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| Old stucco stripped off and restuccoed to
restore
the original historic appearance. Readers have written me to find out how to get mortar to bond to old soft brick, like the bricks here. More details here.. |
Stucco scored to look like
block, as was the
original building. Check out our method of scoring... |
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Finish coat is white portland cement, lime and river sand. I
found some real river sand in Charlottesville that was
just like the original sand which came from the nearby James River. It
was real fine and had a high dirt content, just like the sand in the
old
mortar we
stripped off. I am confident the color and texture are authentic. The mottled colors of the real stucco add a random stone color effect. The joints were burnished, or darkened when they were scored. This gives the joints a deeper, richer look. The block finish would even look elegant on new houses. More details here.. |
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| Isn't it ugly ? Old pebble dash stucco is coming loose and falling off wall. Water infiltration cause the old stucco to deteriorate. The original stucco was lime and sand, much weaker than the portland cement stucco we put back on. This damage was probably caused by a leaking roof, flashing or whatever. |
We stripped
off two sides of the
house and put on new tarpaper, lath and stucco. Here, pebble mix is
thrown on with
a scoop. We were able to match the size of rocks easily. |
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| What, no tarpaper ? Holes in stucco show the original house had no vapor barrier, but there was no rot at all, except below a roof intersection that had no kick out flashing. Apart from that small repair, the sheating was in good shape. |
Decorative band makes the wall look longer. The back had a wood siding addition. We stuccoed the original house as well as the addition for a seamless appearance. |
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| Old stucco around bay window looks tired. All the old stucco and lath was easily stripped off. | We put the cable back on with new straps. House looks like 1925 again. |
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| New stucco gleams like a gem. The original house will be painted to match the addition. You may have seen other jobs we have done for Saxon builders in the past. | Finish coat is white portland, lime, and no. 2
silica sand (crushed quartz). Color is number 12, "chablis", from La
Habra Stucco. Texture is applied using random sized blobs. The top of
this
knee wall is rubbed with a float for a smoother finish. The idea is that water won't collect and stand on the top. BTW, the basement level is cast concrete. The stucco mortar was bonded to the concrete using flex-con |
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I had to squeeze in another picture, even though this page is about 220k. If you have dial-up, please be patient. Scaffold set up to plaster inside. Scaffold is made from home-made trestles and covered with planks. Plaster will be colored for a cool Venetian style finish. Please check back the next update. |