Reseda is flat, and so are its decks. The houses across the tract streets between Sherman Way and Victory Boulevard, the blocks around Reseda Park, the Reseda Boulevard corridor and the larger lots south toward Oxnard Street are 1950s single-story tract ranches, typically 1,100–1,600 sq ft on 6,000–7,500 sq ft lots; the decks and balconies on them, and on the garages and second-story additions behind them, were built level. Level is the problem: water sits in the low corner, the coating gives up at a seam, and the plywood beneath goes soft over a few winters.
The other half of the work is the apartment and condominium buildings along Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way: 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.
A Reseda deck that leaks usually leaks at the door threshold, the wall or the drain, not in the middle. We open a test section, check the plywood and the flashing, re-slope to the drain, and only then install the system.
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.