What fails in Valley houses when the first storms hit, a 2-hour pre-storm checklist, and which fixes are handyman work versus a roofer's or plumber's job.
The San Fernando Valley gets almost all of its rain in a few winter months, after a summer with essentially none. At Van Nuys Airport, NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals put annual precipitation at 13.42 inches, with 11.74 inches of it, about 87%, falling from November through March, and a July normal of 0.00 inches. Burbank's airport is similar: 13.91 inches a year, 12.06 of them in those five months, and February is the wettest month at both stations. That pattern is hard on houses. Caulk, weatherstripping and stucco bake and shrink for eight dry months, then the first real storm tests all of it on the same night.
What fails first in Valley houses
Most of the Valley's housing stock is from the postwar decades. In Reseda's 91335, 37.0% of housing units were built in the 1950s and the median year built is 1963; in Encino's 91316 the median is 1969; in Woodland Hills' 91367 it is 1975, and in Van Nuys' 91401 it is 1968 (American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034 and B25035, via Census Reporter). Houses of that age share a set of weak points:
- Window and door caulk. The joint between the window frame and the stucco is the first place water gets in. South- and west-facing joints take the most sun and crack earliest.
- Weatherstripping. Flattened vinyl or foam on exterior doors lets wind-driven rain under the door. If you can see daylight at the edges, water will come in.
- Sliding-door tracks. The aluminum patio slider common in 1960s and 70s houses drains through small weep holes in the track. When they clog with dirt the track fills and overflows onto the floor.
- Door sweeps and thresholds. A missing or worn sweep on a door that faces the weather is the most common reason for a wet entry floor.
- Stucco cracks. Hairline cracks are normal. Cracks wider than a credit card, cracks running diagonally from window corners, and soft or bulging patches near the ground are where water gets behind the stucco and into the framing.
- Downspouts and splash blocks. A downspout that ends at the foundation puts the roof's whole runoff against the slab. A missing splash block or a disconnected extension is a wood-rot and crawlspace problem in the making.
- Grading. Planting beds built up against the house, or soil that has settled over the years, can slope toward the slab. Water should move away from the house for the first several feet.
- Wood at ground level. Door jambs, garage door trim, deck posts and fascia that stay wet through the season rot first.
A two-hour pre-storm checklist
This is what a technician works through on a typical Valley house. A homeowner can do the inspection part in an afternoon; the fixes depend on what turns up.
- Walk the outside with a flashlight (20 minutes). Check every window and door perimeter for cracked, shrunken or missing caulk. Press on the stucco below windows and note soft spots. Mark problems with painter's tape.
- Test the doors (10 minutes). Close each exterior door, look for daylight at the edges and bottom, and slide a sheet of paper under the sweep. If it slides freely, the sweep is done.
- Clear the sliding-door tracks (15 minutes). Vacuum the track, open the weep holes with a thin wire, and check the rollers. A slider that drags usually has worn rollers, which also keeps it from sealing.
- Gutters and downspouts (20 minutes). Clear leaves and roof grit, run a hose into each downspout and confirm it discharges away from the house. Reattach extensions, set splash blocks, and point them downhill.
- Grading check (10 minutes). Run a hose for a few minutes at the base of the house in several spots and watch where the water goes. Puddling against the slab means the soil needs regrading or a bed pulled back.
- Stucco (15 minutes). Photograph every crack wider than a hairline and anything near a window corner or at the base. These are the ones to patch before the rain, not after.
- Base of the wall (10 minutes). Many stucco houses have a metal weep screed at the bottom of the wall with a gap above the soil or paving. If yours does and dirt or mulch has buried it, pull it back so the wall can drain.
- Inside (20 minutes). Look at ceilings and the tops of walls below the roofline for stains, check under sinks on exterior walls, and open the garage: it is usually the first place water shows up.
Then the fixes: recaulk the failed joints with a paintable exterior sealant, replace weatherstripping and door sweeps, replace slider rollers, patch stucco, set downspout extensions and splash blocks, and cut back soil where it slopes toward the house. On an average three-bedroom house that is usually a day's work, and you can take the gutter cleaning yourself if you prefer.
Handyman work vs. roofer vs. plumber
Most of this list is handyman work. Where it stops:
- Handyman: caulking and sealing, weatherstripping, door sweeps and thresholds, door and slider adjustment and rollers, window repair and screens, stucco crack and patch repair, replacing rotted trim, jambs and fascia, gutter cleaning, downspout extensions and splash blocks, minor regrading by hand, and sealing gaps where pipes and cables enter the wall.
- Roofer: anything on the roof surface: lifted or cracked tiles and shingles, flashing at vents and chimneys, the roof-to-wall joint, valley metal, and any leak that shows on a ceiling. We do not do roofing, and we will tell you when a stain is a roof problem rather than a wall problem.
- Plumber or drainage contractor: area drains and their tie-ins, French drains, sump pumps, sewer cleanouts that back up in storms, and any water heater or main line issue that surfaces when the ground is saturated. A clogged yard drain is usually a plumber's job with a camera and a jetter.
Where the problems overlap, a wet wall under a window for example, we start with the caulk and stucco, and if the water is coming from above the window head we stop and point you to a roofer rather than patching the symptom.
What the common fixes cost
Prices below are starting points from our price list; you get one fixed price for the whole job, agreed before work starts.
- Caulking and sealing windows, doors and penetrations: from $250
- Window repair, including sliders, latches, weep holes and screens: from $165
- Door repair and adjustment, including sweeps, thresholds and weatherstripping: from $145
- Stucco repair for cracks, patches and a damaged weep screed: from $750
- Wood rot repair on jambs, trim, fascia and posts: from $650
If you prefer to pay by time, the rate is $160 for the first 2 hours, then $80-120 per hour depending on the work. Materials are billed at cost with the store receipt attached. A pre-storm visit that covers several of these items is usually priced as one job rather than five.
Book before the first storm, not during it
Calls spike the week of the first rain, and sealant needs dry weather to cure, so late October and early November are the right time to get on the calendar. Book a 2-hour arrival window at /request-a-quote; the office usually calls back within about 15 minutes. We are open seven days a week, 8am to 8pm, at (323) 593-3663. Fix Brothers is family-run and has worked across Los Angeles since 2015, with a 4.9 rating on Yelp (about 170 reviews) and 4.9 on Google (66 reviews). Our technicians live across the city, so most jobs in Encino, Woodland Hills, Van Nuys and the rest of the San Fernando Valley are within a 30-40 minute drive of one of them. Send photos of the cracks, the door bottoms and where the downspouts end with your request; that is usually enough to price the visit. For anything else on the list, see our handyman service.