Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly about stucco siding

[JasonGraham]

Title is basically it.

In my case, I live at 3500' with "seasons lite":smokin: Summer gets into the 90s with occasional 100 days. Winter gets into the teens with two or three storms of 2-4' of snow. Maybe 4' accumulation. I'm in middle of wild fire area with a near miss last year(~1/2 mile)

I know that stucco cracks... just like concrete:lmao: I know that window replacement double sucks. Played that game while working for GC:homer:

My questions include:
1) Does going stucco require full residing? Or can it be over t-111?
2) How does stucco act in winter?
3) How well does it do in fire situation? Better or worse than Hardy Plank or the like?
4) Any must do work while going to stucco?

I'm hoping for a few things to work out so I can reside the house this spring/summer... trying for better fire protection than t-111.

[Kalisspera]

I see it's been a while since you've posted, but I just want to ask—has anyone here dealt with hairline cracks showing up a year or two after applying stucco? I’ve heard those can be normal due to settling, but I’m wondering how others have handled it. Did you patch them, paint over, or just leave them alone if they're minor? Curious how it’s held up over time.

[MikeBrooklyn]

I had to repair some cracking Concrete around windows after water got behind the mesh—what a pain. Turns out poor flashing and grade sloping were part of the issue. I ended up reworking the base area, adding a French drain, and even switching to retaining walls to stop water from pooling near the foundation. Haven’t had issues since. Stucco needs solid prep or it'll bite you later.