How To Do Minor Stucco Repair

At offset glance, the seamless coat of stucco on the East Boston firm looked every bit bulletproof as a sidewalk, the perfect foil against the harsh wet weather of this coastal urban center. Yet beneath its lush cloak of ivy, the cement beat was a mess of cracks and buckling, signs that water had gotten in and damaged the underlying wood lath.

When properly installed, stucco (a cement- or lime-based plaster) is about as carefree and long-lived a cladding every bit anyone could wish—100 years is not uncommon. Only when big cracks or blisters announced, the time to make repairs is right away, before the damage grows.

Antonio DiSilva of MJM Masonry performed the remedial work on the E Boston house over ten days, ripping off loose textile and patching it with 3 split up coats. Here'south how to make stucco repair that lasts.

Stucco Recipes

Stucco Recipes

First glaze:

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

2d and finish coats:

i⁄2 purse (47 lbs.) portland cement
eight shovels amass sand for concrete
1 shovel hydrated lime
1⁄two cup acrylic bonding agent

Directions:

Shovel the dry ingredients into a wheelbarrow and alloy them with a mortar hoe.
Add the acrylic bonding agent, and so stir in water, a footling at a time, until the mix reaches the consistency of buttercream frosting.
Too much water will brand it loose and unworkable.
Once water is added, the mix volition stay usable for 30 to 90 minutes earlier it starts to harden.

Sentinel The Weather

Freezing temperatures can ruin wet stucco. Expect for night temperatures that stay above twoscore degrees before tackling repairs. Hot, dry, windy atmospheric condition tin as well interfere by sucking out moisture the mix needs to cure properly. Piece of work in the shade so the stucco doesn't dry too fast. Between coats, continue the patch moist by covering information technology with a plastic canvas.

Piece of work Safely

The alkalis in wet cement can crusade burns. So when working with fresh stucco, wear gloves or bear on the mix only with your tools, not your fingers. Continue a bucket of water nearby to wash any splashes off your pare.

Finish It Right

No patch, no matter how expertly textured, volition lucifer the color of the old stucco effectually it. To do that, y'all need to apply a pigmented coating over the unabridged surface. The patch at this business firm was covered with a thick, sprayed-on acrylic elastomer that bridges and seals hairline cracks. Other acceptable coatings include concrete paints and stains, mineral paints, lime washes, and "fog coats" of pigmented cement. Whichever coating you lot use, brand certain it's alkaline tolerant and permeable to water vapor. Otherwise, information technology will exist peeling off in no time.

Steps for Repairing Stucco

Footstep i: Interruption Off Loose Stucco

Whack information technology 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: Chip Abroad At The Edges

Continue until yous attain stucco that's firmly adhered to its lath. Cut any metal mesh with snips.

Stride three: Cover The Exposed Lath

Using a utility knife, trim a piece of course-D architect'south newspaper to fit tightly forth the purlieus where the old stucco meets the exposed wood lath. Fasten the paper to the lath with roofing nails, then put a 2nd layer of paper on elevation of the starting time.

Step iv: Add Mesh

Place galvanized metal lath over the paper and trim it tight confronting the border of the stucco. Snips with outset handles will make this job easier. Bulldoze more roofing nails through the mesh and into the forest lath.

Step v: Mix The Stucco

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

Step half dozen: Sling It

Moisture the border of the erstwhile stucco and then it won't suck moisture out of the patch and weaken the bond between sometime and new. Scoop fist-size wads of moisture stucco onto a brick trowel and toss them confronting the wire lath until information technology's completely covered. Polish the mix with a finishing trowel, so pack it against the border of the existing stucco with a brick trowel. Go along adding more material until this layer is about i/2 inch below the existing stucco surface.

Step vii: Scratch Information technology

When the patch loses its wet sheen, score its surface to improve the bond to the next glaze. Tape a plastic sheet over the patch to keep it from drying out.

Footstep eight: Apply Second Coat

Look 7 days, then remove the plastic and mist the patch with water. Mix upwardly a batch of stucco post-obit the second-coat recipe, and trowel on a 3/8-inch-thick coat, working from the bottom up. Pack down the edges with a brick trowel. Wait for the wet sheen to disappear, and so trowel the patch smooth, just below the level of the existing stucco. Cover again with a plastic canvas.

Pace 9: Put On The Finish Glaze

After iii days, remove the plastic, mist the patch, and mix upward a fresh batch of stucco, following the terminate-coat recipe. Unlike textures require dissimilar techniques. To lucifer this wall's original "dash" stop, DiSilva scooped modest globs of wet mix onto his brick trowel, then flicked them against the wall until they were affluent with the old surface.

Footstep ten: Wait To Pigment

Let the patch cure for a week earlier painting it and the rest of the wall. Under a glaze of heavy-bodied acrylic elastomer, the patch is invisible.

Tools:

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/siding/21016528/how-to-repair-stucco

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