How To Repair Textured Stucco Exterior Walls

At starting time glance, the seamless coat of stucco on the East Boston house looked as impenetrable as a sidewalk, the perfect foil confronting the harsh wet conditions of this littoral city. All the same beneath its lush cloak of ivy, the cement crush was a mess of cracks and buckling, signs that water had gotten in and damaged the underlying forest lath.

When properly installed, stucco (a cement- or lime-based plaster) is about equally carefree and long-lived a cladding as anyone could wish—100 years is non uncommon. But when big cracks or blisters appear, the time to make repairs is right abroad, before the damage grows.

Antonio DiSilva of MJM Masonry performed the remedial piece of work on the East Boston house over ten days, ripping off loose fabric and patching it with iii separate coats. Here's how to make stucco repair that lasts.

Stucco Recipes

Stucco Recipes

Outset glaze:

1⁄2 purse (47 lbs.) Portland cement
6 shovels brick or masonʼs sand, slightly damp
one shovel hydrated lime
ane⁄2 cup acrylic bonding amanuensis

Second and finish coats:

ane⁄2 purse (47 lbs.) portland cement
8 shovels aggregate sand for concrete
ane shovel hydrated lime
i⁄2 cup acrylic bonding agent

Directions:

Shovel the dry ingredients into a wheelbarrow and blend them with a mortar hoe.
Add the acrylic bonding agent, so stir in water, a little at a time, until the mix reaches the consistency of buttercream frosting.
Also much h2o will make it loose and unworkable.
Once water is added, the mix will stay usable for xxx to 90 minutes before information technology starts to harden.

Sentinel The Weather

Freezing temperatures can ruin wet stucco. Await for night temperatures that stay above twoscore degrees before tackling repairs. Hot, dry, windy weather tin can likewise interfere by sucking out moisture the mix needs to cure properly. Work in the shade so the stucco doesn't dry too fast. Betwixt coats, go on the patch moist by covering it with a plastic canvas.

Work Safely

The alkalis in wet cement tin cause burns. So when working with fresh stucco, clothing gloves or touch the mix only with your tools, not your fingers. Keep a bucket of water nearby to wash any splashes off your skin.

Finish It Right

No patch, no matter how expertly textured, volition match the colour of the sometime stucco around it. To do that, you lot demand to utilize a pigmented coating over the unabridged surface. The patch at this house was covered with a thick, sprayed-on acrylic elastomer that bridges and seals hairline cracks. Other adequate coatings include concrete paints and stains, mineral paints, lime washes, and "fog coats" of pigmented cement. Whichever coating you lot use, brand sure it's alkaline tolerant and permeable to water vapor. Otherwise, it volition be peeling off in no time.

Steps for Repairing Stucco

Stride 1: Break Off Loose Stucco

Whack it with a hammer, or a hammer and a cold chisel, taking care not to damage the underlying woods lath supports. Eye protection is a must.

Step 2: Scrap Away At The Edges

Proceed until you reach stucco that'due south firmly adhered to its lath. Cut whatever metal mesh with snips.

Pace three: Cover The Exposed Lath

Using a utility pocketknife, trim a piece of course-D builder's newspaper to fit tightly forth the boundary where the quondam stucco meets the exposed wood lath. Fasten the paper to the lath with covering nails, so put a second layer of paper on top of the showtime.

Step iv: Add Mesh

Place galvanized metallic lath over the paper and trim it tight against the edge of the stucco. Snips with kickoff handles will make this job easier. Drive more covering nails through the mesh and into the wood lath.

Step five: Mix The Stucco

Following the first-coat recipe, stir up a batch of stucco, using a wheelbarrow as a mixing bowl. The acrylic bonding agent added to this mix improves the adhesion of the new stucco to the old.

Step 6: Sling Information technology

Wet the border of the old stucco so it won't suck moisture out of the patch and weaken the bail between old and new. Scoop fist-size wads of wet stucco onto a brick trowel and toss them confronting the wire board until information technology's completely covered. Smooth the mix with a finishing trowel, then pack it confronting the edge of the existing stucco with a brick trowel. Proceed adding more material until this layer is nearly one/2 inch below the existing stucco surface.

Step 7: Scratch It

When the patch loses its wet sheen, score its surface to improve the bond to the next coat. Tape a plastic canvass over the patch to continue information technology from drying out.

Step viii: Apply Second Coat

Wait seven days, then remove the plastic and mist the patch with water. Mix up a batch of stucco following the second-coat recipe, and trowel on a three/8-inch-thick coat, working from the lesser up. Pack down the edges with a brick trowel. Wait for the wet sheen to disappear, then trowel the patch smooth, only beneath the level of the existing stucco. Embrace again with a plastic sheet.

Step 9: Put On The Finish Coat

Afterward three days, remove the plastic, mist the patch, and mix up a fresh batch of stucco, post-obit the finish-coat recipe. Different textures crave dissimilar techniques. To lucifer this wall'south original "nuance" finish, DiSilva scooped small globs of wet mix onto his brick trowel, and so flicked them against the wall until they were flush with the one-time surface.