Stucco

[cuda]

Re: Stucco

i forgot to mention that even if a store carries Quikrete products, that doesn't mean they carry the entire product line. No Lowe's near me carried the surface cement and only one Home Depot did. Both stores carry Quikrete in my neck if the woods. Not one employee in any of those stores knew what surface bonding cement was, so due diligence would be in order when shopping there. I had to find it myself. Don't get discouraged if one HD doesn't have it. Another one near you probably will. Good luck.

[Ken524]

Re: Stucco

Mr G,

You also asked about fiberglass mesh over the seams. If you are talking about the seams between sheets of hardibacker or cement board, YES. You definitely want to embed the mesh tape over the seams. The back of my enclosure has developed 2 hairline cracks right over the seams of my hardiebacker. Not a big deal, I'll paint over them, but I've learned my lesson.

On my outdoor kitchen project, I used some thinset mortar to embed the tape over all my hardiebacker joints. When the stucco guys arrived and saw my work, they said I did exactly the right thing.

[cuda]

Re: Stucco

I forgot to address the seam question, also. I second the fiber mesh tape over the joints. Cheap insurance with very little time or money investment. I used it between joints and no cracks at all for five years now.

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

Cuda,
I will be on the phone today trying to find it. We will mix up enough to easily handle before setup. We mist the surface before we apply any cement product so the substrate does'nt absorb the water too fast.
Thank you for the info,
G

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

Ken,
We did plan on using the mesh. Great idea about using thinset mortar. What color colorant did you use for your stucco. I call it a Tuscan yellow which we want to use.
Thanks for the advice,
Guy

[cuda]

Re: Stucco

I wouldn't bother using dye for the stucco. It takes a lot of pigment to get it the shade you want and then is very difficult to control the color matching from batch to batch if your using several small batches, unless you have a lot of experience with it. The color selection is limited compared to stain, which can be mixed in nearly as many colors as paint. Also, some colors seem to fade over time and with sun exposure. I would parge it and then stain it any color you want. The stain has great coverage with very little material and will go on very quickly and easily. The one drawback is that if you chip the stucco deeper than the stain penetrates, it will show the natural color. However, if you keep a little leftover stain on hand, it's an easy and quick fix.

Also, it's a great idea to spray the underlayment, whether it be block, backerboard or whatever so it doesn't suck the moisture out of the stucco. It will also help adhesion a great deal. I, too, went back and misted the previously finished sections as I went along. Maybe every half hour for a few hours.

[Ken524]

Re: Stucco

Guy,

I didn't use any colorant. I decided I wouldn't be able to get multiple batches of stucco colored consistently. I applied plain stucco and painted with Home Depot's (Behr brand) Masonry & Stucco paint. Worked like a champ.

The funny thing is that once it was painted, the supreme commander who must be obeyed didn't like the color, so we bought another gallon and did a second coat (what you see in my final pics and my avitar pic).

So, if we HAD added colorant to the stucco I probably would have had to paint anyway .

[Ken524]

Re: Stucco

Guy,

If you are interested in the *exact* color we used, I would be happy to grab the can and give you the Home Depot color name and mix numbers.

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

Good thoughts My masonry supply company said the same thing. He was concerned with fading using the color additives. He feels it is safer to use the stains and or paints that are recommended for cement/stucco products. I can see how it would be a lot easier to colr match the way Ken and Cuda finished off their inclosures. We are going to finish putting the sheating on the roof tonight and with any luck flash and put on the shingles in the middle of the week. The last thing we will do is the stucco. I don't want to have 2 of us on the roof hammering and worrying about cracking the stucco.
Once again thanks for the advice.
G

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Stucco

I used the Quikrete coloring, and so far have'nt been dissapointed but its way too early to tell. (only been a few months) Though my thoughts were if the colorant didnt work out well, Which it did, I could always repaint.... Matching the color between batches was not that hard, I took the water recomendations off the package and mixed the colorant into the water before i mixed into the SBC (surace bonding cement) also put the acrylic fortifier into the mix of water and color before. It worked out well, I was worried I might have to add more water and that would change the color, but it wasnt necessary.

I mixed half a bag at a time in the mixer and found I had plenty of time to apply it.

Mark

P.S. Is there a difference between concrete stain and concrete paint or are these different terms for the same thing ?

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

There is acrylic concrete stain and acid concrete stain and concrete paint. The paint is used a lot on garage and cellar floors. It is enamal and pretty durable. The acrylic stain is exactly that. It is brushed or rolled on. The acid stain is a chemical reaction process. Haven't looked into that but I think I am going to look into the acrylic stains. They have a large array of colors. Not quite sure what the steps are if you want to change the color at a later date because it permeates into stucco.It may be fairly opaque so you may be able to go right over it.
G

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

Ken,
That would be most helpful. Being that I have a vowel at the end of my name I like that color. It is what I call Tuscan.
Guy

[cuda]

Re: Stucco

Acid stain etches the cement and allows metal salts that are carried in the stain to penetrate and color it. It is generally translucent and allows the cement to show any characteristics that it already had, like cracks or rust and oil stains.

Acrylic stain is what you want. It can be pigmented in any color you like and covers very well. It is thinner than paint and penetrates very well. Because it's thinner than paint, it allows all of the stucco texture to remain visible, rather than slightly muting or smoothing it, like thicker paint would.

The problem I found with color matching with dye was that I always needed to use more water than what the bag called for in order to have a nice, workable mix that didn't set up too quickly. When that happens, the varying amounts of water dilute the previously added colorant by slightly different amounts, batch to batch. It wasn't really that noticeable until days later when the stucco was cured that I noticed the slight differences in shade. It was enough for me to go with stain on future jobs.

[mrgweeto]

Re: Stucco

Acrylic stain it is. I like the idea of having more control. Hows the Ohio weather treat your oven?
Thank you

[Ken524]

Re: Stucco

Guy,

The color we used was from a Behr color chip from Home Depot. It's called: Canyonland B-571.

Have fun staining. Can't wait to see the results!