Stucco repair and waterproofing in South Florida
Atrium repairs stucco on houses and buildings across Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties: hairline and structural cracks, hollow or delaminated areas, water intrusion at windows and parapets, and full removal and re-application. Cracks up to half an inch are included in every exterior repaint at no extra charge. Beyond that, the company's 2026 bid schedule prices hairline cracks at $4.50 per linear foot, cracks up to 3/8 inch at $7.00, wider cracks at $15.00, and stucco removal and re-application at $18 per square foot.
Typical project range: $700 – $6,000 from the smallest stucco job in the records to the median of eleven masonry and stucco jobs since 2021; building-scale work is priced per square foot.
Unit prices from a real bid
These are the unit prices Atrium submitted on a February 2026 bid to restore the exterior walls of a hotel in Boca Raton. They are the same rates a house gets; only the quantities change.
| Item | Unit | Price | Product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hairline crack repair, 1/32 to 1/8 inch | linear ft | $4.50 | Sto Flexible Crack Filler |
| Crack repair up to 3/8 inch | linear ft | $7.00 | Sto Seal STPE hybrid sealant |
| Wider cracks, routed and filled | linear ft | $15.00 | Sto repair mortar |
| Stucco removal and re-application | ft² | $18.00 | Sto Powerwall with crack-defense system |
On that bid the stucco section alone came to $258,500 for 12,000 square feet of re-stucco and 6,000 linear feet of crack repair — which is what a five-story coastal building looks like when the stucco has been left for twenty years. A house with a few dozen feet of cracking is a few hundred dollars.
What the eleven jobs in the records cost
Masonry and stucco jobs, 2021 through August 2026, contract values: the smallest was $691, the median $6,000, and the largest was a multi-year building restoration in the millions. Residential stucco work sits in the lower half of that range; building work is priced per square foot from the table above.
How a repair is done
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sound the wall | Every elevation is tapped to find hollow areas that do not show yet |
| Cut out delamination | Hollow stucco is cut back to sound material and the edges squared |
| Fix the cause | A rusted lintel, a missing control joint or a leaking window is corrected first, or the crack comes back |
| Base and finish coats | Cementitious base coat, then a finish coat textured to match the existing wall |
| Cure, then paint | New stucco cures before primer; Loxon conditioner, then finish coats |
On full re-stucco the wall is wrapped first: on a recent Pompano Beach restoration the crew put Sharkskin and Polyglass underlayments on the envelope before the multi-layer cementitious stucco went on, so the wall is watertight even before the finish.
When to do it
Before a repaint, always. Paint over hollow stucco looks fine for a season and then falls off with the stucco. If a repaint is not in the plan, stucco is still worth repairing on its own when cracks are letting water into the block — the staining and efflorescence inside show up long before the wall fails.
Sources
- Atrium bid schedule, exterior wall restoration, February 2026 — unit prices for stucco removal, re-application and three classes of crack repair on a hotel exterior
- Atrium job records, Buildertrend, 2021 – August 2026 — 11 masonry and stucco jobs with a recorded contract value
- CompanyCam project record, Pompano Beach — cementitious stucco over Sharkskin and Polyglass underlayment, exterior envelope restoration
Related questions
- Is stucco repair included when you repaint my house?
- Cracks and damage up to half an inch in diameter are included in the standard exterior scope, sealed with elastomeric sealant and patched before primer. Anything deeper or wider is a separate line, because it cannot be priced honestly without seeing it, and painting over it wastes the paint.
- How do I know if my stucco is delaminated?
- Tap it. Sound stucco sounds solid; a hollow, drummy sound means the stucco has separated from the block or the lath behind it. Bulges, map cracking (a network of fine cracks), and staining below windows are the other signs. Delaminated areas are cut out and re-applied — patching over them fails.
- What is the difference between a crack you seal and a crack you cut out?
- Hairline cracks up to 1/8 inch get a flexible crack filler. Cracks up to 3/8 inch get a hybrid sealant that stretches with the wall. Wider cracks are routed out and filled with repair mortar. Any crack that keeps returning in the same place is movement, and the fix is at the cause — a lintel, a control joint, a leaking window — not the crack.
- Do you waterproof?
- Yes. On buildings with extensive damage the company uses a gel patch and stucco process to bring walls back to watertight, and on full re-stucco jobs a peel-and-stick underlayment (Sharkskin, Polyglass) goes on before the cementitious base coat. Elastomeric coatings are specified where a wall needs a continuous waterproof membrane rather than a breathable finish.
- Who does this work — a painter or a contractor?
- Atrium Painting and Restoration Inc. holds Florida Certified Building Contractor license CBC1264505, so stucco, masonry and concrete restoration are done under a building contractor's license, not a painting registration. That matters when the work touches lintels, lath or structural concrete.