HELP! what's going wrong here?

[Robert Macy]

In trying to apply paint to a 'sandy' type stucco finish:

Home previously spray painted with what appears to be extremely watered Dunn Edwards flat Interior/Exterior so bleached by the sun that there are tones lighter huge spotting, especially around cracking stucco. [done in 2008]

So surface has essentially been primed. I asked the group and got a good recommendation for readily available Behr Masonry Stucco paint from Home Depot. The paint is thick, doesn't separate even days after shake mixing, and covers with one coat.

I'm doing this myself, dont' want a lot of prep and mess and cleanup, so deemed to use a brush and just do sections at a time with any overlaps at corners/junctions, so won't show. I can do the painting in shade, in evening, so sun won't accelerate drying before curing.

First problem is that it appeared that one gallon did around 80 sq ft !!! I tried cutting back, but can't even begin to get paint down into the 'holes' in the stucco. Have taken to poking at the wall with the bristles of the brush which almost works.

Second problem is that the paint dries faster than I can move on. Meaning one can get a 'gummy' overlap between small sections as you move the ladder and scaffolding. Ok, I attributed that to very dry base surface. When done with this first coat, stood back and looked at it. Four days later, it still looked like I had used different colored paint sources, and the surface had a 'blotched' appearance. Looked like a quilt up on the wall consisting of square little 'islands' for the different sections I had done as I had moved along.

Ok, first coat was a disaster so let's try it again. This time I added

2 oz of Floetrol to the half gallon of paint I was planning to use [recommended 4 oz per gallon]. Half gallon should do 80 sq ft on a second coat, right? WRONG! This time I moved as fast as possible. Set the ladder start at the top and come down to the stone facade as fast as possible, then move over and repeat until done. As I worked I completely filled EVERY hole I could see and verified that the surface had a nice wet sheen everywhere. This time I was moving so fast that even the overlaps were successful - they still had their wet sheen into the previously painted areas.

I can live with using excessive paint [this is NOT color coverage, but liquid coverage] But I cannot live with the end result: As you stand and look at the wall you see very obviously well defined 'strips' down the wall. All the same color, but looks like sheets of wallpaper overlapping at their edges around 4 inches!

It's been over 24 hours now with time to properly cure and dry and even the sun has hit the wall now, yet the effect is still there!

I can't paint my house and have these ugly patterns left all over it when I'm done. What am I doing wrong here?

Again spray paint is not an option [I have a $2,000 airless sprayer in storage I don't have access to since I own one I'm not allowed to buy another one]; rollers might be an option but the cleanup after doing each section will be monumental, plus not sure the roller can get paint down into all the nooks and crannies anyway. So, a brush is the most convenient way that I'd like to stay with. So, why has this turned into a fiasco? Why can't these walls be painted with a brush? What am I doing wrong here?

[hrhofmann]

Have you thought of spraying the walls with a hose before you paint to have a damp base?

[bob haller]

RENT a paint sprayer......

[Home Guy]

-> HELP! what's going wrong here?

[gpsman]

Ha!

You don't know what you're doing.

Dirt, probably, but paint does not flow into cracks, crevices and holes the way one might imagine, you have to force it in by back- brushing even if you spray it.

Operating too far beyond your area of expertise. -----

- gpsman

[Robert Macy]

sigh, don't want to do it ALL on one day, want to just do it leisurely.

And from my experience with my sprayer, prep is incredible and drift and overspray and ...

Got a lot of glass, frame and structures to contend with.

Only single story 4,000 sq foot home, with lots of architectural features, so there are lots of 'break' points

[Robert Macy]

kind of. I did think to scrub off the wall first and got a lot of coloration coming off on the lower area of the walls.

When I told Paint people about the problem, they talked about making certain the wall were clean AND dry.

[Robert Macy]

Operating too far beyond my expertise? By definition of results, true. But, I know enough to ask.

