Stucco repair costs in Hartford

On West Boulevard in Hartford's West End, built out by one developer around 1915 to 1925, the National Register listing says every house is wood frame with shingles or clapboards, except four covered in stucco. On a street like that, a stucco house is the exception.

Cracks near the ground deserve a second look here. In northeastern Connecticut, some foundations were poured with concrete containing pyrrhotite, an iron sulfide mineral. When air and moisture reach it, the concrete breaks down in a telltale cracking pattern. The state's 2017 testing program covered homes built after 1983 within 20 miles of a concrete company in Stafford Springs. That is a foundation problem, not a stucco problem.

Inland Hartford gets colder winters and a shorter frost-free season than the shoreline, and the state's count of 2-inch downpours peaked between 2005 and 2014. Both work on any open crack. One more Connecticut rule: a contractor has to be registered with the Department of Consumer Protection before starting home improvement work. Look up the registration before you sign.