| Stains
on stucco on new house
We built a new house in Minnesota and closed last February.
The front
of the house is stucco. The final coat was applied in May when the
temperature
was warmer. A week after the final coat was applied, we
experienced
many rainy days. One of our builder's subs (concrete sub) piled
dirt
about 2 feet from the house before the final coat was applied. The rain
splattered dirt on the bottom 4 feet of stucco, turning the almond
color
to dark brown. We tried spraying off with a garden hose and
bristle
brush, but had no luck. We contacted the builder immediately and was
told
he'd look into it. We called the builder every one to two weeks to get
an answer on what to do with no response. The pile of dirt remained in
place from May until early July at which time the builder's final
grade/excavation
sub showed up. In mid September, our builder finally responded via a
letter,
stating that he was not responsible for the staining, stating that once
the stucco was applied, it was the homeowner's responsibility.
We've contacted the stucco subcontracter who told us
the only
way to take care of the stain is to Fog Coat it (he uses La Habra
materials).
Cost:$700-$1000.
Here's the legal catch. The stucco, concrete
work and
final grade were all escrowed in a holdback account until final
completion.
The mortgage company has said they consider the house not complete
until
the stains are removed, because the staining resulted in part from one
of the escrowed projects, therefore, the builder is still waiting for
his
escrow monies. The builder doesn't know I know this information,
and is now calling me (after not calling me for months) 'just
curious'
if I lined up someone to take care the fog coating. I have and work
will
start next week.
Even though the staining was caused in part by work
he was
responsible for, I would have taken steps to prevent the staining had
the
builder simply informed me that staining was possible. The
builder
in fact noted in September that he new staining could occurr and stated
that it happens on brick too. It was two weeks later when he informed
us
he was not taking responsibility.
I saw a tip on a website to try trisodium phosphate
to remove
staining. Do you have any other advice, stucco or other.
I haven't tried trisodium phosphate, but I doubt it
does much once that dirt is embedded.
I think the fog coat is your only way out. It will
cover stains. It may look a little "skimpy" when it
is put on, but after it sits overnight it should look fine.
It seems like you have to deal with some of the same
type of people I do all the time "it's not my fault"
or finger pointing at everyone else.
the General Contractor is liable to protect all the work
until
the building is delivered, even if they have to pay for repairs.
Stucco stains easily, and the stains are due to the negligence
of the concrete contractor.
All these people have insurance like me. All they
have to do is file a claim admitting they were negligent,
the insurance pays for the fog except maybe a $250
deductible, you get your house finished, they get their
money, and everybody lives happily ever after.
You can probably get part of the stain out with a hose.
The trick is to wet the wall from the bottom up.
Even though this doesn't sound logical, you'll see
it works better. As the water soaks in the bottom
it saturates the wall. As you wet the wall from above,
that water runs down, further saturating the wall.
By the time you get to the top, the bottom is saturated
loosening up some of the dirt. Now you can hose some of it off.
Let it dry a couple days and put on your fog.
As a word to the wise, you may want to spread hay
on the ground to keep the wall from getting splattered
again, until you have some ground cover growing.
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