More on flashing and coping:

About patio walls.

A prospect called me about putting stucco on their townhouse in Northeast Washington, DC.

The house is leaking real bad. The water isn't coming through the bricks. The water is coming from the coping. Really, this is old damage, the house is 80 years old. Note the window on the right below. The top has deteriorated and has formed a water funnel.

Stones will be used to cap the top.

Spalling bricks indicate the flashing and/or coping is leaking.

Stucco on the house won't stop the leak. I can't stucco the house until I inspect the flashing and the coping and correct them.

Mortar joints always leak.

The side of the house is the same way. Spalling bricks near the top and not the bottom indicate the coping and/or flashing is leaking. This may be old damage that was corrected, but probably not corrected totally. The house continues to leak.

Loose areas are knocked off, and wall is chipped about every four inches or so for our chipping and bonding method of stucco over painted stucco.

The old 1943 coping on these townhouses was steel and rusts through with time. Here are two townhouses, one the coping was painted and the other has rusty coping. Aluminum wasn't widely used until the 1960's.

Ceramic tubes are usedfor weeps

Nothing to do with flashing and coping but look how ugly these electric meters are. Someone with poor taste put the meter right by the front door instead of arund the side of the house.