Roof and exterior
Stucco repair cost
Thirty feet of hairline cracks sealed is about $851; twenty feet of wider cracks patched with mesh $866; a 10 sq ft hole re-plastered in three coats $885 — each with the fog coat over the wall that makes the patch disappear, and each mostly the plasterer's minimum. Stucco that gives when you press it is another job: $2,355 for 30 sq ft, because soft stucco is wet sheathing and a leak that has to be found before the wall is closed. This reads the wall, prices the fix by the foot or the square foot, and measures every repair against re-stuccoing the whole face.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-23 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Stucco repair cost calculator
What the stucco is doing
A crack is sealed or patched. Stucco that gives when you press it is wet sheathing behind it, and that is a wall job with a leak to find first.
Cracks with an edge you can feel, often at window corners or along a long wall with no control joints.
All of them, added up.
Re-stuccoing it: about $2,970.
Ground floor.
Corner to corner, so the patch disappears.
A plasterer, with a minimum and two visits for a patch.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Wider cracks
$866
$43 per ft · 29% of re-stuccoing the wall · 3.4 h
Patch, not re-stucco
$866 against $2,970 to re-stucco the 300 sq ft wall — 29 per cent. Repair.
Press beside the crack
Hard is a crack. Soft is a wall.
Stucco that is hard beside the crack is a crack: sealed or patched, and the wall is fine. Stucco that gives, bulges or stains at the bottom is water behind it, and the price is a different page of this calculator.
A patch never matches
The texture is close and the colour is not, and a painted patch is a rectangle on the wall for ever. A fog coat — cement colour sprayed corner to corner — or elastomeric paint over the whole wall is what makes the repair disappear. It is $450 here, and no quote includes it.
One wall, every problem
Each repair at its usual size on this wall, against re-stuccoing the whole face.
What the plasterer charges for
- Patching stucco and mesh for 20 ft of crack
Opened to a V, mesh tape over the crack, a patching stucco worked in and textured, then a fog coat or paint over the wall. The texture is the hard part.$36 - 3.4 hours of a plasterer
Cracks with an edge you can feel, often at window corners or along a long wall with no control joints. Water gets in; the lath behind is starting to rust.$180 - Fog coat or paint, the whole 300 sq ft wall
A fog coat — cement colour sprayed over the whole wall — or elastomeric paint, corner to corner, because a patch never matches the old wall in texture or colour and a painted patch matches worse.$450 - Up to the plasterer's minimum
A plasterer's minimum covers the visit and the second visit a three-coat patch needs. On cracks, it is the price.$200
What it costs
National average. Wider cracks, 20 ft of crack, on a 300 sq ft single-storey wall, fog-coated. Not included: windows or roof flashing replaced beyond the leak found, framing rot past the section opened, or a colour-matched finish coat on a wall that is not fog-coated.
A wall past patching is priced as new cladding on the siding page, and the paint that hides a patch is part of the exterior painting page, where stucco takes nearly twice the paint.
Worth knowing
- Cracks with an edge you can feel, often at window corners or along a long wall with no control joints. Water gets in; the lath behind is starting to rust. Opened to a V, mesh tape over the crack, a patching stucco worked in and textured, then a fog coat or paint over the wall. The texture is the hard part.
- A patch never matches: the texture is close and the colour is not, and a painted patch is a rectangle on the wall for ever. The $450 fog coat or paint over the whole 300 sq ft wall, corner to corner, is what makes the repair disappear — and the line every quote leaves off.
- The work is $216; the plasterer's minimum is $380, and a three-coat patch is two visits whatever its size. Every crack and chip on the house goes on the same visit.
- Cracks that run from window corners at 45 degrees, or every eight feet along a long wall, are the wall moving where it has no control joint to move at. They are sealed, and they open again a little every year; that is stucco, not a failure. A crack you can put a coin in, or one with a step between its sides, is not — press beside it.
On this page — 4 sections
Hard is a crack. Soft is a wall.
