Stucco repair costs in Ogden

Ogden's Landmarks Commission has looked after the city's historic buildings since 1980. Ogden has three historic districts, 25th Street, Eccles and Jefferson, plus individual historic sites, and the commission reviews requests there for a Certificate of Historic Appropriateness.

There's a lot of age to protect. When the railroad arrived in 1869, the city became the junction where passengers had to switch trains, its preservation office notes. The city's houses are older than the metro's. Half the homes in Ogden were built in 1969 or earlier, Census estimates show, and about one in seven before 1940.

The commission judges requests against the Secretary of the Interior's standards, and two of those matter for an old stucco wall. Distinctive finishes and examples of craftsmanship are to be preserved. And chemical or physical treatments that damage historic materials, sandblasting named among them, are not to be used, with any cleaning done by the gentlest means possible. If old paint or stains have to come off before a re-coat, ask the crew how they plan to do it before anyone brings in a blaster.

Color gets a look, too. The commission's own policies say it will review exterior colors proposed for any building on the Local Register.