Why You Should Paint Your Stucco Before It’s Too Late
The benefits of a stucco house are endless, stucco is moisture and fire resistant, durable, budget friendly, customizable and attractive. There is just something about a stucco house that always looks great; however if not properly maintained a stucco house can become a headache that only grows and grows over time. Oftentimes people think that painting your house is for mere aesthetic reasons only and all though it can be exciting to transform your house with new colors and a fresh look there is another reason to paint your house people do not always consider and that is maintenance.
There are three elements that effect the integrity of your stucco causing cracking and exposure to moisture. Once the moisture has entered your stucco you have a whole new problem you do not want to deal with.
Sun Exposure:
The average amount of time you should go before you paint your house is 6-10 years. For a stucco house it is a little bit shorter (5-7 years) just to ensure you are staying proactive and your house is protected. Around the 5 year mark you will start to see fading on your stucco especially in the darker tints. The hot Texas sun beats down on stucco houses and just like any other surface causes it to fade over time. Once you see some fading that means that the raw stucco is exposed and if it is not primed and repainted you will start to experience cracking in your stucco.
Why is only the dark color fading and not the lighter color? Can I just paint the dark color?
This is a question clients ask me all the time and the answer is simple. If your dark color is showing the raw stucco underneath so is the light color… you just can’t see it. Having a lighter color of stucco can create a false sense of security making you think that your paint has not faded when it has. To prevent cracking you should assume your paint has faded at 7 years max.
Rain exposure
Once the cracking starts that makes room for rain to enter those cracks and now you have a whole other problem. Stucco is tough and durable but once it is penetrated by water it will cause the rock to expand and contract causing more and more cracking. Once these cracks start they just grow and grow until you finally have to get them repaired which becomes much more expensive than a simple paint job.
Shifting Foundations
In Texas your foundations will eventually shift which will cause cracking. This is unfortunately just par for the course of living in Texas however as long as you do not have foundation issues those cracks can be sealed, primed, and hidden to make sure they do not get any water exposure. Cracks are also ugly on a stucco house and stick out like a sore thumb so we use masonry caulking and masonry primer to ensure those cracks blend back into the stucco and become unnoticeable.
Keep your stucco house looking beautiful and save money!!
Stucco repairs are considered a specialty repair you will be paying a premium on when getting done. The cheapest and best way to avoid this problem is through proper maintenance by having your house repainted every 5-7 years.
There is a proper way to paint your stucco as well that preserves it and does not cause any damage that you can read here. We discuss the necessity of soft washing stucco when pressure washing, applying paint with an airless sprayer and then back rolling to ensure penetration. In order to keep your home not just looking beautiful but protected so that it looks great for decades, call us at The Proud Paintbrush for a free estimate so that your home stays taken care of properly.
