What's Included
The stucco repair process for Lake Mary homes
Rusted lath behind chimney stucco
Water that gets behind stucco rusts metal lath and nails, Preservation Brief 22 explains, and the finish eventually loses its bond and pulls away. That is the reason Florida's code (section R703.7.1) insists on corrosion-resistant lath and attachments.
Rust bleeding through the surface, a hollow sound and stucco that gives when pressed all point to lath trouble. If the lath behind a section of your Lake Mary chimney has corroded, our team replaces it with corrosion-resistant lath and fasteners before the new coats go on, and prices that work apart from the finish.
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 Lake Mary 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.
Cleaning stucco without damaging it
Stucco can be cleaned, gently. Preservation Brief 22 describes cleaning with a low-pressure water wash, supplemented by scrubbing with soft natural bristle brushes, and notes that algae, mold and metallic stains can be removed with poultices and appropriate solvents.
The brief also warns that dirt on heavily textured stucco can be hard to remove without taking some of the texture with it, so our team works slowly on your Lake Mary chimney. Cleaning also shows the true condition of the finish, and any crack hidden under the growth is added to the repair plan.
When full restucco is the better repair
Complete replacement is rarely the first choice. Preservation Brief 22 treats it as necessary mainly when deterioration is extreme, with the bond lost across a large share of the surface, or when earlier incompatible repairs have compromised the stucco so badly that patching would not succeed.
If sounding shows that much of the stucco on your Lake Mary chimney has let go, our team explains why a full restucco is the sounder repair and what it involves, from the backing to the final coat. When the call is close, you get both the patch option and the restucco option in writing.
