How Hard is it to Stucco?

[DiscGo]

My wife and I are looking at buying a house that needs to be totally redone. I can't do most projects inside but I have never stuccoed and I have heard it actually requires skill to make it look nice. Have any of you stuccoed before and if so how hard would it be for me to learn and do to my whole house?

[Alex]

I redid my house last year. I hired the professional help to do it and thank goodness I did! From the looks of it, it looked pretty technical to apply the stucco correctly. On Youtube I saw too many horror stories of stucco application going bad and water getting underneath. A few years later your whole wall is covered in malt.

http://www.badstucco.com/

[CrazyFinn]

My wife and I are looking at buying a house that needs to be totally redone. I can't do most projects inside but I have never stuccoed and I have heard it actually requires skill to make it look nice. Have any of you stuccoed before and if so how hard would it be for me to learn and do to my whole house?

I'm assuming you meant you CAN do most projects inside? If not, don't bother as the labor will kill you.

I have seen stucco done by amateurs but my rule is that concrete needs to be done by a pro because it's hard to fix it later. I did not stucco our new house for that reason.

Also, have some one look at this house and tell you if it is structurally sound. Walls straight, floors level, type stuff. Thats where the painfull things will hide.

[DiscGo]

Thanks guys. I did mean that I CAN do most projects inside, but I have been going back and forth about stuccoing. If I were to hire someone to do it, I would have to wait a couple of years probably. So I was trying to figure out how feasible it would be for me to try it myself. It sounds like I'll be waiting.



We are getting an awesome deal if it goes through. We are having an inspector go through though and make sure that the place is needing more cosmetic fixes than structural.

[CrazyFinn]

Thanks guys. I did mean that I CAN do most projects inside, but I have been going back and forth about stuccoing. If I were to hire someone to do it, I would have to wait a couple of years probably. So I was trying to figure out how feasible it would be for me to try it myself.

I probably wouldn't wait 2 years.

I've applied in small areas. I've seen larger areas done. It's not difficult to apply. Someone makes a large flat (two handed) trowel that I've seen used to keep it flat looking. I would go ahead and try it. Be sure to read up on the layering, coloring, and underlayment used. Start small and work up.

Stucco is not like concrete driveways. You can remove it without a jack hammer.

Try to keep lawn sprinklers away from it by using bricks or flat rocks on the wall at the bottom. Continuos water is bad on stucco.

[Deathcricket]

If it makes you feel better, my father in law backed the U-haul into our brand new house and destroyed a 6 inch area. I was able to patch it flawlessly, you can't even tell it was thrashed. Given, a 6 inch hole is way different than doing and entire section. but i think if you started small like Finn says, you'd be fine. Also might be real easy in this economy to find a couple unemployed hispanics to give you a sweet deal if it came to that.

Regardless, if that's the only thing holding you back from the house, go for it! Congrats on going against the flow and buying at the right time too.