Case Study · SB 721 · CSLB #1060736
Balcony & Walkway Waterproofing — 12 Elevated Elements, Rio Linda
The coating still covered the middle of every walkway. It had given up at the edges, and the edges are where the beams are.
WaterproofingProject facts
- Location
- Rio Linda, CA
- Service
- Balcony Waterproofing
- Property
- Two-story garden apartment community
- Units
- 16
- Elevated elements
- 12 balconies plus the connecting walkways and stair landings
- Client
- Owner / property management company
- Scope
- Exploratory openings at the marked elements, removal of the failed deck coating and plywood, replacement of rotted joists, beam ends and rim framing, new connection hardware, new plywood, new waterproof deck coating system
- Timeline
- 6 weeks
- Completed
- Q2 2026
- Budget range
- $85k–$120k
01 The situation
The challenge
From the walking surface the coating looked serviceable. It had failed where nobody walks — along the outside edge, where the deck meets the rim joist and the painted fascia band. Water had been getting in there long enough that the paint was holding the shape of wood that was no longer there. Behind the fascia on the beam marked E34, the timber came away in fibrous handfuls; the beam marked B still had its steel connector plate bolted to the post, but the bolts through it were rusted and the wood around them had gone soft. None of that reads from the balcony. All of it reads the moment the edge is opened.
02 Execution
What we did
The openings set the sequence, not the original bid:
Opened the elements marked in the inspection report first and traced how far the rot ran back from each edge before pricing the rest
Stripped the failed coating and the plywood down to framing, and cut every joist and beam end back to sound wood
Sistered and replaced the framing, rebuilt the rim, renewed the beam-to-post connections with new hardware, and laid new plywood with positive slope away from the wall
Applied the waterproof deck coating system across balconies, walkways and landings, turned up the wall and lapped out over the rim to seal the edge that failed last time
03 Outcome
The result
Every elevated element on the property now carries the same coating system, applied over framing that was cut back to sound wood rather than coated over. The edge detail — the part that failed last time — is turned up the wall and lapped out across the rim, so water that gets past the surface has somewhere to go instead of somewhere to sit. The SB 721 items closed across the whole property in one pass, including the elements the sample never opened.
Results at a glance
- 12 balconies, connecting walkways and stair landings re-waterproofed under one coating system
- Rotted joists, beam ends and rim framing cut back to sound wood and replaced
- Corroded beam-to-post connection hardware renewed while the framing was open
- Deck edges and wall transitions detailed so the coating does not fail at the perimeter again
What the client received
- SB 721 closure covering every elevated element, not only the sampled ones
- Coating manufacturer warranty plus our workmanship warranty
- Photo record of each opening, keyed to the element numbers in the inspection report
- Framing repair log showing what was replaced at each balcony and walkway
- Maintenance schedule running through to the next inspection cycle
Transformation
Before & After
The walkway along the upper units
The lower walkway from the courtyard
On site
Project Photos
“The report marked a handful of beams. I assumed the rest were fine, because they looked the same. They did look the same — that was the problem.”
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