Can I Pour Concrete Right Up To Stucco, Burying Weep Screed?

I encounter many scenarios where the stucco is finished and then concrete is poured around the house and sometimes the finished height of the concrete seemed to be an afterthought and it is poured right up against the stucco walls, oftentimes burying the weep screed at the bottom.

This is a common occurrence, but is it acceptable? The short answer is that this is not the "proper way" to do it, but there doesn't seem to be a residential code that restricts it either, at the time of me writing this. I have experienced a lot of instances where this is common.

What Happens When Concrete Gets Poured Right Up Against The Stucco...

Stucco protects the wall from moisture and when done properly, has a water resistive barrier, usually in the form of a tar paper of some sort (2 layers) a base coat or a couple of base coats and then your finish coat(s).

Concrete Poured Up Against Stucco

This system is actually designed to breathe where moisture coming in will evaporate and wick down past the holes in the weep screed, if need be. When you pour concrete right against stucco, it adds an extra amount of water that will be absorbed by the stucco, especially if it is a larger concrete pad and will make it harder for the stucco to evaporate any water that has accumulated inside of it due to no air flow and the added moisture content from the concrete itself.

Something to keep in mind, is the fact that behind stucco is usually wood of some sort which includes the framing and oftentimes includes the shear wall as well, which can be OSB or plywood. This is usually where the problems can come into play when you pour concrete right up against a stucco wall. This usually doesn't happen until later down the road, though.

The Best Way To Do It...

The absolute best way to pour concrete with stucco walls would be to know what your finished concrete heights are and then maintain a 2" gap from the top of the concrete to the bottom of the weep screed edge.

This will provide the best chance of eliminating water intrusion from potentially happening.

2 Inch Gap Between Concrete and Weep Screed

Another Alternative Way...

If there is a situation that arises, where the concrete has to be poured above the weep screed and up against the stucco, you could always determine the finished height of the concrete and snap a line on the stucco, then break out the stucco 8 inches higher than that to allow for weep screed to be added.

I would also recommend adding additional flashing in that area to compensate for the extra moisture that can potentially affect the area that will be covered by concrete to eliminate any possibilities of moisture intrusion down the road. This can be achieved by using a rolled metal flashing material that would be installed on the shear or framing (open stud) before the weep screed is installed. 

You will still want to maintain that 2 inches above that finished height of the concrete though.

Concrete Poured Up Against Stucco With Flashing Upgraded

Other Things Worth Mentioning...

There are a couple of other things that are worth mentioning that I didn't go into in the article, but I did want to touch on them, just in case some of you out there were wondering.

If you happen to be one of those people who have already had a project done where the concrete was poured up against the stucco, then I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. It would be a lot of work to tear out the concrete and add flashing behind the wall, so I would just leave it if there are no current problems.

Another thing I wanted to mention was that if the area where your concrete will be poured up to the stucco is covered, meaning there is a roof over head that would protect against the elements, then you have even less to worry about (in most cases).

I still recommend the two methods I outlined in this article, but the chances of potential water intrusion are greatly reduced compared to an area that had no covering whatsoever.

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The Stucco Guy

Ryan Retired Stucco Contractor

I’m Ryan, a longtime stucco contractor who has spent plenty of years getting dusty, chasing cracks, matching finishes, and figuring out what actually works in the real world. I created TheStuccoGuy.com to make stucco a little less confusing, help homeowners avoid expensive mistakes, and give you practical answers without all the fluff.

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4 comments
Josie says

I have an ordeal….my contractor poured cement all over my side yards and some part of my backyard. It covered my weep screed. I spoke to a landscaper and he said he could cement saw 12 inches off from the house, dig 6 inches below to expose the weep screed and connect pipes to existing drain near it. Is this possible and will I get to a code. We did not pass city inspection of Costa Mesa because of this error…..pls help

Reply
    The Stucco Guy says

    You would have to see if that would appease the building department, if not then ask them what would they want to see as a resolution. This is unfortunately a common problem that occurs way too often.

    Reply
Mpete says

I have a question for you regarding weep screed. My plasterers have applied it all around the four inner walls of my 2nd story open-air deck that takes up one square corner of the house. The plasterers have already applied the scratch and brown coats which meet the edge of the screed as I’m assuming it should. I’m waiting now for the base and stucco finish coats to be applied.

Two of the 4 deck walls are half-walls and on the exterior side of the corner of the house. One half-wall faces the street, and, the other, the vacant lot next door. The other two walls are house walls–one a BR wall, the other a LR wall. Each of the two house walls has a set of French doors on it, and each set of doors is raised (from the deck) and has a threshold and sill. The deck is 16′ square and slants downward 4″ to the scuppers on the half-wall that faces the vacant lot next door. The guys who installed my weep screed used a laser to mark where they would install the screed on all four sides of the deck. Sadly, it seems that screed on one (half-wall) side of the deck is at least 1/2″ higher than the screed on the opposite (full-size) wall. The fact that the weep screed on two facing walls is at different heights creates a visual/aesthetic problem that’s driving me nuts. The wall between the two walls that don’t match also has screed along it.

The screed on this center wall matches up perfectly with the screed at one corner, where the two screed lines meet up, but not the other. This is an esthetic issue, rather than a functional one. The workers say that the laser told them where to put screed on each wall. I can see why the screed has to slant to follow the slope of the floor, but it makes no sense that it wouldn’t match up in the corners where the weep screed on adjacent walls comes together. My questions are these: did my plasterers apply the screed correctly or should it have matched up in the corners with the screen on the wall next to it? How can this problem be most easily corrected before they add the base and stucco coats? If you need photos to clarify what I’m saying, let me know, and I’ll send them. I couldn’t take any photos today because the deck is covered in snow! Thank you!

Reply
    The Stucco Guy says

    Pictures would help a lot, but I think I am understanding the situation. The deck is sloped (1/4″ per foot minimum away from building) to allow for drainage. In this situation, I would have lined up the corners of the weep screeds to provide a clean transition in the corners. Lining these up to make everything look clean would have been one of my top priorities, personally. It would be easier to correct any issues you have sooner, rather than later, as it would require more time and materials to fix as time goes on. As far as the installation goes, in regard to whether it was installed correctly or not, pictures would help tremendously!

    Reply
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