NORTHRIDGE : Group Urges Reinspection of Quake Damage

A Northridge-based earthquake assistance group put out a call to arms Wednesday for homeowners to reinspect their quake-damaged buildings for problems that contractors and insurance adjusters may have overlooked.

“There’s a clear and present danger that still exists from the earthquake for property owners who haven’t examined their property closely,” said George Kehrer, executive director of Community Assisting Recovery, Inc. (CARe).

The nonprofit consumer group, which has been helping property owners in post-quake dealings with contractors and insurers, warned that some insurance companies may have low-balled homeowners on claim returns by incorrectly labeling structural problems in buildings as cosmetic damage.

The group is urging property owners to reopen claims with their insurance companies.

Standing outside a Granada Hills home he described as wrecked by the quake, Kehrer pointed to a multitude of cracks that snaked throughout the building’s garage, its exterior walls and base and inside a small bathroom. Large amounts of cancer-causing friable asbestos were also found.

The group is using the Granada Hills home as one example of the hundreds of houses whose owners are discovering additional problems with asbestos or with cracks from the temblor that were sandblasted and painted over and are resurfacing.

“If their insurance company is calling this cosmetic,” Kehrer said, pointing to a gaping hole near the base of the house where the temblor shook free concrete and drywall, “how many of you out there have similar problems that are also being called cosmetic?”

The building’s owners, an elderly couple who asked to remain anonymous, moved back into the Braxton Street home two days after the temblor because their insurance company told them it was safe, CARe representatives said.

Despite a noticeable shift in the foundation and a broken brick chimney, among other problems, the couple lived in the house for seven months. They moved out in July after the wife began having respiratory problems because of the asbestos. The couple notified the CARe office of their problems in February.

Jim Mier of Precision Works, Inc. in Camarillo, an asbestos removal company, said about 1 million asbestos fibers per square foot were found in the building’s carpeting, a dangerously high level.

“This is a common example with contractors and adjusters not adequately checking for asbestos or structural problems,” said CARe volunteer Elana Coren of Northridge.

Coren said she has been battling her insurance company for the past year to get what she considers a reasonable settlement for the damage to her home. Insurance company adjusters “never go under the house or in the attic to check for problems,” she said.

CARe representatives focused on a damage checklist of problems property owners should look for in their homes: concrete cracks under carpets, squeaking floors and damage in the attic or under the house.

Kehrer said CARe volunteers have been receiving an estimated 20 calls a day from homeowners who are finding old cracks popping up under new paint jobs and asbestos problems from broken ceilings or air ducts.