Stucco Inspection Houston
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While stucco is an excellent decorative surface option for lots of local homes, most stucco applications done in the past 15 to 25 years are installed improperly. As a matter of fact, it’s believed that over 90% of all stucco installations in the United States, installed in this particular time frame, have been incorrectly installed. When stucco isn’t installed correctly, it can result in leaks, mildew and mold, and structural damage. Naturally, many of those problems might be unfamiliar to a homeowner until it is way too late to repair them.
Stucco problems can go unseen since the damage is within the wall. An expert stucco inspection Houston can help detect these problems, and in some instances, the troubles are noticed soon enough that the stucco doesn’t have to be removed. Nevertheless, if untreated for long enough, the surface might need to be removed, or maybe just a section of the home might have to be torn down.
Stucco Inspectors Houston
Stucco Repair Houston offers a phased approach to testing for moisture intrusion problems with stucco. Our stucco inspections Houston include Level 1 and Level 2 tests that are finished within one onsite visit, and they deliver a personalized report detailing our findings.
Stucco inspectors Houston starts with Level 1, a preliminary visual analysis of the house’s exterior. We suggest this is completed with the client present. We’re searching for visual cues about the way the system is performing and how it was installed during this time. We’ll walk the property and get a glimpse of visible evidence of cracking, staining, and crucial installation details, as well as search for the absence or addition of particular components, such as kick-out flashing at roof wall intersections and head flashing above windows. When these (and other) components aren’t present, it is a sign that these places might be weak, so we understand we need to pay closer attention as we move ahead through the stucco inspections Houston.
Because it’s impossible to find out through walls to obtain facts about the way the home is performing, it’s essential to move into Level 2 testing. The Level 2 assessment is an invasive testing process referred to as moisture probe testing. This calls for us to drill two small holes, about an inch apart and about the diameter of a pencil. Through these holes, we put in a moisture meter to check the substrate’s moisture content behind the stucco, or the wooden component of the house. We’re most concerned about examining portions of the house above the foundation or on a wooden substrate. Stucco inspectors Houston usually have to evaluate and also map out the most exposed places on each wall section, like the lower penetrations/first floor windows. As well as the roof wall intersections, combined with some other parts of the building which are exposed depending on the way the house was initially designed and made. Each of the moisture readings considered is caught on full elevation pictures of the house in our proprietary software in the spot they were taken from, giving a “map” of the moisture present in the house at the time of the stucco inspection Houston.