The short version
- Hairlines $851. Wider cracks $866. A patch $885. Mostly the minimum and the fog coat.
- Soft stucco $2,355 for 30 sq ft: wet sheathing, and a leak to find.
- A patch never matches. The fog coat over the wall — $450 — is the line quotes forget.
- Past half of re-stuccoing the wall, re-stucco the wall: $2,970 for 300 sq ft.
Press the wall beside the crack. If it is hard, it is a crack: shrinkage, settlement, a long wall with no control joint, and it is sealed if it is thinner than a coin’s edge and patched with mesh if it is wider. If it gives, bulges, or is stained along the bottom, it is not a crack problem. Water has been getting behind the stucco — from a window with no sill pan, a roof edge with no kickout flashing, a crack that sat wet — and the sheathing under it has been wet for years.
That is a wall job: stucco, lath and paper off to sound wall, the sheathing and any soft framing replaced, the leak found and flashed, and then three coats over new lath. It costs what it costs because closing the wall without finding the leak is the same repair again in three years.
| Hard beside the crack | Soft, bulging or stained | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A crack in the stucco | Wet sheathing behind it |
| The fix | Sealed, or patched with mesh | Opened, leak flashed, sheathing replaced, re-plastered |
| 20 ft / 30 sq ft, fog-coated | $866 | $2,355 |
| Visits | One, or two for a patch | Three or more |
| Yourself | $194 | Not a first job |
MaterialsEstimator, Stucco repair price survey · checked 2026-09-23
A patch is three coats, and a fog coat after
Stucco is a system — two layers of building paper, metal lath, and three coats of cement plaster to 7/8 in, each cured before the next — and a patch has to be the same system or it is a skin over a hole. The old stucco is cut back to sound edges, new lath is tied into the old so the patch and the wall move together, and the scratch, brown and finish coats go on over three visits. That is why a 10 sq ft patch costs 885 and a 20 sq ft one only a little more: the visits are the price.
And it will not match. The texture can be got close by someone who does it every day; the colour cannot, because the wall has weathered and the new cement has not. A fog coat — cement colour sprayed over the whole wall — or elastomeric paint corner to corner is what makes the patch disappear, and it is the line every quote leaves off.
$450
Fog coat, 300 sq ft wall
$1.5 a square foot
$380
The plasterer's minimum
Two visits for a patch
$360
Finding and flashing the leak
Under soft stucco
$2,970
Re-stucco 300 sq ft
The scale
ASTM International, ASTM C926 — Standard specification for application of Portland cement-based plaster · checked 2026-09-23
Where the water got in
Soft stucco under a window is a window with no sill pan, leaking into the wall below it since it was fitted. Soft stucco under a roofline is a roof edge with no kickout flashing, pouring into the wall every time it rains. Soft stucco at the bottom of a wall is stucco that runs to the ground with no weep screed, wicking. The repair is not the plaster; it is the flashing, and the plaster over it.
Before the plasterer comes
- Press beside every crack and stain. Hard is a crack; soft is water.
- Coin test the cracks: thinner than its edge, sealed; wider, patched.
- Add up the feet of crack and the square feet of damage, wall by wall.
- Look above every soft patch: a window, a roof edge, a deck ledger. That is the leak.
- Measure the wall for the fog coat, corner to corner.
- Every crack and chip on the house on the same visit; the minimum is paid once.
- Ask which coats the patch gets. Three, cured between, or it is a skin.
What goes wrong
01Patching soft stucco
The sheathing behind it is wet, the leak is still running, and the patch is soft again in three years.
Instead — Open it, find the leak, flash it, replace the sheathing, then plaster: $2,355 for 30 sq ft, once.
02Caulk in a wide crack
Sealant bridges a hairline; in a crack with an edge it sags, shrinks and lets the water in behind it.
Instead — Opened to a V, mesh, and patching stucco textured to match.
03A one-coat patch
A skin over the lath, with no key and no cure, cracks round its own edge within a season.
Instead — Scratch, brown, finish — three visits, and the lath tied into the old.
