Apartment in demolition zone - too dangerous?

[joshuawbb]

My girlfriend and I live in Xiamen and she has just rented a new apartment, which has somewhat of a story with it.

The apartment itself is part of a tall-ish two-storey brick house: the landlord lives upstairs and divided downstairs into a small separate apartment. Inside it is cosy, comfortable and generally very pleasant and in a very quiet area. However the nearby primary school has been scheduled for expansion and the surrounding residential area is in the process of demolition (which began before my girlfriend rented the place). Most of the demolished buildings are old anyway though the small house containing the apartments is fairly new and good-looking.

The landlord earlier found out that the demolition boundary crosses into the house and so it would be included in the demolition. Understandably, she was angry and went to the local government offices, who then agreed to pull back the boundary beside the house, but unfortunately they took the request quite literally. This morning, my girlfriend and I were awoken by sounds not unlike war, and later looked outside to see the building attached to the side of this one being hammered down. The work had begun the previous afternoon for a while, knocking down some nearby garages, but we didn't realise they would be working so close. The engineers will soon be demolishing the other buildings surrounding the house, as well as the remains of the building and garage attached to it.

Whilst I was a bit nervous brushing my teeth my girlfriend was calm and little more than irritated by the noise at first, but when we left for the bus stop we saw that they had indeed been working extremely close to the house walls as mentioned above. We were more concerned then and saw the extent of the demolition. The landlord had assured her that the boundary was not near the house and that it would of course, be very safe. The engineers outside knew we lived there as I had tried to approach the house yesterday, only to be told the work was creating too much dust to go near it.

We are both considerably worried now about the safety of not only the site itself, but of the building's structural safety.

My girlfriend was already starting to reconsider renting the place, with me feeling the same way, and now I'm feeling firmly that it's unsafe. But at the same time, it's currently hard here to find apartments which are of that particular type and convenience unless you go bigger-budget, and my girlfriend is quickly looking for somewhere for her and any visiting relatives to stay. But safety comes first too. If my girlfriend still feels the same way as this morning I presume she will stay with me for the time being.

So I have some questions, and if it's alright I want to get some more opinions. I will be adding some pictures here later so you can see the situation. We have been assured that the area and building is safe, but to be honest, I am feeling reluctant to fully trust that.

--The construction workers, as mentioned, are tearing down the buildings which are actually attached to her apartment building. Surely this could compromise or damage the building's structural safety? It is a fairly small brick building (pictures coming later). The demolition vehicle used is not a driller, it's one of those hammer-like things for punching through concrete. It's not particularly accurate and when working close to the house wall, it would only take a lack of concentration to punch too far. The bed is behind this wall, so we're talking demolition going on 70cm behind our sleeping heads.

--Something I didn't consider before is asbestos. There is so much dust produced that it created a thick coat over our hung-up clothes, the door, everything. Do you think that there is potential for asbestos to be floating around the site?

--Lastly, overall, do you think it's too dangerous to be living in such a place now? Waking up this morning was quite startling. I am worried that the structure is unsafe, and the general area has been turned to rubble now anyway. Two days ago it looked pleasant, safe and cosy. It now looks like a disaster zone with just the brick house standing.

Many thanks to everyone

[Daan]

Quite a story! I am no structural engineer, but I wouldn't want to sleep or live less than a metre away from demolition works in progress. Is your landlord still living upstairs?

[roddy]

Good luck.

I'd move out, regardless of safety issues you're going to be living on a construction site. Oh and . . .

demolition going on 70cm behind our sleeping heads.

I thought I was a heavy sleeper . . .

[gato]

Yes, please post a picture of your building.

There is a whole gallery of such demolitions on the web site below. You are unwittingly now a quasi-钉子户, not a real one, just quasi one.

http://hi.baidu.com/song0805/album/%B6%A4%D7%D3%BB%A7

[anonymoose]

It is quite common from what I've seen to demolish half a building here, leaving the other half fully occupied. In fact, there's one just down the road from me here, and the occupant of the remaining part doesn't seem to be too concerned.

That's quite astute of you to think of asbestos. I have no idea how seriously the safety aspect of asbestos is taken in China, but as this is a well-known issue, I guess that if there were an asbestos danger, some measure would have been taken to mitigate it. Also, asbestos is usually used for insulation, and my impression is that buildings here are not well insulated, so I guess there is no asbestos in the building. I would emphasise that these are just my initial thoughts, and are not based on anything substantial.

I'd say the biggest issue is the noise you must be subjected to. The apartment below mine here is being refurbished, and the noise created by that is bad enough. I can just imagine what having the other half of your building demolished must be like. And then of course, you still have to endure the construction of the new building which presumably will take somewhat longer.

If I were you, I'd seriously think about relocating if at all possible.

[joshuawbb]

I'm pretty sure the landlord is still living upstairs, as she hasn't mentioned anything to my girlfriend just yet - I'm sure she probably had it worse this morning, as she has a fairly open balcony. We got all the dust and debris downstairs.

I don't know how I slept through it to be honest, though they started a few metres away from the house and I gave up soon anyway. I wasn't comfortable enough to get any more sleep, but I was very impressed by my girlfriend's ability to do so until they started working on the outer wall.

Haha, when I saw the scene from outside, that lone house in the picture is what first came to my mind; I remember it got to the news in the UK. The other demolitions look particularly fascinating.

Maybe I'm going over the top a bit, but I've just been thinking of any possibility of harm. I know asbestos is an old issue but it just sprang to mind because I wasn't sure. Since this is a rented apartment and that asbestos can cause issues over long periods of time (problems caused by short-term exposure aren't likely) I'm just concerned about my girlfriend's health. The demolition area is fairly large and not limited to just a few buildings, so chances are there is at least a little floating around. Either way I just want to remove the risk. I mentioned it to a friend today, who had been in China since 2003, and he said to me: "I once saw a construction worker hammering away near a ceiling, the asbestos puffing in the air and falling around his body, so...".

Yes, the noise is probably the biggest issue, though I still don't feel comfortable about the structure. There are refurbishments going on opposite my own apartment which sometimes stop me opening the window due to the noise, so I guess my girlfriend would have it much worse.

I just finished class, so when it's bright again tomorrow morning I will take photos.

[animal world]

Your predicament sounded so awful that i couldn't help but laugh. Sorry about that. I couldn't sleep with a demolition derby going on right behind my head and wonder how anyone could.

Besides the noise and fear of asbestos it isn't any fun to find all your possessions covered by thick layers of dust. Can't your girlfriend negotiate with the landlady to not pay rent for a month, move in with you and then after a month appraise whether the construction activity is more acceptable for nearby residents? Seems to me the landlady would have a hard time renting out the apartment right now, so it might be worth to negotiate something and buy some time.

[zerolife]

China isn't well known for construction safety ... I would move out at least temporary until they finish the demolition (and the house is still standing their)