Local Conditions
What actually shortens joint life in Fountain Valley.
The failure we see most often in this band is not dramatic. The bead does not tear open, it slowly hardens, loses its stretch and then lets go along one wall. Damp mornings and hot afternoons cycle the material thousands of times a year, and a sealant that has gone stiff cannot follow the slab any more. By the time it looks bad from standing height, water has usually been getting underneath for a season or two. We see it across Fountain Valley in the same order every time. The bead loses its give first, then it splits, then it lets go of one wall. Around Green Valley, Tiburon and Fountain Park the pools are close enough in age that a whole street tends to reach that point within a season or two of each other.


