OT: Painting new stucco

[Paul Dwight]

The stucco crew finished the last coat on my new garage/shop yesterday. Weather permitting, I may be ready to paint this weekend. Should I follow any special procedure for painting the new stucco? Is a "normal" latex primer appropriate or is there a special primer I should use? I'm planning to use a good quality 100% acrylic paint for the finish coats. Is that OK?

Thanks in advance for the help. -- Paul

[Don Baer]

Paul;
My expierance with stucco is that they final coat of stucco is a color coat. Didn't they do that ? That said I have sprayed stucco with an outdoor latex finish and had it come out fine.

[Ellen Benkin]

Stucco doesn't require any fancy finishes -- that's one reason it is so popular. I think you should ask at a paint store because you may want it to dry for some time before you paint -- remember stucco is basically cement. There is some debate about painting stucco if the contractor used a color coat. One theory is to leave it alone because you now have the color you want. The other theory is that the paint is the sealer and you do want to appy paint. I know that unpainted stucco soaks up water in a rainstorm so I tend to follow the second theory.

[Chris Padilla]

I think you need to let the stucco cure for a few more days before painting it but I'm not totally sure about this.

I know the directions on my special garage floor paint insist that one waits at least 30 days for freshly-poured floors to ensure the concrete is fully cured. I don't think you need to wait as long for stucco but maybe do it the next weekend and not this one....

That said, just use a good quality exterior acrylic latex. My house is stucco and the paint holds up quite well.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Remember:
Stucco is a masonry surface. As such, when you paint it, you need to allow the masonry to breath. Sealing it up will cause spalling - a condition that basically is the face of the surface crumblng away.

[Michael Perata]

The color coat is not necessary and usually skipped if paint is going to be applied. (Almost always skipped in a production house as painters are usually cheaper than plasterers.)

The are some technical elastomeric coatings out there that will protect the stucco from weathering, rain blasting though and the ever present surface crackings. Take a look at http://uscoatingsolutions.com/page2.html. This is only one solution, similar products abound.