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When residents had to be evacuated from the cracked 30th house on Gabijos Street on Monday, other new buildings came into the spotlight.
Experts acknowledge that house 30 on Calle Gabijos is exceptional and there have been major problems since construction began.
Won’t they emerge for other houses built after the 2000s? Especially since even seasoned professionals cannot tell what is under the trim panels, insulation materials that can begin to warp at any moment, crack.
He hastened to calm the population
When residents evacuated from an apartment building on Gabija Street experienced an anxious night, specialists who inspected the building decided they could return home.
The expert Vytautas Elenbergas confirmed that the structures that support the house are not damaged and that the deformations recorded are local in nature.
In his opinion, the deformations are related to violations of construction technology. The floor covering in the house is of poor quality, the stone tiles are poorly glued, and the partitions are not equipped with deformation joints, which are mandatory.
According to the expert, the cracks in the walls are not related to the deformation of the structures. They are observed only on the walls of the partitions.
Panicked unnecessarily?
The owner of the Tadlita company, which built house 30 on Gabijos street, also calmed down, promising that the specialists would carry out a constant reconnaissance.
He blamed the neighbors who announced the danger. This supposedly caused a great loss.
Anxiety arose after a crack opened in the seventh floor of the apartment building, the tiles cracked.
There are a total of 72 apartments in this house, and the Maxima shopping center is below.
Proposed to terminate the contract
In 2006, while the construction of the house number 30 on Gabijos street was still in progress on the roof of the Maxima shopping center already in operation, the works had to stop, the walls of the store began to crack. The mall was closed for a while.
Then the Vilmesta construction company attracted real estate buyers with beautiful views through the windows, good infrastructure and convenient location.
However, in late 2005, the company suddenly reported that it could not guarantee the safe operation of the apartment building and offered to terminate the contracts of clients who had booked apartments in it.
At the same time, customers at the Maxima store noticed that the ground floor walls were cracked. The mall had to be closed for reconstruction just after a year of operation. The builders explained that the store stopped working because it could not function due to dust and noise.
It was only after the construction of the apartment building on the roof of the store began that people began to worry about whether it would be safe to live in such a house. The apartments were built like poles.
A 9-story building was to be built on the roof of the Maxima, but when it began to crumble, the builders reduced its height to 7 stories.
Excluding a period
Aidas Valys, Chief Counselor of the State Inspectorate for Territorial Planning and Construction of the Ministry of the Environment, recalled when the house on Gabijos Street was built, during the construction boom.
He suggested that all residents pay special attention to apartment buildings built in 1993-1996 or before the economic crisis. At that time, there was no legal regulation and supervision of construction and contractors.
Therefore, I would look very carefully at the houses built this year.
It is true that no infractions were identified when granting the construction permit for the apartment building on Gabijos Street.
Initially, a commercial building was constructed on the site, but later a permit was issued for a residential building.
A.Valys mentioned that there were no complaints about the building’s defects, and the technical supervisors did not notice alarming signs.
“The quality of the construction work may also be the culprit. Although the construction is a reinforced concrete frame, no damage or changes were observed here. The violations are relatively local, on individual premises.
We see the risk that such buildings are not fully equipped. People hire individual builders, do the work themselves, build partitions, they are not foreseen in their projects and it is not clear what loads occur. And the question: who is to blame? ”A. Valys asked.
Saw various problems
– The experts have already inspected not only the building 30 of flats on Gabijos street. What is the condition of a newly built house? – “Capital” asked Professor Juozas Valivonis from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
– There are all kinds – and inferior, defective and in excellent condition. In my opinion, the biggest and most common problem in new builds is tile floors, which start to sag. So it turns out that saving the builders installed a monolithic roof of only 18-20 centimeters.
Many believe that the strength of a house depends on the number of floors. This is a misconception.
The distances between the columns are important. If there are about 8 meters between them, it can be suspected that the crawling roof will bend.
Partitions are important too. If they are sensitive to curves, constraints must be set. However, the builders do not always take this into account. As a result, partitions and cracks.
These are the main causes of deformation of the supporting structures of buildings. But there are other constructions. You can also see problems, defects.
– For professionals, base condition sticks less often?
– It depends more on where the house is being built. If it is in the swamp, improper installation of the base will be a problem. We have such examples in Vilnius.
Yes, the base can settle a bit. But if designed correctly, they sit just the same.
In general, the soil in Vilnius is not very favorable for construction.
The builders who build buildings on the old banks of the Neris must take into account several factors in particular. Also, the city area is rich in springs, underground rivers.
Everything else in Pilaitė and its surroundings. There the soil is just clay and gravel.
The outside means nothing
– Can the buyer of an apartment in a new house without calling experts determine if the building is solid?
– As I like to say, there are bones and skeletons in the building and there are all kinds of jackets, shirts.
The buyer only sees the exterior, the finish. And all serious problems are due to the skeleton. Yes, and the finish can cause problems, but they are things that can be fixed. Uniform insulation and finish are easy to change.
The skeletons will not change so easily, and any reinforcement of them is expensive and causes a lot of problems. And living in such an apartment, people will feel uncomfortable throughout their lives.
Suppose that reinforcing the ceiling will affect the height of the room, it can reduce the useful area of the apartment.
But buyers are attracted to the fact that the new apartment looks beautiful.
– So if you are looking for an apartment, do you need to monitor the construction of the house from scratch?
– I think we should first talk about the serious maintenance of the building.
Commissioning should also be as it should be. Then no one will get in trouble.
When you look at these things with your fingers, it is the buyer who is in the most trouble.
– How do you think there will be more cases in Gabija Street?
– The building on Gabija Street was problematic from the beginning. Let’s remember how serious the strengthening project was.
I don’t think there are many such buildings in Vilnius. There are houses with floor tiles, but they do not collapse. Only residents will have problems all the time, as rooms will need to be constantly updated. And each repair costs money.
There are several cases where experts are asked to determine the condition of a home as soon as it is visually inspected. You go: false ceilings, the walls are finished, the floors are bent. What can you say about a house like this? Nothing.
Therefore, I do not agree and advise a person, a good house or not.
When we conduct a serious examination, we warn clients that there will be a lot of costs for the need to evaluate the structures that support the building. This means that you will have to disassemble the finish, tear off the insulation.
I am referring to newly built houses built a few months or a year ago.
What else older buildings make it easier to assess their condition? If there are no inherent cracks, damage, such a house is solid.
There was a lack of research to prepare the store project.
In April 2017, the Rimi shopping center on Geležinio Vilko street had to be closed. It was inaugurated 2 years ago.
At Rimi Lietuva’s request, Ekspertika conducted an inspection of the store and determined that the building is not in an emergency condition, but has signs of an emergency condition; foundation and floor defects have been identified.
As the main reason for the deformation of the building, “Ekspertika” experts pointed out the lack of detailed engineering geological investigation during the preparation of the design of the building structures, as required by law.
Based on the results of detailed geological studies and expert recommendations, the building owner developed and implemented a foundation reinforcement plan.
Such fortifications solved the problem of the lack of geological investigation, for which the experts recognized the building as safe.
Following reconstruction, the Rimi shopping center reopened in September 2017.
