With freak storms over the past week and ancient fault lines uncovered in Singapore, folks could be led to believe that the end is nigh. Especially now, after residents of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats across the island are alerting others of “exploding floor tiles” in their abodes.
But don’t worry, they’re not actually blowing up. Residents living in places such as Punggol, Bukit Panjang, Woodlands, Yishun, Jurong West and more have been reporting dislodged floor tiles in both their homes and their estates. Their experiences are similar — tiles are bending inwards and popping up from their slots, at times breaking apart. The “explosion” they’re referring to is the loud cracking of tiles from the force pulling them together.
Accounts provided to Channel NewsAsia depicted a pretty scary scenario for all those who witnessed the floors of their own home crumble. One resident saw the tiles of his house bending inwards from an “invisible force”, while another family had their floor tiles crack and “explode” underneath their carpet. Others even reported that their tiles were falling off the walls.
HDB has since issued a pretty non-explanatory statement about the spate of incidents. Without clarifying why the tiles may be dislodging by themselves, the authority called on all affected residents to report their cases to the board so that it can arrange a visit to their flats and provide contractors to conduct repair works.
But from the long list of angry comments, it seems like HDB may be overwhelmed with a flurry of complaints from upset residents.
Even worse, some of the affected folks claimed that HDB won’t be helping to compensate the cost of re-tiling old flats, thanks to warranty periods running out.
