Bought our dream house five months ago. Well... Just realized that stucco was installed below grade. Basically it's been a giant sponge sucking up ground water. Waters leaking into crawlspaces... Rotted sills, termite damage galore... It's all such a mess...
Edit: Thank you everyone for the comments, I really appreciate the support!
Here are some great videos regarding stucco. Good luck with those stucco homes!!
https://youtu.be/8v117g6Qhe8
https://youtu.be/fM1pl8QcGDE
https://youtu.be/XnuznRkJtow
https://youtu.be/wHc03uhWGNQ
https://youtu.be/pieezQpcDsg
Also, Kirk Giordano is amazing!!!
Edit (edit): Trigger warning... Terrifying read about poorly built homes, many which were built with stucco... https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/housing/water-damage-home-construction-defects-rotting-toll-cutler-stucco-20181115.html
San Francisco is the only 'real' city (Los Angeles and San Diego are just glorified suburbs) but even San Francisco is a laughingstock compared to a real Mediterranean style city like Barcelona or Lisbon.
So why do hippie dippie Woke liberal do gooders gravitate toward this place?
My wife and I bought our current place about a year ago which is a 1920's stucco sided house with plaster walls throughout most of the house. There was virtually no insulation in most of the place. Over the last year, I've redone the one back bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen where I went down to the studs and was able to fit in new batt insulation then cover with sheetrock and those rooms heat/cool nicely and maintain their temps quite well. The other half of the house still has the original plaster walls, which we'd like to keep.
With the exterior of the house being stucco, if I decide to go with cellulose, I'm going to have to put hundreds of holes in the walls to try to get the cavities filled and I'm assuming make a huge mess of the house. With a spray foam, I'll still have to make the same amount of holes, but I'm guessing that maybe they'll be smaller and not create the same amount of dust as the cellulose.
I'm located in northern New Jersey and have a new gas forced hot air furnace and AC which was just installed when we moved in.
I guess I'm curious about what my best options may be and any downsides to either route to take. Since half of the house is fiberglass batts with sheet rock, is it even worth it to try and spray foam behind the plaster or is that just a waste?
I need to affix a horizontal 2x4 to the side of our house as part of a larger project, but dunno how to find the studs. My studfinder just ain't gonna do it on stucco.
It will be directly below a window (if that helps), conveniently near-ish the middle of the wall.
I used to do exterior house finishing and am curious what you guys think:
Does vinyl siding or stucco make a house look more McMansion-y? Which do you think is the uglier product in general?
A box containing some components for our solar setup on the exterior of our home has been partially pulled out of our stucco wall (here). I can't move the box without calling a contractor so I'd like to simply tighten it back down, but the screw hole is stripped. What's my best option for a quick fix?
I discovered a small 2ft hole in the exterior stucco wall of my house and need it repaired. Do you guys have any recommendations? It's a very small project, so I don't think large companies will take a job this small.
I was doing some house hunting lately. Every single stucco house has issues, some costs $100s to fix, some less. But they ALL have problems. This material is simply not suited for Houston's wet and humid environment. This terrible trend in the 2000s really gotta stop.
From my research, stucco is cheaper than brick or even hardie board. They are thinner, therefore allowing houses to be slightly bigger on the same slab. They are lighter than brick, so foundations can be built cheaper or not as strong as brick houses. Everything here benefits the builders. But 10 year down the road, home owners are left holding the bag with a house full of problems, cracking, leaking, wood rot. It is endless.
If we stop buying stucco, they will have to stop building stucco.
I know that there are specially designed stucco wall anchors used for holding heavy objects.
I just have a medium sized mailbox I want to mount:
Is it suffice to use the provided wall anchors, or do I need ones like the Buildex or Tapcon?
The previous owner of our house installed a wireless doorbell. When I pulled off the doorbell, I saw that there are wires that have been cut super short — about a half inch from the exterior stucco wall: https://imgur.com/a/uxNDbkA
I’ve found where these wires terminate: in a junction box in the downstairs hallway. They’re not connected to anything but there is “hot” romex in the box with the wires capped. I’m assuming at one point there was a transformer there.
I’d like to get a wired doorbell installed but I don’t think there’s enough slack to pigtail with a wire nut. The only other thing I can think of is something like a Wago connector but by the time I strip, I’m down to probably 1/4 inch and I don’t think that’ll be enough. Thoughts or suggestions?
After some back-and-forth, the Tonal team passed my preferred space. Finally got the installation date scheduled with Ryder today. Has anyone here installed their Tonal on stucco walls?
I've heard stories of the Ryder installation teams not being aware of some things noted on the pre-installation survey. Is this something I should let them know of?
I'm just trying to make their install date short and easy. I'd hate for another delay.
Same question as above. What's the necessary fix required here?
I’m mounting a 60lbs inverter on external stucco wall. It requires two 5/16 bolts. What fastener options do I have? I’m thinking lag bolt + lag shield or tapcon anchor, would they work?
I have an SMA sunny boy inverter and it needs two 5/16 or 8mm screws. What’s the best way to mount it to 3/4 stucco over 3/4 OSB?
Hello, recently got gutters installed in the summer to deal with an issue concerning water running off and bouncing off to lower walls.
However, now it seems that there was another issue all along with the roofing/trim/joint not sure what corner would be called where water is running through. Issue is water seems to be seeping under/through the joint and running under and I'm not sure if I'm dealing with rot or if I can just seal it (Don't wanna trap moisture where it cant get out).
Also, seems to be another issue down the wall with wet stucco as well that one is new and did not appear last year at my wits end with this stuff, should of just kept renting lol.
https://imgur.com/a/VE9jC3l link to pics of issue
Appreciate any advice anyone can give thank you in advance! :)
Hey all
Was wondering if anyone has tackled this in a somewhat easy manner. I have one of those old round doorbells and was hoping to throw on a G4 doorbell instead.
I can’t see a way to easily accomplish this without attempting to make some sort of adapter plate. This is extra complicated given that I’m renting and don’t want to fuck up the stucco too much.
My main concerns are:
- Having the doorbell sit flush with the stucco (but maybe some weather stripping or caulk could help here)
- the G4 being able to full cover the whole of the round doorbell.
- attaching the doorbell to the stucco with minimal drilling / damage
Anyone have any experience / tips on this?
