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Re stuccoing work accounts for approximately 50% of the project flow here at LA Stucco Company. With the stucco on so many homes and commercial buildings faltering after years of abuse by mother nature, and an already sub-standard stucco application (in comparison to today’s stucco technology), re stuccoing is almost as common as exterior painting!

Re stuccoing in itself requires a higher degree of understanding as to how stucco reacts under certain conditions. When faced with the very common issue of “tying in” new stucco with old, or stucco repair, more than ever your stucco professional will need the right experience to create a “seamless” stucco finish. The key to a successful re stucco application.

Re stuccoing a house comes with an abundance of obstacles that must be addressed and overcome. In contemporary homes with windows, door and fixtures “flush” to the existing stucco surface, one is often faced with how to re-create this finish after sandblasting has been performed and a new color coat applied; adding obviously more density than that which is being removed.

When re stuccoing, many customers mistakenly believe that sandblasting removes a large amount from the surface of an existing stucco finish. This is far from the case however. A stucco color coat, or “finish coat” is only 1/8” thick, and sandblasting is designed primarily to remove this coat alone. In reality however, sandblasting leaves a VERY inconsistent finish as the extremely powerful jet of sand and water removes not only the color coat but often chunks of the underlying base coat. Especially common in older stucco applications where the base mixture is poor or inconsistent.

To remedy this, a “leveling coat” must be applied to allow for a perfect final color coat application. This leveling coat normally consists of a “skim coat” of brown application OR in some cases where a newer stucco application has been removed, a simple layer of dry-bond or other acrylic modified basecoat (as the basecoat tends to hold up to sandblasting far better when the application being removed is younger). This leveling coat often needs what is known in the industry as “fat”, in order to mask over the inconsistent finish and produce a plumb straight new basecoat. Now this is where the problem lies…

Dependent on the state of the post-sandblast basecoat, more often than not a leveling coat must be at least ¼” to 3/8” thick in order to produce that plumb straight base. Now add a possible upgrade of a fiberglass mesh wrap (visit our Crack Isolation System page for more details) which would equate to yet another 1/8” and then add to that, the final 1/8” for the color coat application. One can quickly see that we are effectively only removing 1/8” to ¼” from the existing surface, BUT adding up to 5/8” on to your home’s surface. Your “flush” windows and doors are flush no more!

It is industry standard practice to simply “roll” or “feather” that new finish into your existing window and door frames. While this is not incorrect by any means, its outcome is rarely explained to the customer prior to work commencing. The customer is then often left feeling short-changed as their prior stucco, while being of poor quality or in need of “freshening up”, was at the very least clean and contemporary – certainly NOT the now 'semi bull-nose' finish as a result of the thickness of the new re stucco application.

To counteract this VERY common issue with re stuccoing, LA Stucco has compiled 4 simple packages with the use of modern day stucco technology to aid in the creation of a seamless stucco finish. Firstly, we install “J-Metal” moulding around all windows and doors to allow a clean termination for the new stucco application. Secondly, this can be custom painted to match the customer’s choice of stucco color, window color or otherwise, or left “milled” to leave as-is or paint at a later date.

The above process can be implemented when one needs to recreate a flush stucco finish (as mentioned above). However, in instances where a customer is looking for a more classical or Mediterranean finish, OR indeed is interested in the possibility of implementing window moulding surrounds; architectural foam mouldings provide the another great solution to “bridge the gap” between a new re stucco finish and an existing window or door.

PLEASE NOTE: Customers not opting for any one of the packages below will receive a standard finish whereupon the new stucco application is rolled into the existing window, door and vent frame with the greatest possible care and attention. This is the industry standard method.

CONTEMPORARY RE STUCCO PACKAGE – STANDARD

1. J-Metal stucco moulding (designed to give a clean termination for new stucco application) cut with 45 degree precision and installed with a water level.
2. New corner-aid installation throughout.
3. Windows, doors and other terminations “butterfly-meshed” with fiberglass wrap.

CONTEMPORARY RE STUCCO PACKAGE – PREMIUM

1. J-Metal as above but custom colored to match customer’s stucco color choice.
2. New corner-aid installation throughout.
3. Aluminum 1/2” or 1” channel screeds mounted on the newly sandblasted surface and hung with the use of “shims” and a water level to produce a perfectly level installation. Please note: this is purely for aesthetic reasons and will not replicate the effect of its original intended use as an expansion joint. Its effect remains outstanding however, in order to update a tired home exterior and/or introduce a multiple color scheme.
4. Existing vents broken out and replaced with new vents, custom colored to match customer’s stucco color choice.
5. Total structure fiberglass mesh wrap and acrylic modified base-coat, with windows, doors and other terminations “butterfly-meshed” with fiberglass wrap.

CLASSIC RE STUCCO PACKAGE – STANDARD

1. Architectural foam mouldings cut to customer size and specification, installed, wrapped with fiber mesh and finished with customer specified color coat.
2. New corner-aid installation throughout.
3. Windows, doors and other terminations “butterfly-meshed” with fiberglass wrap.

CLASSIC RE STUCCO PACKAGE – PREMIUM

1. Architectural foam mouldings cut to customer size and specification, installed, wrapped with fiber mesh and finished with customer specified color coat.
2. New corner-aid installation throughout.
3. Existing vents broken out and replaced with new vents, custom colored to match customer’s stucco color choice.
4. Total structure fiberglass mesh wrap and acrylic modified base-coat, with windows, doors and other terminations