SB 721 Balcony Repairs & Waterproofing in Los Angeles County

Every repair scope starts from the signed inspection report rather than a walk-and-guess estimate. We read the findings element by element, separate conditions the inspector flagged as an immediate threat to safety from the rest, and check whether the report calls for further investigation before a repair can be designed. Where the report samples only part of the property, we identify which unsampled elements share the same detail and are therefore likely to need the same work — and we say so as a recommendation, not as a finding of our own.

Deteriorated load-bearing components are repaired or replaced under permit: joist sistering or full joist replacement, ledger removal and replacement at the wall interface, post, beam, and landing rebuilds, and replacement of corroded connection hardware. Repairs are built to the details approved on the permit and to current California Building Code requirements, not to the original construction detail that failed.

Most wood-framed balcony deterioration in Los Angeles traces back to water at an edge, a penetration, or a wall interface. We install code-approved deck-coating systems — RetroCal is an approved applicator for Pli-Dek — together with the flashing, drip edge, wall transitions, and drainage that the coating depends on. Coating over an unresolved flashing detail is treated as an incomplete repair.

We fabricate our own guardrail and handrail systems, galvanized and powder coated. Replacements are built to current code requirements for height, opening size, and load, and attachments are detailed into sound framing rather than into the deck surface. Where the railing was loose because the embedded post base or baseplate corroded, the framing beneath it is repaired first.

Our in-house team prepares the repair details needed for permit submittal, submits to the local building department, and responds to plan-check corrections. Health and Safety Code §17973 requires the owner to apply for a permit within 120 days of receiving the report and to complete repairs within 120 days of permit issuance, with an extension of up to 120 days available from the local enforcement agency for good cause — so permit submittal is treated as a dated deliverable, not an afterthought.

We call the required inspections, keep the work open for framing and waterproofing observation where the permit requires it, respond to correction notices, and close the permit out. At completion we assemble the permit records, photographs, and product documentation for the repaired elements so the owner has a file to produce when the local enforcement agency asks. Under §17973, the permitted repair is inspected and approved by the local enforcement agency — not signed off by the contractor performing it.