Repair of Stucco / Texture and botched patches

[Patrick McClean]

I have two types of areas on my house that need repair in several places. I am trying to decide if I should tackle this or try to find someone to do it. I have repaired a few small holes in stucco before and the repairs were invisible once painted to match the existing painted stucco, but these areas are a little different. The house is in SoCal and built around 1958. The stucco is currently painted to the point that much of the original texture is gone and what remains is mainly a bumpy painted texture with no real pattern. I plan on repainting the entire wall once the repairs have been made. I can also post some pictures and link to them if it helps.

1. When the house was built it had some ornate (gingerbread house) trim around the windows on the front of the house. This trim was removed prior to us purchasing the house and we don¹t want to replace it. The problem is that you can see a distinct outline of the old trim pieces around the windows. I think it is just old layers of paint built up as the house was painted over the years. In one area I tried a wire brush and it seemed to help a little, but you can still see the outline of the trim. What would be the best way to fix this? My thought is to use my angle grinder and masonry disc to carefully grind the outline down, then use some stucco patch or dash to fill and blend in with my sponge trowel, then repaint. Any problems with this? Any tips or a better way to proceed.

1. The other areas that need repaired are what looks like botched repairs from where planter shelves were attached to the house and have since been removed. Looks like my nemesis ³the previous homeowner² did the stucco, as I would not like to think a pro was responsible. Some areas are as small as a baseball, some as large as a basketball. The repairs are noticeable as some seem sunk in a bit, some seem bulged out a bit and no real attempt to match the diluted texture of the wall was made. The texture in these areas is much rougher. What would be the best way to tackle these areas? Grinder and patch as above, or something more severe?

I am pretty handy and based on other patches I have done feel I have the patience/skill to duplicate the final texture, but feel free to suggest options other than tackling this myself.

Patrick

[Jeff Cochran]

Sand the paint line to feather it and repaint the entire wall.

Grinder is okay if you're careful, and a patch or skim coat. Matching texture is tough so play on a piece of plywood until you're satisfied.

Jeff

[NorMinn]

We used some textured stucco patch, which I believe was DAP brand (latex). None were as large as a basketball, although they were substantial. For the edge where your trim was removed, I would use a sharp scraper or chisel to take down the ridge. Then put on some stucco patch. Use a wide putty knife/scraper to fill the other defects. It shrinks, like spackle, so you may need more than one application. When it is partially set - it doesn't take long - I used a bristle scrub brush to give it the right texture. Just press the brush on lightly, without wiping, and feather out the edges. Stucco patch comes plain and sandy texture; we used the sandy but needed more texture. We removed an old broken fire extinguisher cabinet from the exterior concrete block/stucco wall and needed to cover the tops of the concrete blocks at the bottom of the hole in the wall - used concrete pavers and the stucco patch - not professional grade, but looked ok after painting. Not too bad for an amateur :o)

There were also several good sized broken chunks on corners and around a dryer vent; can't tell where those were. For small cracks, our paint contractor used a brushable caulk. Fantastic job.