Stucco Paint

[R.J. Johnson]

Does anyone have any experience with Behr Elastomeric paint? How well will it go through this gun

else I need to be aware of besides preping well?

[ransley]

Will the unit run a #19 gun tip, everything is latex so it should.

[Rudy]

Did you already buy this machine ? When I painted our new AZ stucco house, I borrowed a good sized Campbell Hausfield 3/4 HP machine from a neighbor. It was designed to drop the feed tube right into the 5 gal pails and go from there. If I had it to do again, I'd rent one from HD or such rather than buy a less capable unit and end up with it gathering dust in the garage. BTW, I had to thin the paint about

10% to get a good flow thru the gun. That was OKd on the paint spec sheet.

I used this product

to first seal the stucco surface (not for previously painted stucco) After the "seal" I used their Stucco paint with the spraygun. The job has lasted 10 years now in the AZ sun but as I drive by from time to time (I sold the house 5 yrs ago) I see its time to paint again.

The reason I used KM paint was that a painter friend of one of the stucco contractor came by to give me a quote on doing the painting. He told me what paint etc that he proposed to use but since we were doing all the sub work we could ourselves, we did our own painting (inside & out). It was a BIG house, I used 120 gals of paint over all. One of the biggest benefits of KM was that when I went in to get the paint, they asked me if I had an account..I told them the name of the painter XX Co.that I had spoken to but advised I was going to be doing it myself. The clerk said WTH, I'll give you the XX Co. price (cash) and I got all the product for $ 50-55 per 5 gal pail. HD couldn't touch that price of course. I checked the TECH sheets on the KM VS the HD paint. KM had more acrylic base etc in it than did the HD products.

We have a stucco house in Canada now. This one and a previous one up here (and all other stucco homes) are NEVER PAINTED. The final coat (#3) up here is a COLOR COAT with color dyes mixed right into the stucco which is then applied with some type of texture.

I have never figured out why they don't do the same thing in the US..why PAINT ( and then paint again, and again) when you don't have to ? A ten year old (or 20) stucco house up here looks the same as when it was built..no fading, no maintenance on the colored surface. Good luck with your job.

[Norminn]

clipped

Stucco in Florida is almost universally stucco on concrete block and always painted. There has been a great deal of building here since I arrived 10 years ago, and I don't recall any frame construction being done. That said, latex semi-gloss paint is the paint of choice - mainly because a flat paint would grow more mold/mildew. It also needs a moisture barrier, but latex "breaths" more than oil, allowing the inherent moisture of concrete to get out. But the main issue, I assume, would be the growth of mildew on bare surface.

When our condo was painted, the previous paint job was an extremely poor one, due to NO prep. It was mildewy, peeling in large sheets and with mildew under the paint. When we obtained estimates, the first was for "elastomaeric" paint, two coats, for $27,000! Whew, we are only eight units. Got some more bids, and had the good fortune to find a contractor who did mainly "commercial" work - condos and shopping centers. $6,000, two weeks of prep, one coat of primer and one coat of acryllic latex paint, in 2001, got us a great paint job.

The first estimate for elastomeric was advised due to many fine cracks in the stucco. The actual work done used a brushable caulk which covered the cracks, does not show through the paint and so far has held just fine. I haven't paid much attention to elastomeric paint and what quality improvement it might render, but the first quote was pretty scary.

As for spraying, the only sprayer I've used is a tiny Preval sprayer, with alkyd paint and acryllic for different projects. Both types of paint have a recommended additive for spraying, and a good paint store can tell you what to use. I would not use water. The stuff I used made the paint very sprayable but not drippy or thin.

Good luck.

[Walter R.]

I painted my 3000 sqft stucco (rough stucco) house with a roller, after cutting in with a brush. No mess, no cleanup, great precision in detail work, no shrouding of trees and no spray drift. No investment in a sprayer which I would not otherwise use.

Unless you are a pro painter and have pro spray equipment, I would stay away from sprayers. You have to use a roller anyway to even out coverage and streaking. Relax and listen to the birds while you paint.

[Walter R.]

People do not realize that, once they paint stucco, they have to continue painting it. Actually, stucco, that has never been painted, should be "washed" with a thin coat of cement based slurry of the same color as the original. Makes the stucco look like new, hides cracks, costs almost nothing, very little effort.

[ransley]

Its not "little effort" its messy, its real heavy, its alot of work, but it is best.

[Norminn]

It would match the mildewy sidewalk if we did this in Florida. Different animals here :o) The paint also helps keep the rain out when hurricanes blow by - lots of folks here had water intrusion THROUGH walls. Older homes, with fewer coats of paint, were less likely to suffer.

