# stucco leaking, need some advice from masons



## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

Hey guys,

got a call from a good friend of mine, they have a fairly large house most of which is stucco. It is 8 years old. and they have some leaking which has been going on, on/off for a long time. they have a walk out basement on the South/EASt corner of their house. with a wrap around deck (that I built, 900 sq ft) on that same corner. The East facing wall is a full two stories with a big gable. and a chimney there too. all stucco. They have a big anderson sliding door on that EAst wall going out onto the deck. that window has a drip cap installed yet they have water dripped inside along the head piece of the trim when it rains hard and beats against that wall. 

they also have two sets of big french doors and some double hung and other windows in the BLock of their foundation, all of these windows and doors leak along the head of them during the rain storms. not immediately but eventually they do. it's a concrete block foundation and the exposed corner of the walk out basement is also matching stucco to the above stucco on the walls. I know the stucco has hairline cracks in areas but not all the windows are leaking. they have another big french door that is caddycorner to the slider on the east side. this door never leaks. yet has cracked stucco above it. 

sorry for the long explanation but I had to explain exactly what they have. 

and not to sound rude but i only want to hear from masons or painters who have successfully solved problems like this. 

My thought is that the stucco is absorbing the water and somehow getting through the felt paper behind it in spots and leaking behind the drip cap of the first floor door above the deck. 

i'm not sure what is causing the windows/doors at the basement level to leak some are under the deck and some aren't, so to me that rules out that the ledger board (which I didn't installed, it was installed by the framer prior to the stucco being done, then I built the deck.) is leaking. 

I had the woman spray a hose directly on the one basement window and the area above it for several minutes while i watched inside for leaks, nothing came in. 

one more thing I noticed is that in the basement in certain areas, the blocks from the top course down to the bottom course is damp with white powdery substance on them, i'm guessing is lime or other chemicals being washed out of the block due to water being inside them. not sure how water is getting down in the blocks but it's not leaking inside just making certain areas of the basement walls very damp. nothing on the slab as far as dripping water in these spots. 

My first suggestion is to pull off the exterior trim above some the first floor sliding door and see if there is any damage to the plywood and header, and check the to see if the flashing is done correctly. My guess is that the felt isn't OVER the drip cap in on that door. I know the jams were all wrapped with tyvek by the framer who installed the windows, prior to the stucco being done. It doesn't make sense why other windows on the first and second floor with stucco above them aren't leaking.

I gave them a few options, first getting an estimate to put elastomeric paint over all the stucco to seal any hairline cracks and keep water from absorbing into the stucco. 

they already got a quote from the guy who did the stucco, for a SEALer only, and it was 5000 dollars and he said that it should be done every 5 years. 

I would lean more towards the Elast. paint even if it costs more up front, i think it will last longer. 

These people are my friends so i don't want to steer them wrong. is there something i'm missing here? 

sorry for the very long post but I really want to solve this problem for them. 

She's panicking that the house is filled with mold in the walls. no drywall damage though anywhere. 

Thanks
Dan


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## JBBS (Jan 17, 2008)

Real stucco or EIFS?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

From the description, it sounds like poor flashing details at door and window headers. If so, they will be looking at a substantial bill to repair and rectify.


Is it 3-coat cementious stucco or EFIS? What is the climate?


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## concretemasonry (Dec 1, 2006)

TS has it right about looking at the details at the openings.

Stucco is not intended to be a "leak-proof" siding material, just as vinyl and brick are not. Small cracks in stucco mean nothing compared to other siding. Good stucco is still far superior to vinyl.

Most leakage problems can be attributed to improper window installation (house wrap cutting, flashing, etc.). It is estimated that over 60% of all windows are installed improperly. In very cold climates excessive caulking and sealing can create problems by concentrating the flow of moist air outward.

If you are waiting for masons and painters that have solved this very common problem, you will die a slow death, since it probably has nothing to do with masonry or paint.

I suggest you look above the windows leaking and them to the story above them (if there is one). Water does not necessarily show up where is enters. If there is water at the head cap, the moisture entrance is above that.

If leaks are not immediate, that indicates the water is traveling a longer route or it is building up in the wall before showing up. Often, moisture shows up where there are lintels, plates, etc. that stop the normal downward flow.

A good moiture intrusion engineer could pinpoint the leaks in an hour or less by using a good moisture meter with deep probes (2 - 1/8" holes at each measurement area). He will probably find some wet fiberglass in the proces. Usually, for insurance purposes we have section of the exterior wall opened and exposed to show the poor workmanship by the wood butchers that call themselve qualified window installers.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

all i meant to say, i want masons to respond who have dealt with stucco and sealing it, rather than people who aren't in that line of work.

only one door leaks that is up in the first floor. the rest are all basement windows that are installed in the block foundation. they have 1x4 trim around them, with drip cap above that trim. i think the water is entering the walls above where there is a framed walls and somehow getting down below the rim joist and into the basement windows head jams. i plan on taking the trim off the first floor slider to see if the header has damage. 
i can then see if the drip cap is installed correctly. I don't think they want to take the stucco off in any spots just yet. 

