Stucco repair costs in Chicago

Chicago is a brick town. The Chicago Architecture Center counts more than 80,000 bungalows in the city, about a third of its single-family homes, and the classic bungalow is built of brick. So if your house wears stucco, it stands out on a bungalow block.

Some of the stucco just past the city's west edge is very old. Oak Park has the largest concentration of Prairie School architecture in America, the village says. Frank Lloyd Wright's 1901 Thomas House there still has its original stucco walls. On a house of that age, a patch has to match a texture someone troweled by hand a century ago. A gray blob of fresh mix will stand out from the sidewalk.

Winter is the real test. Water that slips into a hairline crack freezes, expands and pries the crack wider, and a Chicago winter gives it months to work. Seal small cracks in early fall, before the first hard freeze. Check low on the wall too, where shoveled snow sits against it.

Paperwork depends on your address. If your home is a Chicago Landmark or sits in a landmark district, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks reviews permits for exterior alterations. Oak Park's preservation commission reviews permit applications for exterior work in its three historic districts.