2 month old stucco cracking

New construction house on the coast of NE Florida. Stucco hasn’t even dried yet and it has hairline shrinkage cracks. Quite a lot of them, and some aren’t hairline, they are thicker. Pictures hard to get in the sun on a light color wall, but they are attached.

My questions:
Why is it cracking?

And what is the prognosis and repair? Are the cracks going to get worse and worse, and should they be filled now with paint, or something else?

It was 3 coat, but I think they put the brown and finish coat on pretty close together. Finish coat is thin and only about 50% coverage, so I don’t think that is the issue.

Thanks.

Probably didn’t let the scratch coat cure for 7 days, or hydrate it properly during curing in the hot sun. It’s all shrinkage cracking. Stucco guys don’t feel the need to do those things for some reason and this is the result. These cracks will not fill with paint. Will likely need urethane caulking fill before painting.

New construction. You will have problems down the road from improper application. Should be torn off and redone correctly.

Wsiegel, thanks for the input!

What problems do you see down the road?

Just paint it with some good elastomeric paint .
Stucco will crack.

This is not a full replacement problem. This is a common occurrence and can be addressed properly without replacement. If you don’t believe the two contractors that responded, then get a stucco inspector out there. Siegel believes everything should be replaced…lol

Thanks Brad and Roy for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Brad, I agree pulling it all off seems a bit extreme. I have seen 20 year old stucco without any cracks so I’m guessing they really cured it correctly. But that was a one-off.

Since it still has a high moisture content, l advised the buyer they should wait till it’s properly cured to 20% moisture content, fill the cracks with urethane sealant, and repaint.