Soft Stucco - Stucco Damage

Whenever you come across a home with soft stucco damage, there is a very good chance that there won't be a weep screed installed at the bottom of the stucco.

A weep screed allows the moisture that gets into the stucco a path out at the bottom of the stucco wall. The weep screed also separates the stucco wall from the moisture in the ground.

In a situation like the picture above, the builder stuccoed the wall about 6 inches below the concrete footing and then someone poured a concrete sidewalk next to the stuccoed wall.

Any moisture that the concrete sidewalk retains can easily be absorbed into the stucco wall. This might be hard to imagine, but the stuccoed wall can easily pulled moisture from the soil and concrete sidewalks up the wall about 3 feet.

If you look at the picture above, you will easily see that this stucco damage is about 36 inches from the ground. It's hard to imagine, that the concrete sidewalk will actually absorb moisture from the ground and then transfer it to the stucco wall, creating the possibility of stucco damage later on.

One of the biggest problems with soft stucco damage occurs once someone paints the stuccoed wall. The paint will actually keep any moisture in the stucco that gets absorbed into it through the ground or tiny small spots in the stucco that weren't painted.

Home Repair Tip: You're going to need to remove the damage stucco and replace it. When you do remove the damaged soft stucco, make sure that you install a weep screed and make sure that your soil or concrete sidewalks, aren't touching the weep screed.

One of the worst things that you could do is bury the weep screed in soil or pour concrete up against it.