Painting an exterior wall may seem simple; but unless you know what the job entails, you could run into problems very quickly. This is especially true of stucco. Your stucco may require some repairs and you are going to need more paint than you anticipated to complete the job.

But we have some helpful tips if you are planning to repaint your stucco walls. Of course, you can always give us a call here at Century Painting for fast, affordable and professional exterior painting services.

The Prep Work

The first thing you will need to do is thoroughly clean the stucco surface. You can use a brush with stiff wire bristles to get into all the peaks and valleys of the stucco texture. You can pick up a cleaning solution from your local hardware store. If your stucco has stubborn stains and grime, you may need to rent a power washer or hire a professional to power wash your stucco siding.

Once the cleaning is done, take a good look at the area of stucco you want to paint. Are there cracks? If so then you should first patch all the cracks with masonry caulk. They make caulk with sand granules as well that match the texture of stucco nicely. You may have to use a putty knife and patching compound for particularly large holes and cracks.

After the surface is prepped, lay some drop cloths along the ground where you intend to work and tape them to the floor so they don’t fly away. You may also want to cover up any bushes or trees around your work area with a tarp as well.

Keep in mind that you should only tackle a stucco painting job when the weather is fair. Dry, sunny conditions are ideal for any outdoor painting project as rain or even moisture in the air can interfere with the drying and curing.

Priming

You should use both a synthetic paint brush and a napped paint roller to apply the primer and the paint. For your primer, you will want to use an acrylic-based product. To begin, paint the perimeter of the surface area (this technique is called cutting) with your brush.

Then, with the napped roller (using a napped roller will make sure that you can get the primer and paint into the myriad peaks and valleys of the stucco texturing) fill in the center area with the primer. Let the coat of primer dry and if you feel that the surface area needs more coverage, add a thin second coat.

Painting

Once all your primer coats have completely dried, it’s time to paint. You should use the same method (cutting in around the edges then filling in the center with the napped roller) for applying the paint as you did the primer.

If you used a good napped roller, you shouldn’t need more than 2 coats of paint to get adequate coverage. But please note that stucco walls need more paint than flat walls since the texturing usually doubles the surface area. Contact Century Painting today for Hassle free Estimates . Or call us at  (704) 245-9409