Stucco & Exterior Work in Claremont, CA
Stucco patches, siding repair and trim work for older Claremont houses, starting with the flashing and drainage that keep the wall behind them dry.
Stucco on an older Claremont house is only the outer skin. What actually stops rain is the paper under it, the flashing at each opening and a way out for water at the foot of the wall. When a window head or sill corner lets water past, it soaks into sheathing nobody sees. So the work starts by following that water, closing the gaps it uses and giving it a path out before any new finish goes on.
Finding the leak behind the finish
Old stucco was usually applied over wood lath or board sheathing wrapped in building paper, and that paper does the real waterproofing. Age and movement tear it, and after that every hairline crack becomes a way in. We start at the openings, checking window and door heads, sill corners and the joints around vents and pipes. At the base of the wall, a weep screed should let trapped moisture drain, so where soil or paving has buried it we open the lowest course, fit one and pull the grade back. Where a lower roof ends against a wall, a small kickout flashing turns its runoff into the gutter.
Keeping the trim and the lines of the house
Wood trim gives an older stucco house much of its look: the casing around each window, the belly band between floors and the boards along the eaves. Wherever those pieces are sound, they stay on the house. We cut the stucco back from each one with a clean edge, add a drip cap over the window heads and fill the joint with flexible caulk on a backer rod, which lets wood and plaster move without pulling apart. A piece with a soft spot gets the rot cut out and a new block of the same species glued in, then primer and paint so its end grain stays dry.
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Stucco & Exterior in Claremont: common questions
Usually. Texture is the easier half, since a plasterer can copy a dash, float or hand-troweled finish by eye. Color is harder, because cement dries lighter than it looks wet. We let a trial patch cure fully before judging it, and on a wall with many repairs, one color coat across the whole face keeps any patch from standing out.
Most come from movement or water. A fine web of cracks across a whole wall usually means the finish coat shrank as it cured. Cracks that run at an angle from a window or door corner suggest a header or framing that has shifted. A crack with rust streaks or a soft, bulging patch beside it points to wet lath, so we open a small section and look.
That depends on how far the rot has gone. A board that is sound except at its ends or bottom edge can be saved with a hardening epoxy, filler and fresh paint. Where rot runs right through, we mill a replacement to the same profile and reveal so it lines up with the boards beside it. Before closing up, we look at the paper and flashing behind.
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