New + Old Stucco Painting, many questions

astarael42

I searched through the old topics and found some answers to my questions but I'd like some fresh answers if possible and someone has the time and knowhow.

I asked people in Ace & Lowes & Home Depot but they all seemed intent on selling me paint or were simply...er...untrustworthy in their knowledge.


Setting: Part of my house is unpainted new stucco and part of it is a hideious yellow stucco. I wish to unify the colors and have it not be yellow. I live in southern AZ and its very hot and dry except when its cold and wet (been hot and dry this week but our wether has been unseasonably wierd)

1.) how long does the new stucco have to cure/dry? the stucco guys said it would be ready by monday (was finished last wednesday) but that seems very fast. Depending on how long i have to wait our days may simply be too hot to paint.

2.) he gave us instructions on wetting it on a daily basis...how long do we have to keep doing this (keeping in mind its been very hot this week)?

3.) when it comes time to paint:
a) what brand would be best to use?
b) what are the advantages of elestomeric vs acrylic? In our climate?
c) will the elastomeric help at all with heat reduction (like the roof coatings do?) because that would be reason alone to use it even if its only a couple of degrees.
d.) I assume I will need to prime the new stucco...but since I'm attempting to blend a large area of hodgepodge together would I need to prime the whole thing?
e.) what sort of primer should I use?

4.) we have 800 sq ft of surface. about how many gals of paint & how many of primer would be needed without ending up with a ton of extra but having enough for whatever unplanned thing we have forgotten. (the person who is painting it feels uncomfortable using a sprayer but he is willing to do it all with brush & rollers)

5.) anything else drastic I should know?

BJLower

The neighbors kicked in and helped my stucco my home near Tampa. I saved even more money by mixing the stucco myself.


One of the neighbors is a painter for a living and told me that I shouldn't use anything other than Elastomeric. If you pour some of it out and let it dry it's actually stretchable. I didn't need to use any primer. I'm in Tampa Florida, so have similar climate at least as far as the temperature goes.


I had also just added an outside chimney on for a fireplace. I had to “overbuild” that to death. If the plywood moved, the stucco was going to crack.


For me it was a matter of simple luck, but if you haven't decided on a paint color yet I have a very helpful suggestion for you. You should consider a light tan, that is also a fairly good heat reflecting color.


Stucco does tend to get “hairline” cracks in it. If you have them match the color of the paint to DRIED light tan caulk you can make a crack vanish and only have to clean the caulk off of the end of your finger.