Is It OK to Apply Paint On Stucco?

Stucco is an ancient building material and it was used in many of the most famous ancient civilizations. Stucco was an important part of the buildings made by Greeks, Romans, and Aztecs. Even the Egyptian pyramids were stuccoed.

Previously, you could only find stucco painted in the materials that it was made of. However, today stucco can be seen in variety of shades. Generally, colored stucco is produced by adding pigment to the final coat as it’s applied, by creating a 1-8 inch thick layer of color. Nevertheless, many homeowners are not sure whether or not they can update the color of stucco. Stucco can be repainted, but you have to keep the following things in mind when it comes to paint your stucco.

Applying Paint on Fresh Stucco:

Under any circumstances you should not paint freshly installed stucco. Actually stucco is a porous material and it needs to breathe. Moisture penetrates the stucco surface and then evaporates away. When fresh stucco is installed in your house, a waterproof membrane like tar paper, house wrap etc is used between the stucco and the structure of the house to keep the inside dry.

The final coat of paint color of stucco goes on as a part of the installation process. Therefore, once the stucco is done, it’s done. If you want to apply additional paint on your stucco, you have to wait for the stucco to dry and cure. Generally this process takes a couple of weeks. If you apply paint on freshly installed stucco, the paint interferes with the breathability of the stucco surface. Also, the moisture can be locked in the wall between the surface and the paint. As a result, this causes the paint to bubble, peel, and chip since the moisture finds a way to escape.

Painting Stucco:

As mentioned earlier, you should paint freshly installed stucco, only when it is properly dry. You can even hire the professional painting contractors to apply paint on your stucco. Properly applied color coat of your newly installed stucco can last for decades.

Painting Old Stucco:

Whether or not you can paint your old stucco generally depends on several factors like what’s the condition of stucco, which color do you like, whether it is already painted or not etc. It is important to clean your stucco by using a pressure washer and then cover it with a fog coat. However, it is not possible to achieve very dark colors, since you can only add so much pigment to stucco.