Greetings all and a happy month of March to ya,
I live in Denver and own a 2.5 story 1880’s brick victorian. The walls are three bricks thick up to an elevation of five feet. At five feet there is a sandstone cap that runs around the house and provides an nice transition to the walls above which are two bricks thick. I have a great mason who is tuck pointing the brick, replacing cracked and worn sandstone….he is doing a great job – a true mastercraftsmen.
My question concerns the first five feet of brick which is above grade and below the sandstone. We have decided that it is best to stuco that portion of the wall because the prior DIY’s applied some sort of stuco to portions of it, and the front of the house has concrete over the much of brick when a water line was replaced – accordingly, to acheive a uniform look we think a band of stuco, five feet high and up to the sandstone, would look nice.
We also have a very good stuco guy who is just about ready to go. Here, finally, is the question: the stuco guy can put up a smooth and uniform first layer that we could paint to match the brick or go a bit darker. OR, he could put a colored finish coat on. Which is best? We are trying to save some money – but If the painting option is a poor option I am certainly willing to pay the extra. Obviously, we are concerned about water intrusion, longevity, and overall aesthetics. Is the painting option foolhearty?
Thanks, Brian
(I looked at old posts but didn’t find much re same)
Edited 3/1/2006 12:45 pm ET by Bdub
Replies
Colored stucco will allow the wall to breathe moisture in as well as out. With your setup, there is all sorts of water entry points, so moisture will get behind the paint and make it peel off.
If you have good eaves, rain gutters and good yard drainage along with the thickness of the wall the colored stucco will be OK.
Paint would be fine if you totally paint and seal everything. But your painted surfaces will never look as good as its natural finish.
In total agreement. Only write to add that once you paint stucco, even if moisture pressure doesn't blow the paint off of it, you will always have to maintain the paint.
Colored cement will generally last a long time (like can be more than a lifetime).
If you choose to go with paint, you are choosing a product that will require more maintenance. The paint will eventually peel and any loose paint will need to be removed before you repaint.
Just a question and food for thought: If you've got a good brick restoration guy, why not get him to fix the problems, rather than cover them up with stucco? I'd be somewhat concerned (if I'm understanding your building correctly) about water entering above the stucco and causing problems with it.
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are you talking real stucco or fake stucco. 2+3=7
what i'd do... and they are do'n it all over here is a colored stuco "wash" doing it on new houses u still see all the brick lines and it's kinda like painted brick but with the added sand texture....
all that being said... what you have are wood fired brick... they are not as hard as todays brick... you will also notice you have no expanision joints... the reason you don't is... the brick is soft but the original mortar was softer it was just lime & sand at best 900-1100 psi but prob closer to 600psi... being lime it breathes and moves and is self healing... it seals itself just with the reaction of the lime & water/moisture... if you have done any demo you noticed that there is an air gap between layers of brick and tie in courses every 7 to 9 rows... they will never line up from inside to outside and they not only tie your courses together they funnel moisture away from the inside... your inner courses of bricks will be a mix of clinkers and softer less fired (than the outside) brick... your inside brick will be mostly like your outside brick but may not have been fired as long.... I don't know what your guy is tuckpointing with.... but in a perfect world he'd be using lime puddy mortar made with sand from the closest riverbed... but no one does that unless they are anal or using someone elses money... I go kinda in the middle just because I don't see alot of freeze/ thaw and lime puddy takes days to weeks to set up it has to dry where mortar with portland is a chemical reaction not a drying process.... the problem you will run into with a portland mix is it's hardness... harder than your brick... which means your wall will not breath like it did and it will hold moisture... your brick faces will freeze & crack off and you will not have the movement expanision/contraction you had with the softer lime.
If you stuco you will need to leave expansion joints because it will crack...
the colored mortar wash I think is your best bet... no paint... it seals it way to much and old brick wicks way too much water for it to last more than a few years tops... and you will always have "lime bleed"...
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Your profile says Colorado. Try to remember there is a good reason real stucco is not done in cold climates. It doesn't do well. My next door neighbor (we're in Michigan) had stucco done really well and still he's fixing cracks every spring.
Since you have such a good mason, have him fix/restore the brick. This will also keep the house historically accurate, i.e. more valuable.
DG/Builder
Thanks to all who offered their input. We decided, as you suggested, to go with the colored finish coat.