Stucco Contractor
Sunset Park Brooklyn

Sunset Park Facades and Render

Sunset Park is built on a genuine hill, and that slope does something most Brooklyn neighborhoods do not: it moves water down against the backs and sides of buildings. Retaining walls, raised yards and grade changes between adjoining properties all put soil and water in contact with wall surfaces that were never designed for it, and the bottom band of those walls is where we find the most damage.

The stock is largely attached brick row houses from the 1900s to the 1930s, much of it rendered or stuccoed at some point. The usual brownstone Brooklyn rule applies: render over brick whose mortar has failed comes away in sheets within a couple of winters, so repointing comes first and the finish second.

The newer and converted multi family buildings carry a second issue. Added units mean added bathrooms and kitchens, and that moisture has to leave the building somewhere. When it has no path out it moves into the walls, and efflorescence or staining appearing from the inside out is the signature. That is a ventilation conversation as much as a stucco one, and we will say so.

Industrial and mixed use blocks toward the waterfront add airborne grit that settles on walls and holds moisture against the surface, which accelerates biological growth. Those walls want washing on a schedule rather than only when they look bad.

Serving Sunset Park from Our Brooklyn Shop