What is Stucco?
Stucco is a mix of cement, sand and other ingredients which is often used to provide siding for residential homes.
Nowadays there are two types of stucco. There is cement stucco and EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finish), which is synthetic. In Europe stucco is used a lot because unlike in US the homes there are built from stone and concrete. In USA stucco has proven to be detrimental to wood homes due to its tendency to leak and allow water damage.
Why Replace Stucco?
In Oregon stucco homes are exposed to about 8 months of harsh rain and that can cause a lot of problems. Water damage is often hard to detect until the home has been severely compromised. Usually stucco generates minor expansion cracks, like concrete and that’s one of the primary ways for water to get through. Another way for water to get trough stucco is soaking. Unless the stucco mix is carefully created using high quality ingredients, stucco may allow water to seep in. Additionally, poor quality of paint not strong enough to repel water may also cause serious water damage to your home.
EIFS is synthetic and can come in one coat or two coat systems. It’s been known that water gets behind the EIFS system and can’t get out. Trapped moisture can cause wall rot outside and inside your homes and attract termites which will also cause a lot of extensive damage to your home. Numerous houses in the USA are suffering from wood rot, caused by their EIFS coating.
Negative Effects of Stucco On The Value of Your Home
Issues with stucco may drive down the value of your home and make it more difficult to sell. Even for home owners who tried to prevent water damage by diligently maintaining their home it’s much more difficult to sell because of the well known issues of the stucco siding. Most buyers simply don’t want to risk it and buy a home which may have potential problems.
Our professional crew has worked on many stucco homes in Oregon. We have a wide variety of quality siding products you can choose from which are not only designed to withstand the harsh effects of weather in Oregon but also make your home beautiful and easier to maintain.
