Painting exterior stucco - UPDATE - not working out well

[Robert Macy]

A while ago I posted a question as to what type of paint to use to paint over relatively new, once painted, exterior stucco and then went on to ask what was going wrong with trying to paint these walls.

The HD Behr's stucco paint was recommended, and HD being convenient and reasonable quality went for it.

Then, in trying to paint the stucco, I ran into a series of 'patterns' being left on the walls seemingly caused by painting a section and moving along the wall with a noticeable overlap - very visible because of the form of the pattern. HD paint dept had no idea what was happening. But close examination, pattern looked like a 'thicker', therefore smoother, area at each painting overlap.

The first patterns I generated were vertical, caused by starting at the roof and going straight down, move over, repeat. This left a series of vertical patterns VERY noticeable. Then changed to going from right to left as fast as possible, with the whole wall done in three passes, leaving two patterns of horizontal lines, with slightly noticeable vertical ones, as I moved along each section - these patterns are the least obtrusive, but still noticeable. This end result made me Feel like a rank amateur here.

This is a single floor building, I have now used completely three 5 gal tubs and am less than 1/3 done with the house. I estimate something like 60 to 80 sq ft per gal of coverage.

In an attempt to prevent patterns:

I followed HD's employee suggestion of making certain surfaces were dry [they were], tried multiple coats to no avail = patterns still come through, but now more of them.

I added the amount of Floetrol recommended [and then more] to remove 'brush strokes' but that had little effect except to add cost and 'fussing' time. Adding more Floetrol still didn't help.

I tried scrubbing the surface mechanically abrading any potentially drying 'powder' left from the previous paint [Dunn-Edwards versaflat base, probably thinned for spray painting beyond belief] that effort didn't help.

I tried wetting the surface, dampening it before painting. That didn't help.

So that's the update! Paint doesn't go very far and there are still patterns being left!

Next, I'm going to try 'wetting' at the overlap with Easy Off Window Cleaner and see if that helps. If not, simply pre-thinning with the product. Something HAS to work!

The next battle is interior painting using Dunn-Edwards Versaflat base, that has been leaving brush strokes like ribbed paint! I need to paint a wall a day and can't stand the cleanup [or multiple cost] of using a bunch of rollers either.

My impression is is that the paint just dries too fast, need a way to slow that down and increase the surface tension so the paint will have time, and the where-with-all, to flatten.

Any suggestions?

[Dan Espen]

Roller.

Do whole wall in one go.

Sure you are not seeing wet paint next to dry?

The paint should dry to a uniform color.

[=]

Indoors, you can use a vaporizer or humidifier to raise the room humidiy to slow the drying process.

Tomsic

[Norminn]

From your description, the main problem is your pattern of rolling on the paint. It seems obvious that straight up-down overlapped strips would pile the paint on more thickly in strips. Being a newbie, you are likely better off rolling the paint out too thin than too thick, and in more random strokes....typical technique is to roll in a "W" shape, about 3' square, then across to cover, then up/down; follow by doing another patch and rolling into the first before it gets tacky.

I would also be concerned with the prep that you did (you in warm climate?)...chalk and mildew should be removed, and if in warm climate semi-gloss is probably better. Did you pressure wash? Use fresh paint?

I checked out the mfg. website, and they have little information on application for stucco surface. Stucco ordinarily requires longer nap roller than a smooth surface, and that may add to the "stripe" appearance. There are many websites that give simple instructions for prep, rolling- and brushing-methods. You must abide by label instructions, for thinning, recoating, cleaning, temp, etc.

You might be better off checking with a real paint store, and the staff is usually more informed and experienced.

I'm puzzled at your plan to paint one wall per day...most res. rooms are easy to roll in one day, although trim, prep can take a good deal longer.

[Kern]

You should feel like an amateur, you took painting adivce from HD!

Try a real paint store, where real professionals work. Quit trying to cut corners with bottom shelf products. Good grief man, get a brain!

[Existential Angst]

See my 12/17 thread on PaintZoom.... you can try this product, or the HF product. In my newbie experience, for sumpn like stucco (or T1-11 wood, etc), spraying will do a MUCH better job, in 1/10th the time, at half the cost. Likely a MUCH longer lasting finish as well, as each coat is thinner, deeper-penetrating. The guys at rec.woodworking are experienced w/ paint spraying (surface finishing in general), as well.

[hrhofmann]

HOw about some photos, both of a whole wall showing the stripes, and then a closeup of one of the boundaries?

[Smitty Two]

I'm pretty sure his exterior stucco is on the outside of the house.

[dadiOH]

You haven't done a lot of painting, have you :)

[Robert Macy]

Again, years ago when young, I used to work for a house painter. He taught me all kinds of professional 'tricks' of the trade. Like simply sticking the brush down into the paint for the next day's use without any need to clean it, or for longer delays, freezing a paint brush rather than messing about cleaning it. Taught me to paint with a brush as fast as a brush or spray painter. He could paint a single floor residence in one day, and the next day put on the second coat. Prep? Brush painting requires far less prep work than spray painting too. He painted FAST! Using the techniques he taught me, I can easily do each of our rough stucco walls in around an hour. approx 10 by 15, or so.

