Rotting Stucco Walls

We had our Home built in 1995, and went with a stucco exterior, barrel tiled roof, arched windows and doors, etc. Basically a Santa Fe style home. Recently, we had an large cover built over our back patio, that cover part of our pool, for entertaining purposes. The contractor building the cover, stopped construction, when he found an extreme amount of rotted wood behind the stucco walls where he was tying in the new porch cover. I asked him what would cause the wood to rot, but he said he only builds decks, fences, porch covers, etc., so he really doesn't know why and a roofing contractor was called to look for leaks but non were found. What could be causing this and what can I do to prevent it in the future?

Rotten to the core
Holden Beach, NC

Well........shoot. How to put this..? I don't have to come to Holden Beach to guess that your stucco probably looks like it has a Styrofoam layer, a mesh over that and the color coats over that. If I'm wrong please correct me.

Chances are very very great that you don't have Stucco. You may have been sold stucco, but your exterior finish sounds like EIFS, or more commonly known as "dryvit". This is a mainly commercial application, that is suitable for insulating and coating over masonry, or over metal stud framing. It isn't suitable at all for wood framing because if not applied right by a REAL EXPERT in the field, you're going to get moisture in, and it will not come out which causes the framing to rot.

With a problem of this magnitude, you are going to need to hire a home inspector, to assess the extent of the damage, and determine if your home is safe to live in at all. If there is moisture within your wall cavities, then there is going to be mold. YOu definitely need a mold test performed. One sure sign is if you or anyone in your house has been suffering with headaches, runny noses etc., when @ home but seems to improve with a prolonged absence from the home. With EIFS, windows are sometimes not installed correctly, and the same goes with doors. The problem could and probably is widespread. After the assessment from the inspector your next step is to contact the homebuilder to find out what the product should have been. Also contact your homeowners association if applicable and your neighbors and ask about any problems that they may be experiencing, eg; mold on interior walls, soft wood door frames, etc. This may be a widespread problem and further legal action against the builder and/or contractor, may be in order.

North Carolina, I believe was the first state where the problems with EIFS over wood framing was discovered. Houses built before 1997 in general were the worst cases. This is a very well known problem in the area, as well as across the US.

In closing, my advice would be to spend the few hundred bucks for a reputable, thorough inspector to ensure your safety forst and foremost, and then proceed from there.