In this video, Matt Risinger compares two Stucco houses; spoiler warning one house passed and one house fails.Both houses are remodels, one was built in 1938 and one in the early 2000s. Quick, take a guess as to which one has fared better.If you guessed the 1938 house, you were right. The house has relatively modern construction for being 80 years old. It features traditional ¾" Stucco and has no overhangs. As you will see, there's decay and rust on the steel windows, but there isn't a lot of other visible damage on the exterior.How has this 80-year-old stucco house withstood the wear and tear of time? The entire frame consists of solid wood. The wood framing and structure and the stucco exterior absorbed a lot of water, and since the house wasn't airtight, it could dry from heat and airflow.Old houses can soak up 50+ gallons of water - the solid wood frame and sheathing act like a sponge.The second house looks structurally similar from a distance, but that's where the similarities stop. The framing is all plywood. Once you get closer, you'll see that there is a massive amount of rot. Material like plywood does not hold up to extensive water exposure; the water barrier was not built to withstand the leakage from rainfall and the additional sprinkler heads.There are three main takeaways from this video stucco leaks - it's porous and absorbs a lot of water; houses today are sensitive - small leaks kill; and we can't rely on old methods of stucco unless we're building to old standards.Check out the video to dive deeper into the building science behind building with stucco.