Monsoon Woes for Mumbai Buildings Or Same Old Story

A common problem found in new buildings in Mumbai these days is that of leakage. This is a problem that used to be traditionally found with old building as they begin to weaken. Finding this in new houses is just an example of shoddy or overlooked construction. More often when repaired it becomes worse.

An opinion on why this happens by a builder, is that the materials used for construction in Mumbai have a large amount of salinity. This has to be negated before these materials are used in the construction of the house. If this is ignored then the salinity makes the walls leaky. In the case of a house already built with such materials, there is a chemical method of treating this, which if done right can solve up to 95 per cent of one’s leakage problems.

The bathroom is a common source of the problem as that is where most of the water in the house is used. There are mainly three reasons that leaks happen from the bathroom - either the plumbing is bad, the seals used are bad or when the ceramic tiles are not placed right. When a bathroom has ceramic tiles for its flooring and they are fixed badly water seeps through them and then gets in to the walls. To prevent this from happening the tiles in the bathroom have to be fixed properly. The same is the case when the ceramic on the floor is not sealed right.

There are also some do it yourself solutions that you can use. Use these only after consulting a builder or a plumber.

One reason why you could be facing a leak in the walls in cases where you live below a house or a flat is, when the above flat is redesigned and due to a fault in the design or change of the house above you, your roof leaks. These are issues that your housing society will have to deal with. Most builders have a reputation to keep and most of the time don’t do these things intentionally. If any issue at all, the house builders should gladly do the needful.