HDB"s vow: Fewer defects, longer warranties
The Straits Times Wednesday, 29 September 2004

THE Housing Board has vowed to reduce the cases of spalling concrete and water seepage in its new flats - and hopes to back it up with much longer warranties against these defects.
Even if 1 or 2 per cent of flats have such problems, "it"s a lot", said HDB chief executive Niam Chiang Meng during its annual report briefing on Monday.
The board has asked a new building quality department to see how common defects can be prevented, he said. And he has "challenged" his staff to eventually offer 10-year guarantees against spalling concrete and five-year ones against water seepage.
Seepage in new flats has been an issue recently, as most home owners have to pay the cost of repairs once the one-year defect liability period - when faults are fixed for free - expires.
In the first six months of this year, 21 flats less than 10 years old had spalling concrete. This is when ceilings crack when steel bars embedded in concrete corrode and expand. Based on that figure, two out of every 10,000 such flats have the problem each year.
In the first half of this year, 372 flats less than five years old also had water leaking through their ceilings. This works out to seven out of every 1,000 such flats each year.
The figure for water seeping in through walls was 444, or eight out of every 1,000 flats less than five years old each year.