I do have experience, and have experience in learning HOW to do. I used to work for a professional home painter and learned all kinds of tricks and tips, most people don't know about. To do the exterior of our 5,000 square foot two story Edwardian house I purchased an expensive paint sprayer . Had to prep that extensively, since it had been allowed to deteriorate over the years before we got to it. One side took 16 hours just to spray coat. Completely rebuilt the interior putting it back to original as much as possible. Worked with techniques and self taught to the extent that the local museum curator had his restoration people come talk to me to see my workmanship and find out how to do things the 'original' way for restoring their buildings. [the house was built in 1906 using materials that boggle your mind, like REAL 2 by 4's actually 2 by 4 in size, and hand sawn wood timbers and planking.] One example, I showed them how to brush paint yet obtain a surface as smooth as formica and always better than spray painting. However, I did get close to that flatness by using an artist's airbrush with variable spray pattern to do the 80+ frames in the french doors..Beat 'hand cramp' any day.

The idea of dirt I considered first, so I scrubbed the wall section the day before, but to no real improvement to the symptoms of my problem. Plus, the problem that prompted me to post here today has just occurred over a new layer of paint unlikely to have been caused by dirt.

As far as nooks and crannies go, I kind of thought that if the brush can't fill that then a roller would fare no better. Even spray painting will have its ability challenged to fill well.

[Robert Macy]

Wow! I didn't know there was a competition in that category. I'll try to be MORE obtuse next time to maintain my award status.

[hrhofmann]

LOL

[hrhofmann]

Are you sure the paint is fully dry? If it went on as thick as you said, there may be dampness under what appears to be a dry surface, and that dampness would be where there is an overlap and the paint is the thickest.

[gregz]

I would have wet it and noticed how water flowed and stuck. Wondering about waterproofing ?

I brushed half my cinderblock with same paint. No noticeable color changes. Slap paint on, then tap into holes. I did stir the paint.

Greg

[Robert Macy]

Good point! I am watching to see if the effect is mitigating over time.

I fear that what I am seeing is a subtle effect of slightly smoothing an otherwise rough coating and THAT simply shows up as a shiny line about 4 inches wide of vertical strips down the wall. When the sun is on the wall the lines are very pronounced, when the wall is completely shaded, not so much, but still discernible.

I have absolutely NO idea how to solve this other than bite the bullet and spray the ****** out of it.

[Robert Macy]

I will try that on the first coat areas. but the problem that prompted me to post today was from watching stripes appear on the coat over a fairly solid first coat.

When I called back to HD, the Home Depot paint people asked me if the wall was clean 'and' dry. However, Ms Macy suggested, as you did, scrub the dirt and powdered old finish off the wall and then wet the wall before you paint it.

I'm going to try more Floetrol AND wet the old surface first.

[Smitty Two]

I've been waiting for the stucco experts to come out and tell you that you aren't supposed to paint stucco.

[dadiOH]

You aren't waiting long enough. Your paint is going to take a month or more to totally cure and until it does you can expect to see variation in areas caused by more/less paint.

[Robert Macy]

I hope you're right. Trusting, I will now forge ahead!

[Robert Macy]

Say what?! Sounds good to me, but stucco absorbs rain like you wouldn't believe, stays wet for long time, and I swear smells moldy afterwards. Solution is to paint [read that as seal the surface and seal all those thousands of cracks]

Not supposed to paint? Is there a URL that explains?

[Smitty Two]

This seems to be one of those "is duct tape a lubricant" issues. It's been discussed several times here, and you can search the archives. The position of the nay-sayers is this:

shawnbennett wrote: DO NOT PAINT YOUR STUCCO!! You may as well wrap your house in plastic wrap, it will not breath and you WILL get mold. Stucco should never be painted. If you want the cracks fixed and maybe a updated texture, then a restucco is what you need. Depending on the stucco , you can fog coat it. But if you like painting every 3 years , go ahead and paint but you will be cleaning mold off of your window sills and the mold will strt to grow in the stucco along the bottom of the wall because there is no where for the humidity to go. Call 3 or 4 stucco contractors and you will see that generally a restucco is 25% cheaper than paint and if its done right , it should last you a lifetime.

[hrhofmann]

But if the stucco is keeping moisture in, it is also keeping it out of the walls, so what moisture are you talking about, from the inside occupants of the house?