Stucco repair costs in Knoxville

Knoxville winters spend a lot of time right at the freeze line. The National Weather Service's normals for the city put a typical January low around 30 degrees and a typical January high near 48. On a day like that, water can soak into a crack in the afternoon and freeze inside it overnight, then do it again the next day. The record shows how far it can drop: 24 below zero on January 21, 1985.

The Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission's guidelines for the Fourth and Gill district call Tudor Revival a common revival style in the Knoxville area, and stucco is one of its main wall finishes, along with stone and brick. It may be troweled smooth or in a more distinctive pattern. Half-timbering there is filled with brick or stucco. The guidelines also note that the district's houses sit on raised masonry foundations, and that foundations and chimneys are often built of brick, stone or stucco.

That raised base is worth a look on any old house here, since it's the part of the wall closest to wet soil and splashing rain. Inside Fourth and Gill or another of the city's historic overlays, the commission's review covers exterior changes that need a building permit. Paint colors, landscaping and other work that doesn't need a permit fall outside it.