Hi,

Curious to find out to those existing tenants that stay at the top floor of a condo and usually there will be a water tank on top of this top floor.

1) will it be noisy since water tank from there?
2) will it be heaty since sun shine directly to the top?
3) heard common issue of water leakage direct to this top floor, hence usually advisable not to take?

Hope to get some inputs from the forumers here.

Thanks.

It depends on luck. good luck, not water leaking. bad luck, water leak like raining.

How about heat? Since top floor. Logically more heathy right?

Also developer is saying using double layer bricks. So regardless won't have any water leakage issue. Then again ain't all condo top floor and water tank have double layer by default? I'm not too sure also

true also..i used to have a unit like that - pro is that no funny noises from upstairs.
Water leakage was minor - since it was common area, management took care of it and repainted the leakage stains on the ceiling in my unit.


this type of leakage is better than leakage from a unit upstairs - lagi headache!!


hot ?- well it was not that bad really..

Is better than stay first floor and the piping broken at ur toilet and whole block of xxxxx flow like waterfall at ur toilet😂

I nv thought of leakage from unit upstairs which will cause me more problem.. Good point. But if there's water pump, won't it be noisy?

Also if u compare the top unit and the lower one..is it only slightly hotter? I nv stay at top flr. So won't know. Usually the middle one is ok

water pump? that time my place don't have a pump..

to me, more pros than cons as I hate to deal with leakage problems from another unit upstairs..- can be very troublesome.

I never found mine suffocating hot..can manage without aircond

Thanks for the feedback. Now I can give a second thought on the top floor.

BTW have u stay in top floor and in between before?

yes I have for both..but ground floor no experience yet..

can i knw which floor for ur top floor?

18th

yes, if an old condo, sometimes the water pump not serviced or replaced will be a bit noisy. ditto the lift motor. There are pros and cons. water leakage from roof is actually MC or JMB responsible to fix, but you may have to push them to do so. but the good thing about top floor is the ceiling height is higher (don't know if applicable to all condo in malaysia but that is my experience) and also you don't have to bear with upstair neighbour stomping around or dragging furniture. and of course the view , bright and windy too.

ya true

incidentally penthouses are all on the highest floors

how about when that is big sun day, will it be very hot?

don't know !

oh ok, then at least and rely on your sharing since you have experienced both..

old as in more than 5 years or 10 years? water pump is those wear and tear product, so if it's not replaced/service, meaning higher chance will have to bear the noise for some time eh...

but good point on the higher ceiling floor..maybe i'll check with the developer and see how true is this

every piece of equipment has a planned maintenance, if not maintained properly and serviced regulalry you will get noise and / or breakdown. it really depend on the condo MC whether on the ball or not. but frankly speaking, this noisy pump / lift motor can be heard by the top few floors, not the top most floor only. the older the condo those equipment should actually be replaced using sinking fund

This post has been edited by corleone74: Oct 12 2015, 01:28 AM

I don’t stay on the top floor but I was a former-jmb member.

From my experience, I have not heard a whole lot of complain from top floor owners. However, there was one leaking incident I recall though. Leaking is perhaps a misnomer to describe the situation because it was raining in the house itself and the plaster ceiling collapsed because of the weight of the water collected.

Though it’s the JMB’s responsibility, the speed of the repair will vary depending on availability of budget and also sourcing for quotation from contractors. It will vary from days to weeks, worst case scenario months. If your tenant you may want to choose to terminate the tenancy arrangement.

About the noise, interestingly even though the water tank is located on the top floor, the noise is generally suppressed. If however you are living in midway points of the condominium, you may experience some noise every now and then.

Am not an expert but this is what I gathered from my technical team. The water is pump from group to top floor. However, the water pressure is generally not strong enough to reach the top of the condominium. So there may be additional pump (or was it valve) located say on the 15th floor of the condominium, before the water reaches the 30th floor of the condo.

The water from the ground floor will need to pass through a “backflow valve” (again not sure if this is the correct term), this valve is intended to prevent water that has gone up from flowing back into the water tank. Over time due to wear and tear, the spring in the backflow valve will be worn out. Instead of gently closing, it will slam against the valve, as it closes (i.e. when the pumping of water is halted).

