Concrete cancer in exterior staircase

[bridie]

Hi Guys,
Had a frightening diagnosis today from a building inspector.
Beautiful art deco units I'm trying to buy have a bad case of concrete cancer in a staircase at the rear of the building leading to the two upstairs flats.
The staircase is connected to the ceiling of a downstairs bedroom and moisture and rust stains can be visibily seen "weeping" into the interior.
Spoke to building inspector at length about what can be done- but must say I am v. concerned.
He explained to me it can be patched, but would ultimately need to be fully replaced- a huge job.
I will go ahead and get quotes from builders/concretors re what can be done.
My question is, does anyone else have experience with concrete cancer in a situation like this? Should I just walk away?
Otherwise, the deal is good - excellent +cash flow in an area where I already have some top performing property.
Would love some advice from you great people.
cheers

 

[bundy1964]

First thought where is the water coming from?

2nd how long would the patch last and cost?

3rd how much to replace and would that solve it from happening again?

If it was me I would patch if the patch would last at least 5 years so I could budget for a long term fix, if the numbers still stacked up ok for a long term buy.

It does give you a lever to use in trying for a better price.

bundy

 

[handyandy]

Hi Bridie

I take that this staircase is an outside staircase with the entry of water at the join between the landing and the building.

If this is the case than the landing is an extension of the 1st floor slab and it could be simply that in building the structure the builder left the reo to close to the surface. Generally this manifests itself in spalling where the rust actually breaks the concrete above the reo and it spals away.

If you see no damage like that then I would be concerned as to which reo bars are actually being affected.

A patch repair can be easily done simply by chipping out any spalling concrete digging the bar(s) out, treating them with sutiable materials (quiete expensive ) and then rerendering.

If the staircase is outside then a lonegr term solution and obviously queite expensive would be to replace the whole concrete staircase with a steel job.

But as bundy suggests patch it and see, particularly if it is a good deal.

By the way I have done a similar job where I had a balcony with the reo rod that was basically on the surface. Professionals qouted $5-7k to treat this and also the end reo spots on 9 balconies. In qouting they told me excactly what they would do and I did the same job for about $1500. This was 2 years ago and so far so good.

Cheers

 

[Gill Bates]

Technical Info on the www
Australian Concrete Repair Association (ACRA)http://www.acrassoc.com.au/about.htm
publish "Guide to Concrete Repair and Protection"

also
"Cement and Concrete Association of Australia" at http://www.concrete.net.au/publications.php

 

[bridie]

Thank you guys,
I am very grateful to you for your advice. I will get some advice re-repairs and take that back to the agent and hopefully negotiate a better price.
I guess if that is not acepted I will just walk away from the deal.
Your advice confirmed a lot of what I expected, however its good to know others out there have had a problem like this and solved it.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again

 

[bridie]

An update,
Looks as though the problem is quite bad. Concrete specialist told me that once a building has concrete cancer you're always chasing it. He felt water was getting in somewhere and would be very hard to detect where its getting in. After lengthy discussion with him and the building inspector I decided not to take it on.
Thanks all who responded to my post as it was really helpful to get advice from others.
I've told the agent I won't be proceeding with the purchase- but will keep looking.
It's a great lesson in always getting a building inspector!
cheers

 

[Cosmo]

Hi Bridie,

Concrete cancer can be quite bad if left unattended for some time.

A block of units near my brothers house on Sydney’s northern beaches had one of its upper balconies fall off and it took out the 3 balconies under it! The concrete cancer was so bad that they had to cut back into all the loungeroom slabs about a meter to find adequate fixing for the new balconies. The expense per unit was horrendous and they couldn’t live in it for months.

You’re right to move on from that one.

 

[whitt]

i agree go back to vendor say. deal is good but concrete repairs to cost $xxxxx provide quote if need be. say this will push you over budget.

see what they back with?


I did on one of my deals got $1500 off the deal.