[evodawg]

Anthing else I need to be aware of besides preping well? It was always my understanding you don't paint Stucco. I creates a seal on the outside and traps moisture. Stucco needs to breath, it's a concrete product! There is an easier method called FOGGING and you can use an ordinary garden sprayer to apply it.

[R.J. Johnson]

I think you are right about not painting stucco, however, the previous owners painted the house at least 4 different times. I was doing some prep work today and found yellow, green, brown, and the current color is battleship grey. I'm starting to worry about painting it because whoever did it the last time did a very poor job. I was getting large sheets of paint off of the house with very little effort. My plan is to scrape off as much as I can, pressure wash it, then apply a primer made for stucco and then two coats of stucco paint.

[RicodJour]

I find it interesting that you think it's okay to use the name of a contractor - who by definition is in the business to make money - to secure a little deal without approval nor compensation to the contractor. That does create a big benefit - for you. Most people settle for the free estimate and free information the contractor provides.

Even if you and the contractor discussed your potentially purchasing the materials using his account, that would only apply if you'd hired the contractor and they were supplying the labor.

That's the view from the other side of the aisle. Ask a contractor friend their opinion.

R

[Rudy]

I find it interesting that you think it's okay to use the name of a contractor - who by definition is in the business to make money - to secure a little deal without approval nor compensation to the contractor. That does create a big benefit - for you. Most people settle for the free estimate and free information the contractor provides.

Read the above slowly..The store staff ASKED the question, I didn't say I was with the company but that I was doing it myself and that the painter had mentioned the name of their store/product. If they were content with offering me a discount as part of their sale, (which turned out to be 120 gallons) I think it would have been pretty stupid to say: "No thanks, I'd rather pay retail". While building that home, I ended up with several "accounts" at the 'trade price' through various suppliers that didn't have a problem offering me the 'big benefit' and I certainly didn't turn any of them down.

[SteveBell]

Sherwin Williams gives me a professional discount of 30% on most products. They told me to tell my clients to mention my name when they buy paint so my clients can get the discount. I specifically asked whether I could just have my friends and family get the discount that way, and the store manager said that was great.

I'm guessing that 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

[Rudy]

That seemed to be the way that KM paint looked at it too Steve.

[RicodJour]

"Do you have an account with us?" "Farmer Fred Painting does but I'm going to be doing the painting."

You were attempting to capitalize on the painter's name and account status, and you did. Lucky for you it didn't cost you anything.

Family, friends, clients - all of them have your permission to use your company name to get a discount when they go to SW. Would you have the same opinion if someone got an estimate from you, kicked the tires, told you your price was too high, then went to your paint supplier and used your name and relationship with the paint store to get a discount?

Better for the store, not for the not-hired contractor. The store is getting 70% or whatever, the contractor is getting nothing.

R

[Rudy]

I don't care that the contractor got nothing. He showed up uninvited (by me)at the jobsite looking for work..I told him straight out that I was doing all the painting myself. The name of the paint store came up in conversation so, never having tried their paint before, I looked up their product(s) on the internet. Checking out the Technical specs on their stucco paint/products, I found that their product was superior to what I had used previously so I went to see what they had to offer at their store. As previously stated, the "discount" came as a result of a conversation between me and the store manager..it took nothing from (nor did he expect to get/gain anything) the painting contractor. Once the deal was done at the paint store, I THEN had an "account" in my name.

It appears that the way you would have it, is that every time I opened a "5" of paint, I should have dropped a check in the mail to the paint contractor...sorry, in the real world, that's not how things happen.

[SteveBell]

I tell people to whom I give estimates that I can get them a good discount on paint at Sherwin Williams (SW). Most of them hire me; a few don't. Those that don't usually call back later.

It's no skin off my nose. If they don't hire me, I don't care if they save some cash. If they *do* hire me, it's for my labor and skill and their convenience, not to save $12 on a gallon of paint.

One oddity: Each SW store has to add my company to their local database. They can copy it from the original store, but it's always a hassle for them to find it in the corporate database. If I've never bought from that store, the person will have trouble getting a discount there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My first experience with this kind of discount was when I had to buy matching paint for a client from an local-brand paint store. The code on the can was obscured, so the clerk figured out who the builder was based on the address of the house, then looked up the trim color he always used. (He just kinda' knew who built in that subdivision.) He then told me I could have the very large discount that the builder got. I pointed out that I wasn't working for the builder, but he said he didn't care. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~