Balcony Concrete Cancer in Wollongong

Concrete cancer shows up most often from inside the home at a balcony slab: a rust stain, a flaking edge or a bare bar. Where the building is a strata scheme, the NSW Government puts common property repairs with the owners corporation, and a contractor on building or trade work above A$5,000 in labour and materials, GST included, needs a NSW contractor licence.

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What balcony concrete cancer in Wollongong actually involves

Water can seep into cracks or pores in concrete and react with the steel reinforcing, and the product of that reaction is rust. The trouble is twofold: the corrosion product takes up more volume than the metal it formed from, and the part of the concrete that gives it strength is the part that is corroding. A balcony takes weather on more than one face, so the damage is looked for along the edge and on the underside.

The corner of a balcony slab with a rust-stained broken corner and a bare bar — balcony concrete cancer, Wollongong. Illustrative example.

Who handles it in an apartment block

Maintenance and repair of common property fall to the owners corporation, while owners repair what lies inside their own property. Planning and paying for common property repairs, defects included, is the owners corporation's job. When it is unclear who should arrange a repair, the strata plan and by-laws are the documents to read. Whether a given part of a balcony counts as common property depends on the scheme, so we say nothing further here.

Raise it with the strata manager or committee before anything is arranged on a balcony, and ask the provider what the quote assumes about the slab edge and the steel beneath it.

Flaking concrete at the base of a balcony balustrade upstand with a bar showing — balcony concrete cancer, Wollongong. Illustrative example.

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