Stucco Contractor
Flatbush Brooklyn

Stucco on the Victorian Flatbush Houses

Flatbush is not one kind of building. Between Beverley Road, Cortelyou Road and Albemarle Road sit the big freestanding Victorians of Ditmas Park and Prospect Park South, most of them wood frame with stucco applied over wood lath. North toward Church Avenue and east toward Flatbush Avenue the stock turns into attached brick and limestone rows with stucco mainly on the rear and the cornice. The two need completely different repairs.

On the wood frame Victorians the common failure is the porch and the eaves. Deep overhangs keep most of the wall dry but dump concentrated runoff at the corners, and the stucco under a porch roof or at the base of a column takes that water year after year. We find rot in the framing behind the stucco more often here than anywhere else we work in Brooklyn, which is why we open a soft area rather than skimming it.

Stucco over wood lath also moves more than stucco over block. The wood swells and shrinks with the seasons, so hairline cracking across a large Victorian wall is normal and not a sign of failure. What matters is whether a crack has opened wide enough to hold water, whether it is staining, and whether the wall around it sounds hollow. Those three checks separate cosmetic cracking from a wall that is letting water in.

The Flatbush streets we are on most

Albemarle Road, Beverley Road, Cortelyou Road, Rugby Road, Argyle Road, Marlborough Road, Stratford Road, Westminster Road, Ocean Avenue, Church Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, across Ditmas Park, Prospect Park South, Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park.

Working in a historic district

Parts of Flatbush sit inside designated historic districts, and visible exterior work there can need Landmarks review before it starts. We will tell you at the estimate whether your address is likely to need it, and we match original textures and profiles rather than replacing them with whatever is quickest.