Those who’ve lived in the same flat for at least a decade or two will know that home renovation and maintenance is not a one-and-done deal. Toilets, in particular, are especially prone to show wear and tear in our warm and humid climate – and one issue HDB-dwellers should keep a look out for is spalling concrete.
What is spalling concrete?
Examples of spalling concrete with exposed steel bars in HDB toilet ceilings.
Image adapted from @handymewaterproofingservices and @fixstation
Today’s HDB flats are built with prefabricated structures made with concrete reinforced with steel bars. In humid places with poor air circulation, especially in toilets and kitchens, these steel bars in our ceilings can begin to wear down, placing pressure on the concrete and ceiling which leads to paint flaking and concrete chipping off.
But if caught early, fixing spalling concrete is a manageable affair.
How to know if my flat has spalling concrete?
Image credit: Hardware Zone
The first signs of spalling concrete are when your ceiling’s paint starts to flake off. Pieces of dried paint flakes on the floor are the tell-tale sign.
If that is not dealt with, another major sign of spalling concrete is exposed steel bars in your ceiling. It can look disturbing – but the earlier it’s caught, the less likely it will cause structural damage.
What are the causes of spalling concrete in your HDB?
Image credit: The Smart Local
Spalling concrete is often caused by high humidity – a result of spending too much quality time in the shower, or even due to cooking for long hours in a closed kitchen. So don’t relax for too long in your bathtub on a regular basis – you are running the risk of corroding those steel bars in your ceilings.
Image adapted from: RL General Contractor
Older HDB toilets have small louvred windows, a culprit contributing to poor ventilation. Keeping them closed while showering for privacy is understandable, but do open them – and your toilet doors, of course – as much as possible after, to air your toilet out and help wet surfaces dry.
If you’ve been diligently mopping your toilet dry and keeping it well-ventilated, a possible cause to consider could be that your ceiling’s spalling concrete is the fault of your neighbour above.
An experienced contractor can help you determine if it’s caused by the unit above yours – if their toilet floors are often pooling with water and do not drain well, or if a water pipe has burst, leaking into your ceiling or causing the steel bars in your ceiling to rust and warp.
How do I go about fixing spalling concrete in my HDB?
I see you, aspiring DIY home-fixers – if you have years of experience painting or fixing your own home, you may well be able to do this yourself. However, if you’re an average sedentary office worker or a busy working adult, I strongly recommend engaging a contractor and paying up to fix spalling ceiling concrete to avoid the hassle of sourcing appropriate materials, and backaches that may require physiotherapy to fix.
Do I have to pay to repair spalling concrete in my HDB?
If you’re an owner of a new BTO, you won’t have to pay a cent for spalling concrete issues provided you have never altered your toilet ceiling, or conducted any intrusive renovation. This is because HDB has a 10-year warranty period for spalling concrete, as well as a 5-year warranty for toilet or kitchen ceiling leaks and external wall water seepage.
We recommend taking plenty of clear photos of your spalling concrete situation as proof for HDB if you are covered by this warranty. It also helps if you have original photos of your BTO toilet taken upon moving in.
On the flip side, if you have lived in your HDB flat for over 10 years and are hit by the spalling concrete problem, you’ll have to pay for it 100% out of pocket if you want a private contractor to fix it ASAP.
You can refer to HDB’s list of contractors who can fix spalling concrete issues – but we recommend reading reviews and researching these contractors carefully, as they are not actually endorsed by HDB even though their names appear on their website.
If your spalling concrete issue is caused by a water leak, it may be worth enquiring with HDB about whether it’s covered under HDB’s Goodwill Repair Assistance (GRA) Scheme. Under this scheme, HDB will fork out half the cost of repair for a ceiling water leak, while your flat’s owner pays 25%, and your upstairs neighbour pays 25%. There may be a waiting period for GRA repairs, so it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth the wait and to put up with the flaking ceiling for a few months.
Again, it’s worth noting that not all spalling concrete issues are caused by leaks. If yours is simply caused by water condensation, you’ll still have to pay the full cost. The silver lining is that this is a very fixable situation, and much less severe than a leaking pipe.
What can happen if I delay repairing spalling concrete in my HDB?
In some cases, spalling concrete, especially if undetected or unidentified, can lead to chunks of ceiling falling off and potentially injuring those living in the flat. In a February 2020 case, a 10kg concrete chunk fell from a 50-year-old flat’s toilet ceiling onto a toilet bowl, and in May 2020, an incident of falling toilet ceiling concrete in a rental flat injured a boy.
