Hollywood Structural Water Damage Restoration

A balcony that drained toward the house instead of away from it, with water reaching the framing and both floors below.

Neighborhood: Hollywood
Project type: Water Damage & Structural Repair
Permit authority: LADBS

The brief

A second-floor balcony in Hollywood, rebuilt from the structure up as part of a structural water damage restoration after years of water getting into the house through it.

The challenge

The balcony sloped the wrong way. Instead of shedding water away from the building, it drained back toward it. There was no rain gutter.

Add a crack in the stucco, a failed door seal, and flashing at the balcony edge that was not sealed, and water had four separate ways in. It reached the framing of the balcony structure, then the second floor, then the first.

Finding the source was the hard part. A leak that shows up on the first floor did not necessarily start there, and this one had not started in one place at all.

We traced it with thermal imaging, moisture meters, and an endoscope inspection camera. But the equipment only shows you where moisture is. Reading what that means, and working backward to where water actually enters, is the part that takes experience. Four separate points of entry, each one contributing, none of them obvious on its own.

The solution

This was not a repair we could scope on our own. A structural engineer was brought in, and the work followed his sketch, his load calculations, and his instructions.

The staircase and railings came off first. That took a crane.

Then the balcony was reconstructed and reinforced to the engineer's specification. We built in a slope that had not existed before, so the deck sheds water away from the house. The decking was waterproofed with spray-on fiberglass. A new rain gutter went in where there had never been one.

The stucco crack, the door seal, and the edge flashing were all corrected, so none of the four paths remained.

The work was permitted through LADBS. The project took about a month and a half.

Scope of work

Leak detection and tracing to four separate points of entry
Thermal imaging, moisture meters, and endoscope inspection
Structural engineering: sketch, load calculations, and specification
Crane removal of staircase and railings
Balcony reconstruction and structural reinforcement
New slope built into the deck for drainage
Spray-on fiberglass waterproofing
New rain gutter
Stucco crack repair
Door seal replacement
New flashing at the balcony edge

Before & after

The balcony structure demolished down to severely rotted framing, viewed from outside with a worker on a ladder examining it — Before: the balcony demolished down to severely rotted framing.

The finished balcony from outside, with new wood cladding, the new rain gutter, and the spiral staircase, trees beyond — After: the balcony rebuilt, with its new wood cladding and rain gutter.

The work

Dark water staining along an interior wall and baseboard — Water staining along an interior wall, one of the signs that sent the search for the source.

A mobile crane truck extended over a tree-lined residential street — A crane brought in to remove the original staircase and railings, the only way to get them off the building.

A mobile crane lifting the original spiral staircase away from the building — The original spiral staircase lifted off the building.

A worker riding a crane-suspended platform beside the balcony structure, with the wood-clad deck visible below — A worker on the crane's platform beside the balcony, the old wood decking still visible below.

A worker cutting into a cracked ceiling to access water damage above — Cutting into the ceiling to reach the water damage above, with cracking visible across the surface.

The inside of an opened wall cavity with severely rotted wood framing — Severely rotted framing exposed inside the opened wall cavity.

A moisture meter reading against exposed wall studs with wet insulation and a black moisture barrier — A moisture meter reading against the exposed studs, tracing how far the water had traveled.

The underside of the balcony with new wood cladding installed, viewed from below with a ladder in place — New wood cladding installed on the underside of the balcony, with wiring still exposed and work ongoing elsewhere.

A worker on a scaffold platform beside an exterior wall with the stucco removed down to the wire lath — The stucco removed down to the wire lath, one of the four points water was getting in.

A close view of rotted wood framing inside an opened wall cavity — Another view of the rotted framing inside the opened cavity.

Severely rotted wood framing columns exposed inside an opened wall — Rotted framing columns exposed inside the wall, water damage reaching well past the surface.

An interior stairwell wall opened to the studs beside a protected staircase — The interior stairwell wall opened up to trace the water damage down toward the first floor.

A worker on a scaffold applying a coating to an exterior wall — Applying a fresh coating to the exterior wall from the scaffold.

A mobile crane positioned on the street again, weeks after the first visit — The crane back on site weeks later, to set the rebuilt staircase and railings back in place.

An overhead view of the balcony's framing skeleton with the old rotted joists and new cross bracing — The balcony framing skeleton, old rotted joists still in place around new temporary cross bracing.

A wider view of the balcony framing skeleton with tools and a ladder visible on the roof below — A wider view of the same framing skeleton, with the work site visible below.

An aerial view looking straight down at a plywood panel staged on the roof — A plywood panel staged on the roof below, part of the rebuild materials being staged.

New wood framing installed to rebuild the balcony structure — New framing going in to rebuild the balcony structure, to the engineer's specification.

Another angle of the new wood framing rebuilding the balcony structure — Another angle of the new framing, freshly cut and set.

