Stucco repair costs in St. Louis

In some St. Louis neighborhoods, stucco means something you won't see out West: cement scored to look like stone, laid over brick. In Lafayette Square, most walls are brick two or three layers thick, and a large number of front walls carry a stucco veneer detailed to look like stone. If yours is one of them, the district's standards say a new coat must copy the original stone pattern, with corners as crisp as the original. They also warn that portland cement products are too hard for patching historic stone fronts.

The rules shift from one neighborhood to the next. When a neighbor's building is torn down, it can leave a soft brick party wall exposed. Soulard's standards allow parging that wall with stucco colored to match the brick. Lafayette Square strictly prohibits stucco for the same job. Soulard also bans skim-coating a street-facing foundation with stucco or mortar. If you live in a local historic district, read your district's standards before a crew mixes anything.

Then there's the weather. Severe thunderstorms are common in Missouri, with hail and heavy rain, and summer humidity has trended up since the mid-20th century. Water that slips behind a cracked veneer soaks the old brick, and winter freezes it there.