I decided to do a bit of repair to the stucco rendered frontage of my home last year. Most of the repairs were quite close to ground level and involved repairing small areas of blown “roman cement” on parts of the rusticated detailing e.g. imitation stone block work formed from roman cement over brick. I never have been sure what the old Roman cement consisted of, all I know is that it dates from about 1875 -1880. The stucco has unfortunately been painted over the years with modern paint but it does look quite nice in its off white colour particularly when the sun hits the building at a certain angle forming grey shadows in the rustications. The repairs near ground level were quite minor, and as they were more prone to be in contact with ground water I decided to opt for a mix of 3 well graded sand to 1 hydraulic lime (NHL 3.5). I began the job in late September and all went on very nicely. The temperatures were fine and I religiously used a hand held plant water spray to dampen the surfaces before repair and then every day for a week after the repair. just a light dusting of water. When October/November arrived, I kept a close eye on the temperatures and where it looked like it could get a bit cold at night, I wrapped the repairs with bubble wrap. The depth of these repairs was about 10mm thick so I guessed that after two months the lime should have pretty much carbonated but alas reviewing the repairs in Jan/Feb some of it has held out whilst some areas have crumbling surfaces. I’m obviously a bit peeved because I wanted to paint these repairs this spring. Anyway, I’m now thinking about repairing the crumbly bits of repair with ‘Toupret Murex’ a French product, a bit expensive but brilliant stuff. It can be applied to any depth, sets in about half an hour, can be moulded without support, painted and will withstand any thing you can throw at it. I used the stuff high up on the building where scaffold was required where I needed a quick, waterproof, detailed professional looking repair to the stuccoed cornicing on the gable of the building and it has held up fantastically and looks great.
I do want to love lime products but sometimes it can be very difficult.
I do want to love lime products but sometimes it can be very difficult.