Share with all here: Simply, dip brush [twist in your hand as you lift it out of bucket to prevent paint falling off onto ground] slap onto the wall in an X motion [that works the paint into the surface from all directions], then do over and over until a large enough area is covered, then use straight strokes to smooth the paint and leave uniform brush strokes. You'd be surprised how fast you can 'throw' paint on a wall that way, even go faster than rollers. As long as the paint doesn't dry in any way at the overlaps, when you're done, looks as smooth and even as a spray, but far easier.with less setup. The key is that 'dry' at the overlaps. I've had NO problems with oil base, but these new, improved water base seem to 'set' in 30 seconds! If you don't like something you see on the wall after five minutes, forget it. Touching the painted surfaces seems to turn these paints into gum. I used to use Easy Off Window Cleaner in a yellow spray can, but alas product was discontinued! You literally could go back and touch up water base paint, even six hours after application, invisibly. Somehow that product's contents would 'wet' the surface/paint yet did not hurt the polymers, or such, so the paint's integrity survived.

I have worked with brushes, rollers, and own an airless sprayer purchased to paint the outside of later mentioned home. Even finished

80 panes of french doors once using an adjustable air brush - bet many of you have never tried using an air brush for trim painting, eh?

Years ago, I gained quite a lot of painting [an paint removal] experience completing the renovation of our 15 room home.

As I said, this 'overlap' pattern has me irritated and a bit stymied.

[Robert Macy]

Possibly, pictures I have a monstrous 1MB each, but Irfanview can pare that down to a reasonable 200kB and maintain resolution, but where do I send it?

[Existential Angst]

Not that anyone would pay me for... LOL

But I DID roller T1-11 and then spray it, and the difference -- on every level -- was extraordinary. Thought stucco might be similar.

Spraying wouldn't work here??

[Norminn]

If you read the entirety of the OP, you will see his issues with interior painting ;o)

[Norminn]

Most of the graphic software with cameras has the option to resize images.

[dadiOH]

Sure it would work but a pro would then roll the sprayed surface. Gotta remember that stucco is very irregular has three dimensions and flat on spray won't get the nooks and crannies. That is also true of rolling - but somewhat less so with a long nap roller - which is one reason one rolls updown, sideside and cornercorner. The other reason is to spread the paint evenly.

The other thing is that a thin coat will penetrate no more than a thick coat.

The sprayer worked well on T1-11 because the recessed areas were shallow enough for the spray to get into them on one side as you approached with the spray, the other side when you left. IOW, when your sprayer was, say, 6" away from a recessed area it was spraying straight ahead but the area being covered was at an angle to center and that angle was small enough for the spray to reach into the recess and do its side; ditto when you passed the recess but then the other side got some spray. That is also true with stucco but stucco is not only irregular side to side but up and down and diagonally as well.

[dadiOH]

You send it to a website - there are many specifically for pictures - then post a link to it.

[Existential Angst]

Adhere better, then? At least that's what "they say" about thin coats. If true, spray painting would be the Adherence Bomb.

Hmmm..... sounds sorta counter-intuitive to me, but ahm no 'spert. Seems to me enough angles with the spray gun would solve that, but I have no experience. I'll keep this in mind, if the opportunity arises to try this.

Could it be that blow-back (or overspray) would actually be an aid, to stucco painting with a sprayer?

[dadiOH]

I kinda doubt it.

When I built my house I painted the interior with an airless sprayer. When doing the closets, most all the blow back was onto me. It felt like I was in a snow storm. I was snow blind. Fortunately, latex paint comes off easily in a shower :)

I still wonder how a paint that is so easily removed from me can stick well to a wall. It does, though.

BTW, spraying doesn't necessarily result in a thin coat.

[Existential Angst]

If you read the entirety of ShittyTwo's posts, you'll see he has issues in general.

Hey Shitty, howzat geothermal installation in yer mom's house goin?? You recouped everything in 3-5 years?? lol

[Existential Angst]

That's why I'm looking forward to trying the HF hvlp setup. On my current sprayer set up (reg. compressor air) I'm going to experiment with thinning the paint, so I can use the lowest air pressure poss, see how that affects blowback. I already thin the paint for spraying, will just do it moreso, see what happens.

For typical spraying, I find I"m able to cut the paint by about 25%. Someone told me that some people do that even with brush/roller painting.

True, but if set right, it will deliver a nice uniform thin coat, which when done twice, would seem to give better (more uniform) results. You can do the same thing with spraying as with rollers, ito viertical/horizontal motions, for coverage. Also, it seems that the thin coats dry really quick, so you can sometimes start the second coat right after (or soon after) finishing the first coat -- if the piece is large enough.