New Stucco Meeting Up With Old

MichaelNY

This weekend I removed a window from my house, then framed it in, etc. Covered sheathing with membrane, roofing paper, and then wire mesh to put on scratch coat of stucco.

Question: There is a hard edge of old stucco (put on in 1929) where it met up with the frame of the old window. The stucco is very heavily textured.

What is the best way to get the new stucco to blend with the old stucco?

I know that it can't be perfect. but do I need to break the hard line with a chisel and then trowel in the new stucco and overlap with the old?

Also used a latex additive to help bond the new stucco, which helped. Just want to make sure that new stucco doesn't crack at all the seams where the old window was.

I usually just do brick - this is the first time with stucco.

Thanks for any help.

Mike

genecarp

Welcome mike, head over to the introductions area and tell us a little about yourself, i have found that creating an irregular line blends the new to old more effectively. go at is with a grinder, heavy texture is harder to blend IMO. just take your time with it. G

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stuccoman

What dtd you do about properly lapping the moisture barrier if you have not chipped back the old stucco?

And how did you lap and tie in the lath also?

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If it was your house wouldn't you want it done right?

Michael Olding

This can be a difficult situation depending on the texture and thickness of the stucco.

We generally will build out and taper the new stucco on down the wall a bit but if there was any stress release cracks in that area they will reappear after you have completed as it is a normal release area.

As far as matching the stucco goes you must break it down to simplify each and every step in the process. Complete each step 'perfectly' before you move on to the next.

Proceed until you are finished and step back and view. Change areas that look questionable and then begin to distress the new stucco until it is sufficiently 'aged' to blend in with the existing.

Just a note: the build out must be done in the afternoon light so you can observe the shadowing effect of this time of the day as it is likely your customer will be observing your finished work later in the day as well. This can be critical to your success. Shadows can many times be just as important as texture.

The stucco blending is in itself a project over and above the window replacement and should be viewed this way... and charged accordingly. (at least for high end clients)

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Masonry repair expert - structural, restorations, tuck pointing, rebuilding, staining etc.