Stucco & Exterior Repair in Sierra Madre
Sierra Madre stucco and cottage exterior repair: older plaster over wood lath, chimneys and canyon-side fire details, in keeping with the village.
Sierra Madre's cottages and older bungalows often wear plaster over wood lath, along with brick chimneys and wood porches. The town is small and values how its streets look, and houses near the canyon face fire risk. We repair old plaster in kind, check chimneys and porches where they meet the walls and close fire gaps on the canyon side.
Plaster over wood lath
Older plaster was often troweled onto wood strips nailed across the studs, and when water gets behind it, the strips rot and the plaster loosens. Hollow areas and bulges show where this has happened. We remove the loose plaster back to firm edges, replace rotted lath with metal lath fastened to the framing, lap new paper behind it and rebuild the surface in coats. The texture is matched by hand to the original. Sound plaster stays put, which keeps the cost down and the cottage's character intact.
Chimneys, porches and the canyon
Brick chimneys meeting plaster walls often have open joints where flashing has failed, and porches built against the house can trap water at the wall. We repoint and flash chimney joints, check porch ledgers and repair the plaster around both. Where a cracked chimney raises seismic questions, an engineer should look at it first. On the canyon side of town, we also install vents that block embers, seal open eaves and keep the base of the walls clear, with each of these priced separately.
Stucco & Exterior in Sierra Madre: questions
Where the original plaster is still bonded, a matched patch works well. Bulging or hollow areas over wood lath have usually lost their grip, and those sections need rebuilding on new lath. We map the walls so you know which is which.
The area of plaster rebuilt, chimney and porch joint work, matching the texture by hand and fire-safety upgrades set the total. Each is priced separately, and an engineer's fee is listed if a chimney needs one.
Yes. We sound the walls, read moisture at chimneys and porches and open a small area where the wall feels soft. On plaster over wood lath, that is how we find rot before it is priced into the work.
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