Replies

1. 
   BillBrennen | Oct 02, 2005 12:19am | #1

   La Habra is a brand of finish coat stucco.

   Was the soffit plastered onto metal lath? I find it hard to believe that a sprinkler geyser would cut an 8" hole in real stucco.

   Usually, the repair is two coats on a soffit. Use rib lath for overhead work; it drops less of the mud onto your head. The lath should still be there. First coat is plain gray stucco. Dampen the edges before applying your basecoat. You can use Rapid Set and go over it within an hour, or regular basecoat and wait a day or two. Then get yourself some matching La Habra finish coat, and match the surrounding texture, lapping onto the adjacent surfaces as needed to blend.

   That is all there is to it. That, plus manual skill. Good luck.

   Bill

1. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 02, 2005 12:57am | #2

   It is real stucco, applyed to a sheetrock type plaster board that disintegrates when contacted by water. There is no lath or wire holding the thin layer of stucco and the thin finish coat to the paper of the backing board. The repairs I had done by the stucco guys were put on to a cement type board and the mud and finish coat are maybe 3/16" thick. Always remember that these islands out here are a third world country unto themselves and construction is not done the same as the mainland in many instances. The geyser just blew a hole right through the soffet. I'll give it a try with the quick mud and see what my texture matching with the finish coat is like. Sheetrock texture is easy to work with and match, I hope this is also. The other guys did it perfectly, but I had to remember my high school Spanish to converse a little with them.
   One more question, use a steel trowel or magnesium or does it matter like on concrete?

1. 
   BillBrennen | Oct 02, 2005 04:18am | #3

   Magnesium or wood for undercoat, generally steel for finish, or sponge float for sand texture. The only hard part is matching texture, IMO. That system you describe sounds pretty weak, but I suppose it rarely rains uphill.Bill

1. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 02, 2005 05:14am | #4

   Mahalo for your input, I'll give it a go, at worst I cut out the patch and try again. The system is weak and the framing at the corners is none existant, so as to leave them sagging after 21 yrs. Any leak in the flat roofs causes a failure of the soffet. Before I could get the stucco guys to come do it, but now, not a prayer. An 8' x 18" piece that they replaced about 6 mos. ago cost $1600, with me doing the demo and repainting. They can charge what they want right now, building is nuts.

2. 
   Jer | Oct 02, 2005 05:25am | #5

   You need to hook your wire into something other than what's there, namely framing. Follow the above instructions, they are right for the most part. Like it was mentioned, the hard part will be the finish. You just have to texture it in.

1. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 02, 2005 05:34am | #6

   There is no wire or lath on this, the coating is put right on the cement board. The coating is only about 3/16" thick including the texture coat. The last repair was done the same way. Matching the texture is the part I am really not looking forward to.

1. 
   sunsen | Oct 02, 2005 05:43am | #7

   are you sure it's not "drivit" or something like that? it doesn't sound like stucco to me. if you're working out in hawaii i feel for you. ...pretty crappy construction going on out there.

1. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 29, 2005 10:11am | #15

   I took of chunk of the stuff down to the stucco and concrete supply, they said it is Dryvit but done without the mesh, just adhesive on the exterior sheetrock and the Dryvit mix over that. I will practice and then give it a go. Had to buy a 50# adhesive bag and a 70# bucket of Dryvit for a little 8' hole. They did show me the right way to do it with the mesh, but it does no good without being able to join the mesh into something. We'll see how it works!!!

2. 
   Jer | Oct 02, 2005 02:45pm | #9

   If it's really only 3/16th's thick, then it's Dryvit. I don't think real stucco would hold up otherwise.

1. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 02, 2005 09:03pm | #10

   So, is Dryvit the backer cement board or the mix and texture? Having never done any stucco repairs I need to get up to speed on this.

1. 
   Jer | Oct 03, 2005 02:17am | #11

   Dryvit is the surface mix that is trowelled on in a very thin layer. It's basically epox paint with a sand aggregate that is applied over cement board or a waterproof gyp board. It's supposed to look like real stucco.
   Real stucco is portland cement, lime, and sand applied in the traditional layers of scratch, brown and final, or two layer which is scratch and final. The final layer is sometimes ####very thin coat of portland and fine sand with a color mixed in. You can get that in a premix in various shades.

2. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 03, 2005 08:19pm | #12

   I'll give the company that did the last repair for me a call and see what they used. They are booked 2 years out now, so I don't think for this small repair he will mind telling me what it was. At least I hope he will. The walls are the normal 1" or so thick stucco on wire, but the soffets are the very thin coat, no wire, on 1/2" sheetrock item, not even 5/8".

3. 
   custombuilt | Oct 03, 2005 09:26pm | #13

   Doesn't sound like dryvit, dryvit is trowled on over a mesh with a base coat, and put over 1 inch styrofoam.

    

    

    

   When in doubt, get a bigger hammer!

   Edited 10/3/2005 10:07 pm ET by custombuilt

4. 
   Hoohuli | Oct 04, 2005 09:00am | #14

   Mahalo for explaining Dryvit to me, I have not seen that around here, yet! I'll see if I can't get a reasonable photo of it tomorrow, when I'm out there.

3. 
   Dave45 | Oct 02, 2005 05:54am | #8

   A decent stucco guy should be able to fix an 8" hole in under an hour - spread over a couple of trips.  If there is any stucco work going on near you, offer someone a few bucks to come by after work.