Rehabilitation

One of the greatest tragedies that has befallen some of the pre-war shophouses in Georgetown has been the use of non-porous materials in later repair-works.

Because the water table is very high in the inner city, walls and floors have always suffered from rising damp. In the past, the use of porous terracotta tiles for the floors and lime plaster on the walls, coupled with sufficient ventilation from an unobstructed air-well and back-yard, allowed the damp to evaporate through the floor and walls. Besides keeping rising damp uner control, the process of evaporation kept the house cool. It was intelligent design; one that was sensitive to climate, geography and the laws of nature.


Later efforts at renovating and repairing pre-war houses had prioritized the use of harder and less porous materials to keep rising damp at bay, chief of which are concrete and stoneware or cement tiles. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem of rising damp. By locking the damp in the walls, it was forced to creep further and further up the walls, sometimes even rising up to the first floor, magnifying the problem. This, and the reclamation of extra space by covering up the airwell, and building up the back-yard have compounded the damage to the houses by greatly obstructing air-flow and reducing ventilation.

Over the years, these houses became very, very sick and was thus primed for termite attacks, rotting timber beams and water and salt-damaged walls. Sadly, 105 Malay Street is one of them.