Water, Fire and Mold Damage Restoration in Mar Vista

Mar Vista began as a streetcar stop. The Venice Short Line opened in 1902 between downtown and Venice Beach along what is now Venice Boulevard, and the settlement that grew beside it was called Ocean Park Heights from 1904 until 1924. Los Angeles annexed it in 1927, and it grew fastest from the 1950s through the 1970s, as modest, low-cost housing in what was then a far corner of the city.

Venice Boulevard still divides it. To the north are mostly single-family houses on quiet residential streets. To the south, zoning allowed apartments, and the blocks filled with dingbats, the two- and three-story stucco boxes set over open carports, most of them under the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance. A water call north of Venice is usually one family's house. South of it, the call is usually a building.

In a dingbat, units sit directly on top of one another and on top of the carports. A failed supply line upstairs reaches the unit below within hours and drips onto the cars beneath it. Water also spreads sideways under flooring into the next unit before anyone sees it. We start with the unit where the water began, take readings in every unit around it, and keep a separate file of photos and readings for each one.

North of Venice sits the Mar Vista Tract, Gregory Ain's postwar development of 52 houses designed with Joseph Johnson and Alfred Day and landscaped by Garrett Eckbo, sold as Modernique Homes in 1948. In 2003 it became the first postwar Modern historic district in Los Angeles. People who own these houses care about original materials, so we favor drying in place, photograph the original finishes before any equipment goes in, and explain in writing before anything wet has to come out.

Water mains under Mar Vista have broken at the worst hours. Around 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday in late September 2013, a main broke at Charnock Road and Stoner Avenue, sent water into the streets and forced one family out of their home. Early on November 12, 2015, a 4-inch main in the 3900 block of Moore Street burst and opened a growing sinkhole, and the water was shut off to 15 to 20 customers. In August 2014, a possible main leak flooded the 2100 block of South Walgrove Avenue.

A break at night means water sits until someone wakes up. It runs into carports, ground-floor units and garages, and it carries what was on the street. We treat it as contaminated from the first minute: extraction, cleaning and disinfection, and only then drying, with readings logged each day until the materials test dry.

Most buildings south of Venice are rented, so the first person to see the water is usually a tenant. If that is you, close the shutoff under the fixture if you can, move your things off the floor, photograph the room, and tell the manager in writing so the date is on record. If you own or manage the building, ask us to check the units above and below the one that called, even if those tenants have not noticed anything yet.

Mold starts where water hid: inside the wall behind a shower, under a kitchen sink cabinet, in the underside of a floor built over a carport. We handle it under containment with HEPA filtration so it does not travel to the next unit, and we write down what we found and where it was.

On insurance, we document each loss with photos, moisture readings and daily drying logs, estimate our own scope of work, and can bill your carrier directly for our services. Coverage questions go to your carrier, your agent or a public adjuster you hire. We respond anywhere in Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside at any hour, our technicians hold IICRC certifications, our crews work in English and Spanish, and the first inspection is free.