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We are about to start on the second stage of exterior painting, last undertaken in 1996. We have had a carpenter quote for the remedial work required in advance of the painting.
The apartment block was built in 1967, and it is said that the first owner to move in was the one who modified his top floor unit by enclosing the balcony with sliding aluminium windows, and completely removing the wall between the balcony and the living area, thus gaining an additional 1500x 3500 to the “internal” living space. There is no documentation for this work, which was clearly done without either local Council approval or Strata Committee permission.
The licensed carpenter, after his inspection of Unit 15, advises that the windows do not slide at all, because the installation of the aluminium windows was incorrectly done. There is no support for the assembly, which just sits on the 120mm wide balcony wall (550mm high) , which is chamferred on each edge, giving a surface of 60mm. No evidence of flashing. The ingress of water over time has so warped the timber sill, that no movement of the windows is possible. He proposes to frame up and sheet under existing window sill, remove defective sliding glass panels, supply & install aluminium sliding window units into the existing window frame.
The original owner has long since departed and the unit has always been occupied by tenants.
It is not feasible to remove the whole aluminium window assembly, as there is no wall at the inner point of the balcony.
The problem for the Owners Corp is that the unauthorised windows are effectively now the exterior of the building and therefore maintenance/repair/remediation is very likely to be at the expense of the OC.
Q. Is there any way we can avoid or share this cost?
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