From: mja@philabs.philips.com (Michael Amato)
Subject: Re: Alternatives to Painting Stucco?
Originator: mja@hercules
Reply-To: mja@philabs.philips.com (Michael Amato)
Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff, NY 10510
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 21:05:14 GMT


In article <dumic-220992132021@apamea.swarthmore.edu>, dumic@cc.swarthmore.edu (Mark J. Dumic) writes:
|> I'm looking at a house whose exterior is mainly stucco.  I know that this
|> can be painted but that you are then locked into re-painting every several
|> years.  Does anybody know about any new color treatments that would be more
|> permanent?  Something that would penetrate and permanently bond with the
|> stucco?

YES, there is hope! I have run into a similar problem. I have a stucco house
and am putting on an addition. I just had a synthetic stucco exterior put on the
new addition of different color than the old 40+ yo concrete stucco.
The plan is to replace the old windows in the old part of the house with new
maintenance free (insert your favorite brand here) windows next year. At that
point the old stucco will be color matched to the new. How? Several options
do exist.

1. Paint old stucco with high quality paint color matched to new. A good quality
   exterior paint will bond to the old stucco and should last a _very_ long
   time. I know several examples where this has been done (in the N.E.). I do not
   know why the respondent whose house was in San Diego had to always paint it.
   
2. The makers of the synthetic stucco I had applied (STO) sell the stuff without
   the aggregate (sort of like paint). This will bond permanently to the old
   surface (providing I clean it good). It is also waterproof (unlike 
   conventional stucco). I may go with this option and it sounds like a better
   solution than painting.

3. Apply the synthetic stucco with the aggregate over the old stucco. This will
   give me better texture matching between the old and new. Plus, since I will
   be chipping out around the old windows and then applying new cement up to 
   the new windows (less a buffer zone), This will hide the patch better, plus
   the synthetic stucco can go over the caulk joint! This stuff is really 
   amazing (very flexible compared to conventional stucco).

                                                                  __________
                                                                  |
          synthetic stucco    -> =================================|  Vynal
                                 xxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXll. . . |  Window
          conventional stucco -> xxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXl . . .|  Casing
                                 xxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXl. . . |
          wire mesh (old+new) -> - - - - - - - - - - - - - l . . .| 
                                 xxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXlllll. . . |
                                 /////////////////////////////////|
                                           |               |      |
                                    old        filled       caulked
                            

If you have a lot of cracks then the synthetic base coat and mesh should be
used over the old stucco. mesh is a thin nylon-like material.

-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Michael Amato  DoD#0639 | "If pro is the opposite of con,       |
| mja@philabs.philips.com | then what is Congress"? - Will Rogers |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
From: russ@hpkslx.mayfield.HP.COM (Russ Lown)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 18:15:52 GMT
Subject: Re: Gas piping question
Organization: HP Response Center Lab