Tar paper repair behind ext. stucco wall...

[BrianStark]

I can think of several ways to repair a torn tar/asphalt paper backing behind the stucco on an exterior wall, but am wondering what others here may recommend as the "best" solution.

The exterior wall on my home has the following structure:

Stucco on the outside
Tar/asphalt paper
Insulation
Drywall on the inside

Obviously in the picture, the drywall and the insulation are missing (had a water leak not related to the tear in the tar/asphalt paper, and had to open up a dining room wall....)

thanks,

Brian

[Hellrazor]

Ugh.. only way I can think of doing it:

Cut out an area to square off the cut. Then use Henry wet patch roofing cement to "glue" a piece of tarpaper over the area. I would overlap about 6" on all sides. Make sure you have spread the patch right to the edge of the cut so it can not catch water in an voids. I would spead more of it over the outside of the overlapped area to help secure the bond.

[Hellrazor]

BTW... you can buy the Henry wet patch in a caulk tube or a 1gal can at Lowes or Homedepot.

[DaveS]

Duct repair foil tape?

That stuff will stick to pretty much anything.

Or maybe that expensive red vapor barrier repair tape?

[scmhogg]

Brian,



http://www.gorillatough.com/tapes.aspx

Steve

[GregW]

I used to do stucco work and in my experience tears in the paper backing were common.

The lathers that installed the paper backed wire lath would use a screw driver to stretch the wire to make it tight as they intalled it and a lot of times it would penetrate the paper. In my experience it did not pose a problem unless it was at a window or door transition were it might affect the flashed joint and allow water to penetrate at the transition.

In your photo it looks like the tear is just between the vertical framing members in a wall were it shouldn't pose a problem...but I would still probably use duct tape and plastic to form a vapor barrier if I was going to enclose that area with drywall and prevent future access to it.

[Stytooner]

You can cut it out and make a slotted repair.
Cut out so that it is square. Cut a larger square with a slit in the middle on each side so that the slits are the same width apart as the opening. The top of this would go inside and the bottom would hang out on the other side. Secure the top side with some of that patch stuff as well as sealing up the slits with it. Then you are good to go.