Storm & Flood Damage Recovery in Los Angeles, CA

Rarity is part of the mechanism. Roof flashings, scuppers, and drains go eight or nine months without a real test, so a failure that developed in summer is discovered by the first serious February system rather than by a light rain in between. That first system is also often the heaviest of the year. The combination means the storm that finds the defect is usually the one least able to be absorbed.

Both are common and they look alike from inside. Older stucco over frame frequently lacks a functioning drainage plane, so water that enters high, at a window head or a roof junction, runs down inside the assembly and appears at the base. Ground water pushing in from a saturated slope shows the same stain. Opening a small area at the base, or metering upward from it, tells you which direction the water came from.

Worry is the wrong word, but check it. Concrete absorbs water and gives it back slowly, so a slab that was under wet carpet for a day will keep releasing moisture into the room long after the carpet is gone. Drying carpet and pad while ignoring the slab is the most common reason a room smells wrong two weeks later. A meter on the concrete settles it in a minute.