10 common defects after a house is built — found in almost every house

Almost every new house has things to touch up; the difference is how many. What matters is telling apart what's normal for the material, what's workmanship, and what's a danger sign

Normal — can be touched up

• 1. Hairline crazing on plastered walls — Fine lines like a spider web from plaster shrinkage; no structural impact. Fill and repaint
• 2. Patchy paint / uneven edges — Ordinary finishing work; list them and have them repainted
• 3. Stiff doors and windows — Wooden doors may swell in the rainy season; adjust hinges or plane the edges
• 4. Uneven or dirty tile grout — Scrape out and regrout the spots
• 5. Peeling silicone around sanitary ware — Reapply using a mold-resistant grade

Needs proper fixing by tradespeople

• 6. Hollow-sounding tiles — Mortar doesn't fully cover the back, risking cracks or tiles coming loose later. Relay those tiles, especially in high-traffic areas
• 7. Water ponding on bathroom floors — Wrong slope, water doesn't reach the drain; over time it seeps and grows mold. It must be releveled, not just "you'll get used to it"
• 8. Water stains on ceilings — A roof leak or a pipe seeping from upstairs. Find the source; don't paint over it (it'll come back and ruin the ceiling)
• 9. Dead outlets / loose sockets — Have an electrician check the connections; don't leave it, as it risks overheating and arcing

Danger signs — call an engineer

10. Significant cracks: diagonal cracks at column-beam corners, cracks wide enough to slip a card into, cracks right through a wall, sagging floors, or cracks that "grow" over time (mark the crack ends with a dated pen line to track them). These relate to settlement or structure and need an engineer's diagnosis — never let a mason just fill them in

All this is why you hold back the final 5–10% until all defects are fixed, and why the warranty period in the contract must be real. A house inspected and finished properly at handover saves years of small repair costs