We are having our synthetic stucco house repaired and refinished with a cementitious stucco finish. The initial job looks good, but the contractor has done/failed to do a few things that have caused concern. Maybe it’s just my ignorance. Can someone set me straight?
(1)The contractor has installed a drain plane into the house walls to move any leak intrusions down the walls to a continuous metal flashing that skirts the entire circumference of the house. Problem is, he didn’t bother to clean out the stucco that got onto the top of this metal band . . . and it is substantial in a number of places. He acts as if I am making much to do about nothing. Shouldn’t this ledge be completely clean/open to allow the drain p[lane to function properly?
(2)Also, rather than loosen or remove exterior (electrical, etc.)
boxes attached to the side of the house, he cut around the old stucco and stuccoed up to them, sort of. The work wasn’t neat or tidy and we ended up with stucco all over the boxes, boxes recessed into the walls, and caulk lines of 3/4-1 inch or better. His response was that he doesn’t want his workers getting electrocuted (although they did “manage” to remove the exterior lighting and apply new stucco up to the edges of the mounting plates. To force the issue, I finally removed the HVAC, telephone and exterior outlet boxes myself (in most cases they simply lift off a keyhole slot or are removed with a few screws). Now the stucco has been reapplied neatly up to the edge of the mounting plate of each without broad unsightly caulking lines.
(3)And when it comes to caulking, what is considered professional in appearance and what is excessive? There are some places (around dormer eaves and between stucco and columns where the gaps needing caulking seem excessively wide. Yet he seems to have been able to stucco right up the the edge of door trim (masked off with tape to keep the stucco off the wood) without needing any caulking at all. Is one area differnt from the other?
(4)Finally, should the bottom edge of the ledger board and wall sheathing be left open (as we have been told) to allow any water that might intrude into the walls to drain away? I thought this was what the drain plane with the metal flashing installed at the bottom of each wall was for? Thanks for any help you can give me.
Replies
Greetings Busy,
As a first time poster Welcome to Breaktime.
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
Thanks, for the help. Did I post in the wrong spot? Should I have posted only to Construction Techniques, but posted to all? I ', concerned because I only have one response thus far and REALLY need some help. I was hoping for more. Where could I go to find Stucco Best Practices? This is my second time around with this house and I can't afford not to have it done right.
A couple of years ago JLC had an article on problem areas for stucco.IIRC articles cost $4.05http://www.jlconline.comThen Research and you can search for back articles..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Thanks, will do.
No, you did well in writing a pretty detailed and concise question as posted in the Construction Techniques folder to All.
The forum has always been fairly lax in precise info on stucco in comparison to fielding questions on say electrical, plumbing or framing.
Perhaps it is we do not have an active poster fully involved in the stucco trades and other members don't feel really well versed enough along that line to offer what they feel would be proper details.
The only thing that you could do to maybe coax a fellow reader out to post might be to provide a closeup picture of the said problem areas as it's been said a picture paints a thousand words.
These posts will act as another bump and hopefully you'll receive some more attention to your quest.
Cheers
This is stuccomans website.
http://www.badstucco.com/
jason
I will follow up and try to e-mail him.
Sounds like he cut a few corners. Caulk joints should not be more than about a quarter inch wide, probably less. There are products available that catch mortar droppings in brickwork and keep the weel holes open.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Go over to the JLC website. In the forums a regular poster is named Stuccoman. Try to figure out a way to e-mail him.
Do not post on their website. They, as a group, are not very nice to DIYs.
Stuccoman is your man
Thanks, as you can see below, Jason99 provided his address. I appreciate the help!
Are they best practices: no.
Did you explain up front that you only wanted top quality work (best practices): no.
Did you examine the guy's other work to confirm his level of quality: no.
Did you pay top dollar for top quality (best practices): no.
What you have is mediocre work, which is what average guys do for average pay. Many if not most of us here wouldn't accept that level of quality, but this has to be taken care of up front, not after the work is completed.
It's very difficult to say if what he's done will work for your house in your climate and weather conditions. Simply butting up to a cut section of old stucco in and of itself isn't bad unless it's done poorly or there's no proper wall protection behind the section he left. As with many things, it could be right or it could be wrong depending on the details. Same with the other things you mentioned.
As for water being able to drain through stucco droppings, if you were to fill a pipe with 3' of stucco droppings and pour water in one end I'm certain water will be able to find its way out the bottom. The amounts of water that might need to be released out those holes are tiny.
The main concern I'd have is how they are able to reuse any of the underlying waterproofing if the original is the type of synthetic stucco I'm thinking of. Not saying they are wrong since it's hard to say not being there or having more details, but it raises a red flag.
Ask around with the same information posted here and you'll find those who say what you got should be illegal and totally replaced, and others will say to give the guy a break he's only doing what most stucco subs do in your area. As with most things in life, the truth is probably somewhere in between.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.