Stucco and yard maintenance? (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho: real estate, crime rate, new house)

[rgmacm]

What is involved in taking care of stucco? (painting, repairs) Does stucco even have to be "repaired"? Does it deteriorate with weather? Are termites an issue - do they get in stucco...or are there even termites IN New Mexico?

IN preparation for a "possible" move to the area, I've been perusing the real estate websites and most homes are made of the stucco and it has created so many questions for us...I love it, but am wondering about time and expense involved in maintaining this very new housing material for us....

We really want a home with at least a little bit of grass. If I find the "perfect" house and it has rock in the yard, what is involved in changing that? Is it so time consuming or expensive that I just need to "hold out" for a house that is a better "fit" for us or is making that change a possibility?

How expensive is it to maintain grass in the desert climate (water costs?)
IN Tulsa where we live, Ozone Alert days dictate when we can mow...is that an issue in Albuquerque?
Is gardening something i just need to give up or can I still manage to grow some things? ( )

Thank you for any information you can give...

[mrgoodwx]

I know I've seen stucco work being performed on houses...but our house in ABQ is 35 years old and has never had any stucco work. It still looks okay. If I were going to build a new house around here, I'd probably go with stucco...and a metal roof.

You may want to read everything you can on the water authority web site:
Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority - Home

They just made some changes. I can't recall the details, but I think that if your summer use exceeds 3 times your winter use, the surcharge is now 100%. If you can get a yard with native plants...that would probably be a good thing.

Mowing and ozone alerts don't go together here. Most of the air quality issues are in the winter when inversions trap particulates in the lower (usually below 500 feet or so) atmosphere over the valley floor. During the winter, we have "burn" versus "no burn" days. If conditions are ripe for low ventilation, you can't use your fireplace unless you have an exemption. During the mowing season, the atmosphere tends to be a lot more active and ozone pooling is not a significant issue.

[Zoidberg]

Stucco will typically need to be repaired about once every 20 or so years, give or take on exact location and quality of the work.

There are termites in NM, but they are pretty uncommon. Since termites eat wood, and stucco is usually attached to wood framing, they could conceivably be an issue, but I've never heard of termite problems with stucco houses.

If you want a house with grass, buy one. In Albuquerque in particular, newer houses are severely restricted from planting much of their lot with grass. Older houses can have wall-to-wall grass.

Expect to pay for that lawn, though. To keep grass alive and healthy here it can run up to a hundred dollars per month in the summer, depending on how large it is.

I strongly encourage you to look at wetter areas of the state to move to, as they are easier to garden in. Near the mountains and near the valleys tend to be best. Note that these are usually places with older homes. The biggest difficulties with gardening here are regular watering, too much sun/heat, and winter freezes (the last of which is a much bigger problem than most newcomers realize).

NM is a desert; I hope you have a compelling reason to move to the desert and bring your lush green lifestyle with you; many people here prefer the desert instead.

[Poncho_NM]

About five years ago one of my neighbors had a wonderful ~1200 square foot lawn and a $300 per month water bill. They watered a lot, perhaps too much.


Rich

[mrgoodwx]

Oh...one thing I forgot about gardening: We live up against the mountains. The deer and rabbits will "take care" of your garden (vegetables, roses, and other stuff). That may not be (not sure) an issue in other parts of the city, though.

[rybert]

It should be mentioned that an EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finishing Sytem...it's a an insulated panel with stucco on it, probably most of the new construction in ABQ uses EIFS) attracts some bugs. Make sure to keep any cracks neatly sealed.

[rgmacm]

Thank you for your very helpful responses...





more questions that came up after reading your responses.... sorry....

• is stucco work on homes cosmetic or something that is necessary to maintain the structural soundness?
• Rybert: bugs in the houses? No, I'm not afraid of bugs...but will take steps to get them out of my kitchen... ha!!! Is the sealing something you can do yourself or must be hired out? Seems it might be hard on upper levels... Can it be put on older homes?
• Are there native grasses that would use minimal water and still give our ourdoor dogs something that wouldn't hurt their paws...The "grass" thing is for the dogs probably more than for the people. As much as we love our dogs, we have thought it might be wise to leave them in Oklahoma with Grandma...But I'm meeting with some resistance from teens on that one.... Maybe the solution is to leave the TEENS in Oklahoma.... (just kidding!!)
• Is this $100/mo for watering based on wall-to-wall grass...I've seen several homes with grass patches of what looks to be 12 x 12 or so. That would be enough to give the dogs a place to lie down...would it really cost that much for that small of a section?
• What areas (suburbs) would you suggest we look...We've looked at Moriarty, but eliminated that when someone said they didn't have paved roads. Then looked at Las Lunas and Belen, then read that gang and drug activity is really bad there... Next idea was RioRancho and we love that one, but it is almost too far north for my husbands commute. Now we're looking at Ventana Ranch or Paradise Hills but that too is pretty far north and the crime rate statistics seems to be much higher there than RioRancho...this is hard!!!! ---and frustrating!!!

Someone asked if we had a compelling reason to be moving away from a place we currently love...
Well, Albuquerque holds a job --and jobs provide income...and income provides groceries...we thought that was compelling enough! ha!!

"Moving" is hard, but we will make the best of it and am sure we will grow to love Albuquerque as much as we have loved Tulsa for the last 22 years. People are either happy or unhappy and it most often has less to do with location and more to do with personalities.

Answers to my "follow up" questions would be much appreciated...thanks!

[rybert]

You can buy sealant (like any other silicon) at your local hardware store. Stucco is only a skin of a building, like wood paneling or brick. In traditional adobe homes it is an integral part of the building envelope (not structural, but integral). You wouldn't want to remove the stucco from a 1800's home and replace it with Sears vinyl siding.

There are native grasses. Grama (it's native, right?), Buffalo, etc.

We have about... let's see... 10'x30' + 15'x8'... 420 sq ft of grass... plus an old water heater... with two pretty efficient people living in the home (my wife and me)... we paid $43 for June.

Rio Rancho is probably a pretty safe bet (no pun intended) for less crime (no, I don't like RR, but the truth is the truth).

I'm biased toward Moriarty, but we lived there when I was in High School. The main roads are paved, but yes, you would probably need a 4x4 for the mud/snow.

Did I miss a reason for the burbs? The Albuquerque metro is pretty much one giant burb.

[Zoidberg]

Since stucco is all that is between your structural elements and the rain and snow, totally neglecting it may eventually result in problems with the structure. It will look hideous before it gets near that point.

There is a continuum of grasses, and many of the more local ones do better on water consumption but aren't as green or as wear-hardy. Most of Albuquerque's parks and athletic fields use wear-hardy varieties that are heavy water users.

I seriously doubt the little patch lawns will set you back that much in water bill.

Moriarty doesn't have paved roads? That's news to me and I drive through there occasionally.

Try looking south of Belen (Socorro, Bernardo, Lemitar, Alamillo/San Acacia, Sabinal). Very rural, very green-friendly, and still not so far away from the big city that you'd be totally isolated. You can also try the South Valley outside the city limits (Isleta Blvd, Coors Blvd between the city limits and I-25). Some patches of for-gods-sake-don't-go-there but some nice patches too.

The west side is not for everybody, and it doesn't sound like a good fit for your needs (that won't stop people recommending it, for some odd reason).

[GregW]

I just saw a blurb about installing a long strand astroturf lawn in a desert area. Instead of mowing you vacuum it once a month and wash it once a year.

There are several kinds of stucco ranging from pure lime/sand to portland cement. They behave differently over time.

PS - read the Wikkipedia article and links.