Stucco Repair and Recoating in Jensen Beach, FL

Salt Load Is the Deciding Factor

Every exterior decision in Jensen Beach comes back to salt. Airborne salt settles on the wall, holds moisture against the surface, and drives corrosion anywhere metal is exposed. It shortens the life of coatings, sealants and fasteners, and it does it on a schedule that surprises people who moved here from somewhere drier.

The practical consequence is that maintenance intervals here are shorter than they are inland. A coating that would run a long time on a house in a protected inland neighborhood will chalk and fade sooner this close to the water. That is not a defect. It is the environment, and the answer is to plan for it rather than to be surprised by it.

• Rinsing exposed elevations with fresh water slows salt buildup between services
• Rust staining almost always means a corroding fastener, lintel or lath behind the surface
• Windward elevations fail years before sheltered ones on the same house
• Coatings need to breathe or trapped moisture pushes them off the wall

Sealant Joints Fail Before the Stucco Does

On coastal homes the leak is usually not in the field of the wall. It is at a joint. Window and door perimeters, control joints, penetrations for hose bibs and light fixtures, and the transition between dissimilar materials. Sealant in this climate is hit with heat, UV and salt at once, and it hardens, shrinks and pulls away from one side of the joint.

Caulking over a failed joint is the most common shortcut in the trade and it does not work. New sealant will not bond to a dried out old bead. We cut the old material out, clean the joint to sound edges, install backer rod where the joint is deep enough to need it, and tool a fresh bead so it has room to move. Done properly the joint stretches with the building instead of tearing.

Mid-Century and 1980s Housing Stock

A good part of Jensen Beach was built mid century and through the 1980s. Those homes have had time for several coating cycles, and a lot of them are carrying more layers of paint than anyone can account for. That builds up into a film that stops the wall from drying and eventually lets go in sheets.

When we find heavy built up coating we deal with it directly. That means pressure washing to remove everything loose, scraping to sound edges, and in some cases stripping an elevation back before recoating. Rolling fresh material over a failing film buys a season or two at most and then the whole thing comes off together.

Elastomeric and Breathable Coatings

Elastomeric coatings are the usual answer near the water because they stretch and bridge hairline cracking that would otherwise open every summer. They are thicker than paint and they hold up better under wind driven rain.

They are not right for everything. On a wall that already has trapped moisture, or on a house with a moisture source that has not been fixed, a heavy elastomeric can seal the problem in and blister off. We check moisture conditions and the existing coating before specifying one. If the wall needs to dry more than it needs to stretch, we will recommend a more permeable system instead and say why.

• Elastomeric for cracked, exposed walls that need crack bridging
• Breathable acrylic systems where the wall has to release moisture
• Full prep and adhesion assessment before either goes on
• Fix the water source first, coat second

Condos, Townhomes and Multi-Unit Buildings

Jensen Beach has a lot of multi-unit coastal buildings, and they wear differently than single family homes. Balcony edges, walkway soffits, railing posts set into the structure and the exposed ocean facing elevations take the worst of it. Rust staining and spalling around embedded metal is common on older buildings this close to salt air.

We take on association and multi-unit exterior work. That comes with scheduling requirements that single family jobs do not have, including resident notice, staging, access to units and keeping walkways usable while work is underway. We would rather plan that with the board or the property manager before mobilizing than improvise around it.