This is one type of stucco wall texture.
Stucco is an ancient building material, used for centuries as a wall covering or decorative finish on buildings in ancient Italy and Persia, in Great Britain and Europe and for many years in America. It once was mostly lime and water but since the invention of Portland cement in the 1800s has been a combination of cement, sand, water and lime or other ingredients. It is applied like interior plaster, a close relative, and can be finished smooth, with rough texture or design. It can be colored or painted after installation.
Instructions
1. Start with a bare wood wall. Remove any old trim or siding and get the wall down to basic plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) sheathing. Drive in any protruding nails and repair any damaged sheathing wood; replace any sheathing that is rotted or shows signs of water damage. Repair any leaks or openings that might allow water onto the wall behind the stucco.
2. Put a moisture barrier membrane over the wall. Use a housewrap or similar material stapled to the sheathing with a construction stapler. Tape all seams and corners with a tape recommended by the membrane manufacturer. Install metal flashing around any doors, windows or similar openings. Add building paper over the membrane unless the membrane is approved for use under stucco.
3. Cover the wall with metal lath, thin metal sheets with diamond-shaped holes. Put "stand-offs" on the lath, small metal lugs on one side about 1/8-inch high, against the sheathing. Fasten the lath with a hammer and galvanized lath nails securely on all sides and every 18 inches along studs under the sheathing. Add "weep screed" at the wall bottom; this is a metal strip with holes in it that serves as a bottom for the stucco but allows any water that gets behind the stucco to drain.
4. Mix prepared stucco with water in a bucket to the consistency recommended by the directions on the package. Spread a "scratch" coat of stucco on the wall with a flat trowel, a tool with a flat bottom about 4-by-10 inches with one straight edge side and one notched side. Put the stucco on about 3/8-inch thick, spreading it with the bottom of the trowel from top to bottom and side to side. Push it firmly into the metal lath. Scrape or scratch horizontal ridges in the stucco from side to side with the notched edge. Let the scratch coat dry 10 to 12 hours.
5. "Hydrate" the scratch coat by spraying it with water with a hand sprayer or a garden hose with a misting nozzle. Work from bottom to top so the water does not build up and run down the wall and erode the stucco. Hydrate the wall as many as three times if it continues to absorb water. Hydration causes the cement to cure into a hard material.
6. Add a "brown" coat of stucco with some fine sand mixed in it to provide adhesion points for a final coat. Follow the stucco manufacturer's directions on adding sand. Dampen the scratch coat with water before adding the brown coat. Spread this coat evenly, about 3/8-inch thick, and smooth it with the flat edge of the trowel. "Screed" the brown coat with a long board or metal plate from the top down to create a final smooth surface. Clean up excess stucco that drops to the ground. Hydrate this coat, too.
7. Apply a thinner finish coat, the same day as the brown coat if the finish stucco is cement-based. Add pigment if desired to make the finished stucco a desired color. Spread the finish coat 1/16-to-1/8-inch thick and smooth or texture it as desired with the trowel. Use the flat side of the trowel to build irregular ridges in the stucco or the notched side to make swirls and other patterns. Hydrate the finish coat like the others until it is fully cured.
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