Found out my stucco was trapping moisture behind it

I was patching a crack in my back wall off Central Ave and noticed the stucco felt spongey... dug into it and found black mold behind a 3 foot section. Turns out Albuquerque's freeze-thaw cycle can crack old stucco and let rainwater sit behind it for months. Anyone else deal with hidden moisture damage behind their stucco walls?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleyl551d ago

I've seen plenty of old stucco houses around Albuquerque that look fine until you poke them. That black mold is gross but it's usually just surface deep unless the wall's been soaking wet for years. The freeze-thaw thing is real but it takes a lot more than one wet season to rot out the whole wall behind stucco. I'd say scrape off the loose stuff, hit it with some bleach water, let it dry out for a week, then patch it with some good caulk. Unless you're seeing big cracks or the wall feels like mush, you're probably fine with a weekend fix.

rosep871d ago

My grandpa patched his stucco with duct tape once and it held for like ten years.