Water drips from Yishun resident's ceiling -- causing him to fall, rot and mould to appear

The New Paper
Jan 15, 2024

Completed barely 10 years ago, the units in Block 431B in Yishun Avenue 1 would have changed hands in ownership no more than once.

Yet 62-year-old resident Wang is experiencing a problem possibly faced by owners of much older flats – a ceiling dripping with water.

And it is not the kitchen or bathroom ceilings of his third-floor unit that is dripping water, but the one in his master bedroom. 

The ceiling is leaking so badly that he would at times place a bucket to collect the droplets. The moist condition of his bedroom also caused his wooden doorframe to show signs of rot and the joint of his ceiling lamp to appear loose.

He has slipped and fallen after the droplets wet his floor and made it slippery.

Mr Wang told Shin Min Daily News that the problem started last February and he claimed it was caused by the temperature of the air-conditioning in the unit above his being set too low.

He approached the relevant authorities and an officer was sent to conduct a check, but the problem could not be resolved.

Mr Wang applied a coat of paint on his ceiling but the problem resurfaced within a month and mould began to form on the ceiling.

"We had to change our sleeping arrangements. I sleep in the living room with my son, and my wife sleeps another room," he said.

Mr Wang added that he had approached the neighbour upstairs but was told to approach HDB instead as the neighbour insisted that the problem was in Mr Wang's ceiling.

In the unit two floors above Mr Wang's, 45-year-old Lee said she had been experiencing condensation on her master bedroom floor.

Not only would she wipe her floor after coming home from work, but she would also crank up her air-conditioning to match the temperature in the bedroom beneath hers in order to prevent the condensation.

Ms Lee said she approached the neighbour in the fourth-floor unit but was told that the problem was in her flooring.

The fourth-floor residents told Shin Min Daily News they had not been approached by their neighbours about any ceiling or flooring problems.

They claimed their bedroom temperature was always set to be above 20 deg C.