Wood Rot From Stucco
You can almost guarantee yourself to
have problems with wood rot, if the wood on the exterior of your house
is actually touching or embedded into the stucco.
The picture above shows a wood planter shelf sitting directly outside of
the window and it's connected to the exterior wall with a metal bracket.
Now for anyone who has spent some time going through this website and is
interested in home repairs, you probably know by now, how much damage
water can actually due to wood.
With that said, could you imagine a wood shelf that will be supporting
potted plants and these potted plants could get watered regularly. Now
with that said, if any water works its way into any gaps or cracks, you
could eventually find yourself dealing with some serious wood rot
issues.
The wood isn't going to rot on its own, when it's touching a stucco
wall. It's going to need some water or moisture, before it actually
starts to rot. Keep this in mind, especially if you're building or
repairing something.
Home Repair Tip: If it's possible, remove the wood planter shelf and cut
enough of the wood planter shelf off so that you have a minimum of a
1/4" gap between the stucco and the wood. If this shelf bracket is long
enough, it wouldn't be a bad idea to cut at least one half of an inch
off of each side and make sure that these areas remain clean and debris
free.
If these gaps aren't clean and start to accumulate leaves or lawn
clippings, you could find yourself in the same situation again. It's
never a good idea to have decomposing items like leaves or other plant
materials accumulating in areas like these.