Category Archives: Deck Inspections

Deck Inspections

Unattended Propane Grill Burns Down Entire Condo Complex in Foster City

Last week an unattended grill on a first floor patio somehow ignited the building and the resulting fire burned the entire building down, displacing over 150 residents and destroying over 50 condos.

Screen shot from TikTok shows an aerial ladder attempting to suppress the flames coming through the roof.

The building did not have sprinklers as it was an older building that was exempt from retrofitting from our understanding. The resident of the unit that started the fire was arrested on multiple charges including a charge related to 4 firefighters being injured.

This is a tragedy of unbelievable proportions, people’s lives are upended, homes lost, untold amounts of damages, all because of a grill.

WE’VE SAID IT BEFORE AND WE’LL KEEP SAYING IT, GRILLS ARE ILLEGAL TO USE ON DECKS AND PATIOS ON MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING! GRILL ON THE GROUND, AT LEAST 10 FEET AWAY FROM COMBUSTIBLE SURFACES SUCH AS FENCES, LANDSCAPING, THE BUILDING, SHEDS ETC. DO NOT LEAVE A GRILL UNATTENDED!

So what happens next? The HOA is going to find out if insurance will pay for losses or not. If the association failed to enforce a no-grill policy or the requirement by the insurance company, if it exists in the policy that no grills be used on patios or decks, they will likely not be covered. That comes from several conversations I’ve had with insurance professionals. Meanwhile, innocent residents are faced with incalculable losses and trying to recover. This could have been easily avoided.

California state law bans grills from patios and decks on multi-family housing as do many other states and municipalities. Does your association perform inspections to make sure that no grills are on any decks or being used on decks? That might even include walking around on a Saturday or Sunday when someone might be grilling on a deck and also include a comprehensive inspection of each and every deck to ensure there are no grills present and to present the resident with a notice that no grills are allowed on the deck and perhaps even go as far as having them sign a document saying they understand.

This photo (is not the Foster City fire) which shows the grill that started the building fire and how the fire has spread rapidly. Patio furniture ignited, fire through the roof, , the entire interior in flames, all within minutes of the grill being against the wall and backfiring.

If you need help to inspect your balconies to ensure that there are no grills on the decks. Please contact us at 805-801-2380 and we can give you a quote on a one-time inspection or an ongoing series of random inspections.

Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections

Balcony Collapse in Hawaii Injures Seven People!

We’re still trying to get more information, a balcony collapsed in Hawaii with 7 people on it. The balcony appears to have only been nailed to the building from what we can see.

As seen here, the deck appears to have fallen off the building. It appears to have been nailed into the building instead of bolted. An inspection probably would have caught that flaw.
Photo used under the fair use doctrine for education.

This is why inspections matter! The 11th anniversary of Berkeley was two days ago, and here we are again, another collapse. For the people on this balcony, they were injured but they will all be going home from reports I’ve read.

Please schedule your inspection ASAP, if you are renting property either through Airbnb or long-term, protect yourself and your tenants with an inspection.

We serve San Luis Obispo County as well as Santa Barbara and Ventura County for deck inspections under SB326 and general inspections for rental and personal property.

Call today 805-801-2380

Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, SB 721 Inspections

Railing Failure in Boston Sends Two People to The Hospital

This is another reason why EEE inspections are necessary!

At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we take balcony inspections very seriously as life safety is paramount! Don’t wait until an accident happens, even though no one died in this accident, we’ll bet good money that one or both victims of this railing failure will bring a lawsuit against the building owner. A good inspector likely would have flagged the railing as being unsafe.

Here at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC we have found many structural deficiencies over the years on EEEs we have inspected. We have had to post notices informing residents that the balconies were off limits until repairs were made.

Our warning notice to not use the deck until it is fixed
When decks fail structural inspections, they need to be closed from use until repairs are made.
Continue reading Railing Failure in Boston Sends Two People to The Hospital →
Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, SB 721 Inspections

A Client Asked Us If We Are “Certified Deck Inspectors” Here’s Our Answer

Recently one of our clients who we have a proposal out with to perform their deck inspections under SB326 reached out with some follow-up questions. They wanted to know if we were going to use a boroscope camera and if we were “certified deck inspectors”. Our answer is no, we are not “certified”. Allow me to explain.

A quick search on Google showed us that there are several companies that advertise they are “certified deck inspectors”. Diving deeper, it seems all these unscrupulous inspection companies claiming they are certified inspectors are directly affiliated or owned by contractors. By claiming they are “certified inspectors” they seek to elevate their bonafides by saying they’re something that doesn’t exist in the SB326/SB721 inspection field. Continuing our search, the legitimate companies that we compete with make no such claim that they are certified. They make statements that they are architects or engineers, which is readily confirmed via the Board of Engineers and Board of Architects.

Continue reading A Client Asked Us If We Are “Certified Deck Inspectors” Here’s Our Answer →
Deck Inspections

A Video Message In Time To Help Keep Your Thanksgiving Safe!

Watch this quick video about using fire pits, turkey fryers and grills on combustible decks… To ruin the plot line, do not use turkey, fryers, fire pits or grills on any decks.

Please be safe this Thanksgiving holiday and don’t grill, use a fire pit or fry the turkey on your deck!

Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, SB 721 Inspections

You Gotta Read the Fine Print! HOA’s Need to be Careful of Companies Advertising “Free” or “20% Off” Type Offers on Balcony Inspections

Many companies are offering deals that have hidden motives behind them. Before buying, you need to know what it’s really going to end up costing your HOA.

William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC was recently contacted by a member of an HOA in Ventura County where that member had learned that his association’s Board of Directors were considering passing a special assessment in the range of 2 million dollars for repairs to balconies and stairs.

Information we got from the owner was that a large nationwide HOA reconstruction firm told the HOA that they had 13 emergency repairs and 300+ non emergency repairs to do and the budget was apx 2 million dollars for this work.

Continue reading You Gotta Read the Fine Print! HOA’s Need to be Careful of Companies Advertising “Free” or “20% Off” Type Offers on Balcony Inspections →
Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, Uncategorized

Protect Your HOA, Insist That any Company Bidding Your SB326 Inspection Signs This Certification Guarantee

If you have been following our blog for any time now you know that we have been railing against the practice that is roiling the inspection industry where unethical inspection companies are using Engineers or Architects to robo sign reports that they have written after they have done the inspection. Sb326 clearly requires a licensed architect or engineer to perform the inspection however some companies are trying to deliberately circumvent that requirement and are using contracted labor to do the inspection instead of an architect or engineer.

We made up this form that you should ask your inspection company to fill out and certify/attest that their inspections follow the letter of the law and that a architect or engineer shall be performing the inspection.

Continue reading Protect Your HOA, Insist That any Company Bidding Your SB326 Inspection Signs This Certification Guarantee →
Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, SB 721 Inspections

Balcony Collapses After SB326 Balcony Inspection Bill Deadline Passes, SB721 Apartment Inspection Bill Was Extended

Balcony collapses in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles CA. Fortunately only minor injuries.



I have questions.
Was this a condo or an apartment?
Was an SB326 or SB721 inspection done and what were the findings?
Who did the inspection if it was inspected?
If it wasn’t inspected, why not? SB326 required inspections to be done by January 1, 2025 and SB721 was extended a year until January 1, 2026.
Did a landlord/property manager delay the inspection if it was an apartment?
Did a board of directors delay an inspection despite the deadline?

All these questions need to be asked by ABC7 Los Angeles who reported this incident. ABC 7 please reach out to me and I will meet you on site today, Sunday Feb 16th to review the accident scene from the street. 805-801-2380 Bill Leys

Someone or someone’s will be getting sued.

Deck Inspections

Why Having a Consultant On Your Side Saves You Heartache…

A client we are working with on a balcony inspection proposal walked us through their underground garage to get to the other side of the building so we could count the decks. As we walked through the garage I mentioned that that were a lot of leak areas and I saw that there was some crumbling concrete as well.

They said oh we are getting the leaks fixed, we have two bids and we are going to hire X company to do the waterproofing on the podium deck above. I said that’s good because you have some problems here… What are they doing? It was then they showed me the two scopes of work that the contractors had proposed to do.

This scope of work mentions nothing about using any particular brand or specific material. It is poorly written and leaves out many important steps that this job requires.
Poorly written as well, this scope of work is ambiguous and like the first scope, has no mention of any brand names or warranty.

We initiated a conversation with the client and discussed these proposals and corresponding scopes of work. The client believed that the work they were ready to award to a contractor was going to fix their problems. Several issues they had were a failing coating on the podium deck, leaks into the building and severe degradation of the structural concrete deck.

Under the podium deck is significant deterioration.
If you see these symptoms in your concrete, you have 99 problems but a waterproof deck ain’t one.
Hidden behind a pan on the ceiling to catch water, hidden structural damage.
Up above on the deck, failing coatings are dangerous to bare feet and they leak into the deck below.
Failing coating at the pool deck coping.
A very clogged up downspout is causing water to back up and causing leaking into the building.

We gave the Association a proposal to consult and perform non destructive percussion testing of their concrete deck and the coating on top. The engineer we partner with and I inspected the deck and as seen above, found some serious damage to the concrete and rebar inside. We found that nearly all of the coating on the top of the deck was delaminated and failing. We found that there was stress on the walls that the pool was set into.

Continue reading Why Having a Consultant On Your Side Saves You Heartache… →
Deck Inspections

Cayucos HOA Contracts With William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC To Coordinate Their SB326 Balcony Inspection

We are pleased to announce that we have been selected by a 40 unit HOA in Cayucos on the Central Coast of California to coordinate their SB 326 inspections of balconies stairs and landings to bring them into compliance with Civil Code 5551 aka SB326.

If your Associations decks need to be inspected under SB 326, reach out for a free quote on our coordination servicestoday. We visit your property, r independent licensed structural engineer determines how many EEEs need to be inspected and we determine the best method of access to the EEEs. Then we can give you a fixed quote for coordinating your Stage 1 inspection.

This Association sits near the ocean and enjoys great views down the coast. While residents enjoy the views from their decks, we want to be sure they can do so safely. With over 40 SB326  inspections under our belt and the fact that we’ve been inspecting decks since 2007, the Association found our experience to be just what they were looking for.

Find out why managers trust us to be their authoritative source for coordinating balcony inspections and get started now! Call us direct at 805-801-2380 or use the contact us box on the left side of the page.