Nigel Watts
Member
- Messages
- 1,779
- Location
- London N7
The outside of my 1840 stucco house is caked with Sandtex. When I had the house painted some seven years ago modern emulsion was simply applied over the Sandtex. Areas of the offending material and lower paint layers are starting to defoliate, especially where water has penetrated and been trapped behind.
After several hours work with nothing but a wallpaper scraper I have removed about half a hundredweight of material:
Water had penetrated along the line where the lighting wires were buried and the layers below peeled very easily. The accumulated layers are about 1/16 inch thick. The scored lines in imitation of ashlar can now be seen.
The plaster looked so rough on the North West corner I feared it had been extensively, and very badly, replastered. In fact most of the original stucco is in place, but rather pitted in places and badly patched up with various types of filler
In some places the Sandtex is directly on the Stucco, or very close to it, suggesting that peeling have already taken place.
In other areas the Sandtex and lower layers seem much more firmly attached which will require chemical attack.
I did a paint scrape in the porch:
My paintwork (on the bumpy stuff) is F&B's String, already many shades darker than my neighbours. Before this it was white, but before that it seems we had two shades of green (these possibly only in the porch) a dark grey, some ochres and umbers and an original stucco with a pinkish hue.
I am sending off to Strippers of Sudbury to get some test packs for chemical stripping. I will in due course need to find a sympathetic contractor to apply it over the whole facade, decide on how best to repair the exposed stucco (some bits sound quite hollow when tapped) and then decide on what type and colour of paint to apply. In the meantime my neighbours will have to live with the fact that my house now looks so scruffy that it serious lowers the tone of the neighbourhood.
Any tips on stucco repair and decoration would be much appreciated, as would the name of a suitable contractor.
After several hours work with nothing but a wallpaper scraper I have removed about half a hundredweight of material:
Water had penetrated along the line where the lighting wires were buried and the layers below peeled very easily. The accumulated layers are about 1/16 inch thick. The scored lines in imitation of ashlar can now be seen.
The plaster looked so rough on the North West corner I feared it had been extensively, and very badly, replastered. In fact most of the original stucco is in place, but rather pitted in places and badly patched up with various types of filler
In some places the Sandtex is directly on the Stucco, or very close to it, suggesting that peeling have already taken place.
In other areas the Sandtex and lower layers seem much more firmly attached which will require chemical attack.
I did a paint scrape in the porch:
My paintwork (on the bumpy stuff) is F&B's String, already many shades darker than my neighbours. Before this it was white, but before that it seems we had two shades of green (these possibly only in the porch) a dark grey, some ochres and umbers and an original stucco with a pinkish hue.
I am sending off to Strippers of Sudbury to get some test packs for chemical stripping. I will in due course need to find a sympathetic contractor to apply it over the whole facade, decide on how best to repair the exposed stucco (some bits sound quite hollow when tapped) and then decide on what type and colour of paint to apply. In the meantime my neighbours will have to live with the fact that my house now looks so scruffy that it serious lowers the tone of the neighbourhood.
Any tips on stucco repair and decoration would be much appreciated, as would the name of a suitable contractor.
