[masraum]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I've been to several clone home McMansion subdivisions, one where the Hardiboard was shrinking leaving 1/2" gaps, and in another subdivision the wood trim adjacent to the vinyl siding was rotting out after only 10 years because of poor detailing. Yea, the whole wall behind it was rotting too, black mold everywhere.

We just moved out of a neighborhood in Houston that's not exactly being gentrified because it wasn't a poor neighborhood, but the value has gone up and old homes are being torn down and replaced with multiple townhomes. The new homes, many 3-4 stories of 3000-4000+sqft are going to for $800k-$1.3M are mostly stucco on the outside. Pretty much every stucco covered home in the neighborhood over 5 or 10 years old has had issues. I assume due to settling there are cracks and water gets in behind the stucco until the wood rots. The homes often end up with most of their stucco and sheathing removed and replaced at great cost to the owner. And yes, when the stucco is removed, the wood behind it is usually black with mold and rotten from water.