I seemed to notice a pattern of new vs old residential buildings in Taiwan - can others confirm if my experiences are pretty much in line with theirs?
Old apartments for the same number of rooms tend to be bigger. A 3 bedroom new apartment would usually have 1 double and 2 single-bed sized rooms. An old 3 bedroom apartment would often have 3 double rooms.
New 3 bed apartments can be about double the purchase price, or double the rental price, of old ones.
Older buildings with 5 floors or less usually don’t have lifts, or dedicated parking.
Other points which I haven’t been able to confirm, but want to know:
How good is the sound-proofing in Taiwanese apartments? Are noisy neighbors usually a problem here? In my new apartment, the walls are very thick and the exterior door, very substantial. I hardly hear anything from outside.
How good is the earthquake or typhoon resistance of old buildings?
What happens if a natural disaster damages/destroys a building? Will the owners be compensated?
Regarding older buildings, I can share two tidbits with you.
I had a friend (believe it or not) who was an engineer in Taipei who told me that if you see diagonal cracks in the walls, the structure is moving on two axes and should be avoided.
The second thing I recall is in 1997, a building collapsed during a typhoon and there were about 100 casualties.
As I am typing, I remember a village was covered in a muslide resulting in numerous deaths.
I was also told, that for new buildings, a bit of settlement is expected, which means some cracks may occur. Can any civil engineer confirm if this is the case?
What happened to the owners? Were they compensated?
The gentleman that explained the crack in the wall issue was a certified government engineer (whatever that entails, I am uncertain), and he confirmed that vertical or horizontal cracks were typical and were not something to be worried about.
I cannot answer your second question because I have never looked into it.
Older residential buildings have been built with bricks. They sway but haven’t fall. Mixed used have fallen due to structural modifications such as taking out a pillar or substitution of steel frames with oil cans. Liquifaction is more of a concern but there are maps about areas affected.
I don’t recall 100 casualties in a single collapse in 97. More recently, Tainan quake in 2016 did have about 100 dead, again, due to modifications/,bad design. And it was a huge complex, not a single building. It fell on its side. Still many people survived. Yes affected parties were compensated and a new building erected.
The village buried by Morakot happened up in the mountains. It was a horrendous tragedy. But I do not think OP will buy something in the valley heights. Metropolitan areas suffer flooding but it takes a big one -Nari- to make significant damage. And we haven’t had typhoons in like 5 years.
In summary, due diligence. Neighbors know which places have been modified. There are public maps and info. Inspections and such are expected. Older homes look awful but are sturdy. Fire hazards are more of a concern.
It’s normal to see vertical and horizontal hairline cracks in a (more or less) grid-like pattern covering entire surfaces of every wall in your home, but I thought this happened in every building whether new or old.
I was told by my landlord that they were caused by the frequent micro earthquakes that happen here but he could be wrong.
Anyone living in an old building who can confirm that they have cracks?
I have been lucky. I hate neighbor noise. Not much issue with noise from neighbors in old building and now new building. I have heard bad things from those sub-divided rooms within what used to be one apartment though.
