How To Repair Water Damaged Stucco Column

At first glance, the seamless coat of stucco on the E Boston house looked as bulletproof as a sidewalk, the perfect foil against the harsh wet weather of this coastal city. Yet beneath its lush cloak of ivy, the cement shell was a mess of cracks and buckling, signs that water had gotten in and damaged the underlying wood board.

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

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

Stucco Recipes

Stucco Recipes

Offset glaze:

i⁄two handbag (47 lbs.) Portland cement
6 shovels brick or masonʼs sand, slightly damp
ane shovel hydrated lime
1⁄ii loving cup acrylic bonding agent

Second and cease coats:

ane⁄ii bag (47 lbs.) portland cement
eight shovels aggregate sand for concrete
1 shovel hydrated lime
1⁄ii cup acrylic bonding agent

Directions:

Shovel the dry ingredients into a wheelbarrow and blend them with a mortar hoe.
Add the acrylic bonding agent, and so stir in h2o, a picayune at a time, until the mix reaches the consistency of buttercream frosting.
Too much water will brand information technology loose and unworkable.
Once h2o is added, the mix will stay usable for 30 to 90 minutes before it starts to harden.

Watch The Weather

Freezing temperatures can ruin wet stucco. Wait for dark temperatures that stay to a higher place 40 degrees before tackling repairs. Hot, dry out, windy atmospheric condition can also interfere by sucking out moisture the mix needs to cure properly. Work in the shade so the stucco doesn't dry besides fast. Between coats, go along the patch moist past covering information technology with a plastic sheet.

Work Safely

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

End It Correct

No patch, no affair how expertly textured, will match the color of the old stucco effectually it. To practise that, you need to apply a pigmented coating over the entire surface. The patch at this house 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 utilize, make sure it'south alkaline tolerant and permeable to water vapor. Otherwise, it will be peeling off in no fourth dimension.

Steps for Repairing Stucco

Pace ane: Break Off Loose Stucco

Whack information technology with a hammer, or a hammer and a cold chisel, taking care not to impairment the underlying wood lath supports. Centre protection is a must.

Footstep 2: Chip Abroad At The Edges

Proceed until you accomplish stucco that's firmly adhered to its lath. Cut any metal mesh with snips.

Step iii: Cover The Exposed Lath

Using a utility knife, trim a piece of course-D builder's newspaper to fit tightly forth the boundary where the former stucco meets the exposed wood lath. Spike the newspaper to the lath with covering nails, and so put a second layer of paper on height of the first.

Step 4: Add together Mesh

Identify galvanized metal lath over the paper and trim information technology tight against the border of the stucco. Snips with commencement handles will make this job easier. Drive more than roofing nails through the mesh and into the wood lath.

Step v: Mix The Stucco

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

Step six: Sling It

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

Footstep seven: Scratch Information technology

When the patch loses its wet sheen, score its surface to improve the bond to the side by side glaze. Record a plastic canvass over the patch to continue it from drying out.

Footstep 8: Utilize Second Coat

Wait seven days, then remove the plastic and mist the patch with h2o. Mix up a batch of stucco following the second-coat recipe, and trowel on a three/viii-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 shine, just below the level of the existing stucco. Encompass again with a plastic sheet.

Step 9: Put On The Terminate Glaze

After iii days, remove the plastic, mist the patch, and mix up a fresh batch of stucco, following the terminate-coat recipe. Different textures require dissimilar techniques. To match this wall'south original "dash" end, DiSilva scooped small globs of moisture mix onto his brick trowel, and then flicked them confronting the wall until they were affluent with the one-time surface.

Stride 10: Wait To Paint

Let the patch cure for a week before painting information technology and the residuum of the wall. Under a coat 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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