by Hedy Khoo

IT was his very first night in his new home. But he had barely settled in when the tiles of his living room floor cracked and popped up.

He panicked, thinking it was an earthquake - even though Singapore is not prone to such a calamity.

Mr Rajat Sharma, 29, an IT analyst, has been in Singapore for five years and has become a citizen here.

On 23 Aug, he had just moved into his five-room corner unit Housing Board flat, at Blk 641A Punggol Drive, and was shocked at the sight of his floor cracking up before his eyes.

He wasn't the only one in the block to be affected.

On the same night, a resident on the ninth storey had a similar experience.

And last December, another resident in the block too, had the same problem.

The tiles in Mr Rajat's seventh storey flat started popping at 11.45pm, just as he was preparing to sleep in the living room, in keeping with a Hindu custom when moving into a new home.

He said: 'The sound of the tiles cracking was so loud and frightening. It shocked me to see the tiles popping up near the window, across the living floor, all the way to the main door,' he recalled.

He called the Housing Board (HDB), which sent an officer to his flat the next day.

Mr Rajat said that two days after that, workers were at his place to hack the floor and replace the entire flooring in the living room.

He spent eight days staying in a hotel while repair works were done and he was given $150 a day for the stay.

But Mr Rajat is still upset because he claims that some of the new tiles still sound hollow when tapped.

'What guarantee is there that the same thing won't happen again?' he questioned.

Another resident of a unit on the ninth storey, Mr Willy Tan, 38, had a similar problem that same night.

Mr Tan and his wife had both been asleep when they were woken up by a loud noise around midnight. Mr Tan, who is self-employed, said: 'It was quite a frightening sound. Then I realised it was our living-room floor tiles cracking.'

He said he had anticipated the problem as his neighbours had already experienced the same thing.

'I just thought to myself that it's my turn,' he said. 'I'm not happy with it, but what can we do? '

Who compensates?

He said he had called HDB and arranged for the repair work to be done later this month.

'This is a premium-enhanced flat and we paid more for the flooring and some fittings, but in the end, we have more problems,' he said with a sigh.

'Even though we don't have to pay for the repairs, who is going to compensate us for the time and inconvenience of taking leave, moving our furniture, and staying elsewhere during the repairs?' he asked.

Last December, Mr Tan's next-door neighbour, Madam Chan Lang Eng, 63, already encountered the problem when her living-room floor tiles cracked and popped out from the window area to the main door last.

Madam Chan said: 'My family and I went out for breakfast, and when we returned, we couldn't open the front door.'

It had been blocked by broken tiles that had popped out, also in a similar fashion to those in Mr Rajat's flat.

Madam Chan said: 'We were very angry. HDB sent workers to repair our entire living room floor. But it was very inconvenient as we had to squeeze the furniture into the rooms.'

HDB says:

Loss of adhesion caused cracks

THE cause of the dislodged floor tiles was a loss of adhesion between the tiles and the floor. This is commonly due to thermal expansion and the contraction of tiles, and natural deterioration of the bond

Measures taken

Measures have been taken to tackle the problem. These include using pre-approved tile adhesives to enhance bonding of the tiles and partnering industry players to improve the tiling skills of workers.

Owners should maintain flat

Under the Housing Board's Memorandum of Lease, it is the flat owners' responsibility to maintain their flats, including the repairs to the dislodged tiles.

But the board has helped flat owners, on a goodwill basis, to investigate the likely causes of dislodged tiles and recommend remedial measures.

Flat owners in doubt can call its toll-free Branch Office Service Line (1800-2255432) for help.

This article was first published in The New Paper on September 6, 2008.