Stucco repair costs in Minneapolis

Minneapolis has worn stucco for more than a century. The Park Service's guide to historic stucco features a 1913 Prairie-style house in the city, designed by Purcell and Elmslie and finished in salmon-pink stucco.

Newer houses are a different story. By spring 2000, the state had about a hundred reports of water-damaged homes, most of them stucco, and the chief building official in suburban Woodbury called the city's wet walls the largest construction defect problem in local history. A Twin Cities inspection firm says stucco houses built since the late 1980s have a history of catastrophic failures. If you're buying one, it recommends invasive moisture testing, and says infrared scans are no substitute.

Minnesota's code is specific about what goes behind stucco. Over wood sheathing, it calls for two layers of water-resistive barrier, unless there's a drainage space that lets water run down behind it. A tear-off and re-side needs a building permit. Rotted sheathing found under the old skin has to be replaced, and the barrier and flashing get inspected before anything new goes on.

The calendar matters too. On three-coat work, the code wants at least 48 hours before the second coat and seven more days before the finish coat. That's a lot of days to fit between hard frosts, so plan a big job for the warm months.