Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Ledger Board on a Stucco House

I am planning on building a front porch on my house in Southern California. The house exterior is stucco. What is the accepted practice. Do I need to remove the stucco where the board will be and put flashing up, or can I just drill through the stucco to the studs and put a calking in the holes?

Thanks in advance as I checked the archives and found little on ledgers over stucco.

Ethan

Typically, when we install a deck on a home with stucco, we like to install a flashing behind the ledger to prevent the chance of mold, decay, etc. It's a bit more work, but most likely worth it in the long run. I'd also reccomend installing a couple decklok brackets to secure your deck and ledger firmly to the house. Other then the fact that they provide a more seismically stable deck, but they meet the more modern international building codes. You can check them out at deck-lok.com (http://www.deck-lok.com)

-deckguy ;)