Parging

Winter

I have just started to get into parging. When I finished my parging job,I noticed small hairline cracks a couple of hours later? I mixed the parge more moist then dry. Is there a product you can put on the wall first to help it stick on better? I went to Homedepot and they sold me a bonder and he said put it on and when it gets tacky in 10 min put your parge on. It was a very thin liguid? Maybe you are suppose to mix it with the parge? Do you put one or 2 coats of parge?

Tscarborough

I generally use the term "parging" to describe the action of using the same mortar as you are laying with to coat the surface to smooth it out. Generally done on fireplace throats and smoke chambers, inside walls of planters, etc. In those cases, minor cracking doesn't matter, and is expected.

If you are parging a visible surface, then you are doing what I call stucco, the main difference being that it is done for the sake of appearance. The drier you can mix it the better, but expect it to be harder to apply the drier it is. Mist the substrate, then apply your stucco. Keep it moist for a couple of days if possible to further reduce cracking. Bonding agent only reduces cracking tangentially, and not at all if applied to the surface instead of integrally mixed.

Chris Johnson

I found using Acrylic Stucco base coat with fibremesh embeded followed by a top coat and 'sponged' or 'brushed' works best, gives a clean uniform look, sticks to almost anything. Make sure you clean your trowel when finished or the stuff needs to be cleaned off with a grinder.

__________________
Chris