We are excited to announce that we were selected to perform the balcony inspections at Varsity Park HOA in Moorpark by the Board of Directors of the HOA under SB 326.
Balconies await inspection by Bill Leys, the Deck Inspector.
The property is managed by A Diamond Management located in Thousand Oaks.
Bill Leys, President of William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC said the award of the contract to the firm is another sign that the managers of associations recognize the experience of the company and that the firm’s competitive pricing allows HOAs to be able to afford the best deck inspectors in the industry. “A lot of other companies don’t have deck inspectors who have actually installed deck waterproofing systems like I have. Years of experience installing deck systems and tearing apart failed deck systems teaches one a lot more than what ” book learning”: ever can. Real experience makes a difference.”
Please contact us for your free no obligation EEE evaluation and proposal for an SB 326 inspection. We visit every job personally so we know your property, and what it will take to inspect it effectively. We don’t ask you to send us pictures and tell us how many decks you have… That’s not your job to do the deck inspectors job.
See why Bill Leys is The Deck Inspector. Call or email us now.
Berkeley was the first warning with 7 dead and 6 seriously injured after a concrete topped wood frame balcony catastrophically failed, Surfside was the second warning, leaving 100+ people dead, now Horizon West Condominiums in Wisconsin is the third. All are poster children of management and BOD failures to inspect, maintain, repair & replace their buildings. Both Surfside and Horizon Wests associations knew for quite a while that there was deferred maintenance, refusal to pass special assessments to fix the deferred maintenance and then inevitable finger pointing when “it” hit the fan. On the positive side, at least Horizon didn’t collapse and no one died. On the negative side Horizon West HOA has to pull their building down as it has been condemned. That’s right the damage to steel reinforcing is so bad inside the building that it can’t be fixed.
“After inspections and the removal of unsafe balconies revealed rusted support beams, engineers sounded the alarm.” “They determined the six-story building had deteriorated to the point that it could collapse.”
Screen shot from Milwaukee Sentinel Journal shows workers removing balconies at Horizon West Condominiums
There are plenty of buildings in California that have concrete balconies. Many have some type of waterproofing applied to them, with varying degrees of success. Many builders don’t feel that concrete needs to be waterproofed. The bad news is it does. Concrete is porous, it allows water to soak into the deck and when that water is in the concrete it is now attacking the metal reinforcing holding the balcony together.
While the “balcony bill” doesn’t require that balconies made of concrete have to be inspected, It is my opinion that excluding these balconies was a grave mistake. Concrete gets attacked everyday by the elements.
Screen shot from a Reddit post. Concrete balcony hanging off a building after failing.
At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we beseech our legislature to amend the balcony bill and include concrete balconies. While we are waiting for that to happen with bated breath, in the meantime we are encouraging condo boards and their management companies to get on board now with inspecting their concrete balconies.
Our structural engineer and our waterproofing experts at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC will inspect your concrete balconies for signs of deterioration, spalling. cracking and rusting steel along with its waterproofing system to ensure that your balconies are safe. We think it’s extremely important to get ahead of the game rather than being behind. Trust me you don’t want to be that board of directors that has to announce to its membership that “due to past and present failure to inspect, maintain and repair, and prohibitive cost to fix it now, the building is condemned and everyone has to move out.”
Call me, Bill Leys, The Deck Expert, at 805-801-2380 for a fast response and quote on inspecting your concrete balconies and decks. While inspections aren’t cheap, they are certainly a lot less than paying to pull down a condemned building or defending a negligence lawsuit.
A client of William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC has a problem with stucco under their balconies. The stucco is cracking on the outside edge of the soffit (the ceiling under the deck). Several residents were reporting that when it rained water would come out of the cracks.
The Board of Directors sought a waterproofing consultant to assist in finding out why their stucco was cracking and leaking water. They thought the source of the water intrusion was from the decks. After a search they found us and retained us to perform some destructive testing and investigate the source and reason for the cracking.
