Lime or lead.
I absolutely love your site. I have been searching for hours about good information on stucco and found it there.
My family and I (husband and two small children 1 and 3, I also have one on the way in July) live in a three bedroom one bath home. It used to be his great-grandfathers and was built between 1962 and 1966. He recently passed away in 2003. My husband remodeled the inside of the house but the outside looks horrible and is making me sick.
There are patches everywhere. There was a fire in 1998 and the insurance company contractors did not redo the outside, only the inside back rooms.
My husband says that the stucco is cement stucco (there is some kind of wire mesh thing in the structure...yes I can see this because there are holes in the stucco).
My question: Do you think that there could be lime or lead in the structure of the house? Is there anyway that the old insurance company should be responsible for the outside or should we just repair it ourselves?
My husband says that he will do it himself, but I am wondering if we should have a professional do it. The house is absolutely horrid with patches of black and green on the outside.
I haven't had any luck finding a repair company in our area. Please help. It is in Perris, Ca. 92570.
All portland cement and concrete has lime. This lime won't hurt you at all. Lime in mortar can burn you when applying mortar, which is a good reason to hire an experienced pro to do the stucco. I am sure you can find someone competent in California to do this.
There is a possibility there is lead based paint in the house somewhere. This won't hurt you, either, unless you breathe a lot of airborne paint dust caused by remodeling. I doubt you have any lead paint in the house at all.
The insurance company probably was liable to fix the damage on the outside of the house, but it is probably too late for any claim.
I think you need to find an experienced contractor to do the work. Tearing off horrible work done by inexperienced people is a large source of our work.
So great to hear from you.