Believe it or not, the noise generated from the backflow valve travelling from the ground floor to the 14th floor of my condo. The noise is sound loud that it is able to cause vibration to the owner’s unit on the 14th floor.

Whether you unit is heaty or not, depends on the facing of your unit. If you get either the western or ESPECIALLY the eastern sun (sai cheh) or both then be prepared to have your eggs cooked. Other than that, I don’t think top floors should be very hot… If your tenant or prospective buyer, I suggest you pay a visit to the condo at around 1pm in the afternoon to get a feel of things.

Conclusion:-
1) no and unlikely.
2) depends on the facing of your condo (west/eastern facing take note).
3) leakage rare but when it does happens, do expect flooding.

Should feel the same as living in a landed I think.

I had leakage from the roof but no flooding....the ceiling was a little warped here and there and it got fixed by the management eventually.

And that condo I had was about 10years old..

I encountered it in my condo but not necessarily mean it happens elsewhere. It depends on situation and various other factors.

And i did say, such incidents are rare.

Thanks for such detailed explanation. After hearing you guys..seems like not so bad to get top floor for own stay also instead of my earlier worrisome.

You will appreciate top floor,

1. You don't hear chair and table dragging sound, nor people jumping up and down sound (especially got kids upstair), which can be annoying especially happened in the middle of night or early morning.

2. You don't need to face leakage problem from upstair unit, which is quite common nowadays, (due to poor workmanship in water proofing). If upstair owner is not co-operating to solve this (aka refuse to do, as they need to fork out their own money), you can have a nightmare. While for top floor, it is duty of management to do if there is roof leaking problem.

3. You don't need to worry blockage of sewage pipe, the lowest floor people may get sewage water overflow into their toilet if there is clogged pipe.
I saw it happened before, stones, even clothes found inside the pipe.

4. Lesser noise and more windy as compared to lower floor.

Abt item 4, I was told sound travel upwards. So potential higher floors may suffer from noise pollution but I think is negligible unless you r situated next to a highway.

It depends, if situation beside highway and in a crowded surrounding, may be yes. As lower floor has many other building, walls etc that act as obstacle for the sound to travel.

Anyway we still need a real actual reading in db to measure the noise.
Every building, surrounding is different to start with, which could affect the noise level.

1. many agents do not recommend top floor so expect lower rent if plan to rent out. reason same as given by TS.

2. to be safe , i think buy the 2nd or 3rd highest floor is best. (u can have good view and wind)．　heard it is cooler than the top floor. similar if u live in double or 3 storey, upstair always hotter. ground floor no need aircon since the heat blocked by upstairs

3. under the new strata act, it is faster to get upstairs to repair leak. MC, MO now also are more competent dealing with this. people gt used of the strata living, best is to own a higher standard high rise.

4. like someone said before , it is longer time/tougher to repair the roof , tank leak etc which is a bigger project compare to toilet leak.

5. dont worry too much of upstairs noises. seldom it happen

below one floor from 2nd floor, is a good option.

As for my apartment case, there's water issue when the pump is faulty because top unit receive the water last.. Yes i agree about water pump is located at the bottom of building..

Another disadvantage of top unit is dust, even everyday cleaning still dust is easily build up.. Even the house is fully air-conditioned still dust appear in any furniture..
This is not happen to landed house or lower unit..

This post has been edited by amad108: Oct 24 2015, 10:03 AM

Water pump is located on ground floor, but mostly in highrise, water is not supplied via pump but from top floor water tank.

The water pump on ground floor is used to pump the water to water tank at top floor, not for individual unit/floor.

higher floor usually less dusty if u compare the same place.

your landed house less dusty maybe becos it is far from main roads

hermm.. yup, u have point there.. my apartment is nearby federal highway, so i think that's the reason..

as for my case i already check with management office, the water go below 1st then up back again.. because when the water pump failed, my house is the last one will get the water after fix it..

Top floor has the lowest pressure based on gravity flow from the top, that's why you get it last.

yup, u r correct..