We started by making visual observations of the decks and surrounding building materials. We observed the cracked stucco under the soffits, we observed the decks and we observed the exterior walls of the balcony and the walls adjacent to the balcony.
Cracked stucco soffit and water stains.Architectural styrofoam bullnose detail is cracking where it meets the wall. Note the efflorescence on the wall below.
Our observations found the soffits were indeed cracked and stained from water. We observed that the exterior walls surrounding the balconies also had cracks, and that a foam architectural bullnose detail was cracking where it joined the wall.
Firing up our grinder with a diamond blade to cut through the stucco, we found rusted stucco diamond lath. Stucco lath gives the stucco something to grip to.
Rusted lath under the stucco affirms water is leaking into the soffit, but from where?
We peeled back more stucco, exposing the structural beam at the outside edge. The beam had no damage to it at the two locations we opened.
Nice and dry and free of any signs of water intrusion.
Next we opened up the foam bullnose on the wall surrounding the deck. Here we found the apparent problem. The stucco behind the bullnose has large cracks in it. In the corner we found a large hole in the stucco with rotted wood behind it.
Behind the foam bullnose, a large crack exists.Our 6″ long awl meets no resistance where wood framing should be.
Pending further destructive testing by a contractor, our initial conclusion is that the foam bullnose and cracked stucco behind it is the source of the water getting into the stucco soffits of the balconies. Now we just need to follow the waters path down the building and see if structural damage is occurring inside the walls.
If your stucco covered building has cracks in it, water coming out of soffits, if you suspect leaks, we encourage you to seek the help of the experts at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC. We are uniquely qualified to investigate your building envelope problems and come up with solutions to fix them. As former contractors we understand waterproofing and building envelopes like few others do. As a former HOA manager you also get someone uniquely qualified and understanding of HOAs and their needs.
Call today for a discussion on how we might be able to help you. 805-801-2380 You won’t get just anyone answering the phone, you get me, Bill Leys, the owner of the firm.
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS DECK, SOMEONE HAS “SISTERED” NEW JOISTS ONTO THE CANTILEVERED JOISTS THAT WERE CUT BACK.
There are many benefits for your Association by performing a balcony inspection under SB-326, Civil Code 5551. In this post I’ll list a few of the most important benefits.
1.) Our SB-326 reports can help you in showing that your Association is Fannie Mae compliant which assure banks they aren’t making risky loans where deferred maintenance is a problem. Fannie Mae is looking at halting funding on high risk buildings with significant deferred maintenance.
2.) Our reports are preferred by Reserve Study companies as they contain detailed information on the decks and contiguous building materials condition. This allows your reserve study provider to be far more accurate in predicting remaining useable life and replacement costs. We are recommended regularly by Reserve Advisors Inc and other well known reserve study companies.
3.) Your insurance carrier is going to be happier knowing that your Associations decks, balconies, stairs and walkways are safe, waterproof and performing as expected. We’re seeing carriers doing their own inspections, and sometimes refusing to write a policy or the new premium is significantly higher because of increased risk. Our report can help you assure your carrier that the EEE’s are structurally sound.
4.) Your residents will be happier knowing that their balconies are safe and ready for enjoying.
When it comes to selecting a company that performs SB-326 balcony inspections under Civil Code 5551, there are a lot of choices. I hope that you’ll consider William Leys Waterproofing Consultants, as your SB-326 balcony inspection experts to perform your inspection. You can start by giving me a call at 805-801-2380 and asking me to do a free no obligation EEE evaluation of your HOA. (EEE stands for Exterior Elevated Elements. ) Or fill in the contact box to the left and fill in your info and hit send.
With William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC as your balcony inspection expert, you’ll be in good hands, I promise. I have 20 years experience as a contractor, inspector and technical rep in the waterproofing industry. My structural engineer has 20+ years experience performing inspections and designing structural elements on multi-family housing. Together we make the best team working for your Association.
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SB-326 Balcony inspection, roofing & waterproofing consultants specializing in working with HOA's.
California's SB 326 Balcony Inspection Experts 