Maintainability problems of wet areas in high-rise residential buildings

Feedback on building maintenance problems and failures provides insight into how problems arise and how to prevent their recurrence in future projects. Findings are reported from a research project on the maintainability of high-rise residential buildings in Singapore focusing on wet areas. Problem areas evaluated include water leakage from ceilings, staining/discolouration, paint defects, the cracking/spalling of concrete, the cracking/debonding of tiles, fungi/algae growth, pipe leakage and corrosion. Key factors for the eradication of these problems are identified as workmanship, design detailing, maintenance and material incompatibility under tropical conditions.