Stucco is a mortar like consistency that is made from powdered limestone and cement. It is then blended with sand and water to create the correct thickness and roughness of the material. Though this is a pretty popular outdoor material to use on walls, it’s not always the easiest thing to paint or clean. So if you have this material on the exterior of your home and you want to repaint it or paint it another color, you will need a few tips along the way. Below you will find instructions and tips on both preparing the stucco as well as painting the stucco itself. You will also find another tip further down the page regarding things like painting issues, cleanup and other ways to paint the stucco beyond your normal application. If these tips below fail you or you just want someone such as a professional to help you, make sure you look into hiring a painter for exterior or interior painting in Northern NJ.
Preparing the Stucco
As with any type of a painting project or surface, its important that you follow some simple tips along the way not only to paint the surface of the material, but do so correctly so that you won’t have to use more paint than necessary and you will have a nice covering on the walls which means you will have to repaint again in the future, and hopefully not any sooner than that! If you want tips on how to prepare your stucco wall, continue reading the steps below.
– It’s important that you remove any dust, dirt, grime, etc. Usually you can just take a rough brush and brush it against the stucco to remove any sort of dirt. But, if you run into issues or you can’t get in between the grooves good enough, you can also use a power washer.
– Make sure that you caulk any hairline cracks with caulking that is meant for stucco. One option is a masonry compatible caulk. If you have larger cracks you can use a putty knife to fill the holes and cracks with a dry stucco repair option. This dry option plus some water is a good way of fixing holes and cracks for a more “even” or as even surface as you can get with stucco!
– If you do make any repairs whatsoever to the stucco, make sure you let it cure before painting. Usually this takes about 10 days. You can also check the dry stucco repair label and see if they offer any amount of time to wait.
Painting Stucco
This is unlike any other surface, even brick, because there are tiny little spaces or crevices that you will need to somehow get the paint into. Thankfully you have a little guide below to help you do that properly so you can evenly spread the paint out for a better look.
– Before adding any paint to the surface, you need to add an exterior coat of masonry primer. Unlike regular drywall paint primer, this is specifically for things like brick and in this case stucco. You can use both a brush and a nap roller on the wall to put the primer on it. Use the brush for the smaller nooks and crannies you can’t get into with a roller and use the roller for large surface areas. Make sure you use a thick nap roller. If you use a thinner one, chances are the roller is going to get mauled by the stucco!
– Cover the entire wall of the stucco with the primer. Make sure you let the nap roller do all of the work for you and don’t push the roller against the stucco or you will end up with never ending streaks of paint – not attractive by any means.
– Let the primer dry before painting. Usually just a few hours, but again it depends on the label and how long they say to wait.
– Brush a very thin coat of exterior masonry paint around any doors, windows and trim.
– Once your primer dries, put your paint on a 5 gallon bucket and use a roller to roll the paint on to the wall. After the first coat dries, you can then add one or two more coats (optional).
Tips:
– Even if you use a thick nap roller, sometimes some of the crevices in the stucco might still not get reached. If this happens, you can use spray paint. Sounds like an odd option, but it works. Instead of using something like a literal can of spray paint, try finding a commercial spray rig that you can rent for the day.