When S*** Happens At Your Condo
At one KLCC condo where I used to own an apartment, there was a serious problem with pigeon poop. The apartments facing the morning sun, including mine, were affected the most. You see, folks, the aircon compressors at this condo were housed on a ledge just beside the open air kitchen yard. (This was a unintentional design failure - in new condos the aircon compressors are almost always housed behind grills.) The pesky birds would land on top of the aircon compressor housings and deposit poop all around. I tried DIY solutions, putting out bird spikes, plastic cat figurines and even rat paper on the top of the compressors. Nothing seemed to work.
Despite complaints from owners, the developer did little to fix the pigeon poop problem except to contact several pest control companies to take a look. When the new JMB committee took over, yours truly joined as a committee member. After several meetings and advice from pest control companies, wire netting was installed to prevent the pesky birds from landing and pooping.
But what if something happens outside your condo (for example, piling works for a nearby building) but is the proximate cause of “S***” of a different kind that affects your condo.
Well, a couple years later, the building manager at this particular condo discovered small sink holes in the garden while doing her inspection rounds. It was suspected piling work nearby had led to underground water pipes cracking. Water had then eroded limestone deposits leading to the creation of the sink holes. A consultant engineer was hired to advise the JMB. The consultant suggested test boring at several places to locate and determine the scale of the problem. Problem was it would cost a lot of $$$ to do the test bores. KLCC was built on a limestone area, so it is not uncommon for sink holes to appear now and then.
Before S*** happens at your condo, make sure your MC and JMB committee have a clear and thought out communication policy to notify the owners and residents, especially if there are safety issues that might be involved.
Malaysia is not generally thought to lie in an earthquake zone. But from time to time, KL has experienced tremors. Usually after such an event, building managers will on their usual inspections pay extra attention to any new cracks on pillars on walls. If in doubt, I think it is prudent to get a structural engineer to take a second look to see if any existing cracks look bigger than usual.
After piling is completed at nearby projects, it is standard practice to notify residents and owners of high rise buildings to check for cracks on walls inside their units. Further joint inspections with the developer of the nearby building project should be scheduled to review if the cracks on walls are indirectly caused by the nearby piling activities.
