Learn Why Patching Or Painting Your Stucco Can Be Dangerous

Patching or painting your stucco can be very dangerous and if done incorrectly, may lead to structural damage and expensive repairs. Unlike other home building materials, cracks in stucco should not be painted over or quickly filled in because there is always the possibility of covering dangerous water damage that may threaten the structure of your home. This is very dangerous and a lack of experience may lead to far more serious issues, which is why it is always better to hire a professional stucco contractor to complete inspections and repairs of stucco for you.

Learn Why Patching Or Painting Your Stucco Can Be Dangerous — Stucco Wall Systems project photo

Patching or painting your stucco can be very dangerous and if done incorrectly, may lead to structural damage and expensive repairs. Unlike other home building materials, cracks in stucco should not be painted over or quickly filled in because there is always the possibility of covering dangerous water damage that may threaten the structure of your home. This is very dangerous and a lack of experience may lead to far more serious issues, which is why it is always better to hire a professional stucco contractor to complete inspections and repairs of stucco for you.

Stucco homes are beautiful but will experience wear and tear from different elements over time, especially in temperamental climates. Moisture and cold can both cause problems and the continuous cycle of warm and cold weather will cause stucco to expand and contract, resulting in cracks. As water and ice enter these cracks, they will become worse over time and allow moisture to enter right into the walls of your home, which will lead to mold and rotting and this is one of the reasons why you cannot just patch or paint over stucco, no matter how tempting and easy it may sound. Cracks may be an indication of a much bigger and more serious underlying problem, like water damage, and if that is the case, it must be looked at so that the proper repairs can be made.

Reaching for paint or caulk whenever you see cracks in stucco may seem like a good idea but in reality, it is not because you’ll only be covering up a problem instead of fixing it and this can be both problematic and dangerous. Patching or painting over stucco is a lot like ignoring the underlying problem while creating a larger one and you need to remember that both painting and patching are temporary cover-ups and not actual solutions, so if there is existing water damage already in your stucco, then the paint will only peel and crack again. No amount of patching or painting will prevent future cracks and if the root of the problem is not fixed, then you’ll just be wasting your time.

Many people think they’re doing the right thing by filling in the cracks so that moisture cannot get in but they forget that this can seal in any existing moisture, which is something you definitely want to avoid because that moisture will seep into the wood frame of your home’s structure and lead to rotting. Moisture will affect other porous materials of your home’s structure as well, so it’s a very dangerous situation that you want to prevent from happening.

Stucco Wall Systems is a reputable company whose contractors can help with stucco repairs. If you are in the Oakville areas, give us a call today and we will take care of your stucco needs the right way!

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FAQ

Common questions

Why is painting stucco a problem?
Stucco and EIFS are designed to let moisture vapour escape. A film-forming house paint seals the surface, so water that gets in behind — through a joint, a sill or a crack — cannot dry outward. It stays in the wall, and on a framed wall that eventually means rot in the sheathing behind a finish that still looks fine from the street.
Is there any coating that is safe on stucco?
Yes — breathable, mineral or elastomeric coatings made for cementitious substrates, applied over a properly prepared wall. The distinction that matters is vapour permeability, not the brand. If a contractor cannot tell you the perm rating of what they are about to roll onto your house, that is your answer.
What is wrong with patching stucco cheaply?
A patch over a hollow or debonded area re-cracks along the same line within a couple of winters, because nothing underneath was fixed. Worse, it hides the staining that would have told you water was getting in. Cheap patching does not save money; it delays the diagnosis and enlarges the eventual repair.
My stucco was already painted. What now?
It is assessable, not automatically a disaster. We check whether the coating is bonded, whether the wall behind is dry, and whether moisture is being trapped. Sometimes the coating can stay and the detailing around it is corrected; sometimes it has to come off. Either way that decision comes after opening a test area, not from the street.
Written by Musa Kastrati
Owner & lead installer, Stucco Wall Systems · 25+ years in stucco, Oakville

Musa still works on the tools after 25+ years and has finished hundreds of stucco and EIFS exteriors across Ontario. This guide comes from that job-site experience. More about Musa →

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Practical guides written from job-site experience by owner Musa Kastrati.

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