04Painting the patch to match
It matches worse: a rectangle of fresh paint on a weathered wall.
Instead — A fog coat or elastomeric paint over the whole wall, $450 on 300 sq ft.
05Sealing the same 45-degree cracks every year
They are the wall moving where it has no control joint, and they will open a little every year for ever.
Instead — Seal them, fog-coat the wall, and stop worrying — unless a step opens between the sides.
06A plasterer for one crack
The minimum is about $380, and the crack is $3.5 a foot.
Instead — A caulk gun and an afternoon, or every crack on the house on the same visit.
07Patching most of a wall
100 sq ft of soft stucco on a 300 sq ft wall is $6,680 to patch — more than re-stuccoing the wall.
Instead — Re-stucco the face, with control joints, $4,420 with the same leak fixed.
08Closing the wall before finding the leak
The same repair, sold twice.
Instead — Ask where the water came in and what is being done about it, before the scratch coat.
- 01Press beside the crackHard: a crack. Soft, bulging, or stained at the bottom: water behind it, and a wall job.
- 02Measure the crack against a coinThinner than a dime's edge is sealed. Wider, or with a step between the sides, is patched with mesh.
- 03Add up the feet, or the square feetCracks by the foot, all of them. Holes and soft areas by the square foot, generously.
- 04Measure the wall it is onFor the fog coat, which goes corner to corner, and for the re-stucco price the repair is measured against.
- 05Find where the water got inIf it is soft: the window above, the roof-to-wall joint, the crack that sat wet. It is flashed before the wall closes, or the repair repeats.
- 06Apply the half ruleA repair over half the price of re-stuccoing the wall is a new wall with an old edge round it.
Stucco takes nearly twice the paint of a smooth wall, and an elastomeric coat over the lot hides every patch on it — priced on the exterior painting page.
If the whole house is getting painted- Three-coat stucco
- Scratch, brown and finish coats over metal lath, 7/8 in thick, each cured before the next. What a proper patch is made of, and why it is two visits.
- Lath
- The metal mesh the stucco keys into, over the building paper. A patch's lath is tied into the old lath, or the patch cracks round its own edge.
- Water-resistive barrier
- The two layers of building paper behind the lath that keep water that gets through the stucco off the sheathing. When it fails, the sheathing rots.
- Hairline crack
- Under 1/16 in, from shrinkage and settlement. Every stucco wall has them by year five; sealed to keep water out, and cosmetic otherwise.
- Control joint
- A metal strip in the stucco that lets a long wall crack where it is told to. Old walls have none, and crack every eight feet instead.
- Elastomeric sealant
- A stucco-textured caulk that stretches with the wall's movement. What a hairline crack gets, and what a wide one does not.
- Fog coat
- Cement colour sprayed over a whole wall to even out patches and weathering. The finish that makes a repair vanish, and the line no quote has.
- Elastomeric paint
- A thick, stretchy coating that bridges hairline cracks and hides patches. The alternative to a fog coat, and it changes the wall's look to painted.
- Kickout flashing
- The small diverter where a roof edge meets a wall, sending water into the gutter instead of behind the stucco. Its absence is the commonest cause of soft stucco under a roofline.
- Sill pan
- A pan under a window sill that sends water back out. Missing, the window leaks into the wall below it for years, and the stucco under it goes soft.
- Sheathing
- The plywood or board under the paper. Wet for years, it turns to compost, and it comes out with the stucco.
- Plasterer's minimum
- About $380: the visit, and the second visit a three-coat patch needs to cure between coats.
Common questions
- How much does stucco repair cost?
- By what the stucco is doing: 30 ft of hairline cracks sealed about $851, 20 ft of wider cracks patched $866, a 10 sq ft hole re-plastered in three coats $885 — each including a fog coat over the 300 sq ft wall so the patch disappears, and each mostly the plasterer's minimum. Soft, bulging stucco is a different job: $2,355 for 30 sq ft, because the sheathing behind it is wet and the leak has to be found. Re-stuccoing the whole 300 sq ft wall is about $2,970.
