Granada Hills has two deck problems, and they fail in different places. On the hillside streets it is post-supported and cantilevered decks hung off the back of the house, where water runs toward the house, the ledger takes the damage, and the access is a stair, a slope and a wheelbarrow.
On the flatter streets, across Old Granada Hills along Chatsworth Street, the Knollwood hills north of Rinaldi, the tract streets around Balboa Boulevard and the blocks near Granada Hills Charter High School, the houses are 1950s–60s ranch homes, 1,500–2,200 sq ft on 7,000–10,000 sq ft lots, with parcels up to 20,000 sq ft in Old Granada Hills and hillside estate lots in Knollwood, and their decks and balconies are flat: water sits in the low corner, the coating gives up at a seam, and the plywood beneath goes soft over a few winters.
Then there are the apartment and condominium buildings along Chatsworth Street and O'Melveny Park: shared walkways, open stairs and stacked balconies that stay in use while we repair them, and the elements SB 721 and SB 326 now require inspected. Those are the jobs that most often come to us with a report attached.
Either way we open it up before we price it. A re-coat over sound, dry framing is a small job. A re-coat over wet framing is the same job done twice, and the second time costs more.