El Segundo, Los Angeles County
Seismic retrofit and structural work in El Segundo
In a setting by the Pacific like El Segundo, Aspenwell Construction plans shear walls behind stucco with flashing and paper that keep wet air off the plywood.
El Segundo is in the zone that fronts the Pacific, where a lot generally takes damp air carrying minerals and the wind that pushes it. For structural work that matters most on the outside walls, because an engineer bracing a house against sideways shaking often puts new plywood behind the stucco. Whatever goes into that wall has to stay dry for the life of the house, so the bracing plan and the moisture plan are drawn together.
Opening stucco to add a shear panel
Where a shear panel goes on an exterior wall, we cut the stucco back along a clean line and look at the studs, the sill and any old paper behind it. Darkened wood or rusted lath tells us water has been getting in, and that gets repaired first. The new plywood is nailed to the engineer's schedule with hold-downs at each end. Over it go a double layer of building paper, flashing lapped shingle fashion around windows and doors, and a weep screed at the bottom so any water that gets behind the stucco can drain out.
City review and the nailing inspection
El Segundo has its own building department as an incorporated city, and its staff review the engineered drawings before work starts. Inspections fall at the points where the structure is about to disappear: the anchor and hold-down hardware, the plywood nailing before paper and lath go on, and the lath before the stucco coats. Skipping one would mean opening the wall again to prove what is inside. For an exterior change, the city can also confirm whether the parcel needs a development review for the protected zone along the Pacific, and we ask that question at the start of design.
What we build in El Segundo
Structural work comes first on this list, and every service starts with a look at the framing and foundation.
Plan structural work in El Segundo
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