Our Process
Inside a stucco repair on your Indian Mound Village chimney
Getting the stucco color close
Color is harder than texture. The brief notes that a close match can generally be approximated with sand and pigments, but it takes testing and comparing dried test samples with the original, and even the amount of water in the mix changes the color once it dries.
For an unpainted stucco chimney in Indian Mound Village, we mix and dry samples before the finish coat and show you how close they come. Where a small patch on a prominent face would still show, painting the whole chimney after the repair makes it read as one surface, and we price that option too.
Why sound masonry does not get new lath
It can seem like extra metal lath would make a stucco patch stronger. Preservation Brief 22 says that for the most part it is not advisable to insert metal lath when restuccoing masonry in sound condition. Fixing the lath damages the masonry, and the slightest moisture can rust the metal, which expands and spalls the stucco and possibly the masonry too.
Where the stucco on your Indian Mound Village chimney sits directly on sound block or brick, we bond the new coats straight to that surface. Lath goes back only where the chimney was built with it, such as a framed chase, and there it is corrosion-resistant as the code requires.
Identifying the stucco before repairing it
Preservation Brief 22 describes a simple test on a small piece. A dilute solution of hydrochloric acid dissolves lime-based stucco but not portland cement, which tells the plasterer which family the existing finish belongs to and what kind of repair mix will behave like it.
When the stucco type on your Indian Mound Village chimney is in doubt, our team tests a piece that is already coming loose, never sound stucco. The result goes on your estimate next to the mix we propose, so you can see why that material was chosen.
When the damage is in the framing
Stucco on a framed chase is only as good as the wood behind it. If water has rotted the sheathing or the framing, repairing the finish alone covers a structural problem, and that part of the job becomes chimney chase repair.
Our team tells you at the free inspection whether the trouble on your Indian Mound Village chimney stops at the stucco or goes into the chase. Where it goes deeper, the chase repair and the stucco finish are priced together, so one crew carries the job from framing to final coat.
