Fire repair and hardening in Valley Village, Los Angeles County
Exterior Joints, Stucco and Windows in Valley Village
Stucco and window work for Valley Village houses, planned around the joints where plaster, frames and vents meet and move with inland heat.
Inland valley houses, as a general rule, swing through wider changes of temperature between afternoon and night than homes in milder settings, and every material on the outside grows and shrinks with that cycle. On a Valley Village house we plan exterior work around the places where that movement shows first: the seam between plaster and a window frame, a door jamb set into stucco, and the flange of an attic vent.
Where plaster meets a frame
Cement plaster and a window frame expand at different rates, so a hard joint between them eventually opens. We cut out failed caulk down to clean surfaces, set a foam backer rod in the gap and fill it with a sealant rated for exterior movement, tooled so it bonds on two sides only. Long walls without relief get control joints, which let the plaster crack along a straight line we choose. Hairline crazing is left for the finish coat to bridge, while wider cracks are opened, checked for wet paper behind them and patched in layers.
Replacing a window that has to move
A new window needs a little room around its frame, so it is never wedged tight into the rough opening. We shim it level, leave the gap the maker calls for and seal the perimeter with low expansion foam on the inside. Outside, a sloped pan under the sill catches any water that gets past, and flashing tape is lapped from the bottom up so each layer sheds onto the one below. Fiberglass frames move less with heat than standard vinyl. Dual pane units with a tempered layer also hold up better against radiant heat and are the glazing we specify for a hardened exterior.
Work we take on in Valley Village
Every service on this list is offered here. The exterior and fire work comes first, then remodeling and new space.
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