I found a property with lower price (abt 25K) compared to other units in the same building.
However, I found that few wall cracks (and it's quite long) appeared in few places in the unit.
The property was built less than 10 years ago.

1) Can any experts advice reasons for cracks ? How to identify the causes of the crack?

2) If I get help of contractor, can cracks be repaired and will it last?
I'm scared that the cracks will re-appear again and again after that.

3) Since the price is lower, is it wise to buy the property?

This post has been edited by NaiveLady: Feb 17 2010, 08:09 PM

maybe you can provide more information regarding the house such as How long is the house edy ?

i would consider if the land use to be a rubber hill or mining area.. if mining area,, then be prepare!!!

1) Concrete mixture using sea sand. The building is tilting. No proper curing during the construction stage. and etc.

2) It depends on what kinds of crack. If it is minor, just ask the contractor to seal up the crack using cement & sand plaster. If the crack is major, highly recommended using specially mix cement grout to infill the crack. Or just hack off the said wall and reconstruct a new wall.

3) If the cracks/concrete repairing works does not exceeds RM25k, i say it should worth it. Plus the crack is not a major crack.

Suggest you bring along a civil/structural engineer (those involved in drawing up the RC plan when you submit renovation plan for council approval) and ask him for advice.

I you want to buy the house and planning to renovate..
you can ask the contractor to fix the crack as well.. the crack can be fixed, like
hacking the cracked part and put on a new bricks + steel net.. and many other ways..

landed or multi-storey building?

My opinion is you have to decide if it's a live crack or a dead crack. If it's a live crack, then you have to take actions to prevent the crack from becoming worse and from eating deeper into the building/house.

And if it's a dead crack, then just seal it up and paint over it for aesthetics.

By the way, besides the Highland Towers tragedy, I have not really heard of cracks causing a building or house to collapse. Have you ?

It's not a landed property. It's an apartment and on the 2nd floor. It's built by a renowned developer.

Lawyer 1: How to identify whether it's a live crack/ dead crack?

chiehlim,zeese & edyek: I dont know any civil/structural engineer or contractor. I'm thinking of bringing one to view the property before I decide whether to buy or not. How much does it cost to get one to view the property and give advice?

AiRseaL: Dun worry. It's not mining area.

You may need a structural engineer to examine it. It's a bit of a hassle again, sorry about this.

Since its an apartment, then better get a certified person to check. Wont be as easy as landed property to cx on it i guess.

And also can check with the management office and see if it occur in other units as well.

Hi NaiveLady,

You can check with your renovation contractors or draftmans/architects, they sure know someone. The reason is whenever you submit a plan for renovation (landed), you need an engineer to sign. Hence, those renovation contractors/draftmans/architects will have a network of engineers.

I don't think it is very expensive, should be <rm1000, since it is just inspection and not really requiring their signature.

Another cheaper alternative is to get an experienced renovation contractor, someone you can trust or recommended by friends, and go see the house. If they have been in the field for 10-20 years, they should know something about buildings.

Regards
Lim