Foam used in wall panels of Ubi flat in viral video permitted and safe, says HDB

SINGAPORE — The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has clarified that the foam found between wall panels in an HDB flat in Ubi is polyethylene foam, which is allowed for use in construction.

"HDB is aware of a video circulating online on foam found between wall panels in an HDB flat in Ubi," it said.

The 14-second video, uploaded onto Facebook group Complaint Singapore on April 13, shows a demolished wall and a male voice claiming that the toilet wall was "filled with styrofoam". The video's caption said that the video was shot at a HDB flat in Ubi.

It has since racked up more than 400 likes, 120 comments and 420 shares as of April 15.

As of April 18, the video is no longer available on the Facebook group.

HDB said: "The polyethylene foam is sandwiched between two layers of cementitious mortar and reinforced with wire mesh, to form a sandwich wall panel."

The foam provides good thermal and sound insulation qualities and such panels do not affect the structural safety of the building as they are used for internal partition walls, it added.

However, although sandwich wall panels with polyethylene foam is still used in construction overseas, such panels are no longer in use in HDB flats today, HDB said.

"Over the years, as HDB continued to apply new ideas and technology to advance the quality of our flats, these precast sandwich panels have been replaced in newer flats with drywalls or lightweight concrete panels," said HDB.

"These drywalls contain sound dampening materials in between strong plasterboards, and they offer good sound insulation and are able to reduce noise coming from other rooms."