Stucco is one of the most popular building materials for modern homes because of its resistance to impact, water, and fire. Unfortunately, stucco is also one of the most vulnerable to damage from cracks and other types of damage caused by water penetration. You must regularly repair damage to your stucco home before it gets worse. Below are several common types of stucco repairs and a quick guide on how to do them.
STEP ONE: If the damage is small, you can make repairs yourself with ease, like a tiny crack. The first thing you need to do is find a good quality stucco patching compound specifically for patching small cracks. We recommend you purchase a stucco repair kit that contains the tools and materials needed for the repair of minor damage to your home.
STEP TWO: After purchasing the patching compound, clean up the area surrounding the crack using solvent-based cleaners or a good household cleaning spray. Be very careful when cleaning because you don’t want to chip or destroy the underlying surface accidentally. Once the area is nice and smooth, apply the new stucco directly over the patch. Work from the outside towards the middle. Make sure to smooth out any bubbles that form when applying the patch.
STEP THREE: The next step is to slowly pull out some of the loose stucco pieces from the repair area. You can do this with your chisel. Once enough chunks have been removed, it will be easier to move on to the next section of the wall. Again, be careful not to chip or destroy the underlying drywall.
STEP FOUR: After getting rid of as much of the old stucco as possible, the next thing you need to do is to fill in the large gaps that you dug using building paper. The building paper acts as a vapor barrier, keeping moisture out while also helping to seal up the patch area. We recommend building paper instead of using the traditional tar paper since building paper is a lot easier to use and doesn’t require manual labor or skills.
STEP FIVE: After scraping up all the excess material, it’s time to mix the final coat of stucco paint. Start by mixing a skinny layer of paint and applying it to the patch in large batches. As the layers are applied, brush the final coat on one at a time. When finished, allow each layer to dry completely before applying the next.
STEP SIX: After the entire section has been patched up, it’s time to move on to the next step of repairing the walls. You’ll need to mix a trowel and some water to form a rough wet/dry mix. The goal here is to create an even layer over the drywall, which will make your job go a lot easier. Apply the trowel over the patch area, and once it’s dry, you can then mix up the mortar and apply it to the walls using a trowel.
NOTE: If you want to avoid having to scrape up drywall or mix mortar on your own, you should consider purchasing a premixed stucco repair mix. It’s much easier to mix these than it is to find the traditional variety. We highly recommend that you shop around for stucco using the Internet. The good news is that there are many options available to you.
STEP SEVEN: Once you have patched up all of the larger cracks and holes, it’s time to tackle the smaller ones. Again, apply a mixture of the mud along with the stucco using a large trowel. When this is dry, apply another coat of the mud and then apply the final coating of stucco using a cement mix. This is the basic rundown of what you need to do for small exterior caulk repairs. It gets a little more difficult for large cracks and holes since it’s now time to mix the mortar and the caulk. However, it’s still not that difficult.
STEP EIGHT: Now it’s time to move on to the large stuff. For these repairs, you’ll probably need two buckets, one to catch the loose material as you throw at it and another to catch everything to throw away. Ensure you have a bucket with a lid so you don’t get a lot of dust in your face when scrubbing off the scraped areas.
So you can see how easy it can be to do some simple repairs on your own right from home but always remember that Stucco Repair Tampa professionals can handle the difficult tasks. But best of all of doing it on your own is you don’t have to worry about getting a lot of expensive materials or having a lot of people work on the job for you. It can all be done at home if you have a few buckets and a large mixing container to use. And honestly, the results are going to look much better than any homemade concoction you’ve ever tried. So grab your mop, some sandpaper, some buckets, and some finish coats, and get to work.