Question about cracking concrete tower...

[Super K]

I'm looking at an apartment in a concrete building (concrete exterior walls) that is no longer under warranty. The strata recently did its first envelope report and the consultant indicated that there are no control joints in any of the walls. There are cracks at almost every horizontal cold joint. Cracks also split most curbs vertically at regular intervals. At some locations, the cracks migrate into the suspended slab. The building is being repaired (almost $1M already paid) and a long-term maintenance plan has been laid out.

My question is, if the building exterior is regularly maintained from this point forward (e.g. cracks sealed annually), is the lack of control joints a big deal? Or will it just cause a recurring and costly problem?

[curious]

Super K, why do you consider such bad products as investment?
Wouldn't be a better idea to invest at a trouble free building with solide reputation?

Also, keep in mind that banks are not eager to give a mortgage if a building has structural problems.

[MultipleOffer]

um yikes? cracked concrete causes water ingress which can cause corrosion to the rebar, a HUGE fix. look at governors on drake.

which building? who is the engineer?

[Super K]

The building is the 501. I'm not sure if this is a structural problem. It might be deferred maintenance that's been deferred a little longer than it should have been. It took quite a while for the strata corp to approve expenditures to commission a building envelope report at around 8 year mark, and then again to get approval for the expenditures. I've only recently been looking into downtown towers so I'm not sure whether a $1M special levy is really that huge or not. For a 1BR, the cost of the levy was in the order of $5,000. Over 10 years, that's $500/yr.

I think some hairline cracking in concrete should be expected (and should be sealed in a timely manner). It's the fact that there are no control joints that has me a little more concerned about the situation since crack locations are now more unpredictable. Any construction experts out there who can offer comment?

I could buy into a newer trouble free building under warranty, but down the line, it'll probably face the similar water ingress issues when sealing, caulking, membranes, etc. fail. Exterior maintenance sounds like a tough exercise for a strata. If anything, isn't it a good thing to buy into a building where the strata has dealt with its first huge round of exterior preventative maintenance/repairs? Any good pickings out there???

From what I've read , Governor's Tower on Drake is EIFS. Special assessment of $30M. AHHHHHHH. *That* is what I fear.

[tapioca]

ugh, strata.

I agree with curious. Find a good, well maintained building with a strong, proactive strata

[HomelessinSD]

Control joints are simply just reveals cast in the structure so that when the concrete cracks, it will crack at the reveal instead of randomly at the surface. The control joints are caulked to prevent water intrusion at the cracking. Other construction techniques such as using waterstop or bentonite strips at the cold joints should have been utilized to help mitigate water intrusion.

If the exterior repairs are underway (likely cutting in new reveals at the cold joints / routing and filling of the existing cracks) and are being completed per the direction and supervision of the envelope consultant, the building should be as watertight as any new building - perhaps even better because the envelope consultant has had the benefit of seeing how the building has performed over time and made recommendations on such inspections.

Water instrusion issues associated with EFIS, window to concrete interfaces, clogged weeps, improper flashings, exposed waterproofing membranes, insufficent sloping, etc. can be much more significant that water instrusion through exterior vertical concrete cracks. Sounds like the strata has employed an expert to review the entire structure and are making good on the recommendations. To me, that seems like a proactive strata.