We have a stucco house with the original stucco from 1929. It’s cracking here and there and the 3-layers of paint, obviously, are flaking off all over the place.
So, we finally decided to take the plunge and see what we need to fix it all. 2 of the stucco contractors I’ve talked to and have gotten bids from bascially say the same thing…you should NEVER paint stucco, as the stucco deteriorates and/or the paint flakes off. They’re going to both sandblast and add a new rough coat and finish coat over the old stucco.
A 3rd guy mentioned some sort of paint-like membrane that can be brushed on and is breathable, but I never got a call-back from him.
So, I don’t argue that you should never paint stucco…as our house is a perfect example as to why you shouldn’t, but I was wondering why so many people DO paint stucco. It’s been around for centuries…do people just not know any better? Or are the guys I’m talking to just not fully aware of the options?
Replies
Probably because it's so hard to clean it, so people just paint over the stains. Actually, if you use latex paint, it shouldn't be a problem. Maybe they used oil paint on your stucco?
Use Elastomeric paint; it stretches with the movement in the building, up to a point.
Tamara
El Rey Stucco is made here (Albuquerque). They recently developed a product that allows a new color coat over paint without sand-blasting. Don't know anything about it, have never used it. But they have tech support guys at the factory who live to talk stucco. You might check that out b4 you decide.
Thats a very good question, I've seen painted stucco many times here in SoCal. Sometimes people will paint over a rough texture which just cannot be painted over and look right, it just doesn't look right.
I think the main reason is that a quick paintjob is cheaper and less messy than a new texture coat, and many people don't know that stucco is not painted on.
Painting stucco that has a sand finish, usually on commercial buildings, is pretty common. In that case they just scrub on a white base color coat and leave it to be painted.
There's a house and garage that we drive by, maybe it isn't true stuccco, but the garage is covered with a textured finish. And you can see each batch that was mixed and applied. They ust didn't get the colour the same in each batch. Maybe that was why it was painted.
I suppose I should ask a more specific question. Aesthetics aside, should one ever paint stucco? The two people that said I should never paint stucco said that when you do, it traps moisture, and that slowly destroys the stucco from the inside.
And, of course, I've also been told that painting stucco is fine as long as you use a 'breathable' paint.
Today I also got some more advice and was told to look into 'sprayable' stucco...which I assume is some sort of shotcrete type material.
One issue with our house is that is is a ripple texture. I called it 'icing' as it looksl like cake icing where it is slopped over on itself. Re-stuccoing means that have to fill this texture in partially, and then apply a lighter texture on top. So we end up with a sort of dual-texture finish which I'm not necessarily keen on.