What happens when high-rise buildings get old?

[AdRock]

I was shown through an apartment in Elwood today, on the top floor of a three storey 60's block. The REA had mentioned the parking, the outlook, the aspect, etc. over the phone, but seemed to have neglected to mention the "minor" subsiding in one corner of the building. (For those who don't know Elwood, most buildings in the area show some minor cracks and shifting in the brickwork.)
But no joke, I actually felt dizzy walking into the apartment! One corner of the living room was sloping down half a foot or so, leaving an uncomfortable Dali-esque vibe to the place...

Apart from feeling that the REA had wasted my time (in not telling me over the phone of the three storey Titanic's impending doom!), what freaked me out was that I'd been shown through a different apartment in the same block (but around the other side), six months ago, with no mention made of the building's condition! (I can only hope that the buyer was aware when they signed the contract, as the land value would have been a trivial 25% of the purchase price...)

I understand that due diligence is necessary, and building inspections are important, but being new to PI, I had assumed that for the big, seemingly solid brick apartment buildings there were few major problems that could arise....
Supposedly there is a plan to underpin the building, which should hopefully alleviate ( but will not rectify) the problem.
-If anyone is interested, the basic 2BR unit that I looked at today was for private sale at $420k.

(I'm new to the forum, and it seemed unethical for me to add a link to the aforementioned property, but if anyone's interested I can send them the link privately. )

A.

 

[Whozat]

But it does raise an interesting question - what happens when high-rise buildings get old?

M

Talked to a tradesman who had done work on an iconic older highrise in Surfers Paradise in recent times. (I am guessing building is about 30 years old) The building had to have 'spalling' (?) work done on it - a problem where the metal struts inside the concrete have started to rust and cause the concrete to crack. He said the job cost over $1m, which he figured worked out at about $10K per unit. Did the owners have a choice? No way! It had to be done.

You would want to hope that the BC had been wisely saving their pennies, but unlikely to have budgeted $1m in reserve....

 

[handyandy]

I was shown through an apartment in Elwood today, on the top floor of a three storey 60's block. The REA had mentioned the parking, the outlook, the aspect, etc. over the phone, but seemed to have neglected to mention the "minor" subsiding in one corner of the building. (For those who don't know Elwood, most buildings in the area show some minor cracks and shifting in the brickwork.)
But no joke, I actually felt dizzy walking into the apartment! One corner of the living room was sloping down half a foot or so, leaving an uncomfortable Dali-esque vibe to the place...

Apart from feeling that the REA had wasted my time (in not telling me over the phone of the three storey Titanic's impending doom!), what freaked me out was that I'd been shown through a different apartment in the same block (but around the other side), six months ago, with no mention made of the building's condition! (I can only hope that the buyer was aware when they signed the contract, as the land value would have been a trivial 25% of the purchase price...)

I understand that due diligence is necessary, and building inspections are important, but being new to PI, I had assumed that for the big, seemingly solid brick apartment buildings there were few major problems that could arise....
Supposedly there is a plan to underpin the building, which should hopefully alleviate ( but will not rectify) the problem.
-If anyone is interested, the basic 2BR unit that I looked at today was for private sale at $420k.

(I'm new to the forum, and it seemed unethical for me to add a link to the aforementioned property, but if anyone's interested I can send them the link privately. )

A.

Hi A

I would think that the slope you felt can't be due to the cracking. If it was then the building must be about to fall down as any fall in height would need to be reflected by an equivalent movement in the crack (opening up).

For you to feel the slope it would need to have a fall of at least 50mm+ over a room of say 3 mt.

I have been in a number of older units where the floors had these sort of slopes and they were simply due to faulty workmanship when they did the slabs.

In fact come to think of it I have a strata factory slab construction where the floor is concave dropping in the centre by about 50mm. This was built in the 90's and am told that the builder removed the construction support to early in the building process. All units in the complex have the same problem. So it's a problem in even more recent constructions.

Getting back to the older units. Where they are carpeted its not such a major problem a carpet does reduce the visual impact but when we renovate and tile the floors we screed these floors to make them level.

Cheers