Our South Wall Seems to Be Getting Battered (rev. 8/20)

THE SOUTH WALL turns out to have many problems, only one of which I’ll address here. Namely, it seems to have suffered repeated physical assaults. The result is that the stucco has been dented, chipped, and cracked to the point of flaking off in large chunks.

The problem is almost entirely concentrated in the area where the trash and recycling bins are kept. As I shall demonstrate, the most obvious culprits are the handlers of those bins.…

Those bins have hard protruding points, the exact location of which can vary, depending upon whether the lids are closed or open. When the bins are pushed against our wall, the impact damages the stucco at those points. 

The height of the rows of damage on the wall corresponds to the height of the bins’ protruding points.

I intend to discuss this unfortunate situation with our neighbor (along with related issues, such as drainage). It should be possible to install stops on the pavement that mechanically keep the bins from getting too close to the wall. 

Update 8/20/22

This week, in response to my request earlier this month, our neighbor was kind enough to install barriers:

That should go a long way toward preventing further violent damage to our wall. Thank you, Larry Perloff of Perloff/Webster!