It’s hurricane season, AGAIN! Get out your check list. Does that check list have “check seawall” on it? If you live on a waterway you probably have a sea wall. When was the last time you took a good look at it’s condition. Have you ever paid a professional to give you an evaluation of its life expectancy? Do you have a reserve set aside for the purpose of replacing it if it fails? Do you even have a line item in your budget for it’s yearly maintenance? A sea wall certainly qualifies for “the out of sight out of mind” syndrome. The only problem is, a roof can leak and the drip will annoy you to take action. When a sea wall leaks, cracks, or has interior structural corrosion failure it does not tell you, you may never see it, and as it ages it does so slowly and quietly without disturbing anyone.
seawall tie backs and dead men
Sea walls are usually not insurable items, as are roofs, building paint, or stairways. If sea walls fail, you can’t look to your insurance company to recover losses. All losses for sea walls are paid out of pocket by homeowners directly. This fact became very evident to those property owners who suffered sea wall failures during Hurricane Elena, back in the mid 80’s. I’ve seen claims paid for paint stripped off a building due to high winds, which had sand in them, creating a sand blast effect. The windstorm policy paid on the remaining life of the paint job, which the association used to offset their re-painting costs. Even if sea walls were a covered loss item, since their regular maintenance is so often ignored, insurance companies would most likely not pay a loss claim unless the association could prove they had a maintenance plan in place and was acting on that plan. Failure to perform proper maintenance would void any claim paid. Setting aside a sea wall reserve could be one of the most important reserve items you can fund.
condo revetment seawall
No one expects a sea wall to look good, so it is never painted or sealed to protect it. In fact, some abuse it by drilling holes into it for boat cleats, davits, or railings without thinking that they could be severely shortening it’s life. A sea wall is thought of as a tough, ugly, necessary thing that is never appreciated for fulfilling its purpose and is only hated when it fails to perform. HOWEVER, consider if it goes, your entire building could go with it, into the water. With the cost of real estate so high, developers waste no ground, and build structures right up to the seawalls in some cases.
Regulatory agencies that control the permits necessary for sea wall installations and repairs are taking a much more aggressive stand against seawalls. They have studied how they have had an adverse effect on the environment and how the evidence has showed that previous designs are not adequate to protect against the flood forces a hurricane can create. Their existence has taken away breeding grounds for marine life, and storms have revealed that they need to be much stronger and of a different design to properly protect buildings. In some areas of Florida, there is a movement on to remove them from barrier islands altogether.
So no matter what it takes, protect and preserve your seawall. It may be the only you get. Inspect it annually, have it maintained as needed, and have a reserve for its replacement. But do not let that be the case. Do whatever it costs to not have to do that. You may not be able to.
Check out this very involved, very detailed seawall article here at condovoice.com, for more information.
