Stucco & Exterior Work in Van Nuys
Van Nuys stucco repair and re-stucco with the finish coat chosen to flex and hold color, over lath and paper checked before any color goes on.
An acrylic finish coat is the first option we price on a Van Nuys re-stucco. Mixed with resin, it flexes slightly as a wall heats and cools, so hairline cracks are less likely to open, and its color holds under strong sun. A traditional cement finish is the second option, simpler to patch later and more open to vapor. The quote shows both, priced over the same base coats, and the lath and paper under them are checked first.
What sits under the finish
The finish is only as good as the layers it covers. We use self-furred galvanized lath, which holds itself a short distance off the paper so the scratch coat can wrap behind each wire and lock in. Lath laid flat against the paper leaves the plaster with a weak grip. Fasteners go into studs, and each sheet overlaps the next. The scratch and brown coats are then built up and left to cure, with light misting, before the finish is applied. A rushed cure is a frequent reason a new wall shows cracks within its first season.
Trim and wood near the plaster
Window surrounds and sill bands are a second material call. Polystyrene shapes coated in a thin cement finish are light and easy to fit, yet a knock or a lawn trimmer can dent them, and water can get behind a cracked coat. Shapes run in full cement plaster weigh more and take longer to build, and they stand up to impact. On a wall facing a driveway or a side path, we lean toward the plaster version. Wood fascia above the wall is checked for dry rot and sealed or replaced, so the eave does not drip onto fresh stucco.
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Stucco & Exterior in Van Nuys: questions
Usually it means the finish shrank or the wall flexed. Footing movement leaves a different signature: a diagonal line from a door or window corner, a stair-step crack near the base, or a gap opening where wall meets slab. When those show up, we check the stem wall and the floor for level and report the readings with the quote.
A patch makes sense over a small area where the lath underneath is sound and the cause has been fixed. Once loose, hollow-sounding plaster spreads across much of a wall, or the paper behind it has broken down, that wall is taken back to the studs and built again with new paper, lath and coats.
Soil, gravel and planting are cleared from the bottom of the plaster so the weep screed is visible. We check it for rust, crushed sections and plaster bridging its holes. Where grade has crept up, it is lowered. A screed that cannot drain is replaced before any new coat goes on above it.
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