wow, that looks really bad what you had, much worse than our wall, (also, in Southern California we do not get as much rain) did you have to pay for all the repairs? looks extensive and expensive... you are correct, the best way to go is to redo the stucco, but I do not think that I can afford to do it right now. maybe after my daughter is better and my wife can get a job. meanwhile I'll hope for another dry winter (this winter we only got sporadic rain, about 3" total the entire season) and will be even more expensive if there is a need to take out the windows, these are monster windows, 12ft x 6ft, and we have two of them, one on top of the other, no floor in between the wall height is 18-19 ft on the inside. though it seems that you did the repairs without taking out the windows. however, in my case, I also suspect the window frame. it is vinyl, and it is cracked in the corners (when they mounted this monster windows, they probably bent/flexed and destroyed the frame. I did put a lot of caulking in the corner of the frame, and it did seem to help a bit. I think we actually had two leaks, one from frame, and the other from the stucco on the other side of the window. however, water seem to travel along the beam from one side of the window to the other. by the way, I was not thinking of roofing tar, but more of the synthetic elastomeric seals. but you are correct, might as well do it right this time around. yes, please do send any info you have to: avi [at] carmi [dot] us My daughter is doing sort of OK, seems that the maintenance chemo is too strong for her and she got anemic, going to get a transfusion tomorrow, and reduce the chemo. hope it will help her feel better (while still strong enough to fight the leukemia) thanks, -avi

If you have stucco,(lath & plaster) contractors in your area, It might be wise for you to find one that will do your project as a "side job". They will have all the materials needed for your project, probably from other jobs, that will be more cost effective in the long run for you and it will be done right. The main concern is the lathing being done correctly so you have no leaking there as stucco, or even the old hardcoat is not waterproof. It needs to be lathed/flashed correctly for a dry project. You could do the framing and the painting to match as a patch is best when scratch/brown coated, then painted to match rather than trying to match up with a stucco topcoat. If no luck finding someone reputable, e-mail me and I'll walk you through it. It will take up too much space here on the forum to explain in detail all the steps as well as asking you further detailed questions. It's not rocket science, but patches seemingly simple projects can be pretty involved to make it right without causing problems down the road.

Hi - I'm back with a quote for the sunrise. This is all total for windows and installation. It includes pre-finished replacement trim for the jamb extension (casing?) and interior trim. The quote is for the Ultra-12 glass package and the total is 43k. Its light on the details and the stated window count is 17 casements, 2 awnings, and 2 half rounds. Those counts are really openings and not windows. I have 36 windows. The quote does not say anything about house wrap or sill pans; just full sash replacement. I met with the guy today and he mentioned how he was able to take advantage of several current promotions etc and how it would really be closer to 50k. To compare my other quote for the K&K windows is 58k. This is the total cost to me that includes the general contractors overhead and all installation. The quote that I have from that vendor is to the gnat's a$$. I have dimensions and price for each window. Probably because that quote had to go to the insurance company. I did not like the sunrise salesman. He was nice enough, but avoided talking in detail about anything. He also offered up Revere Berkshire Elite (vinyl) and Quaker (Aluminum clad wood) as options where I could "save" but the savings was maybe 5% for the Revere and 3% for the Quaker. I did not solicit for other products. My goal is to decide and place my window order by the end of the month. While I like the energy numbers on the Sunrise windows once I factor in the GC's fee to oversee the install (since I'm having stucco work done, etc.) it just does not seem like I'm saving significantly. So I'm on the fence. I guess my questions are 1.) does the sunrise window quote seem like it is in the right ballpark? 2.) any suggestions on how to get comfortable with the sunrise installer? (I've done Angie's List and the BBB - no red flags there) 3.) which will have better aesthetics once installed - or will I even be able to tell the difference? Thanks!!

Actually we have stucco, albeit not the norm, here on the East Coast as well. Frame jumps, if done properly, will work just fine in this application if the leak is between the original frame and stucco. I am sure you know this as well already, so I am mostly stating this for the board consumers of information that are not as educated on application as you or I are. If what the consumer can see, i.e. the connection between the stucco and frame, is otherwise well sealed and the caulking/sealant, is intact, the leaks are most often coming (in the case of actual window leaks...as many window leaks are mis-attributed to the windows) from the corners where the window are assembled (most are aluminum) or the weeping system. Installing a new window, even in a frame jump application, works to abate that issue as it is providing a new "primary" weeping pathway that will empty the contents of the water accumulation OUTSIDE of the old window track. This only applies to window that are ACTUALLY leaking at that interface. As stated, many "window leaks" are falsely attributed to the window are are from cracks or other roof related issues. In those situations, the source of the water must first be identified because a frame jump in that case, will NOT fix the leak and may actually worsen it by trapping water in the interstitial frame space between the two windows. Frame jumps do work quite well on actual window leaks at the pathways that are mentioned above (i.e. frame or weeping pathway leaks) by move the water back out to the outermost plane of the home.