If your flat’s inhabitants are elderly or immobile, they may not pay close attention to the ceiling – which is why it’s important for a family member or loved one to help them regularly check on their flats for any signs of damage.
My experience fixing spalling concrete with a contractor listed on HDB’s site
The state of my kitchen toilet ceiling pre-repair.
In August 2023, I had a flaking ceiling in both of my flat’s toilets, with the more frequently used toilet having a worse situation. We were lucky that the damage had not progressed far enough to expose steel bars.
My flat’s master bedroom toilet ceiling also had spalling concrete, though it was far less serious.
Upon Googling for help, I came across HDB’s webpage with a list of contractors who can repair spalling concrete. As I live in the north, I Whatsapped the phone number of the contractor listed on the HDB webpage as serving residents in the area.
$500 to patch the ceiling of both bathrooms
The materials brought by the contractor on his first visit to my flat.
After communicating with the contractor via Whatsapp and sharing pictures of my two toilet ceilings with him, we arranged for a date for his worker to come down to fix the ceiling for $500 altogether on 25th August 2023.
The worker patching up the ceiling after having covered the toilet’s fixtures with plastic.
He removed the chipped parts of the ceiling, and repainted it with what he told me was high-quality Japanese paint. The work took about 2-3 hours, and after it was done, the worker told me that his boss whom I had Whatsapped earlier would come down to collect payment.
When the boss came down to my flat, he was wearing a polo shirt with the logo and company name of the company listed on the HDB website – which seemed to show some level of professionalism. He examined his worker’s work, took photos of it, and asked me to Paylah his personal number.
That was when minor alarm bells rang for me. I asked him to give me a company UEN number to make a Paylah transfer to, and explained that I was engaging a company’s service, not an individual’s. After searching through some files on his phone, he gave me the UEN number of a company whose name was completely different from the one listed on the HDB website – and not the one printed on his polo shirt.
In hindsight, the worker was probably from a subcontractor company, whom the main contractor boss may have been engaging due to manpower shortages on his end. Since the work was done after all, I just paid up.
Two visits to repair spalling concrete
Paint flaking off again in a few spots in my kitchen toilet.
A few days later, a familiar sight recurred – paint started flaking off the toilet ceilings in a few spots again, though nowhere as serious as the original situation. Thankfully, the contractor boss agreed to send a worker down again to fix the ceiling at no extra charge on 13th September 2023.
Paint flaking off my master bedroom toilet ceiling, just a few days after the first round of repairs.
To their credit, they also spotted some flaking paint on the ceiling of my flat’s kitchen adjacent to the toilet, and fixed it up by removing the flakes, smoothening the kitchen ceiling and applying white paint at no extra charge. Lesson learnt: spalling concrete can actually affect nearby rooms.
After that, we made sure not to shower in our toilets for a few hours after the repair work, and for a month since then, our ceiling hasn’t flaked off any more and has been in decent condition.
As with all home repairs, prepare for the possibility of follow-up repairs and discuss how much this might cost in advance with your contractor. And if paint and plaster are involved, also discuss whether the toilets should be left to air dry for a period of time after work is done.
The contractor’s company name was meant to be removed from HDB’s website
After all this was done, I contacted HDB in September 2023 on a separate matter – to make an appointment for their staff to evaluate our flat’s suitability for the installation of doorway ramps under the EASE programme to help my elderly parents.
I asked the HDB officer if she happened to know why the spalling concrete contractor switcheroo happened, and she told me that the company listed as serving my area was actually no longer on HDB’s list and was removed the month before, while the HDB website has not been updated yet. I told her that I found it odd that the contractor I engaged sent workers from a different firm down to my flat, and left it at that.
To be fair, the page says “Our list only serves as a guide and is not meant to be exhaustive or an endorsement of the contractor’s performance.”
After this experience, I would advise anyone with a minor spalling concrete case to simply engage their own contractor through personal recommendations, since a contractor on HDB’s own website had to make two visits to fix my ceilings.
Fix spalling concrete in your HDB as soon as possible
Being flexible with your repair timeframe is important with the manpower crunch in Singapore’s renovation industry. Even though our repair period was longer than expected, I believe my spalling concrete situation was relatively minor.
Also, find a contractor you can communicate with well. The contractor not informing me in advance that he would be employing a subcontractor, and my family not knowing that we had to leave our toilets alone so paint could dry well were situations that could have been avoided so as to save us the repeat visit.
And to all homeowners – do have some money stashed away for ad-hoc repairs. I was lucky that we’re able to afford $500 for the repairs and not have to negotiate with an upstairs neighbour, since the situation was just caused by high humidity and not a leak.
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