A close view of galvanized joist hardware and straps reinforcing the new framing — Galvanized hardware reinforcing the new joists, part of the structural engineer's specification.

Another angle of the galvanized joist hardware reinforcing the new framing — Another angle of the reinforced joist connections.

A wire lath patch installed over the repaired section of exterior wall — The wire lath patch going in over the repaired section of wall, ahead of new stucco.

Gray waterproof coating applied to the underside of the rebuilt balcony — Waterproof coating applied to the underside of the rebuilt balcony.

A worker applying a waterproof membrane to the exterior wall beneath the balcony — Waterproof membrane applied to the exterior wall beneath the balcony.

A close view of the waterproof membrane applied to the exterior wall — A close view of the membrane going on, ahead of the finish coat.

A textured waterproof membrane applied to the exterior wall beneath the balcony, with a worker on scaffold beyond — The membrane's texture coat, with the finish work continuing on the scaffold beyond.

The stucco crack repair mid-progress on the exterior wall, with a ladder and scaffold in place — The stucco crack repair in progress, one of the four points of entry being corrected.

A power tool resting on the new plywood deck subfloor with a grounding wire clipped to the edge flashing — The new plywood deck subfloor, with a grounding wire clipped to the edge flashing before the waterproof coating goes on.

The new plywood deck surface with the waterproof edge membrane already applied around the perimeter — The new deck surface, with the waterproof edge membrane already applied around the perimeter.

A close view of the waterproof coating detail at the deck edge.

A worker applying the spray-on fiberglass waterproof coating to the deck surface — Applying the spray-on fiberglass waterproofing to the deck surface.

An interior wall opened near a window down to the studs, with a built-in bench protected below — An interior wall opened near a window, framing exposed down to the studs.

A closet or stairwell wall opened down to the studs, with a plumbing stub visible at the floor — Another interior wall opened down to the studs, with a plumbing stub visible at the floor.

An interior wall opened near a doorway, with warped wood flooring showing water damage — Water-warped flooring near an interior doorway, evidence of the leak reaching this level.

A small interior room with new tile partially laid and plumbing rough-in visible — New tile going down in one of the interior rooms affected by the water damage.

A waterproofed stair landing checked for slope with a level, with the new downspout routed through it — A waterproofed landing on the stairs, checked for slope with a level, and the new downspout routed through it.

A worker installing the new white rain gutter along the underside of the rebuilt balcony — The new rain gutter being installed, where there had never been one before.

The result

The completed gray waterproof deck surface seen from above, with a drain visible — The waterproofed deck surface complete, sloped to drain away from the house.

A finished interior room with new tile flooring complete — One of the affected interior rooms, finished with new tile flooring.

The finished underside of the rebuilt balcony, painted black, with the staircase visible alongside — The finished underside of the balcony, painted black, with the staircase alongside.

A view looking down a finished interior stairwell with a wood plank ceiling — Looking down the finished interior stairwell.

A finished interior hallway with tile flooring — A finished hallway, one of the interior spaces repaired as part of the project.

A finished kitchenette or laundry nook with white cabinets and a quartz counter — A finished kitchenette nook, part of the interior repair work.

A finished bathroom with a wall-hung vanity, tile floor, and pendant lighting — A finished bathroom, repaired as part of the same water damage restoration.

Another angle of the finished bathroom with vanity and mirror — Another angle of the finished bathroom.

The finished balcony and staircase seen from the side walkway, with the new gutter and wood cladding complete — The finished balcony and staircase, seen from the side walkway.

Common questions

How do you find a leak that could be coming from more than one place?

By combining thermal imaging, moisture meters, and an endoscope camera, then reading what the readings actually mean rather than stopping at the first wet spot. On this structural water damage restoration, the leak turned out to have four separate points of entry, not one.

Why would a balcony repair need a structural engineer?

When the repair means reconstructing the balcony itself, not just resurfacing it, the work has to follow an engineer's sketch, load calculations, and specification. That was the case here, where the balcony structure was rebuilt and reinforced to the engineer's instructions.

Why remove a staircase and railings by crane instead of by hand?

When the structure is too large to move through the property any other way. On this project, the staircase and railings came off by crane before the balcony was rebuilt, and a crane returned later to set the reconstructed staircase back in place.

What stops a rebuilt balcony from developing the same drainage problem again?

Correcting every path water was using to get in, not just the obvious one. Here that meant a new slope built into the deck, spray-on fiberglass waterproofing, a new rain gutter, and fixing the stucco crack, door seal, and edge flashing that had let water through before. A structural engineer's sign-off on the rebuild is what makes those fixes hold.

Water draining toward the house instead of away from it?

Call (310) 717-0432 or request a consultation — we will trace every point of entry before we scope the repair.

Call (310) 717-0432