Recently I'd purchased a new property & discover water mark at downstair ceiling after performing water ponding test on my own at all 3 bathrooms in 1st floor. After filing the defect complaints, the developer gave excuse that I had put too much water during ponding test & offers to redo the water ponding test by the developer worker.

The worker complete flooding the bathroom at 5:30PM yesterday & I observe significance water level reduction at 6:30PM on the same day as part of the floor already dried up. I took the picture for record purpose. On the next day, developer representative conduct a joint inspection with me at 10:30AM. I find that the same bathroom water level has risen back to the original flooded level. The worker has denied several times that he refilled the water prior joint inspection, but confessed after being shown the photo. I also have proof that water meter reading was out by 200+ litres.

The defect rectification manager told me that it is normal for water level to reduce during ponding test & such reduction does not mean leakage. The water level reduced bout 1-2cm within 18 hours. Is what he said is true? Any one with experience in this, please give your valuable comment. Thanks

I do believe water will reduce/absorb when got:

1-air
2-hot
3-time

based on my own experience

i) any water mark at downstairs ceiling after wonder ponding test IS a positive test that there is a leakage.
dont believe otherwise.

ii) significant water level reduction means the water is leaking off somewhere into the walls etc..

my advice would be -

- ponding test should take at least 48 hours and note where the stains are. Take lots of photograph as evidence to be used to build your case against deveoper later if so needed.

in your case, the fact that the worker tried to mislead you by filling up the water level is an indication there could be leakage.

you must be persistent to get this resolved otherwise i tel you after you moved in, your will have a MAJOR NIGHTMARE!

in my case, while the cleaners were washing the bathroom, the water was pouring down the walls downstairs so there is no way they can say no leakage ma..so call in the main con, and they said ok, we found the leak and we have repaired and done ponding test for you and all OK..

ya right...i decided to do my own ponding test, and yup, leakage AGAIN..!

Second time, same thing, ya, repairs done, and ponding test done, all OK

ya, u guess rigght, did my own ponding , and yup Leakage AGAIN..

and same thing the THIRD TIME...!!!!

they were doing guess work all this time and patch here there everywhere hoping that the leakage will be stopped ..

so you can guess, by that time I was absolutely LIVID and bombasted the developer in writing of course so that i have a record. During the fourth repairs, i insisted the ENTIRE FLOOR must be hacked off and the water proofing redone..it was a quite a big job but no choice as i was not going to go through it the 5th time..!

So i am going to do another ponding test to make sure all is ok before the defect rectification period is over ..

So you see, why the developer will try to play kungfu with you so you must be on top of this matter to make sure they dont screw you over..

my developer suppposedly one of the top in the market some more....ie Sun&^%* ..swore never ever to buy their properties anymore..

Concrete is porous and can act like sponge, so there is logic that some water could have been absorbed resulting in slightly lower water levels.

Waterproofing is often only done till 6 inches above floor level for general floor area hence the developers comment that you may have used to much water for initial poring test.

The fact that their worker (most likely under orders from a superior) added extra water then lied about it shows the developer can't be trusted.

Redo the test a third time see the result then demand the developer fix any problem or you will sue and remind them they will lose badly once you present the evidence of their attempted deceitful cover up.

Cheers

Thanks for your sharing. I did managed to get the developer rep to agree on proceed with leakage repair without further testing, as I stressed that I no longer have confident on the integrity of the testing. They agreed to repair within one week & redo the ponding test after repair is done. I have the conversation recorded too, just in case...

Now just have to pray they did a better job on the repair...

I've done ponding test lately as well, roughly 20hours , 2 toilets the water completely dried. I tell the developer and the guy seems like not happy and ask me when I stay will I let my toilet flood for whole night? And say no people do test like that. But they say will go check since I already write in the form.

But then second day they tell me no leaking, but have 1 water pipe leak hence the plaster ceiling below one of the toilet wet. The other toilet no leak, and the plaster ceiling seems like no stain. Keep insist if there is leaking the plaster ceiling will have stain, I think I will do test again soon.

My developer rejects all water leakage complaint for owner who did their own water ponding test, say we did it the wrong way. They insist the test must be done by their worker. Now only I knew why, coz they cheat! Gosh~ have to further delay reno plan, this issue must be fixed properly

Hi, never heard of this before...can u explain in detail what do u mean by this water ponding test? Is it u let the upstairs toilet food fill with water but got drain Hole so how to test? M confused by this all...

Normally you don't need to flood the toilet. The test just need 1 cm or maybe 1/2" of water will do. Because you won't be running a pool in the toilet.

How they gonna cheat you?

Water ponding test is done by seal off the drain hole & flood the bathroom floor. In my case, the developer flood bout 5mm at the highest floor level & bout 4cm at the lowest floor level. 5mm water gone within 1 hour, so I take picture as proof. The next day morning, they secretly come & refill water before joint inspection, this is to make the flood test pass as they claim no water was leak out.

flood basically means u fill until the whole floor is covered entirely with water..yes true no need to be one feet high ..just around 1" or so will do..easiest is to mark the water line on the side of the wall once its filled so if water do run off you can easily see it.

leakage in any property i can assure you is one of the worse things that can happen as it is usually costly if you end up having to fix it yourself..

Yes, bathroom leakage is the top priority defect that must be repair properly by developer. It is unbelievable for a big developer (listed company) to cheat on such simple thing.

The proper way to check water leakage after ponding test is by looking for sign of leakage not the water level reduce or not.
If you can spot sign of leakage, then your developer shall repair it , no need to argue on the water level.

Water mark already exist after I done my own ponding test, but developer refused to accept my defect complaints. They insist the ponding test must be done by their worker, so I let them do it. But they lied about refilling water prior joint inspection. If there is nothing wrong with the test, why they have to lie about it?

Bravo Bravo, YIPEEE ! ! ! 1 Victory for the common guy against the Big Evil Corporations.

5MM gone in 1 hour (its huge amount of water) then there's no sign of leakage, how we can be assure it will not effecting concreate in a long run?

Hi all..thanks for the explanation, first time I heard of such a thing. Must do for upstairs n downstairs toilet? The water must not receed after how many hours only consider as pass? Sum thing new I learn..will try it out when i get my house keys...

Oh ya, how do u seal off the drain Hole to ensure that no water passes thro the drain hole when want to do this test?

Drain hole can be sealed by using plasticine, the stuff kids play in art class. The ponding should last for 24 hours. Normally ppl don't do test on ground floor, not much affects even it have leakage.