Why Not Choose Prefabricated Houses
The main reasons for not choosing prefabricated houses include poor earthquake resistance, fragile connection points, shoddy materials, poor living experience, and limited design lifespan with accumulating safety hazards.
Poor earthquake resistance: Prefabricated panels have poor integrity, similar to building a house with building blocks. The connections between the panels and walls, as well as between the panels themselves, are not strong enough and lack effective steel bar connections. When earthquakes or other disasters occur, causing shaking and horizontal forces, the floor panels and walls can easily separate instantly and collapse suddenly without any warning of cracks or time for deformation buffering. The entire panel can fall directly, greatly reducing the chances of escape. In many past earthquakes, the collapse of prefabricated panel houses has been severe, with a high casualty rate.
Fragile connection points: The connection between the prefabricated panels and walls is just a simple overlap, and the connection between the panels is just simple filling of gaps. There are no ring beams or structural columns set up, so the entire house lacks a rigid framework. When the foundation settles or the walls crack, the panels will become misaligned and loose. Over time, exposure to wind, sun, heat expansion, and cold contraction will weather the connection points, causing the steel bars to rust and reducing their strength. After living in an old house for twenty to thirty years, the floor panels may become precarious, and adding a little weight or knocking on the walls could trigger a chain collapse.
Shoddy materials: The steel bars in regular prefabricated panels are relatively thin, but some small workshops, in pursuit of profit, use thin steel wires instead of steel bars, and the concrete grades do not meet the standards and are not thick enough. What appears to be a cement panel can actually crack with a single hit. Prefabricated panels are brittle and do not have the toughness of cast-in-place floor panels. Even if they crack, cast-in-place floor panels can still support for a while, but prefabricated panels will break instantly once they exceed their load-bearing capacity without any warning. Daily activities such as stacking heavy objects, knocking on the ground during renovation, and aging over time can all cause sudden collapse.
Poor living experience: Prefabricated panel houses have poor sound insulation, and you can clearly hear your neighbor's snoring or the footsteps from the floor above. In summer, the house is as hot as a steamer, and in winter, it is extremely cold. Many prefabricated panel houses have outdated floor plan designs, with no elevators or only stairs, insufficient lighting, and limited space.
Limited design lifespan and accumulating safety hazards: The design lifespan of prefabricated panel houses is approximately 30 to 40 years. After 40 years, most are close to the end of their service life. Over time, problems such as wall cracks, roof leaks, and foundation settlement occur, and safety hazards gradually accumulate. The old structures gradually lose their earthquake and wind resistance capabilities, threatening the lives and safety of residents.
