Stucco question

What do you call this flashing detail? Would it serve the same purpose as a weep screed?

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You would have to know whether or not it laps back up with a seal to direct water to the outer lower edge. Looks like only a small trim piece to me.

Since it don’t look like this

and is colored, I would have to assume that it is not a weep screed, but nothing else but a break metal fabricated metal flashing. :slight_smile:

No, it’s not a weep-screed. It’s a standard prefab flashing, sometimes referred to as veneer flashing.

Thanks Jeff and others. I know it isn’t a weep screed, but I was wondering if it could function like one?

I’ve called it out because it’s wrong and I don’t know how it was installed (which is what I suspect everyone will say). For me, the fact that it is the wrong detail is like the 13th chime of a clock; it makes everything suspect.

P.S. I wonder why the code specifies weep screeds only at the foundation line and not above windows and doors, similar to brick weep holes?

Weep screed is basically a standard flashing, with an “extra” bend to allow it to maintain its shape, and give a straight finishing edge for the stucco. Weep screed will continue to perform as intended, even if its lower return has rusted/rotted completely away.

Water will cascaed down through stucco, while flashings push it away from openings, frames, veneer, etc. At its lowest point, water is pushed out of the stucco by the weep screed to prevent it from wicking back up toward the sill plate.

Send me a picture of a dry exterior wall with a weep screed emitting moisture (not surface condensation) or a brick weep hole draining water.

What we can’t see is the most important part and it takes an intrusive stucco inspection to find problems. Walls with weep screeds can be wrong and leak too.

Agreed. That’s why I always include a disclaimer recommending an inspection by a certified stucco specialist prior to the close of escrow.