Water damage on Cavalero Hillslopes and roofs, not the lake

Lake Stevens sits on a plateau, with the Snohomish River delta on one side and the Cascade foothills on the other, and Cavalero Hill is one of its named neighborhoods and planning areas. The city's largest annexation, completed in December 2009, brought in more than 10,000 residents from unincorporated land to the southwest. Further growth since then is visible in the census, with 10,414 housing units in 2010 and 12,367 in 2020. ^[1] The city's comprehensive plan says large portions of the city developed within the past several decades, leaving a relatively new housing stock, and that much of it was built while recently annexed areas were still under the county. ^[2] The 35-acre Cavalero Hill Park was transferred to the city in 2025, and the plan measures traffic on the 20th Street SE corridor as far as Cavalero Road.

What this means for water is simple enough. Most of the lake-related material elsewhere on this site does not apply up here, as a house on higher ground will not take on lake water. The problems come from water moving downhill, from roofs and pavement, and from plumbing inside newer two-story homes. Because the area has been built up in recent decades, a lot of houses here are reaching the age where original appliance hoses, water heaters and fittings start to fail.

We should be clear about the limits of what is known. We have not found published street-level data on foundation types or construction years for this area. If your home differs from the general picture here, trust what you can see, and tell the contractor what you have.

On a slope, ground water does not just soak straight down. It moves sideways through the soil, particularly where a denser layer stops it going deeper, and it comes out at cuts, retaining walls and foundation footings. Many hillside lots here were graded to make flat building pads, which means there may be a cut bank on the uphill side and fill on the downhill side. A home built into such a pad may be fine for years until a wet winter finally saturates the soil.

Watch for water that appears at the base of a retaining wall, a wet stripe along the uphill foundation or a crawlspace that is wet at one end and dry at the other. Each of these suggests water arriving from uphill, not rising from below. It is also worth looking at what has changed nearby. New construction, a neighbor's patio or a filled-in drainage swale can move water toward a home that never had trouble before.

Drainage features need upkeep. Footing drains, catch basins, tightlines and swales all do their job only if they stay clear and are properly connected. Downspouts tied into a buried line can clog where you cannot see them, so if a gutter overflows only at one downspout, a blockage underground may be the reason. Run a hose into that line during dry weather to see where it comes out, and how quickly.

It is easy to assume a recently built house is safe from water issues, but several of the weak points are simply a matter of age and use. Water heaters do not last forever, and those in garages or closets can leak into a shared wall without anyone noticing. Refrigerator ice-maker lines are thin and easily pinched when an appliance is pulled out for cleaning. Plastic supply connectors and braided lines under sinks age out of sight. Caulking at tubs and showers dries out and cracks, and tile can hide what happens behind it for a long time.

Tight modern building envelopes also tend to hold indoor moisture unless ventilation is doing its job, which raises the risk of condensation in cold weather. Check that bath fans actually vent outside and that attic insulation is not blocking vents. Roof and siding details matter too. Wind-driven rain comes in through flashing mistakes around windows, deck ledgers and roof-to-wall joints, and the first sign may be a stain somewhere well below where the water got in.

Rainfall figures for the hill are the same kind of estimate as for the rest of the city. The Everett station's 1991-2020 normals total about 40 inches a year, with a wet stretch from November to January and very dry summers. ^[3] Modelled figures from Open-Meteo for Lake Stevens read closer to 71 inches a year long term, and may overstate it. ^[4] On a slope, what counts is intensity and duration. A long soaking fills the ground, and then a burst of heavy rain runs off quickly, which is when surface water finds its way to foundations and garage doors.

The dry summer plays a part as well. Ground and gutters collect debris through the dry months, and clay-rich soil can dry and shrink, opening gaps along foundations. The first big autumn storm then finds everything at its least prepared. It is a good idea to do your gutter and drain check in early October, before that first storm arrives.

Most of this part of the city came in through annexation, and you will generally deal with the City of Lake Stevens for building, mechanical and plumbing permits, which are handled online through its permit center. Check the address, though, as nearby land may still be under Snohomish County. Exterior drainage changes can raise separate issues. Moving water onto a neighbor's lot can cause disputes, retaining walls of a certain size can require permits and work near slopes can trigger critical area review. Ask before you dig. Homeowner associations in newer subdivisions may also have rules on drainage easements and landscaping, and some drainage features are shared.

Getting to the house is rarely the issue here, since streets in newer subdivisions tend to be wide enough for trucks. Steep driveways can make it harder to run hoses and carry equipment, and front-to-back height differences can mean a long route to a crawlspace hatch. Tell the contractor where your hatch is, particularly if it is in a closet or a garage. Let them know of any association parking rules, and if you have plans or drawings for your drainage system from when the home was built, have them to hand. These can show where tightlines run and where the footing drains go.

You may not need major drainage work just because there was one wet winter. If water shows up rarely, in small amounts and stays away from the wood, simple changes to gutters and grading can be enough. Larger projects, such as a curtain drain or a sump system, make sense where water keeps coming back, where it reaches framing or where it has caused repeated damage. Get the crawlspace dry and take dated photographs through a whole wet season if you can. A single winter's record can help you decide whether a larger project is really needed.

Newer neighborhoods often have shared stormwater features, including ponds, swales, catch basins and easements running along back fences. Who maintains them depends on the plat and any homeowner association, and it is not always clear from just looking. If water is collecting on your lot because a shared feature is blocked, find out who owns it before you clear it or change it. Your association, your closing documents or the city can help with that.

Be careful about fences and landscaping in drainage easements. Something as small as a raised planter or a run of solid fence can redirect water along a slope and into the next house. The same applies to your own improvements. A new patio or a poured walkway may send water back to the foundation it used to soak away from. Check the slope after any yard project by running a hose or watching the next rain.

Photograph water at the uphill wall, gutters overflowing and any puddles along the foundation while the rain is falling, because all of it disappears within hours.

Back to all of Lake Stevens. Nearby pages: Frontier Village, Hartford, Lakeshore.

Related help for Cavalero Hill: water extraction, structural drying, sewage backup cleanup, fire damage restoration and smoke damage cleanup. First time dealing with this? Read the first hours after water damage.