Stucco, plaster and drywall joint compound are similar materials that all contain cement and some type of lime or calcium carbonate. Stucco for exterior application usually also contains fine sand, while indoor plaster may or may not contain sand. Joint compound fills seams in drywall panels and has no sand but usually more lime content. Apply all with similar tools with the same types of texture or surface. Drywall originally was a substitute for plaster or interior stucco, but you can apply stucco as a decorative finish.
Instructions
1. Provide a proper base to apply stucco over drywall. A special type of gypsum drywall, commonly called blueboard, has a special paper facing designed for use with plaster and stucco. It is more moisture absorbent and bonds better with those materials. Use this if you are putting up new drywall. Install metal lath over standard drywall, sheets of thin metal mesh to hold stucco. Secure metal lath with special nails with a lug side, small protrusions to hold the lath slightly off the wall surface, facing on the wall.
2. Strengthen the seams on gypsum wallboard with paper tape or self-sticking fiberglass tape secured with a high strength joint compound. Attach metal corner bead to any inside or outside corners on the walls. Staple it in place on the sides with a high-powered stapler. Put corner bead over metal lath or on special gypsum board to provide stronger corners.
3. Mix stucco with water according to directions on a package. Apply it with a flat trowel, with a flat metal face roughly 4 inches by 10 inches, with one side and end straight and the other side and end notched, with indentations in the edge. Traditional stucco uses a three-coat process, a rough "scratch" coat for a base, a second sandy coat for a smoother surface and a finish coat with the desired color and texture. Interior stucco usually is only a scratch coat and a finish coat.
4. Spread the base coat with the flat part of the trowel, working from top to bottom, about 3/8-inch thick. Put a blob of stucco on the wall with one end of the trowel and spread it with the flat base, pushing it firmly into the metal lath or gypsum wallboard. "Scratch" it with the notched edge, dragged horizontally through the stucco to leave a ridged surface. Work side to side and scratch the entire wall. Let that coat dry.
5. Apply the finish coat with the same trowel, also about 3/8-inch thick. Smooth it with the flat edge of the trowel for a flat even surface. Use the notched side to make circles, swirls or other patterns in the stucco. Create a "popcorn" effect by letting the stucco set for a few minutes, then raising it by pushing the trowel bottom against the material and lifting it. This will pull some of the stucco up slightly; then brush over it with the flat edge of the trowel to smooth the tops of those ridges.
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