Safety Hazards of Prefabricated Panel Houses

The safety hazards of prefabricated panel houses are mainly reflected in seismic resistance, connection points, materials, structural integrity, core components, unauthorized modifications and usage, and other aspects, requiring timely inspection and professional assessment and handling.

1. Poor Seismic Resistance: Prefabricated panel houses have weak overall integrity. Under horizontal forces such as earthquakes, the floor slabs and walls are prone to instant separation, leading to sudden collapse of the house. They lack crack warning and deformation buffering mechanisms, posing a serious threat to life safety.

2. Vulnerable Connection Points: Prefabricated panels are mostly simply overlapped with walls, with only joint filling between panels, lacking the rigid support of ring beams and structural columns. Ground settlement, wall cracking, or long-term weathering and steel bar corrosion can significantly reduce the strength of connection points, even triggering a chain collapse.

3. Substandard Materials: Some prefabricated panels use thin steel wires instead of steel bars, with concrete grades not meeting standards or insufficient thickness, resulting in high brittleness and easy fracture. They may suddenly collapse without warning when exceeding the load-bearing capacity or due to long-term aging, with strong concealment.

4. Structural Integrity Hazards:

   • Foundation: Ground settlement, height differences between indoor and outdoor floors, and diagonal cracks at the bottom of walls may be caused by uneven foundation settlement, requiring close attention.
   • House Tilt: Visible tilt or "skewing and twisting" phenomena indicate that the structural stability has been compromised, requiring immediate inspection.

5. Core Component Issues:

   • Prefabricated Floor Slabs: Common hazards include transverse through-cracks at the bottom of the slab, joint cracking, deflection deformation, loose concrete at the ends, or exposed and corroded steel bars.
   • Load-Bearing Walls: Vertical or diagonal cracks, cracking and downward pressure on lintels above door and window openings, and weathering and peeling at the bottom of ground-floor walls require timely repair.
   • Node Connections: Insufficient support length of prefabricated panels (the specification requires ≥80mm), detachment or cracks at wall corners can weaken the overall structural integrity.

6. Risks of Unauthorized Modifications and Usage:

   • Demolition and Modification of Load-Bearing Structures: Unauthorized removal of load-bearing walls, opening door and window openings, or enlarging their sizes can damage the structural stability.
   • Unauthorized Additions and Overloading: Adding structures on the roof, adding mezzanines, or stacking heavy equipment can overload the floor slabs and accelerate aging.
   • Change of Use: Converting residential houses into crowded places (such as restaurants, KTVs) significantly increases the live load, exceeding the designed load-bearing capacity.

7. Other Hazards: Cracks in the joints of prefabricated panels may cause water leakage, and their overall integrity is far inferior to that of cast-in-place floor slabs, affecting living comfort and durability.

After preliminary inspection reveals hazards, they should be verified by professional technicians or assessed by qualified units, and handled according to the assessment results. Do not handle them on your own.