Painting Stucco – How To Refresh In A Lasting Way
The Twin Cities has amazing stucco houses across Minneapolis and St. Paul. These houses offer character and styling that is rarely seen in new construction today. Typically paired with beautiful accents and unique wooden boards, stucco houses look incredible when kept in healthy condition.
Painting stucco can be an intimidating process with all of the different opinions and information out there. Headwaters Painting is here to explain and help you understand the best and most cost effective way to paint stucco and masonry surfaces. We have worked on hundreds of stucco houses built from the 1920s through the past decade.
Preparation and products are the most important factors in providing a lasting coating on masonry surfaces. If the stucco is in good condition, (not peeling), or raw (never been coated with paint) the preparation process is to clean the surface using a pressure wash with the appropriate pressure setting. If the stucco has been previously coated and is peeling, the unfortunate answer is many hours of hand scraping to remove any loose and peeling paint before the pressure washing. All areas where paint is peeling have to be completely removed for a successful application.
Using the right coating for the job
For masonry projects like stucco, cinderblock, or an exterior fireplace, we use Sherwin-Williams Acrylic Based Loxon XP. This product offers an elastomeric coating designed to sit deep in the pores of the concrete substrate. Loxon XP is almost three times thicker than paint, and looks and feels like marshmallow paste to the touch. This high build product is meant to be applied 15 millimeters thick and will cure down around 6 millimeters dry. This allows the coating to absorb, attach and self-level in all of the concrete and stucco pores.
To properly coat a stucco surface a high quality paint sprayer is required along with backrolling every inch of the surface. When applied properly, a gallon of Loxon XP should only cover around 100 sq feet of a surface. The average gallon of exterior paint will cover 300 sq feet of surface. This is a testament to the elastomeric depth of coating offered by using Loxon XP! Once the Loxon XP has fully cured the surface can be coated with any top coat of high quality acrylic paint.
How long does it take to paint a stucco house?
Painting stucco takes just a little bit more time than painting traditional siding due to its increased surface area. Some stucco has more texture which increases the time to properly coat. Typically, a 2 story stucco house with soffit/fascia in healthy condition, should take around 2-3 days to properly coat. Houses that are 3 stories typically take around 4 days to complete. Exterior paint jobs typically last around 8 years in Minnesota, depending on weather conditions. With all of our exterior projects, we offer a three-year warranty!
