If you’re going to do exterior painting, stucco is going to require some special preparation. Stucco is a masonry material that breathes, and is very similar to cement. If stucco is unsealed, it can absorb moisture from the air and in humid or very rainy climates, can even wick the water right through to the wood framing causing mold, mildew and rot. It’s not necessary to paint stucco in drier climates, but some people opt to do so for aesthetics.

Stucco exterior painting should be done with a different type of paint that a wood exterior. A urethane and acrylic mixture should be ideal of painting stucco. Just as with any other painting project, preparation is probably the most important factor in getting a result that looks great. But you need to be a little more cautious with a stucco exterior than with wood.

When you go to paint your home’s exterior, if you have wood siding a pressure washer is an excellent tool to remove loose paint and dirt. If you plan to pressure wash stucco, you’ll need to use the lower pressure setting and the widest spray nozzle, and make sure not to get the nozzle closer than about 18” from the surface. If you hold it too close, use too tight a stream or pressure that’s too high, you can actually damage the stucco.

Once you’ve removed everything loose from the stucco, actually wash the surfaces with soap and water and let them dry thoroughly before you start putting on the primer. You’ll want to fill in any cracks and holes before you paint, too. And be sure that if you’re painting new stucco, you don’t start until it’s been up on the house for at least 3 months.

If you paint new stucco too early, then it hasn’t had time to cure and there will be dampness trapped under the exterior paint on the stucco. This will work its way out and cause the paint to bubble and chip far too soon.

You’ll want to use a primer that’s tinted to closely match your final paint color. Also, with exterior stucco painting, the best result is when you apply the paint right after the primer has dried, so work in sections if necessary. You can spray your stucco or use lamb's wool or other high nap roller. Rolling gives a thicker coat each time and provides a better seal for the surface. Be sure that no matter how well covered the stucco appears after one coat, to go ahead and give it two coats. This not only evens out any spots that are a bit less-covered that you might not have been able to see, but it also lets the paint fill in those tiny holes and spots that were missed, your stucco exterior painting provides the best seal.

If you’re changing the color of your exterior stucco painting, plan on needing more than two coats to keep the older color from showing through.

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