Finish coat is loose, causing a bubble in the wall.
Hi, I am a board member of a 1932 10 unit stucco building in Miami Beach, Florida. Our building has been painted several times and has little of the rough finish left on it. The building is concrete block with a smooth layer of concrete stucco over it. Another board member pointed out to me that there was a water pocket or bubble under the finish between a patch of rough finish and the smooth coat of concrete. Is this a serious problem? There have been no leaks to the building but he says that this will cause foundation problems.
Any information you can share would be most appreciated.
This area is the finish coat coming loose. We fix stuff like this all the time.
This may be due to old age, lack of bond originally, or could have been accelerated from a leak from above.
There should be no danger to the foundation, because the old basecoat is still intact, as long as there is no leak from above.
It's not a bad idea to check for a leak above such as flashing that has rusted, rotted window sills, etc.
On patches like this we use a chemical bonding admixture. More details about admixtures here: