Some Challenges and Concerns about Living in High-Rise Buildings
Living in a high-rise building presents several challenges that residents may encounter. Here are some common ones:
Limited space: High-rise apartments often have limited square footage compared to houses or lower-rise dwellings. This can make it challenging to accommodate oversized furniture or store all of your belongings adequately.
Noise: High-rise buildings are typically located in urban areas, where noise from traffic, construction, or neighbors can be more pronounced. Noise insulation measures may be in place, but it may still be a concern for some residents.
Community dynamics: High-rise living often means living in close proximity to many neighbors. This can lead to issues related to noise, conflicts, or differing lifestyles. Maintaining a harmonious community can require additional effort and consideration.
Elevator dependency: High-rise living often requires frequent use of elevators to access different floors. This can lead to potential delays, especially during peak hours or when maintenance is being performed.
Lack of outdoor space: While some high-rise buildings offer balconies or communal outdoor areas, the availability of private outdoor space can be limited. For residents who enjoy gardening or spending time outdoors, this can be a significant drawback.
Increased vulnerability to power outages: High-rise buildings are more susceptible to power outages due to their reliance on elevators, water pumps, and other shared infrastructure. In an outage, residents may struggle to access their units or essential services.
Maintenance and repairs: Maintaining high-rise buildings can be complex and time-consuming. Any repair or maintenance work may require access to multiple floors and coordination with residents. This can result in inconvenience or temporary disruptions.
Safety concerns: In emergencies, evacuating a high-rise building can be more challenging than a lower-rise structure. Fire safety measures, such as fire escapes, sprinkler systems, and emergency evacuation plans, are crucial but may require careful adherence by residents. Learn your building's emergency routes and use them to get familiar. Lastly, have an emergency rally point and make sure everyone in your home knows where it is - and practice emergency evacuations!
Restaurants: Restaurants are frequently located in high-rise buildings and offer the tenants of that building easy access to their food. But with that access comes the ongoing preventive maintenance required to run their kitchen. This includes kitchen exhaust hood cleanings and fire suppression services, pest control, plumbing, and electrical repairs. If you ever smell cooking odors from within the building, contact your building manager because there is a problem. No matter how delicious the food smells, you should not be able to smell anything outside the kitchen. Most likely, there is a problem with the grease duct.
Grease Ducts: Restaurant grease extraction/exhaust ducts often traverse through high-rise buildings on peculiar paths that usually lead from the restaurant’s kitchen to the exhaust fan on the roof. Sometimes these ducts are extremely difficult to access. But the grease inside them is flammable and must be removed regularly to prevent fires. Grease fires burn hotter than regular fires and can produce a lot of smoke. So I recommend getting a copy of the Service Report from the restaurant’s hood cleaning company. If I lived in a high-rise building, I would insist that highlights from the report are read as part of the monthly homeowner’s meeting. If the report list “Inaccessible Areas” exist, or “Non-Compliance,” the servicing hood cleaning company should be contacted for more information. It has been common practice for the past 50 years to mark these systems as “Inaccessible” when they are challenging to clean. But that designation will not prevent a fire, and it will not help the building residents if one happens. Breakthroughs in cleaning technologies, such as Teinnova’s Tegras machine, make “Inaccessible Areas” a thing of the past. However, a person in charge of the restaurant’s kitchen or the building has to make it happen.
Despite these challenges, high-rise living offers stunning views, convenient access to amenities and services, enhanced security, and a vibrant urban lifestyle. It ultimately comes down to personal preferences and priorities when choosing a living environment.