Thank you,

It is traditional stucco.

The stucco extends about an inch or two above the soffit line. The wire
extends 2 or 3" above. I was thinking of terminating the wood with a shadow
board below the soffit.

Chris


"RicodJour" wrote in message
oups.com...
C. Bailey wrote:
I need to remove all stucco from the exterior of my house to put on wood
siding. I would like to cut the stucco just below the soffit line, so
that
I do not have to redo all of the soffits. What is the best tool for
cutting
along the soffits? I have a lot of cutting to do......

Assuming you are referring to the traditional cement-based stucco on
metal lath, a diamond blade in a circular saw or angle grinder is the
easiest. You'll have to take several passes. A diamond blade in a gas
cutoff saw would be faster but is a lot heavier and harder to control.
If you need to get a straight edge you can nail a wood straightedge on
the lower section of stucco and run the circular saw fence along that.

You may want to investigate how far above the soffit the stucco
extends. It may not be worth cutting. The cleanest and simplest way
to terminate the wood siding is to have it extend up behind the lower
edge of the soffit and use wood molding to cover any remaining gap.

Do you have any tricks for removing the stucco? I was thinking of a flat
shovel (like a roofing shovel).

Pounding on the stucco with a lump hammer will fracture the stucco and
make it a lot easier to pry off the sections. Take all of the pictures
and breakables off of the exterior walls before you start pounding
away. A roofing shovel or pry bar work well for lifting the sections
away from the wood. Try and pry along the framing as some sheathing is
pretty easy to punch through when prying.

R