Experiencing Rain Leaks in Hollywood California?

Like many Los Angeles residents, experiencing leaks in your home during or after rainfall is not just an inconvenience, the rain if it leaks into your home it can severely damage your home or office building.  If you have lived in Southern California long enough you know it doesn’t rain all that much.

However, when it does, it can easily and quickly wreak havoc to a home or office building. Rain related leaks can happen quite easily and believe it or not… rain leaks in Hollywood is actually quite common. Reason being, the homes are typically older because the city itself is old an aging. With aging building systems, comes leaks from rain.

Those who experience rain leaks understand that although it seems easy to seal up or repair, most times the repair for these issues can take quite a bit of time to repair. Furthermore, it takes a special contractor to perform rain leak detection services in Hollywood, like the Building Leak detection Company.

Who Performs Rain Leak Detection Services in Hollywood, California?

We perform Rain Leak Detection Services in Hollywood, California. In fact, we perform water intrusion inspections throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, and Ventura counties. In order to perform water intrusion inspections the company must understand how buildings are assembled. The knowledge of how buildings are assembled, helps us to know how water intrusion happens and where water enters inside your home.

Here in Hollywood, California, we have performed hundreds of inspections of homes and businesses and discovered countless rain leak issues. Our clients understand that the knowledge we have with windows, walls, roofs, and decks and how they perform during rain leak events. I’m guessing that you landed on this page because this is exactly what you need for you home. In closing, if you want a company who understands the complexity associated with rain leaking and how to test for it, give us a call.

Water Intrusion Damage Can Happen in Many Places in Your Home.

• Windows or Doors
• Stucco walls
• Roofs
• Decks

Water Intrusion in Your Hollywood Windows

Windows and doors like most all components in your home age and degrade. With this degradation, rain leaks happen. Obviously, the older wood or aluminum windows perform worse than the newer vinyl ones. We find this to be true quite often. Here in Hollywood, the homes are older and many still actually use the original Windows which again, are more likely to leak than the new types.

Window installation can create rain leaks

So we talked about the windows and doors themselves leaking… but we need to talk now about the installation causing the rain related leak water intrusion. Thats right… the way the windows or doors are installed into your homes wall system can create a rain leak. How does this happen? Well, for starters the wall is made up of an exterior wall covering and an interior barrier in the form of paper. This paper is the homes last line of defense from water intrusion.

When this buildings envelope breaks down, or is incorrectly installed, it creates the perfect condition for water intrusion to take place. So when it rains, rain leaks into your home directly through the buildings wall system.  In the next paragraph, we’ll talk about how the wall leaks when it rains.

Leaking Stucco Walls in Your Hollywood Home

Stucco walls can leak when it rains? The answer is yes, it can. Stucco walls leak all the time and here is why… Stucco despite what you might think absorbs water like a sponge and can and will leak. What makes the home water tight is the wrap, or envelope or paper installed onto the perimeter of the structure. This paper is installed not the entire homes exterior walls and if installed incorrectly, or is damaged at any point water will leak into your building rest assured.

Stucco wall cracks can leak during rain

Cracks in your stucco walls will and can leak. Thats right… don’t let anyone tell you that cracks are normal or okay in your stucco walls. That is not always true. We have tested stucco that was cracked terribly and found that stucco cracks leak when the building paper behind the stucco wall is damaged or also cracked.

Another way stucco walls leak in the rain is that the building was never built with a water barrier. In very old homes, it’s possible that the materials used 100 years ago has long since deteriorated and simply does not exist. So there is no effective barrier agains rain leaks in your Hollywood home.

Roof Leaks During Rain

Roofing is the most obvious and common place for rain leaks to happen. The roofing materials vary from composition roofing, a tar-like material to call, slate and concrete tiles. The majority of the time it’s not necessarily the roof that leaks but rather the roofing paper. How a roof is installed from the roof deck to the top material determines whether or not it will leak in the rain.

For most roofs that leak, it’s the flashings and penetrations that are the weakest. This is not to say that other parts of the roof cant leak. On the contrary, a roof that is installed in a substandard manner will or can leak.

For those roof materials which degrade at a faster rate, like composition for example, are most susceptible to moisture intrusion. Thes types of roof have a 15-30 years life expectancy and beyond that, can leak in the rain.

Walk-on Decks That Leak When it Rains in Hollywood

Walk on decks have a tendency to leak after a number of years of service. Generally, these decks leak in the rain from damaged water proofing. Unfortunately there is no way to see damaged membranes, but there are ways to test for them.  Introducing the ASTM 5957 deck leak test. This test when performed correctly, will find water leaks in just about any deck surface.

The test requires the operator to fill the deck area and let it sit for approximately 48 hours. This is so that the operator can confirm whether or not the deck is susceptible to rain leaks.