• Stucco Repairs Are Not Easy to Do
• Lapping New Building Paper Correctly Under Existing Building Paper is Critical To Keeping The Building Dry
• Hiring an Independent Quality Assurance Inspector Protects Everyone
• William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC Offers Affordable Quality Assurance Inspections

Our last blog post talked about an owner who hired us to perform an inspection on their condo unit at a well known West Hollywood property. The condo had experienced water intrusion while the owner was away and they came home to find water on their bedroom floor.

Remediation began with removal of flooring and drywall where mold was found. The only problem before fixing everything was to find out where the water was coming from. One clue was the fact that recent stucco and deck work had been done. Couple that with the fact that several rain storms had occurred and the answer seemed to point to the wall being the culprit.

We started with a visual inspection of the area, and made some odd discoveries. New building envelope paper was integrated into existing paper using spray foam. Flashing was assembled using sheet metal tapping screws where it overlapped the next piece of flashing. We could see several areas where stucco was visible as it had pushed the paper out, creating a path for water to follow into the building.

Returning the following morning we set up an informal water test. Using a lawn sprinkler we sprayed the wall where the drywall was open on the interior. Within 20 minutes we observed water on the interior of the building, indicating defective repairs to the building paper.

So now we can clearly see that the repairs are defective in this one limited area. However our question then becomes if this one limited area has three different areas that are leaking, and the contractor has replaced hundreds of lineal feet of stucco, building paper  and flashing, how many other areas might be leaking as well? Given the data we already have, we’d have to guess that there’s more leaks that remain unknown.

Conclusion- despite the optimism that your contractor is making repairs correctly, the realty is somewhere in between. Attention to detail is critical. Even then mistakes can be made. By having a quality assurance inspector observing and checking your contractor’s work, you can expect that the quality of the work will be much higher. That’s because when people know they are being watched and checked they spend more time doing the job right the first time rather than having to redo the work.

Give us a call today to discuss your condo rehab work and we will discuss how QA inspections improve your job by holding the contractor accountable.

Bill Leys has been performing quality assurance inspections all over California for many years and his diligence in inspecting contractors work has helped ensure that hundreds of leak free homes and condos are restored correctly. Call Bill at 805-801-2380 today.