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I wasn’t aware that brick houses also had the rot problem. But I quess with so few brick houses being built, it might not make the headlines. I know several stucco homes in Woodbury had problems. One of my co-workers tore off his stucco and put up hardi board.
Not so much with brick but it still happens. the stucco was not a stucco problem its a flashing problem same flashing design used in stucco is used in brick
If you follow the Building Science proceedures, you will have an awesome quality home that will last. Two very different issues are present when you talk about “Stucco” and Brick having rot issues in the wall. As homes have become much more so called energy effiecient, the ability to breathe and dry is greatly reduced. Thus the explosion of mold issues you have heard about in the last 15 years. A propperly insullated and poly’d wall should be air tight from the interior side. Warm MOIST air should not penetrate this wall. It is this with the conbintaion of the wrong TYVEK used behind brick that water can be contained with warm air and do the damage that it does. Regardless of Brick or cultured productes, moister will condensate behind these products. Brick that has been properly installed has TYVEK Drainage behind it and weep holes that exceed industry standards. I see this with almost all production builders. They have their carpenters install regular Tyvek to the entire house and brag it up to the customer about how their home is going to be Energy Start rated, blah, blah blah. The carpenter is not a mason and doesn’t always know exactly where brick or stone is going, so he/she just installs the plain Tyvek as instructed. The Mason arrives and sees the Tyvek logo and runs his brick…or as I have seen, installs a second layer of Tyvek as a drainage mat which causes a vapor barrier and traps wet air…..Frustrating! Also, a air gap is installed between the brick and the wall. Usually less than 1/2″, it aids in the breathing of the wall and draining of any water.
Unless you looking at a very high end home, very few contractors do Stucco. They do a much cheaper version called E.I.F.S. which stands for Exterior Insulated Finish System. This is a foam back process. 1″ to 2″ foam is attached to the face of the wall, 1 coat of a polymer adhesive cement base scratch coat, and a final textured skim coat. This is the product you absolutely MUST use caution with. Earlier installations called for the foam to be directly installed to the wall. This meant that no drainage mat or plain was established and the walls rotted out very fast. Track builders were including the foam R value as part of the wall insulation value and basicly lying to their customers. This foam is NOT part of your insulation system. It is a finishing product that has R value characteristics, but since you must have air breath between it and your wall, it is not part of the 6 sided box that makes up you insulation system. Major improvements have been made in recent years for installation practices. It is a great product when installed properly. It is so sad that it is not an easy process to identify if it has the proper drainage mat installed unless it is ripped open
I was able to do the work myself, which obviously saved a ton of money.
New cabin will be either steel siding or painted grooved plywood siding.
