posted
I have been trying to educate myself as to what king of flats are available in Cairo, the neighborhoods and the prices. In my looking around I can't help but feel that many of the buildings I've gone in (even newer ones in nice areas) were built quickly without much thought for safety or building codes. Do you ever hear of buildings falling or pancaking? Is there a way to find out if a building or development has met city building codes or has violations? And as a side question, is Cairo prone to earthquakes?
Posts: 24 | From: USA | Registered: Oct 2008
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-------------------- If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them. Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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As far as I have been able to see in the last two years that I've lived here, all of the buildings being built were made with brick, having some kind of thin metal rod for what would presumably be support, at intervals along the walls.
I've never seen large beams put up or girders or any kind of substructure work for stabilizing.
All in all, probably best not to dwell on it. Buildings aren't made here like they are in the States, not sure how they are made in other countries but I would assume that Europe has building codes similar to the States. If they have codes here (which I'm sure they must), it's possible the buildings are being built to code, but it's still not the code you would be used to.
Although they have had earthquakes here, I've not felt any since I've been here, so if there were any they were too small to be noticed.
But buildings do collapse here, for whatever reason. Not sure of the whys or how often, but it happens.
Posts: 1283 | From: Cairo | Registered: Feb 2006
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Posts: 1 | From: hurghada | Registered: Jan 2011
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posted
The buildings aren't generally made of brick. They are made using a framework of steel reinforced concrete and the gaps filled in with brick. The problem is the standard of the concrete supplied at the building site, the design of how thick/thin these beams and pillars should be and the design of the foundations.
A lot of the buildings are done as cheaply as possible, obviously, and thus corners are cut. I doubt, even if there are codes, that if the building was to be inspected that an 'arrangement' with the Inspector can be made. That's if there was planning permission in the first place.
Posts: 29 | From: Cairo | Registered: Feb 2009
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The codes are there and they're not adhered to. As mentioned above the buildings are constructed with concrete columns and floors/ceilings. For most people there's no way of looking at the structure and being able to tell if it was constructed properly. The engineer's job is to make sure that the right thickness and number of steel bars were installed and the right amount of cement was put in. Go with larger developers to reduce the risk. After the columns and ceilings are constructed they put in the bricks (and sometimes cement blocks) to form the walls then put on top of it a layer of cement to give it a smooth finish. Because they rely on the cement finish to give a good looking finished wall, the brick work always looks like ****. It looks like someone just piled them sort of on top of each other and splattered some cement on it. You will not get the kind of brick laying you see in the west even if you contracted the brick layers yourself because the brick quality itself is crap so the best you can get is one side looking good and the other side crap and in need of a layer of cement to clean it up.
Generally speaking the finishing of homes is crap. I've seen million pound homes that looked like crap to me.
Getting back to your post, if main concern is safety just take a structural engineer with you for a couple of hundred pounds and that should put your mind at ease. As for finishing of walls, floors, doors, windows, electrical and plumbing........best of luck.
Posts: 1044 | Registered: Nov 2009
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