Patio wall failing.
I've been trying to find some help on answering a few of my questions and I stumbled upon your website. I was curious if you could answer a few questions to help me:
1 - I have a outdoor patio made of concrete and had a 3.5 ft wall put up around it. Someone talked me into using stucco finish over the block wall which i had done by a masonary. The problem I'm having is that they capped the block wall with brick and now the stucco is cracking due to the water seeping between the mortar on top of the brick and cracking the stucco. What would you recommend me doing? Can I just redo the mortar between all the brick and then reface all the walls without taking down the old stucco, its only a few cracks down the wall. Also I can tell where the blocks are because you can see the outline of them through the stucco, because I think the lime in the blocks are coming through (I see white outlines). Any suggestions that you might have would be greatly appreciative.
When capping the wall with brick, the bricks should project out past the finished stucco at least 3/4 inch. Also, it is very important that the bricks are sloped at least 15o.
You may want to take off the bricks on top and redo them. A stone cap can also work, making sure the stones are angled and project past the edge of the stucco for a drip. The mortar joints probably will leak, also. It is a good idea to use stones that are longer rather than shorter, and leave a smaller space for the joints.
The efflorescence, or the white leeching out of the block joints is no doubt due to the water filtering in through the top. It is worse when the blocks are hollow rather than filled solid.
After you are confident the leak has stopped, you can recoat the stucco with a new finish.