The exterior of my house is stucco, which I feel should be illegal in the Midwest or anywhere with hot summers and cold winters. In previous years (been here for 15 years) I’ve had zero luck finding a stucco repair company/person in my area that doesn’t charge an insane amount of money for basic repairs. Now this happened. Water was getting behind the stucco for some time as seen by the water damage here. The wall came off after repeated days of heavy wind and rain. The few people I’ve called out to inspect and quote me are either asking way too much ($3,250 in one case) to being reasonable but have alarmingly terrible reviews (took deposit and didn’t do work, etc).

I was hanging with some friends and they said that they’d help me repair this for a case of beer. They convinced me it’s pretty simple: replace the wood, slap some stucco on it, and let it dry. Then do it again.

Is it really that simple? I’ve decided I’m going to try this myself. I’ve already bought the plywood strips and just need to wait until the weather cooperates (area is currently covered by plastic sheeting.

Please help a frustrated homeowner take matters into his own hands.

Stucco just finished on our remodel and there are what seems to be some unfinished areas. The weep screed needed to be raised to accomodate future pavers and be even on both sides, but this area right under will be exposed as it sits above/even the front door threshold. Can this metal be finished to match? Was something missed? Thank you!

What do you guys think?

Got some roof work done and now I need to repair this stucco wall. I've never worked on stucco before so I'm wondering is this is something worth attempting to DIY. I've watched a few videos on stucco repair. Would it just be a matter of installing OSB, paper, mesh, then stucco? Any advice is welcome.

We also got a repair quote of $800 total for this repair, wondering if that is fair? Thanks.

Doing a remodel and the stucco guys just finished. Standing on the sidewalk there are big cloudy patches all along the top of the wall, sort of swirly, like someone wiped it with a rag. Maybe a couple of feet across each.

The bottom of the wall looks fine. It's mostly up high.

It was a grey day when I took these so I'm guessing it's more obvious in the sun.

Is this normal and it'll even out, or is it something they need to fix?

Wanting to paint my house but can’t decide if this is a job for stucco painters or I need an engineer…this is where my flat roof supporting my enclosed patio meet my stucco house walls.

Any advice is appreciated. This is first coat after window install

Our experience with Caviglia Construction and Mario Caviglia has been extremely frustrating, particularly because of serious communication problems, lack of follow-through, and unresolved construction-quality issues. During the construction of our home, there were periods of several months when Mario stopped communicating with us. Near the end of the project, communication again stopped even though work remained incomplete. The same pattern continued when we later raised warranty and construction-quality concerns.

The stucco problems have been particularly frustrating. Although Mario agreed that the stucco would be addressed, we repeatedly requested a clear repair methodology, written plan, and schedule without receiving a satisfactory resolution.

The communication became so poor that we ultimately had to hire an attorney simply to help communicate with the contractor and attempt to obtain resolution of outstanding construction and warranty issues.

edit: TIL lime wash is a great option for phased DIY rehab, especially given the condition of the stucco in the photo. Thanks!

Minnesota here. Will a fog coat on this wall be more durable than oxy-wash and two spray coats of SW Loxon? I've seen advice from Ed Daher and the Stucco Guy, so of course I am an expert. /s I think this 1920's stucco was never painted. It comes off chalky on my hand. I could prep and apply a fog coat myself in phases. Seems like that would cover exposed areas while allowing the wall to breathe and maintaining the texture. Or, I could pay a painter. But then I'd have a painted stucco house that will need a new coat every few years, right? Is there a right or wrong way, or is it really just a matter of personal taste?

We had 4 days of solid rain and I noticed water on the inside of my window. I have a leak somewhere which I believe could be from the shitty stucco patch job from the previous owner, coming in through the expansion joint, or coming down from the cracks above. I have someone coming out to look, but am I on the right track? Thoughts?

Our outside pillar column is made of foam stucco material I guess and a piece of the bottom corner broke off from a fallen package that hit it.
We still have the broken pieces but I assume they probably can’t be used to fix it, but can anyone please give me guidance on how I should fix this myself?
I’ve watched a lot of helpful YouTube videos on the subject but I can’t find anything close to the size or shape of my broken piece.

Also, this is my very first reddit post so hopefully I did this correctly 😅

I’m a homeowner going through a renovation and the stucco just finished. Looking for some honest feedback.

The expansion joints were never discussed with me, so they were a surprise. I was told they help prevent cracking, but I’m already seeing some hairline cracks a week later.

Also, there are a few areas where chunks of stucco splattered onto the finished wall. Some came off just by gently rubbing them, but others are thicker and stuck on.

I know smooth stucco is unforgiving and lighting can make things look worse, but something still feels off to me. My GC says this is really good stucco work and smooth finishes are just difficult.

Hi,

I have a house that is partially done in stucco. This was done about 13 years ago. There is a weep screed that is about 4 inches above grade all over the house, with the exception of one small section (part in photo). Stucco has been fine, however, recently we had a problem with flooding and water intrusion in one section of our house. As such, we had a waterproofer come in to solve the flooding problem with changing the grade and installing an outdoor sump pump. Part of the solution, however, resulted in grade above the weep screed along about 8 feet of the house. I know this is going to be a problem some day but is there any solution that will prolong the life of the stucco other than reducing the grade back to where it was? I'm trying to avoid that because flooding in the house was not fun.

Thank you for looking!

I posted the other day, but thought I would post some better photos of the current situation. The builder agreed to put on a mesh and cover all the cracks and his home depot team made worse.

I found a stucco guy with a lot of experience and he told me its already too thick at the edges by the black reveals, and the only way he could fix this is to "fill reveals with acryl 60 fortified type S mortar" and then apply a mesh embedded polymer cement base coat, and color matched synthetic stucco."

I got some feedback the other day that the filled reveals will definitely start cracking in the future if he did this. I asked the guy and he said he felt confident because he has seen walls much larger with no expansion joints that never cracked. If I do not do this I am not sure what other options I have to make this better. So just not sure what to do.

Just wanted to see if this is normal? I can peel it off completely. I just dont know if i can just patch it or if there is another reason why it cracks. Someone told me its because there is no flashing in the post.