Stucco

[Handyman]

Since the completion of the house a couple yrs ago... I'm ready to cover the block work below the siding.
I haven't decided whether to use natural flat rock or stucco...

The question I have is...

Since we are talking about just coating exisiting block... Can I get away with just using the finish coat stucco ?

[BlueRidge]

I've seen it done. Seemed to work okay. I'd ask a pro, if'n 'twere me.

[Pat]

Handy, I built a couple block walls and used stucco on them. I used just one coat with color in it. It developed some very fine cracks that were so small as to be difficult to see and were only cosmetic. The stucco is about 10-15 years old now and I got some pix of that area about a year ago showing it to be good as new.

I used a commercial stucco mix and added packages of colorant. Got all the materials from Home Depot. I was after a rustic (Mexican-Spanish Mediterranean) look and got it. The surface is quite uneven and very thick in places and thin in others. The last step in finishing it was to gently wipe it down with a hydrophobic sponge to smooth away any small scale irregularities.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Handyman]

I understand all this... but there is 2 types of stucco mix..
Your base coat and the final top coat...

I was wondering if I could get away with using the finish coat to cover the block

[Pat]

Handy, I guess maybe I don't get it. If you understand all this, what is it you are asking?

Sometimes I guess I can be a tad slow on the uptake, rephrase the question. I have "been there and done that", successfully, as regards exactly what you want to do and would be happy to answer any questiion I can understand.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Isn't there wire mesh in the base coat ?

Egon

[GaryM]

All I know about Stucco I learned on This Old House.

They had wire lath fastened to the wall sheathing with washers and screws. Over that, using a trowel, they applied a coating that was brown. When it was almost set up the used a tool like a metal comb to roughen the surface (scratch coat?). The finished surface (white in color in this case) was applied last.

Oh, and it looked like hard work! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[egon]

Thats more than I know Gary. Other than the hard work part. Remember ground glass was popluular for the finish coat.

Egon

[GaryM]

I had ground glass on the back of my 4x5 Speed Graphic camera! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Pat]

The light weight tarred felt with chicken wire on top of it is fine for putting stucco over a "stick" built wall. Expanded metal (lath) is also good and can be used free stanting with no other armature in some instances. You don't need the chicken wire or metal lath when puting stucco over a concrete block wall.

There are lots of ways to stucco a block wall. Here is one of the ways that works:

Mix a batch of mortar mix (avail prepackaged like redi-crete without gravel) and add colorant to your aesthetic taste or skip the colorant and paint it afterward. Adding some concrete glue as per concrete glue makers suggestion helps with adhesion.

Wet the block wall well before applying your mixed mud. Some folks "paint" the wall with concrete glue a secton at a time ahead of applying stucco (you have to let it partially dry.) Use a steel trowel, well loaded with mud and try to make mostly vertical application motions in upward direction. Try not to mix any more mud than you can use at a single time WITHOUT RETEMPERING (adding additional water a while after mixing.) It is handy to have a helper mixing batches.

I trowled it on pretty thick and to a quite irregular thickness because I wanted a rustic Mexican/Spanish Mediteranean "look." I kept on making progress in applying the mud until a large section started to firm up pretty well. I then use a hydrophobic sponge (quick draining, available at the big box stores) and a 5 gal bucket of water to wipe over the surface to remove most of the really fine detail left behind in my strokes and leave a more gently undulating surface. I preferred to work when the sun wasn't directly on the work surface.

There are lots of other ways, this is one of the many that works fine, is easy to do (as stucco work goes) and was suited to my needs. I lucked out and got a terrific color match with the latest coat of house paint by mixing equal amounts of the two closest colorants.

This was in San Diego where in our neighborhood we didn't get much frost so I can't make claims of SUPER WEATHER RESISTANCE to freezing but it survived plenty of heat and watering.



[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]