Recent work Chino Hills, CA
A stairwell wall and loft ceiling dried out and rebuilt in Chino Hills
A two-story home with water in the exterior wall along the staircase and the ceiling above the loft. Opened up, contained, dried to verified readings, and rebuilt.
- LocationChino Hills, CA
- PropertyResidential
- ServiceReconstruction & Build-Back
- Photos13
Stairwells are the hardest rooms in a two-story house to restore. The walls run the full height of both floors, there is nowhere to stand a ladder flat, and the finished surface is the first thing anyone sees walking in. In this Chino Hills home, the damage was in exactly that spot: the exterior wall along the staircase, and the ceiling above the loft landing at the top of it.
The photographs follow the job from the wall opened down to its sheathing, through containment and drying with the equipment still standing on the stairs, to meter readings on the framing, and finish on a repainted stairway and loft with no seam showing where the wall was open.
Opening the exterior wall
The drywall came off the inside face of the exterior wall along the staircase, all the way up, exposing the studs and the structural sheathing behind them. On an exterior wall that sheathing is part of how the house resists wind and earthquake loads, so it stays unless it has to go. What comes out is the wet, porous finish material that cannot be dried in place.
Containment and drying
Plastic sheeting and tape sealed the open stairwell and the opened ceiling sections off from the rest of the house, with a plastic curtain hung downstairs beneath the ceiling opening, while an air mover and a dehumidifier worked the stairs. Close-out is the point where that equipment leaves: the structure is dry, the containment is still up, and the open framing is ready for the rebuild crew.
Verified dry before it was closed
A meter goes onto the framing and the sheathing from the top of the stairwell to the bottom. Wood that looks dry can still hold enough moisture to warp new drywall or feed mold behind it, so the wall is not closed until the numbers say it can be. Those readings are also what the insurance file needs before the rebuild is approved.
Rebuilt and refinished
New drywall, texture and paint up the full height of the stairwell and across the loft. EMS holds a California general contractor licence, so the company that opened the wall and dried it is the one that closed it again, and nobody had to brief a second contractor on what was behind the finish.
What this job shows
A stairwell is where a patch shows. Two floors of wall and a ceiling at the top of the stairs were opened, dried and closed again by one licensed contractor, and the last three photographs are the whole argument for doing it that way.
More on reconstruction & build-back Restoration in Chino Hills See every job photo
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One call brings a licensed restoration crew, not an answering service. Water out, structure dry, rebuild done.