Could you post a picture here of the hump that you are referring to?
Could it be that someone is imprisoned in the room below and is trying to tunnel their way out?
Then again, it brings to mind Tsai Ming-Liang’s film “The Hole” – so it might yet lead to an interesting relationship with your downstairs neighbour.
Do you have ceramic tiles under your carpet tiles? If so, the humping going on in your bedroom is probably caused by the concrete floor contracting faster than the tiles stuck to it, forcing the tiles to buckle, rise and crack.
IIRC, that was the exact reason why that building in Taipeh (Songshan?) all the stations always reported about (because it was so conveniently around the corner) went down on 921…
Construction quality is a major issue here in general. I live in a 12 year old house with a leaking roof, leaking walls??? and tonnes of small things, I have to fix in my spare time, basically because they are worn out. Now, this is a high-class neighborhood where things supposedly is of a relatively high quality… Hmm.
Yeah, but the term “high quality” used in relation to Taiwan construction just means the builders weren’t actually caught cutting corners.
Well, I have seen worse quality in places like Bulgaria, China, and Morocco.
That said, our house is still ok to live in, as it hasn’t developed earthquake- related cracks - yet. My old Taipei flat was all cracked up after March 31, 2002.
[quote=“Gavin Januarus”]
I guarantee you it’s not an urban legend. Ask any Taiwanese building contractor active in the building construction business in south or central Taiwan over the last few decades, preferably after a few beers when their guard is down. They were used in support columns, balcony floors, living space floors, retaining (‘decorative’) walls – anywhere the contractor unilaterally deemed that the code requirements were ‘excessive.’[/quote]
Well I’ll take your word for it then, have to get the x-ray machine out i guess.
it always sounds weird to me though, how much does concrete cost? is it worth the trouble and potential fallout of dumping a can in there to save that volume of concrete?
A cubic yard of concrete will cost about US$50 in the US and probably more here. A cubic yard of air costs nothing because the cans are discards, plus a pouring schedule goes quicker when cans are tossed in and time is money in a construction schedule.
I asked the question about future consequences and was told they really believed the codes had too big a margin of safety. I suspect the building standards were replications of foreign building codes and local builders regarded them as typical foreigner overkill.
I sensed the real reason though was that it was simply about saving money at any cost and they didn’t expect to ever be found out – or if the problem surfaced they’d be long gone because no one believes – or believed – in accountability.
wow, i’m shocked that concrete costs that much. can see it happening at those prices.
IIRC, that was the exact reason why that building in Taipeh (Songshan?) all the stations always reported about (because it was so conveniently around the corner) went down on 921…[/quote]
I heard that it collapsed b/c a company took out an I-beam in the basement while they were renovating.
Well, maybe it’s really a tunnel into John Malkovitch’s consciousness.
Do you happen to live down a narrow alley?
Years ago the guy across the lane from me ripped down his old brick built ancestral home and started on a modern 3-floor narrow windowless concrete box. I watched as they dug the foundations (deep) and put in rebars (lots) and then shutter for pouring. Of course the cement pump couldn’t get down the lane…
Solution to that problem was to park in a nearby street and plug more pipes together and snake them between the houses. Next snag was that the concrete wouldn’t then flow through the longer pipe. Solution to that problem was to keep adding water to the concrete to the mix until it would… I moved out before they finished pouring.
The oil can thing is right on the money. After 921 I went around Dali, Taiping, Guohsin and Puli looking for friends of mine who lived out there. I’d say 80% of the buildings that had collapsed had pillars and load-bearing walls full of oil cans and few rebars.
Favorite trick of the construction industry: A bunch of buddies form a company, one is president and thus responsible for all losses or liability. They buy a bit of land, throw up the flashy looking sales office, and start selling. As the money comes in they break ground and start building. They toss up the cheapest thing they can without it actually falling down on them during construction, when finished they file for bankruptcy, stiffing many of the creditors and improving the bottom line further. The president is of course barred from owning another business. They start another construction company together, this time partner #2 acts as president, and on it goes.
IIRC, that was the exact reason why that building in Taipeh (Songshan?) all the stations always reported about (because it was so conveniently around the corner) went down on 921…[/quote]
I heard that it collapsed b/c a company took out an I-beam in the basement while they were renovating.[/quote]
Actually I thought it was because the bank dowstairs on the first floor took away supporting pillars as the builders cleared an open space for the bank
How old is that building?
Could be a number of things
- Settling
- The ground under it could be sagging or bulging two much water or too little
- You are near a raod and heavy trucks are passing by, and gradually damaging the building structure
40 Shoddy construction and the building’s skeleton of wire and bars is too weak and slumping over time
If you can stick a pencil into a crack it is structural
Okay, a further explanation of the situation. It’s a little difficult to type since my desk is at a downward angle (the crack happened right under its legs)…anyway, the building is supposedly only three years old which seems very plausible, but they have been doing road work both across the street and adjacent to my building. The day before it split they were using jackhammers. My floor is made of concrete underneath from what I examined after sweeping a few fragmented tiles up, and covered with tiles which have only cracked on the the two ends of the room. There is no damage to any other room nor to my walls, but I haven’t been able to contact my downstairs neighbors yet. It hasn’t done anything since my last post, but the search is already on for a new place to live. I just wish I would have gone ahead and started looking a few months ago instead of waiting until after this had happened. As far as any hollow sounds, there might have been some in the corner where the breaking first began, but it’s a lot more universal now. I was able to sleep on the other side of the room last night, but I still hop over the hump since it makes a funny sound when I step on it directly in some places. I live right on Wenshan, on the side of the mountain with the MRT going through it not too far from where I live. There is a lot of traffic considering how residential of an area it is, and there tends to be quite a few heavy trucks that go by, even on a daily basis, not including ones from 7 different city bus lines each way, tour busses, and the Wanfang Hospital bus that goes by. But I think the cold weather plus the jackhammering were the catalysts for the damage. I can’t stick a pencil through anything since the tiles are still pretty much next to each other, even the broken ones near the walls, but I fear that it may indeed be structural and fear even more of any potential earthquakes. Man, of all the rotten luck, right before Chinese New Year…
The same thing happened in my apartment, a supposedly new building. I literally felt the floor shifting under me. Tiles were crunched together and a small fissure appeared where they were joined with mortar. For a few days I chose to ignore it, then I began to feel a cool breeze blowing through it. I told the landlord about it and he came over one day with new tiles, a workman and said he’d fix it. They simply removed the old tiles, breaking them to pieces with a hammer and replaced them with new ones and my floor was level again. The building’s still standing but I moved out six months ago.
Ah, that would explain the sudden drop in the temperature in my room and why I can see my breath when I am in here. I thought it was just a symptom of this cold I’ve got and my strong dislike for winter weather. That would also explain why I am colder on the left side (which is usually closer to the fissure) than my right side. What a perfect time for my heater to have stopped working.
But concrete and tiles are made of pretty much the same stuff. The only material in a building’s structure likely to have a great enough coefficient of expansion and strength to do the kind of damage in question would be the rebar. But as the rebar is within a cast concrete floor, I fail to see how the metal could be blamed for the damage to the tiles when it hasn’t fractured the concrete floor that encases it.
If the tiles are damaged, i bet the floor is shot too. Pour water into the damaged area and then make an excuse to visit your downstairs neighbor’s apartment the next day. If their ceiling has a big damp patch below your cracked tiles, you’ll know for sure.
You shouldn’t have buried the body under there.