Alhambra homes and what is behind their walls
Alhambra was one of the first suburbs east of Los Angeles, and its housing shows every era since. Here is what that means for faucets, toilets and drains.
- ~1960median year built
- 77%built before 1980
- ~1 in 4built before 1940
- 240 ppmtypical water hardness
Early houses
Census estimates count close to a quarter of Alhambra homes as built before 1940 (Census Reporter). The 2023 draft historic resources survey maps blocks where older houses still stand together (survey draft); the city notes its findings are recommendations (Historic Preservation).
Those houses often have two-handle faucets, older toilet tanks and drain parts in brass or galvanized steel. Most can still take replacement parts.
The postwar wave
The same survey draft highlights an early-1950s group of multi-family buildings around a cul-de-sac on S. Bushnell Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue as an example of postwar building (survey draft). Apartments and duplexes from that period are a big share of the city.
In those buildings, valves and traps in each unit tend to have aged together, so if one fails, its neighbors are often close behind.
And the water
The city's water quality report lists hardness from 160 to 290 ppm, typically 240, and notes that "Some households choose to install water softeners to reduce scaling and improve appliance efficiency" (city report).
Whether or not you soften, the small parts that move water, cartridges, fill valves and diverters, are where scale does its damage first.