How to Repair a Stucco Building
Stucco is a material made up of mixture of cement, aggregate and clean water. It gives a paste like feeling when wet but upon drying, it hardens into a very dense solid material. It has been used as a binder between bricks in construction of buildings for centuries now and is also required for protective purposes. However, it can be also used for decorating the ceilings and walls to give the building a unique look.
Stucco is a very durable material and can last for many years without the need for time to time repairs or any other form of maintenance. But the need to repair plaster is inevitable eventually, and if you want to make repairs to a stucco building; it can be done very easily.
There only remains one issue, the matching of the texture of the previous stucco with the new paste, and it can be a bit difficult without the services of a professional.
Instructions
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1
The first step is to remove all loose stucco in the area that needs to be fixed. The loose pieces may fall off by just pressing them with your fingers. You should ideally use a scrapper to remove stucco, but be careful not to use excessive force to remove a part of stucco which is not loose.
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2
Inspect the area to be repaired after removing all the loose stucco. Now use a wire brush to roughen the area where stucco needs to be re-applied. If some pieces of a chicken wire are missing, add them manually. Use a nail to fix the tar paper and the chicken wire beneath the stucco.
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3
Prepare fresh stucco in an open and clean space. Make sure that you have ample access to water before kicking off the project.
It is difficult to make a perfect mixture of stucco in the first try, so first try adding the cement and sand in the said amounts and add minimum water to them. You can always add water later if the paste is too thick, however, if the mixture is not thick enough you will have to add more cement and sand to the mixture and it will increase the cost of the project. -
4
Take some amount of stucco with a trowel and push it into the area that needs to be fixed. Smooth the paste on the wall using half circle patterns and use a metal trowel to give a finishing look to the stucco.
