.25m in bedrooms and kitchens. Carving an extra bedroom out of a narrow terrace often fails those numbers, so check them before knocking walls about.

Most terraces here have also been extended at the back at some point. Kitchens in extensions need the sanitary layout MBPJ asks for — pipes via a gully trap to the manhole, never the surface drain — and a double-sealed airtight cover on any manhole inside the kitchen.

Old drains, busy streets

SS2 does not appear in the drainage department’s recorded flood locations for MBPJ in 2016–2022, but its drains are as old as its houses, and the council has said Petaling Jaya’s drains cannot take more than 60mm of rain in an hour. Front yards paved edge to edge and drains covered for parking are exactly what MBPJ announced in May 2026 it would order owners to remove.

The busier constraint is space. Building materials may only sit on the road shoulder in front of, beside or behind your house, stacked neatly and out of the drain, and a council parking bay can be rented if a skip or lorry needs one. On market days, deliveries are best timed away from peak hours.

Guides that fit SS2 projects

We have no SS2-specific guide; these national guides cover the common work on older terraces:

• House rewiring costs — replacing original wiring during a full refurbishment.
• Terrace house renovation — kitchens, extensions and layouts on narrow lots.
• Anti-climb fencing — front and side fences within MBPJ’s height limits.
• Bathroom waterproofing requirements — what a proper membrane under new tiles involves.
• Rising damp — ground-floor walls that stay damp in older houses.

SS2 map

We cover SS2 Selatan and SS2 Utara, and the streets around the SS2 markets and the Taman Bahagia LRT station.

Around SS2

Neighbouring pages:

• Kelana Jaya — SS4–SS7, the PKNS-planned suburb to the west.
• Petaling Jaya — MBPJ’s city-wide page.
• Ara Damansara — PJU 1 and PJU 1A, the newer freehold township.
• Bandar Utama — 2½-storey precincts to the north.
• Bangsar — across the boundary, under DBKL.

Sources & official references

The local facts on this page were checked against the sources below on 29 September 2026. Council procedures, forms and fees change — confirm the current position with the council before you start work:

• MBPJ — Form PB.B03 (individual house building plan) — fences, gates, balcony walls, roofs, room sizes, stores, stairs, sanitary layout.
• MBPJ — Form PB.B13 (minor works, 2024) — works without plans; site conditions.
• MBPJ — Draft Petaling Jaya Local Plan (Replacement), preliminary proposals — SS areas in the 1970s; SS2 markets, precinct and Smart Lab proposals; JPS flood list.
• MBPJ — council background — municipal council 1977; city 2006.
• The Star — QuickCheck: what the SS in SS2 means (2023) — Sungai Way–Subang.
• The Star — MBPJ and illegal drain covers (May 2026) — drain notices and capacity.