Water damage restoration in Tucson, AZ

Homes and water damage in Tucson

Tucson's housing tells the story of its water damage. Central neighborhoods like Sam Hughes, Armory Park and Barrio Viejo have 1920s–1950s brick, block and adobe homes, many with flat roofs drained by scuppers and canales. Midtown and the Eastside filled in with 1950s–1970s slab ranch homes, a lot of them still cooled by roof-mounted evaporative coolers. The Northwest, Rita Ranch and Tanque Verde areas are mostly 1980s–2000s stucco with tile roofs. When the monsoon arrives, each of those roofs fails in its own way, and the city's washes — the Rillito, Pantano, Tanque Verde and Arroyo Chico — run fast.

Expect copper water lines in or under the slab in many pre-1990s homes, which combined with hard water means pinhole and slab leaks. Older flat roofs with built-up or foam coatings need recoating every several years, and parapet walls crack at the flashing. Water heaters are often in exterior closets or garages. Many homes in the Foothills sit on sloped lots where runoff reaches the house from uphill.