More bulges in stucco
I am in process of buying a house in Virginia.
Is there ever a case where it makes sense to just repair the bulging rather than replacing everything? Homeowners said the stucco has been bulging since they’ve had the home 19+ years ago. Apparently the top section of roof was replaced so maybe moisture was leaking in before from the old roof?
I say when in doubt tear it all completely out. This is probably far more extreme than the previous question. The stucco is on the inside of the foundation instead of on the outside. Replacing the section of roof is a red flag indicating a lot of water infiltration. Bear in mind, stucco is a porous material so water will penetrate the stucco and trickle down. Here's what I think:
The bulges are bad under the window. Zooming in over the other pictures show no flashing over the windows. No flashing over the window causes rot under the window.
The bulge runs the length of the whole wall. This probably indicates severe rot of the bottom plate, or the horizontal two by four supporting the house.
The house is excessively cracked. It is normal to have cracks on a stucco house, particularly extending from the corners of the windows. These cracks are wide and there are many. This to me shows a lot of sagging is going on, and the framing is probably rotted at the bottom.
Here's what I think: Water penetrating the stucco or trickling down the wall due to lack of flashing, etc. accumulates on top of the foundation, and is absorbed into the bottom plate. On almost all old houses the framing is outside the foundation, not inside.
The largest cause of leaky basements is the foundation projecting out from the framing.
This would also be nearly impossible to inspect for termites without tearing holes in the wall. A person would have to fit under the crawl space, which I don't think will happen.
I would run away from this deal.