Arleta Structural Work That Keeps the New Room Dry
A new room on an Arleta house starts with a slab and soil shaped to shed water away from the footings, plus flashing where the new walls meet the old ones.
A new room built onto the back of an Arleta house sits on a fresh slab, and the soil around that slab gets shaped to fall away before any framing goes up. Water that collects against a footing softens the ground under it and wicks into the bottom of the wall. Grading, a weep screed at the base of the stucco and downspouts led off to a safe spot keep the new space dry for whoever moves into it.
Under and around the slab
Beneath the slab, a layer of gravel and a vapor retarder slow moisture rising from the soil. The edge of the slab sits higher than the finished yard, and the yard slopes away from it. Downspouts from the new roof are carried by pipe to a point well away from the footing, onto splash blocks or into a drain line. A sprinkler head aimed at the wall gets moved. On an inland lot, the odd hard storm is what tests all of this, so each piece is drawn on the plans.
Where old meets new
The seam between the addition and the existing house is the place water most wants to enter. Flashing laps from the old wall onto the new, shingle fashion, so each layer sheds onto the one below. At the roof line, a cricket or a valley sends runoff away from the joint. The footing for the new room may sit beside an older one, and the engineer details how they connect. An LADBS inspector sees the weather barrier and flashing before stucco covers them.
Structural Work in Arleta: what families ask
An engineer answers it by weighing the foundation, the walls and the roof ties against the load of another story. Where something falls short, reinforcement is added to the drawings. LADBS reviews that set, and framing for the upper floor begins after the permit is issued.
Load has to be proven first, by looking at what rests on the wall above and below. A beam, posts and footings are then engineered, temporary walls carry the ceiling, and the old wall is cut out. After the inspector approves the new framing, the ceiling and floor are patched to match.
The inspector comes from LADBS, which permits construction in Arleta. Visits happen at each stage on the permit: footing steel before the pour, then framing, hold-downs and the flashing at the joint between old and new walls, all while still uncovered.
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