Water Damage - Your Home's Worst Enemy
WATER – Your home’s worst enemy. Another owner education article from Balboa Realty. For our purpose, in this article we are going to discuss the most common water damage experienced in California, and those that we have experienced through our Orange County Property Management.
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Water, the elixir of life, is the bringer of death to your man-made structure. This is not a new phenomenon caused by modern plumbing; it has been a dilemma since the human race started building shelter. Jesus said “…be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came…but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” Very sound advice but surprisingly not always heeded. Today’s contractors build their own “rock” by constructing foundations upon which to erect the rising structure. Modern home foundations are either concrete slabs or raised foundations over crawlspace or basements. Both have their positives and negatives.
Newport Beach is an affluent seaside haven of world class shopping, dining, and home to some of the world’s most expensive real estate led by the waterfront properties situated on Newport Harbor, one of the largest and densest small yacht harbors in the country. Situated at the tip of Orange County and the Pacific Ocean, Newport Beach’s Harbor is a combination of naturally deposited sand and dredged silt, dumped by early developers to create and shape a series of islands and a peninsula. It has been speculated by experts that rising sea levels in addition to river run off from the local Santa Ana River may cause tides to overrun parts or all of Newport Harbor. Within the harbor, the island most susceptible to flooding is the charming Balboa Island protected by its continually rising sea wall. The history of Newport Harbor and its ongoing need for flood management to maintain the integrity of the multimillion dollar real estate on which it resides, is very interesting and worth of its own book. Read more about it here http://www.orangecoast.com/features/knee-deep-doubt/. Below we will continue discussing property water damage, what to expect, examples, and solutions. 
CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS / SLAB LEAKS:
Concrete is porous, rigid and yet very susceptible to cracking and upheaval. When the soil underneath the slab moves, it can cause the concrete to crack, lift or drop. Unfortunately this can cause more than just structural damage. In Orange County, most newer homes are built on concrete foundations and have the plumbing encased in the slab. When the slab cracks, the water lines can crack as well creating what is referred to as a “slab leak”. A slab leak can slowly pour into the ground over a period of weeks or even months with little possibility for detection beyond an increase in the water bill. A slab leak can also seep upward and across the surface of the slab damaging flooring, walls, cabinets, virtually everything it touches. Depending on how much time has passed before discovery, this can create a damp environment, slowly deteriorating the home from the bottom up and allowing termites, ants, roaches, mold, and other nasties to flourish in damp conditions.
EXAMPLE: Balboa Realty recently took on the property management of a 5-plex in Costa Mesa and inherited the existing tenants. During an initial inspection of the front home, the tenant disclosed that he was hearing a water gushing sound in his bedroom at night, and the plants surrounding the front corner of the home were thriving while the plants on the other side were less than half the size. Balboa Realty called in a specialist who determined there was a slab leak just inside the corner of the bedroom. They jacked the slab, repaired the pipe, tested and repaired the hole all in a good day’s work. Luckily, this was an example of the leaking water seeping down into the soil and never actually penetrated the surface of the slab.
SOLUTION: Early detection will be the biggest factor in mitigating your damages. As stated above, slab leaks can be hard to detect and sometimes can go unnoticed for long periods of time. There are professionals that claim to be experts in slab leak detection. Once it is determined the water intrusion is coming from the foundation, the only fix is to jackhammer the concrete, expose the leaking pipe and fix it. Then repair the slab and hope it doesn’t happen again.
Published on Thursday, November 30, 2017