- How much does it cost to patch stucco?
- About $885 for a 10 sq ft patch with a fog coat over the wall, or $435 without: the stucco cut back to sound, new lath tied to the old, and three coats — scratch, brown, finish — on separate visits so each cures. Per square foot it is steep because it is two visits for any size; the second patch on the same wall is nearly free.
- What does stucco repair cost per square foot?
- About $29.5 a square foot for a patch with sound paper and lath behind it, and $44.5 a square foot for soft stucco where the paper, lath and sheathing come out too — plus the leak. Re-stuccoing a whole wall is about $9.9 a square foot. Cracks are by the foot: $4.2 sealed, $10.8 patched.
- Why is soft stucco so much more expensive?
- Because it is not stucco that failed; it is the wall behind it. Stucco goes soft when water has been getting behind it for years — a window with no sill pan, a roof edge with no kickout flashing — and the sheathing under it is wet or rotten. The stucco, paper and lath come off, the sheathing and any soft framing are replaced, the leak is found and flashed, and then the wall is stuccoed again: $2,355 for 30 sq ft against $885 for a 10 sq ft patch on a sound wall. On a large soft area, re-stuccoing the whole wall is often the honest number.
- Can stucco cracks be repaired?
- Yes, and most should be: water sits in them through a winter and rusts the lath. Hairline cracks — thinner than a coin's edge — are brushed out and filled with an elastomeric sealant, $851 for 30 ft with the wall fog-coated after. Wider ones are opened to a V, mesh-taped and patched, $866 for 20 ft. Cracks that run at 45 degrees from window corners, or every eight feet along a long wall, are the wall moving where it has no control joint; they are sealed and they open a little every year, and that is stucco.
- Will the patch match?
- No. The texture can be got close; the colour cannot, because the old wall has weathered and the new cement has not, and a painted patch is a rectangle for ever. A fog coat — cement colour sprayed corner to corner — or elastomeric paint over the whole wall is what makes the repair disappear: about $1.5 a square foot, $450 on a 300 sq ft wall. It is the line every quote leaves off, and the difference between $416 and $866.
- Should I patch or re-stucco?
- A repair over half the price of re-stuccoing the wall is a new wall with an old edge round it: 100 sq ft of soft stucco on a two-storey 300 sq ft wall is $6,680 to repair against $4,420 to re-stucco with the same leak fixed — re-stucco. Twenty feet of cracks at $866 against $2,970 — patch. A wall with more cracks than wall is re-stuccoed with control joints the old one never had.
- Can I repair stucco myself?
- Cracks and small patches, yes: $194 of sealant, patching stucco and fog coat for 20 ft of cracks, $213 for a 10 sq ft patch. Hairlines are a stiff brush and a caulk gun; a patch is three coats on three days, kept damp between, with the texture practised on a scrap first. Soft stucco is not a first job — the leak has to be found, and the wall is open until it is.
- What causes stucco to crack?
- Shrinkage as it cures, settlement of the house, and movement on long walls that were never given control joints — those are the hairlines and the 45-degree cracks at window corners, and every stucco wall has them. Cracks with a step between the sides, or bulging, or staining, are water: behind the stucco, and usually from a window, a roof edge or a deck ledger above.
- How long does a stucco repair take?
- Cracks, an afternoon. A three-coat patch, three short visits over a week so each coat cures: scratch, brown, finish. Soft stucco, two or three days once the wall is open and the leak is found, plus the curing. A whole wall, about a week. Then the fog coat, a morning, when the last coat has cured — 5 hours of work for a 10 sq ft patch spread over those visits.
- Does homeowners insurance cover stucco repair?
- Sudden damage — a car, a fallen branch, a storm — usually; cracking, settlement and long-term water damage, almost never, and soft stucco from a window that has leaked for a decade is the textbook exclusion. Get the repair priced, then decide whether a claim is worth the premium.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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