Stucco over wood

[fatjay]

Friend had a house built. 6 years later he has mold appearing on the inside of the house. Apparently the stucco wasn't done right and all the stucco needs to be removed. Quoted 150k for the job. The builder just refered him to the insurance company who offered him 16k to go awa. He had to hire a lawyer and fight it out, but eventually he got a check for 150k. Then he had to pay the lawyer a good deal of it.

My home is block all the way up, I built a generator shed and didn't do block all the way up but rather plywood, sealed it real good, and stucco'd it to match. Now i'm a bit concerned as my friend is saying there's apparently no way to seal it good enough to prevent moisture.

 

[RNeumann]

Millions of houses covered in stucco. Their is way more to your friends story. The moisture (coming from the outside) protection comes from the paper below the stucco. If that was tied in correctly to the existing building you have nothing to worry about. If you are scared that it wasn’t done correctly you can elastomeric that end of the structure- typically it’s two coats.

Edit-
Strike my last. You/they don’t know know what they were doing when they tied the new to the old. Your little building will suffer- no proper tie in on the stucco or roof. Your typical **** house job.

 

[EddieWalker]

Millions of houses covered in stucco. Their is way more to your friends story. The moisture (coming from the outside) protection comes from the paper below the stucco. If that was tied in correctly to the existing building you have nothing to worry about. If you are scared that it wasn’t done correctly you can elastomeric that end of the structure- typically it’s two coats.

Edit-
Strike my last. You/they don’t know know what they were doing when they tied the new to the old. Your little building will suffer- no proper tie in on the stucco or roof. Your typical **** house job.

I don't understand this Edit. The existing house was not opened up, nor was anything done to the existing house to compromise the integrity of the siding. What would you have done differently? I don't see how the new structure can affect the existing structure. I also don't see where it's going to leak or cause any problems.


Where I'm from in the California SF East Bay, just about every house has stucco. I'm sure new homes are being build with other siding products, but millions of them have stucco it's all done just like your picture of your add on. Tar paper and lathe, then a scratch coat and a finish coat. It's very simple, time proven and effective method of siding.

If your friends house wasn't done correctly, then they cut a corner somewhere along the process. I would be curious to see the pictures of the house after the stucco is removed. The water stains will show exactly what happened.

 

[fatjay]

I think he's referring to just the generator shed, and not the existing structure. As far as the roof goes, I used a high speed grinder to cut a groove an inch above where the roof ties into the house, put flashing in, and tar'd the seam in an effort to avoid water getting in there. So that area should be ok. As far as the seams along the walls i'm not sure. But my friend had it come strait through a flat exterior wall, it wasn't by a seam. He says that stucco is itself a permeable surface which water can get through. Then over time gets through the tar paper and the vapor barrier. Since my house is block it wouldn't really matter but behind his vapor barrier was plywood, thus the moisture issue.

I don't know about other areas of the country but in this area stucco has been going by the wayside because apparently my friends issue is a bit common according to his lawyer who has handled a few of these cases.

I certainly don't claim to be an expert in the least, i just use what makes sense to me and what i've been told by my contractor and other people who have gone through this.e

 

[RNeumann]

I don't understand this Edit. The existing house was not opened up, nor was anything done to the existing house to compromise the integrity of the siding. What would you have done differently? I don't see how the new structure can affect the existing structure. I also don't see where it's going to leak or cause any problems.


Where I'm from in the California SF East Bay, just about every house has stucco. I'm sure new homes are being build with other siding products, but millions of them have stucco it's all done just like your picture of your add on. Tar paper and lathe, then a scratch coat and a finish coat. It's very simple, time proven and effective method of siding.

If your friends house wasn't done correctly, then they cut a corner somewhere along the process. I would be curious to see the pictures of the house after the stucco is removed. The water stains will show exactly what happened.

The tie in between new and old isn’t done correctly. Not on the walls or roof. As soon as I zoomed in I noticed it.

 

[munnzach]

Don't trust anyone. This building will last a long time if you do it right. When I was building my workshop, I did the same thing.

 

[JPRambo]

My florida house is 2x6" exterior walls with 1/2" plywood, tar paper, wire lath and stucco. The only problem area I have had was the wall behind the water softener and airation tank. The house is 29 years old. I did not repaint that area ever. So moisture got into the stucco and rusted the nails holding the wire lath.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

The problem arises when water gets in behind the stucco / efis; usually around windows, doors, and chimney's. A well done efis job will last with no problems, but... most are not well done. North Carolina stucco homes from the 90's and 2000's are garbage.