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Difficulty: Moderate to hard
At first glance, the seamless coat of stucco on the East Boston house looked as bulletproof as a sidewalk, the perfect foil against the harsh wet weather of this coastal city. Yet beneath its lush cloak of ivy, the cement shell was a mess of cracks and buckling, signs that water had gotten in and damaged the underlying wood lath.
When properly installed, stucco (a cement- or lime-based plaster) is about as carefree and long-lived a cladding as anyone could wish—100 years is not uncommon. But when big cracks or blisters appear, the time to make repairs is right away, before the damage grows.
Antonio DiSilva of MJM Masonry performed the remedial work on the East Boston house over ten days, ripping off loose material and patching it with three separate coats. Here's how to make stucco repair that lasts.
