Water, fire and mold repairs for Sunnyvale homes, then the rebuild

Twelve months of work

Six Sunnyvale jobs between April 2025 and April 2026

The first of our Sunnyvale jobs was in April 2025 and the latest in April 2026. Between them our crews took more than nine hundred photos, because every job we do is photographed from the first reading to the finished wall.

Our records do not say which kind of work each of those six was, and this page does not guess. The work we do anywhere is water mitigation, fire and smoke cleanup, mold remediation, air duct cleaning, reconstruction once the damage is handled, and construction and remodeling as its own line.

No Sunnyvale owner has cleared photos for the website yet. When one does, that job's photos go here with a true caption and no address. The hardwood floor job we have published shows how one of our jobs runs, start to finish.

The weather

About 13 inches of rain a year: so where does the water come from?

At Moffett Federal Airfield, on the city's northwest edge, NOAA's 1991–2020 normals put the year's rain at 13.45 inches (NOAA NCEI climate normals for the station). About 84 % of it falls from November through March. June to September together average less than a fifth of an inch.

The houses

The 1950s and 1960s built more of Sunnyvale than any later decade

The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey counts 63,239 homes in Sunnyvale, with a median year built of 1976. By decade (table B25034), 11,388 went up in the 1950s and 11,378 in the 1960s, and another 10,962 in the 1970s. Roughly 57 % were built before 1980; about 12 % since 2010.

• Plumbing from the 1950s

  A house from the 1950s may still have some of its first pipes, and others replaced in patches over the years. When a leak opens a wall, we look at the run of pipe it sits on, because a plumber may want to replace more than the one failed joint. The pipe repair itself is a plumber's work.

• Matching what stays

  Old plaster, odd board sizes and flooring that is no longer made are normal at this age. A rebuild either matches what stays or replaces a whole surface so the room reads as one.

• The 1978 paint line

  The EPA's lead renovation, repair and painting rule applies to work that disturbs paint in homes built before 1978, which describes most of this city. Tell us your home's year when you call.

• After mold, new material

  Whatever the house's age, everything the mold touched is replaced with new material, never cleaned and reused. The mold remediation page walks through it.

Mid-century tracts

Eichler homes and the city's own design guidelines

Sunnyvale's single-family and duplex page lists Heritage and Eichler Design Guidelines among its everyday resources, and a separate handout just for Eichler window replacement.

That matters after damage. Rebuilding a wall of glass, a ceiling or a facade on an Eichler is not the same job as patching a stucco ranch house, and the city has said in writing what it wants these houses to look like. If your home is an Eichler, say so on the first call. We check with the permit center which guidelines apply before the rebuild is drawn, and on remodels we handle the permits and the plans, with design included.

Manufactured homes

3,600 manufactured homes, and who signs off their repair

The same Census survey counts 3,600 mobile homes in Sunnyvale, close to one home in every eighteen (table B25024). About 36 % of homes are detached houses, and some 56 % of occupied homes are rented (table B25003).

The flood map

A flood map dated May 2009, and the substantial improvement rule

FEMA has marked parts of Sunnyvale as Special Flood Hazard Areas, with a 1 % or greater chance of flooding in any year. The city says the current flood insurance rate maps are dated May 18, 2009, and offers a Flood Zone Viewer for any address (City of Sunnyvale, Flood Zones; FEMA's own Flood Map Service Center).

• A big repair can pull the whole house in

  If the Building Division rules a project in a flood hazard area a Substantial Improvement, the entire structure has to come up to current FEMA standards and Municipal Code 16.62.300 (Flood-safe Building). We check the zone before a large rebuild is scoped.

• Elevation certificates

  The city keeps elevation certificates you can view at the One-Stop counter in City Hall.

• Flood is its own policy

  Standard property insurance does not cover flooding. The city's part in FEMA's Community Rating System earns a 15 % discount for properties in the hazard area, and a new policy waits 30 days. Which policy pays is between you and your insurers; our photos and readings show where the water came from.

Below the slab

Why the depth of the groundwater matters in an earthquake

A U.S. Geological Survey study mapped liquefaction for three scenario earthquakes across the north of the county, Sunnyvale included (USGS Open-File Report 2008-1270). It expects liquefaction in young levee deposits along the major creeks in all three events.

The study also shows how much the water table counts. For the San Andreas scenario, those creek deposits come out at about 0.33 to 0.37 when groundwater is 1.5 meters down, and about 0.10 to 0.14 when it is 5 meters down; most other ground scores under 0.05. If a rebuild here ever reaches the foundation, that is when an engineer looks at what lies under your lot.

City Hall

Sunnyvale's One-Stop Permit Center, room by room

Building, Fire, Planning and Public Works Engineering share one counter at City Hall, and every permit runs through the city's online E-OneStop system (Permit Center). The city asks first-time applicants to call so staff can say whether a project needs plans checked before work starts.

Pages that go deeper than this one

• Water damage mitigationThe first night: water out, readings, drying.
• Rebuild after damageWalls, floors and cabinets once the house is dry.
• Fire & smoke cleanupSoot, odor and what can be cleaned.
• Working with insuranceOur Xactimate estimate goes to your adjuster; the claim stays yours.
• Construction & remodelingRemodels with permits, plans and design included.

Questions

Sunnyvale questions, with straight answers