Houston Stucco homeowners (El Paso, Sugar Land, Spring: home builders, new construction, school)

[KenzHou]

Hi all, I'm in process of building an all Stucco home in SW Houston burbs, I see so many new construction in and around Houston of all Stucco homes. I wanted to hear from homeowners, how is maintenance? How often is Soft washing , Painting etc needed? Any moisture intrusion issues? This is assuming the traditional Hard Coat Stucco home, no synthetic stuff.

[Texas Ag 93]

I have a stucco house that was built in 2006. Bought it 2 years ago. No major maintenance needs to this point. I'm on the water, so power washing (low pressure) is a must and I've done it twice in the 2 years I've been here. Truth be told, doing it semi annually would probably be better and that's something we are going to start to do. When we bought it 2 years ago, we did some touch up painting here and there, but that's all that's been needed.

No moisture issues we were aware of when we purchased. I think that's more a problem with EIFS, not traditional stucco, isn't it? And even then, most of problems were with specific products a while back, iirc.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Well, you asked for it....

Interestingly, my wife and I were talking about this very subject this morning as I told her a house across our kids school was being worked on, it is a stucco house. Here in Montrose, I have see way too many stucco homes being repaired. I'm talking of more than a dozen at one time the last few months.

It may look nice, but they present problems when they leak water. The homes I've seen unmasked in Montrose had extensive water damage as well.

I know what you, and any other stucco home owner will say, something along the lines 'if it is done right, it will not leak'. Well, I would think that these $700K+ home builders said the same thing. Where I grew up in West Texas, stucco rules, however, it is dry most of the year, low humidity and a lot of the older houses are built with cinder blocks, not wood because wood is not an abundant resource out there.

I think the problem is that Houston has is unstable soils because of the clay, causing houses to move every so slightly. Stucco is basically like an eggshell around the frame of your home, and even a 1/16-1/8 movement will cause hairline cracks which let in water. You don't have the foundation movement in dry climates as much, if at all. The home I grew up in El Paso is stucco and has never needed repairs to this day, some 30+ years later.

The problem with stucco homes is you don't notice there is a problem until the damage becomes visible, and you hope and pray that underneath the damage is not extensive. Our neighbors across the street had theirs redone, it is a row of 3 town homes. You would never have thought there was a problem, but one day the middle unit was all stripped, after that one was redone they did the same on the next one, it too had a lot of damage. I feel sorry for the third unit, the owner must not be able to afford the repair work at this time. All were less than 8 years old. Lastly, one neighbor a couple of block away must have been alert because his stucco was redone, the house was not even one year old yet. There a lot of these in Montrose these days as it is cheaper to do these.

Anyway, if you have time, drive around Montrose, or East Montrose, and you will see many homes under repair at the moment because of damage caused by water on stucco homes. Personally, I would prefer not to have one, not saying I'd avoid it, 'just would rather avoid the risk.

[Aliana926]

My brother bought a townhouse around Kirby area. The seller had to discount the house 30k (he got 3 quotes to fix it) because there's a crack in the stucco and there's water damage due to the rain.

I agree, stucco looks nice. My neighbor has stucco...and now he regrets it. He said when the lawn guy trims and hits the stucco, it's scratching it and now it's cracking...the house is about 2 yrs old now.

[QuantumDischarge]

My friend who lives in Telfair has a stucco home (same builder as yours NewMark) which is about 8 years old and he hasn't faced any problems at all. I think its on luck because one of my family friend had 5k work done within 3 years or so.

[TotallyTexasBound]

Originally Posted by Aliana926

My brother bought a townhouse around Kirby area. The seller had to discount the house 30k (he got 3 quotes to fix it) because there's a crack in the stucco and there's water damage due to the rain.

I agree, stucco looks nice. My neighbor has stucco...and now he regrets it. He said when the lawn guy trims and hits the stucco, it's scratching it and now it's cracking...the house is about 2 yrs old now.

Sounds like they need to fire the lawn guy.

[azinwood]

no problems so far. 7 years in. knocks on wood.

[Sugarlandbubba]

I believe real stucco construction is fine. Most of the over $750k homes in Sugar Land are built with real stucco.

EFIS or synthetic stucco have had some problems in the past.

In the framing phase, I would ask the builder to add blocks at the bottoms, middle and top of the walls.

Make sure the house wraps are sealed properly.

There is a company in Katy called Stucco Check. I would call them to get more info.

[KenzHou]

Originally Posted by Sugarlandbubba

I believe real stucco construction is fine. Most of the over $750k homes in Sugar Land are built with real stucco.

EFIS or synthetic stucco have had some problems in the past.

In the framing phase, I would ask the builder to add blocks at the bottoms, middle and top of the walls.

Make sure the house wraps are sealed properly.

There is a company in Katy called Stucco Check. I would call them to get more info.

Thanks for the info

[nevlec]

I've got a stucco home in Spring- getting ready to have $17K in work done to repair it. However, I knew this going in when I bought it and had the price adjusted accordingly. It is beautiful, but I understand it needs maintenance - some sort of sealer that needs to be applied periodically (once a year I think) to limit moisture intrusion.