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If you thought stalactites are mineral formations found on ceiling of caves, as taught to you during secondary school geography class, think again: A man in Singapore walked into his kitchen after a couple of years and noticed he had stalactites growing from his flat's ceiling.
This bizarre tale of finding out his home had similarities to Batu Caves was reported by Shin Min Daily News.
How he found out
According to the Chinse media, the 69-year-old homeowner, Wu, who tipped Shin Min off, claimed that he walked into his kitchen one day -- after about two years -- to find the stalactites on the ceiling.
Some of the formations measured more than 10cm.
According to Wu, his kitchen ceiling has been leaking for the past two years due to unknown causes.
The man stays in a HDB flat on the seventh floor in Serangoon North.
He remarked that the 10 stalactites make his home resemble Little Guilin, a nature park created from a disused granite quarry located in Bukit Batok that has a resemblance to the granite rock formations in Guilin, China.
The homeowner said he has lived in the same unit for more than 30 years without incident, and that the problems only started two years ago.
Did not notice for years
And how he found out about the issue sounded comical.
According to Shin Min, Wu said he seldom went to the back of his flat, and when he eventually did, he found that the stalactites have already formed.
He said: "I have always slept in the living room, and I didn't pay special attention to the situation behind, so I didn't notice it for a long time."
There were also bubble-like formations on the ceiling which he attributed to the leaks.
To deal with the water issues, he places buckets on the floor to collect the water leaking from the ceiling.
Authorities informed
Wu said he contacted the authorities in September 2022.
Personnel were sent to the flat to inspect the leak, but the source of it has not been discovered since then.
He claimed that he had originally intended to rent out one of the rooms to a couple, but due to the serious water leakage problem, he did not dare to proceed with the rental.
"They were originally scheduled to move in after the new year, but I was worried that the water leakage would affect them and I didn't know when it would be repaired, so I refused to rent it out," Wu claimed.
Upstairs homeowner carried out renovation
The natural suspect for the leak was then traced to renovations by the neighbour on the eighth floor some eight years ago.
At that time, Wu claimed his lights in the master bedroom and toilet fell out due to the works.
Cracks also appeared on the ceiling, but the contractor involved in the renovations upstairs helped to fix the damage at that time.
But that incident is now suspected to be the cause, but the neighbour upstairs has denied it.
The neighbour upstairs said the authorities had sent personnel to check out the house but found nothing amiss, and he was not aware of the stalactite problem in Wu's place.
The neighbour upstairs, who declined to be named, said: "The authorities came to our door last year to say that there was a problem and a test was needed, we cooperated."
The authorities carried out tests that took three months, the neighbour said.
Wu did explain to the neighbour upstairs about the purpose of the tests, Shin Min also reported, and the situation appeared cordial but unresolved.
It usually takes years for the leaks to form stalactite strips on the ceiling, it was also reported.
Top photos via Shin Min Daily News