My adobe fireplace cracked after 3 summers, here's what fixed it

I patched a crack in my adobe fireplace in Tucson every spring for 3 years and it kept coming back wider. Finally a mason told me the real issue was the roof flashing letting water seep down behind the adobe, not the mud itself. I fixed the flashing, repatched with a lime-based mix, and it's held through two monsoon seasons now. Anyone else dealt with recurring adobe cracks and found a root cause that wasn't obvious?

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emmaking1mo ago

Did the flashing thing turn out to be the actual fix or did you just get lucky with the lime mix? I once patched a crack in my own wall so confidently that it looked like a mud pie art project, so I feel your pain there.

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alicer531mo ago

Ever notice how the real fix is always the boring one, @emmaking, and the fancy stuff just makes us feel busy?

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