Repair
Stucco and EIFS repair in Joliet, IL
Cracks at the window corners, a hole from a ladder or a woodpecker, sealant that has pulled away, one soft spot on an otherwise sound wall. Fixed the way the manufacturer specifies, priced from the published table.
Joliet Stucco & EIFS repairs synthetic stucco (EIFS) and hard-coat stucco across Joliet and Will County at $400 to $3,500 per repair from a published table. Hairline crack sealing on one elevation runs $400 to $900, a patch under 10 square feet runs $450 to $1,500, a larger section rebuild runs $1,200 to $3,500 and replacing the sealant joints around windows, doors and penetrations runs $900 to $3,000. Every EIFS repair rebuilds the layers the same way they were built: foam, base coat with embedded mesh, then a finish floated to match the texture and color already on the wall. Repairs on walls that show stains or soft spots get a probe reading first, because a patch over wet sheathing is a patch that fails.
The repairs we do most in Will County
- Diagonal stress cracks off window and door corners, routed and filled with flexible base coat, re-meshed where the crack has opened the reinforcing
- Impact damage from ladders, mowers, hail and thrown rocks, with the foam cut back to sound material and rebuilt
- Woodpecker holes, common near the DuPage and Des Plaines rivers, filled and finished so the bird stops coming back to the same spot
- Failed sealant joints at window perimeters, hose bibs, light fixtures, deck ledgers and the stucco-to-siding corner boards on front-elevation houses
- Bottom-edge damage where EIFS was run into the soil with no clearance, cut back and finished with a drainage track
- Hard-coat stucco cracks and missing sections on the older east side of Joliet and the canal district in Lockport, three-coat rebuilt and texture matched
How an EIFS patch is built
- 1
The damaged finish and base coat are cut out square, past the visible damage, and the foam behind it is inspected. Foam that is wet, crumbling or separated comes out.
- 2
The sheathing is metered. A dry reading means the patch proceeds; a wet reading stops the job and turns into a probe inspection so you know how far the water went.
- 3
New foam board is set in adhesive, rasped flush with the surrounding wall, and the edges are back-wrapped with mesh.
- 4
Base coat goes on with reinforcing mesh embedded and lapped onto the existing wall, then a second base coat pass to hide the mesh.
- 5
The finish is floated to match the aggregate size and texture of the existing wall, in a color matched from a sheltered spot, and blended at the nearest corner or joint.
Why color matching is the honest problem
A 15-year-old EIFS finish has faded unevenly. The original color, applied to a patch in the middle of the wall, reads as a bright square from the street, and no contractor can make it disappear. We match to the faded color, blend the patch to the nearest corner, window line or expansion joint where the eye expects a change, and tell you before we start if the wall is too far gone for a patch to hide.
When it is, the fix is a single-elevation recoat at $1,800 to $4,500, which folds all the patching into one uniform wall. About a third of the repair calls we take in Joliet end up there, and the owner is better served by hearing that on the first visit than by paying twice.
Sealant: the repair that prevents the next one
On Chicagoland EIFS the sealant joints do most of the water management, and on houses from the 1990s the original joints were often painter’s caulk with no backer rod, which splits after ten or fifteen freeze-thaw winters. Replacing the joints means cutting out the old material, setting backer rod for the right depth, priming the EIFS edge, and tooling a urethane or silicone sealant rated for the material. It runs $900 to $3,000 for a house depending on the linear feet, and it is the line most likely to keep a dry wall dry.
Related: Recoating · Moisture inspections · Remediation · Published prices
Repair questions, answered
- How much does it cost to fix cracks in stucco in Joliet?
- Hairline crack sealing on one elevation runs $400 to $900 in our published table, including routing, flexible base coat and a touch-up of the finish. Cracks that have opened the mesh get re-meshed, and a wall with more than a dozen cracks is usually a recoat candidate at $1,800 to $4,500, which we tell you on the visit.
- Can I patch EIFS myself with a hardware store kit?
- For a single small hole on a dry wall, a kit can hold for a while. The two things kits get wrong are skipping the mesh, so the patch cracks at its edges within a year, and using a finish that does not match the aggregate size. If the wall has any stain or softness, do not patch it yourself; the sheathing needs a reading first.
- Do you repair woodpecker holes in synthetic stucco?
- Yes, and they are the most common patch call near the rivers in Joliet and Shorewood. Each hole gets the foam cut back, new foam, mesh and base coat, and a matched finish. A cluster on one wall runs $450 to $1,500. Woodpeckers return to hollow-sounding walls, so we also check whether the foam has separated in that area.
- Will a repair be covered by my homeowners insurance?
- Sudden, accidental damage such as hail, wind-thrown debris or a fallen branch is usually covered. Cracking, sealant failure and long-term water intrusion are maintenance or gradual damage and are excluded on nearly every Illinois policy. We photograph and document what we find so a legitimate claim has what it needs.
- How long does a patch take to blend in?
- The finish cures to its final color in about a week. Acrylic finishes go on darker and lighten as they dry, so a patch that looks wrong on day one usually looks right by day seven. If it still shows after that, we come back and blend it further at no charge.
Send a photo of the damage
Address, a photo of the crack or hole, and we reply within one business day with the table range for that repair. Or call (815) 768-3130.