Stucco over Brick
[email protected]
| Posted in General Questions on
I am working on a retrofit project that currently has a brick exterior.
I believe the assembly is:
Drywall, cellulose filled 2×4 walls, fiber-based insulating sheathing, building paper, brick
I thinking of gluing rigid foam insulation to the brick, adding a drainage plane and then stucco.
Does anyone know of a problem with burying the brick in the wall like this?
Thanks for the help,
– Ron
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
Ron,
1. You don't mention your climate, so it's hard to know how bad your existing wall is. If the house is located in a climate with air conditioning, the existing wall is a disaster. The existing sheathing sounds like Celotex or an equivalent — a vapor-permeable sheathing. When the bricks get wet during a rainstorm, and the sun comes out later to dry the bricks, water vapor can be driven into the wall. That's bad.
2. Your suggested solution will improve the performance of the wall assembly, as long as you get the details right. It's important to plug the weep holes at the bottom of the brick wall, as well as any vents at the top of the wall, with expanding spray foam. You don't want any air movement in the air gap behind the bricks. It's also important to get the drainage and flashing details right on the foam layer and the stucco layer. If these details are impeccable, your new wall will perform much better than your existing wall.