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My old adobe wall had a crack. I had to choose between a full repoint or just a surface patch.
The crack was about two feet long on my north-facing wall in the Nob Hill area. One contractor said to repoint the whole section with new mud plaster, which would cost over $800. Another said I could just fill the crack with a sealant for under $100. I went with the cheaper patch job last fall. It looked fine for a few months, but the crack is back and worse now. Has anyone else had this happen with a quick fix on adobe?
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the_evan10d ago
Wesley's mostly right, but the mud mix itself doesn't really flex. It's more that a proper repoint bonds deeper into the wall so the stress spreads out.
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wesleybutler10d ago
The freeze-thaw cycle on that north wall is brutal. That cheap sealant can't flex enough when the adobe itself moves with the temperature. You're basically just gluing the crack shut while the wall keeps working underneath it. A full repoint with the right mud mix lets the whole section move as one unit.
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