Hole in Bukit Panjang resident's ceiling allegedly caused by neighbour's renovation

A Bukit Panjang resident returned home to a rude shock when he saw fallen concrete debris in the kitchen of his HDB flat. 

The incident reportedly happened on Monday (Dec 22) morning in a fifth-floor unit at Block 416 Saujana Road. 

A 46-year-old man surnamed Wong told Shin Min Daily News that his father had just returned home after 9am when he found an 8cm-wide hole in his ceiling, adding that parts of the steel bars in the ceiling were also exposed. 

"As it was the first day of renovation works for the unit, there were a lot of noisy works. I had my earbuds on, so I wasn't sure when they broke our ceiling," Shin Min reported Wong as saying. 

Checks by AsiaOne indicate that works at a sixth-floor unit in the HDB block are permitted to be carried out from Dec 22 to Jan 20, with demolition and hacking works permitted from Dec 22 to 23, and again on Dec 26. 

Wong shared that two workers carrying out the renovation works later came by to explain the situation. 

According to Wong, the workers said that they were removing the floor tiles when the incident happened. They were unsure what had caused the damage. 

A professional tiler whom AsiaOne spoke to said the removal of tiles usually involve only cutting works.

"Even if the tile is difficult to remove, a specialised drill bit is used to bore some holes on the tiles to weaken it. There's rarely any heavy drilling involved," the tiler added. 

The workers later carried out patching works on the hole, before using a wooden board to secure the area. Wong added that the contractor also dropped by to apologise over the incident. 

Wong also told Shin Min that it was fortunate that his mother was not in the kitchen at the time of the incident. 

Checks on the HDB's website indicate that there is no waterproofing membrane beneath the kitchen floor tiles of HDB flats. 

A contractor who spoke to AsiaOne on condition of anonymity said that based on the video and photos of the incident online, the affected area is typically dry unlike the bathroom area. 

"This means that the owner need not be too concerned about water seepage issues," added the contractor. 

However, he cautioned that as the rebars have been exposed, repair works would have to be carried out correctly to avoid corrosion from setting in, thereby causing spalling concrete issues downstream. 

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editor@asiaone.com