# does stucco suck or do I?



## karotto (Sep 2, 2014)

Maybe it is because I am of german descent but I never liked stucco. With siding you know where the water goes or at least where it should go. It just runs from one board to the next and so on. But stucco? First of all stucco is water permeable which seems odd to me. Why wouldn't they just make stucco waterproof? Secondly, "you have a membrane underneath" builders say. Yes, but that membrane is punctured hundreds of times and every time the stucco gets wet some moisture gets through these holes onto the siding. And then of course in wetter climates or when you have an adjacent flour bed stucco wicks up moisture from the ground (if you run it all the way to the ground as it often happens). Therefore stucco seems to me like a bad and inelegant solution. Just by logic it seems that a house with siding should last many times longer than a stucco house. I actually like the way stucco looks so I am looking forward to be set straight by you guys. Thank you.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

karotto said:


> Maybe it is because I am of german descent but I never liked stucco. With siding you know where the water goes or at least where it should go. It just runs from one board to the next and so on. But stucco? First of all stucco is water permeable which seems odd to me. Why wouldn't they just make stucco waterproof? Secondly, "you have a membrane underneath" builders say. Yes, but that membrane is punctured hundreds of times and every time the stucco gets wet some moisture gets through these holes onto the siding. And then of course in wetter climates or when you have an adjacent flour bed stucco wicks up moisture from the ground (if you run it all the way to the ground as it often happens). Therefore stucco seems to me like a bad and inelegant solution. Just by logic it seems that a house with siding should last many times longer than a stucco house. I actually like the way stucco looks so I am looking forward to be set straight by you guys. Thank you.


Well first off its a code violation to run stucco to the ground. It can't be less then two inches from concrete to weep screed and six inches from dirt in a flower bed. Also stucco is intended to take water through itself and drain (theoretically) out the weep screed. I've been around stucco all my life and all holes are by code suppose to be lapped or sealed. All light boxes have to be caulked as well as electrical boxes. 

My plasterer says whenever stucco leaks (which has never happened on any of my remodels or full exterior jobs) is almost always at a window or door because the lathe guy didn't lap things properly. The key to leak proof stucco is the lathe, which is a trade by itself.


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## Seven-Delta-FortyOne (Mar 5, 2011)

"Stucco" is a subject that's a bit more in depth than can be dealt with in a forum post.

I'm betting if you were actually a Building Contractor, you wouldn't have posted 2 stupid questions in a row.







Delta


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

I was also told that stucco works best if it hasn't been painted. Paint locks water in. When it rains water gets through, but takes longer to get out. which is not how stucco performs it's best. However is not unheard of or necessarily wrong to paint stucco. My plasterer recommends knocking off the outside texture and re-color coating.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Also, if you notice the places stucco is is usually hotter. Not that we don't have a handful of houses here in ny that have stucco, but siding doesn't perform as well in warmer, humid, and tropical climates.


I personally don't like the look of it. My wife loves it.


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## Ohteah (Apr 3, 2013)

Did you buy a moldy stucco house? Maybe, Possibly. 

Anyhow, proper window and door flashing, head flashing, kick out flashing, etc. number 1 reason for failing stucco. It's not the plaster on the wall. 

Window and door pans , weep screed, control joints , j- channel, ez bead, and rain screen , put em all together and you have a complete WRB. That's the short of it . Done properly it's as good an exterior cladding as anything. 
Also stucco works much better in warmer , dry climates. Doesn't generally play well with repetitive freeze thaw cycles. 
No I do not think stucco sucks, just jack wagons who can't or don't know how to properly apply or install it.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

jlsconstruction said:


> Also, if you notice the places stucco is is usually hotter. Not that we don't have a handful of houses here in ny that have stucco, but siding doesn't perform as well in warmer, humid, and tropical climates.
> 
> 
> I personally don't like the look of it. My wife loves it.


90% of the homes here are stucco. We have a lot of homes that have siding in the front and stucco in the back.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Californiadecks said:


> 90% of the homes here are stucco. We have a lot of homes that have siding in the front and stucco in the back.


Are most of your houses block? Florida is all block. When I was visiting there last year my wife's uncle is a cabinet guy. He took me to this massive 2500 house development they were doing. It was kind of cool because you could literally see every step in building a house, but it was weird seeing everything block


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

jlsconstruction said:


> Are most of your houses block? Florida is all block. When I was visiting there last year my wife's uncle is a cabinet guy. He took me to this massive 2500 house development they were doing. It was kind of cool because you could literally see every step in building a house, but it was weird seeing everything block


No, mostly (95%) all framed and slab on grade. Every once in a blue moon well do a home with a basement and raised Foundation.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Californiadecks said:


> No, mostly (95%) all framed and slab on grade. Every once in a blue moon well do a home with a basement and raised Foundation.


After I posted that I realized concrete houses with earth quakes probably wouldn't work very well


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

jlsconstruction said:


> After I posted that I realized concrete houses with earth quakes probably wouldn't work very well


You are correct about that. The best home in an earthquake is a wood framed home. Earthquakes require movement and "give". rigid buildings don't fair well in seismic active areas.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

I come from a commercial background. I built a lot of tilt up buildings that poured on the slab and stood with a Crane. We would install what they call chord bars which were 2 #8 rebar circling the entire building inside the top of concrete walls. The bars were put inside PVC pipe (to enable them to slip) so they allowed the walls to have a slight sway during any earth movement.


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