[JBarracks]

I have a couple of small vertical cracks starting under a couple of windows and water is getting under the stucco it seems. Does anyone know of someone who repairs stucco professionally?

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by JBarracks

I have a couple of small vertical cracks starting under a couple of windows and water is getting under the stucco it seems. Does anyone know of someone who repairs stucco professionally?

We also had strep cracks, House was close to needing paint. Steve Kling fixed the cracks when he painted

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Originally Posted by JBarracks

I have a couple of small vertical cracks starting under a couple of windows and water is getting under the stucco it seems. Does anyone know of someone who repairs stucco professionally?

If they are hair line cracks Sherwin Williams sells a Stucco crack sealer in a caulking tube. Fill the crack with the patch and clean the surface good. Make sure you clean it right away. This generally does the trick. Len

[Challenger]

Originally Posted by JBarracks

I have a couple of small vertical cracks starting under a couple of windows and water is getting under the stucco it seems. Does anyone know of someone who repairs stucco professionally?

If the cracks are very narrow, Buy some white caulk and a caulk gun . Squeeze a bead in to the cracks and smooth out with finger or thumb . Paint over with original color house paint . The process is used by most people or their painters.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Challenger

If the cracks are very narrow, Buy some white caulk and a caulk gun . Squeeze a bead in to the cracks and smooth out with finger or thumb . Paint over with original color house paint . The process is used by most people or their painters.

If you use caulk, don't use the cheap latex caulk. You need to use an exterior grade, masonry repair caulk. You may want to ask a masonry contractor about what type of caulk would be best for your situation.

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If you use caulk, don't use the cheap latex caulk. You need to use an exterior grade, masonry repair caulk. You may want to ask a masonry contractor about what type of caulk would be best for your situation.

If you use caulk buy 10 yr exterior latex caulk. Try to buy a color close to your house color and make sure you clean it with a damp cloth. You should get away without painting. Other wise get the Sherwin Williams masonry patch for your caulking gun, also make sure you clean in very good. 10 year latex caulk will last as long as any paint job in Florida.

[Topspinmo]

I use the bucket of stucco patch, use putty knife and force into crack they over lay that use rag to tamp it somewhat to original contoured then paint it. Usually no visible sign. I see house that have the chalk repair. You can see the crack and it looks like crap? Eventually they didn’t do it right?

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Originally Posted by topspinmo

i use the bucket of stucco patch, use putty knife and force into crack they over lay that use rag to tamp it somewhat to original contoured then paint it. Usually no visible sign. I see house that have the chalk repair. You can see the crack and it looks like crap? Eventually they didn’t do it right?

Amen. That's why the cleaning part is so necessary. Len

[Elmartin3]

I had the same thing used Josiah Testerman to fix the cracks and He used repainted with Sherwin Williams best Stucco paint

[MOMOH]

Are you sure the water is getting in from the cracks? I had the same thing, and it turned out that it wasn't the crack, but the window frame. Fortunately, the window company has a lifetime guarantee and sent a new frame for free. It look a little while to figure out, and yes, the cracks have to be fixed, but they weren't the culprit.

[MandoMan]

Stucco is a wonderful wall finish that can last for decades. Its big weakness is leaks from window penetrations, especially if the windows weren’t carefully flashed. (The building codes have very picky requirements for flashing, and I don’t know if all buildings at The Villages were built to that level. The codes have changed a lot in the past twenty years.) This is less of a problem with houses that have wide eaves, two to four feet, but that can lead to a wind lift problem. If the tops of windows are high enough so they are sheltered by the eaves, that helps. Horizontal rain is a problem. What often happens is that water runs down a wall when it rains, then into the crack between the wall and the top of the window frame, down the sides, then into the wall structure below the window. (Flashing is designed to keep that water from getting in and to guide out any water that does get in.) If you have a concrete block house covered with stucco, that isn’t too serious. If you have a wood frame house behind the stucco, sometimes that water reaches the wood, which makes it swell and even rot. When the wood swells, it can crack the stucco. Often a crack in stucco isn’t a big deal, but the water running into the wall CAN be a big deal. Replacing a window frame without replacing the flashing opens the way to more leaking, but replacing the flashing means pulling out about four to six inches of stucco all the way around, and it isn’t easy to do a perfect repair and match the color. It’s SO much better to do it right the first time.

One thing to check is whether any water is landing on your stucco or windows when your sprinklers are running. While stucco is pretty forgiving about water, it should not be sprinkled on a regular basis. It may be that the crack has occurred in a place where the sprinkler is wetting the wall.

While caulking a crack can make it hard to see, caulking a crack below a window caused by water getting behind the stucco just keeps the water behind the stucco, where it can do more damage.

If water is NOT getting in from the top of your window but is getting in from horizontal rain that hits the lower window or the horizontal crack below that window, here is a cheap fix that might work. Go to Lowe’s and buy an 8’ length of aluminum or vinyl flashing. Cheap. Cut it with scissors or tin snips or a utility knife so it’s an inch longer than the window frame on each side. Tape the TOP of this piece of flashing to the BOTTOM of the window or the window frame. You might get by with a piece of 2” packing tape to hold it in place. Better is a piece of aluminum tape (not aluminum colored duck tape). Tape only the top, not the bottom. If water hits the window, it runs onto the flashing and is guided away from the wall. Because the flashing is open at the bottom, water doesn’t get stuck behind it. Then, if you caulk the crack after the wall has dried out, you are less likely to cause a problem. This sort of flashing is available in several colors.

[Tsalla Apopka]

I had a similar situation and when I was replacing a vanity the wall board on the inside needed replacement. Inside the wall under the window was a black mold mess from the water leak.
Had to replace window and clear up mold before the vanity went in.

[Tsego58]

Not rocket science if the crack is large enough to put a dime in it the mortar has failed apply stucco repair which is mortar. Let it dry just before you paint it get it wet then paint it. If you cant put a dime os was a dry spot in the stucco. Go to ace for 3006 caulk and then paint they also sell the best stucco repair and they know their stuff.