Tips on how to upgrade your outdated or damaged stucco

Who else remembers those popcorn stucco trends from the 80s to mid 90s? The more texture the better was the motto of those decades (fashion included).

But since we are entering a design era of modern, simplified, ergonomic, clean and timeless living spaces, those stucco textures are simply outdated.

Stucco has been used for not only decades but centuries. Back in the day stucco was made with lime, sand and water (less ingredients than for a loaf of bread if you believe it or not). Today, our stucco is composed of cement and sand which makes it much longer lasting, some would say it could last over 100 years. The one thing to remember with stucco though is you DO HAVE TO MAINTAIN IT. Yes, it is like that new hair cut that needs a trim every so often to keep looking nice. Stucco, depending on the area you live in, can either attract mildew and needs frequent cleaning (hot and humid areas are prone for this) or in lower/freezing temperatures your stucco will most likely develop hairline cracks that need to be repaired.

Why choose smooth stucco over rough finshes?

Beside the esthetic reasons that might draw your eye towards smooth stucco (uniform and clean look), there are also tons of benefits in the upkeep category. Heavily textured stucco will collect dust and dirt which will most likely give the overall look of your house or retaining wall a poorly maintained space. Nobody wants to be known for that “dirty stucco house” right? Now add some rain that washes everything even more into the creases and you’ll find a real mess on your walls. Power washing would be your only solution to make sure the dirt can be blasted away. One fun ongoing game that most of us do not want to commit to.

A better solution: smooth out that stucco texture for a fresh new overall look.

You might wonder where to even start in this new process? Good news is that in most cases you do not need to remove the existing stucco (peh that saves a ton of time and money). You (or better said the professional that you definitely should hire for this job) would simply apply a new smooth layer of stucco over the old one.

First step: power wash all that old dust and dirt off your old stucco (yes you won’t espace at least that one power washing).

Next steps: Applying a new stucco base coat. Your hired professional could use a premixed adhesive stucco to stick to the existing one or another option is to apply a bonding agent to the existing stucco before applying a skim coat of cement and sand. This coat will smooth out the stucco texture that you want to get rid off, so depending on the hardness of the texture, the coat can vary in thickness.

If you are one of the few lucky ones who have a stucco texture with only small indents, a fresh color coat is all your stucco would need to smooth it out. This would be much cheaper than having to apply both, the base coat and the color coat.

The entire process of power washing, base coat and color coat takes about twice as long as power washing and color coat only. The price per sqft for a stucco upgrade can range between $8-$13 but every penny will be worth it!