The outer coat pulls away from the lath, building paper and sheathing underneath, and the wall sounds hollow where it should feel solid. A crack or a hole is damage you can see on the surface. Delamination is a failure of what holds the stucco on, so it keeps spreading until the wall is opened and the bad layers are fixed. Below: how we map the hollow area, what we replace behind the stucco, and the price range.
Finding where the bond has failed
The first job is mapping the problem. We mark the hollow areas with tape, so the dead spots and the solid wall around them are laid out where you can see them. The edge of the tape is the edge of the repair. Patching only the spot that caught your eye leaves the loose stucco beside it to keep separating. We also look past the hollow area for staining or soft spots, since the separation can start somewhere you can't see from the ground.
See also stucco flashing and drainage repair. Ready to hire for stucco repair in Santa Fe? Start with our home page.
Helpful next: Insurance Claims for Stucco Repair: What to Document · Warning Signs You Need Stucco Repair
What we find behind the stucco
Stucco sits on lath, over building paper, over sheathing, and delamination usually means one of those layers has failed. Once the wall is open we inspect all three. Water that got past the paper can rust the lath and rot the paper or the sheathing, and any of those lets the stucco lose its grip. Santa Fe has occasional winter freezes, so the wall also goes through some freeze-thaw movement, which doesn't help a bond that is already loose. Until the wall is open we can't say whether the damage is one layer or all three.
The repair
Anything rotted or rusted comes out and gets replaced. We don't patch over bad lath, paper or sheathing, because the stucco will only fail again. New building paper goes on lapped over the surrounding paper, so the laps shed water outward and away from the wall. The finish goes back over sound material. The materials are basic: building paper, and tape for marking the work area. The result depends on what's behind the wall, not on special equipment.
What delamination repair costs
Delamination repair runs $1,350 to $4,950 per wall section. The cheapest jobs are a contained hollow area where the lath and sheathing turn out to be sound. The price climbs when we open up rusted lath or rotted sheathing, or when the separation runs farther than the surface showed, because we're replacing more material and working deeper in the wall.
What to Expect to Pay
Most jobs land inside these ranges, and we'll go over what pushes a job toward either end.
$725–$2,250
$2,700–$9,000
$2.50–$7 per sq. ft.
Details of the Work
Spelled out, a few of the specifics:
- Tap the stucco with a knuckle or plastic-handled screwdriver, and mark hollow-sounding areas with tape.
- Cut out the delaminated area with a diamond-blade circular saw or angle grinder, extending the cut 6–12 inches beyond the hollow-sounding edge to reach solid stucco.
Also Available
Phone us and describe the job, and you decide what happens next.