Disadvantages of Prefabricated Finished Houses
The disadvantages of prefabricated finished houses (prefab houses) are mainly reflected in quality and safety hazards, poor living experience, outdated supporting facilities, short service life, and difficulty in adjusting internal structures.
Quality and Safety Hazards: Prefab houses are mostly assembled using prefabricated components. If the construction connections are not secure or the component quality does not meet standards, cracks, deformations, or even collapse risks may occur after long-term use. For example, some old prefabricated panel buildings have been identified as dangerous due to structural aging and require reinforcement or demolition and reconstruction. Additionally, the materials used in early prefab houses had poor durability, with walls and pipelines prone to aging and corrosion, leading to frequent issues such as water leakage and electrical short circuits. Their assembled structures are prone to misalignment during earthquakes, with significantly lower seismic resistance compared to cast-in-place buildings, posing a high safety risk.
Poor Living Experience: Gaps between prefabricated components result in poor sound insulation, and with thin walls and a lack of insulation layers, these houses are cold in winter and hot in summer. In old prefabricated panel buildings, 'the sound insulation between buildings is almost non-existent,' causing severe nighttime noise disturbances. Initially designed to quickly address housing shortages, these houses feature small floor plans and chaotic functional zoning, such as cramped kitchen spaces and poorly ventilated bathrooms, affecting living comfort. High-rise prefab houses without elevators are extremely unfriendly to elderly residents, requiring significant physical effort for daily travel and medical visits, and even posing difficulties in emergency evacuation.
Outdated Supporting Facilities: The electrical wiring, water pipes, and other supporting facilities in prefab houses are aged and disorganized due to their long history, posing fire safety hazards. Old prefab house communities generally lack modern supporting facilities such as elevators, parking spaces, and green spaces, with narrow fire lanes and difficult emergency evacuation, failing to meet residents' basic living needs.
Short Service Life: The design life of prefab panel houses is approximately 30 to 50 years. Most were built between the 1970s and 1990s, with many now approaching or exceeding their intended service life, showing signs of aging such as wall cracks and pipeline deterioration, requiring frequent repairs or renovations.
Difficulty in Adjusting Internal Structures: Unlike modern commercial housing, prefab houses allow almost no large-scale modifications, as every wall may be related to the overall structure, making it difficult for residents to customize their living spaces according to personal needs, resulting in low flexibility.