It's real stucco, three coats like is normally done. if it's never been sealed, then wouldn't it be possible for water to saturated through the stucco and find it's way into the small cracks over several hours of hard rain.

if the drip cap on the basement windows was leaking, then why doesn't it leak when we sprayed a hose directly at that top of the window for several minutes? also, there is one course of block (lintle) above each window and door in the basement, so i doubt that they ran the felt paper down below the plywood framed wall. my thought is the water is getting behind the stucco, but because the felt stops at the rimjoist level just like tyvek does, the water is then running behind the stucco/lath at the foundation and getting behind the drip edge. the metal drip edge almost seems like it shouldn't be there at the basement level because it's not like you can seal it to the block foundation prior to the stucco being installed. 


If masonry chimneys can suck up water and cause leaks and need to be sealed, then it seems that stucco should also need to be sealed or painted with the correct elastomeric paint to make it shed water. 

vinyl siding sheds water much better on a large wall than unsealed stucco is. 

the felt should not be relied upon to stop water going into the house.

step one is to take the trim off the first floor door and see the problem that is there. 

one more question. what would be the flashing detail where the mud sill ends and the exposed walk out foundation begins? should the felt have been extended down over all the block wall? i've never seen anything like that done, but there has got to be a way to stop any water that is getting to the felt of the first floor framed wall, from going behind the stucco of the basement foundation stucco and leaking into the windows.


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## BC Maryland (Mar 11, 2008)

*Leaking stucco*

Sounds to me that the windows are not properly flashed. Stucco is thin and absorbs water, You probably have condensation on the back of the wire lath wich is draining into your block cells. We usally like to put drip ledges at the bottom of the stucco to wick water out. Start with your windows and doors and check for flashing. Unfortunetly stucco is hard to repair and make it look like it was all done at one time. It might be astetically better to remove larger sections of stucco around the door and apply new wire lath and new stucco to make sure it does not look like a patch job. 

Good luck.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

you don't think that sealing it or putting that paint on the whole thing will make the stucco shed water so it's not absorbing it and leaking

it's almost like there should have been a continuous drip cap where the foundation stops and the wall starts. and then just stucco the concrete wall of the foundation wall below that drip cap to match. i know they have expansion joints(metal) in the area close to where the rim joist would be and the foundation starts but that's not shedding any water. 

what is the best way to flash a masonry window, these are flush with the outside of the block, perhaps they should have been recessed back in like normal 32x15 hopper windows are. 
the drip cap on these basement doors and windows are almost useless if there is nothing behind that stucco to shed the water out and over the drip cap. water is easily going behind it. and that's why it's leaking so bad. i will get out there this weekend to take some pics of the house to give you guys a better idea of what it is i'm dealing with,

keep the suggestions coming. i appreciate it greatly!


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## BC Maryland (Mar 11, 2008)

*stucco*

Thats probably the cheapest method.
Paint it and seal it, Pay attention above the windows to thouroghly cover the stucco.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Without knowing the exact details of the construction, it is hard to say the best method to repair it. If what you are calling "drip cap" is actually flashing then it is probably done correctly. As for water penetration through 3-coat stucco, it is not normally an issue unless there are visible cracks. Since you say it is not painted, I will assume that it is integrally colored?

If so, and if there are no visible cracks (and the drip cap is actually flashing), then the chances are that the stucco is not the issue at all, so it would probably not be a good option to paint it. Elastomerics are only worth the money if there is some spiderwebb cracking, as a rule. There are many good invisible sealers for stucco/stone/brick/CMU. They are cheap and maintanence free for 5-10 years.

The reason chimenys are a special case is because of their shape and exposure. They should always be sealed regardless.


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## Bamalam999 (Sep 1, 2017)

I would be interested on how you made out. I have the exact same problem in a house with prettt much the same setup as the one you described. With the leaking coming in the lower level around rhe windows on the walkout. We have looked at all the pictures during construction and all the windows appear to have been properly flashed and sealed.as well as the wood frame walls on the upper level. There doesnt appear to be any cracks around the windows or doors yet there is still leakage particularly with when high winds. 

I realize this post is a decade old...... just hoping for the best.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

...


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

If you must know how stucco works, there is supposed to be an allowance for drainage behind it, we now use a drainage mat that goes behind such things. Stucco isnt water proof, look up vapordrive, water gets pushed into the back of it, then simply should drip down and out


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

I should edit a post above, but where it transitions from wood frame to concrete there should be flashing with a way to allow moisture out.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Hence a "weep screed".


Mike.
_______________


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## Rio (Oct 13, 2009)

With the two layers of #15 building paper behind the stucco lath on wood framing (required at shear walls in Cali but a good idea to do the whole house), the stucco sticks to the first layer and wrinkles it a little in front of the rear pieces of building paper, which makes for a good drainage plane, guess it would work for tyvek or other products also.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

From 08.... people should be fed tofu for resurrecting old threads lol


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

JBM said:


> From 08.... people should be fed tofu for resurrecting old threads lol




Or maybe,brown rice,seaweed and dirty hot dogs,as Bob Dylan would say.:laughing:


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