At a High end neo-traditional neighborhood near me – 6 4 year old homes with failed stucco. These are the 2 story $400k to 500k 2000 / 2500 ft2 homes build end on to the street and about 10 ft from their neighbors. Stucco over tar paper / wood
The cure? rip it all off and do over. 4 lawsuits in progreass i am told.
Replies
Why'd they fail?
My bet is on the odds (or typical culprit) - i.e. the number 1 reason stucco fails is: improper installation...
I have seen them fail cause the plasterer used bad cement, too much sand, the wind dried it out too quick, sun dried it out to quick.
If it failed on the south and west side but not the north - its too much sun. If the plaster did it right, just the scratch or brown coat would fail. If the whole layer is crumbling, the platerer did not do the scratch or brown coat seperately.
From the job foreman - water getting behind it in massive quanitities.
I said bad flashing? He said no --On one house he talked about a 3/4 inch crack/opening letting water in.
but they are taking the stucco off the entire house, and on the first house put stucco back on - other houses have the stucco stripped off now. ( I would have put Hardie plank back on.