Point 9 of my 12 point list of methods for reducing cracking in portland cement stucco

Point 9 of my 12 point list of methods for reducing cracking in

portland cement stucco

Point nine - Protecting the work after it's finished.


	Badly cracked up and loose stucco caused by leaking roof cap	An ounce of prevention is worth 3,000 lbs. of cure. Whole wall is stripped down to block. This assures a nice job. Patches almost always show.

	The culprit was this roof cap. Water runs right down the cove in the cap and gets behind the stucco.	Bottom cap is removed and pushed under the upper cap. The overlap prevents water infiltration. This would have been prevented if the bottom piece was put on first, 30 years ago.

Protecting the work after it's finished is out of the control of the plasterer. All I can
do is insist that things like roof caps are done, but I don't put them on.
The material we work with lasts pretty much forever, as long as water doesn't
run behind the wall.
This example of a block wall is bad enough. Wood framed walls require more
attention. If the wall isn't capped immediately after the stucco is finished,
water infiltration can cause warping of the framing lumber, cracking the stucco.
Lack of
coping flashing damages stucco

Badly spalled block and stucco
wall will have a new roof cap when we
replace the stucco.

		We put on a kick out flashing to divert water into the gutter. Not beautiful, but it keeps water from running behind the wall.
	All horizontal members on tudor style stucco should be flashed , like over windows, before the metal lath goes on.

Why wait until it looks like this?