Aloha, this is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate and today we're down at the Gold Coast at Diamond Head. What we're going to talk about today is how some of these buildings being on the oceanfront here at Diamond Head need a lot of TLC and maintenance. In particular, spalling and painting.
Diamond Head Apartments
What I've got here behind me is the Diamond Head Apartments. They just went through that this past year. If you were walking down this strip here on Kalakaua Ave., you would have noticed that they had a bunch of scaffolding here as they were re-doing all of the spalling and painting.
Diamond Head Ambassador
Then, to take a step back in time, it's been about a dozen years since I talked about some spalling and painting work being done here at the Diamond Head Ambassador. That was back in 2012. Fast forward to today and we're in the year 2024. As you can see, they are prepping everything. They've got the fountain covered, so they won't get any paint materials on it. That's what's going on here at the Diamond Head Ambassador.
As you can see, living on the ocean, there's going to be some upkeep over the years. No different than a single family home that you want to paint every so often. In addition to a single family home that you'd want to paint every 5-10 years, here you're going to have to work on the concrete.
What is Spalling and Where Does it Happen?
Because you have rebar underneath the concrete that can get effected by the salt air, ultimately, you need to do some maintenance every so often down here. The Diamond Head Ambassador and the Diamond Head Apartments aren't alone in having to deal with spalling. Here at the Castle Surf they're also doing some spalling and painting work on the building. You see the scaffolding work out here.
Behind me, we have the fountain at Diamond Head which is also undergoing some repairs. Here we are at the base of Diamond Head on Thanksgiving Day and we've got a few buildings on the Gold Coast that are just getting some "facelifts" to bring them back to their glory.
Spalling and painting is not just unique to the Gold Coast. You see it at a number of the buildings inland of the ocean on Oahu. If you're looking to buy a condo or co-op here in Hawaii, you might want to inquire as to when was the last time they did any spalling or painting work. Now, obviously, the closer to the ocean you are, there's a lot more maintenance that's going to be done. I did a video earlier this year at Pats at Punaluu and they're still going through that process of spalling and painting there on the Windward Coast of Oahu. Here's the article/video and you can watch around 10:23. What's awesome is if you have a well run association, they can plan ahead for these things. So, when they come up, you can maintain your property just like any type of home ownership.
If you have any questions about oceanfront living or condos here on Oahu, feel free to reach out and give me a shout at 808-371-3509. Mahalo!