Stucco ?

[glenn kangiser]

I was wondering why we have never seen anyone use stucco here?  Too tacky?

It can be pretty cheap and durable if you do it yourself.  Probably a drier climate building material.  It is all over California.

[Dustin]

Being currently stuck in the "sea of sameness" in outer Suburbia, AZ, I don't care to see another stuccoed house as long as I live. ALL the houses have stucco and tile roofs. ALL of them. Boooooooring.
It's funny, but as soon as you get out of the mild climate areas like much of CA, NV, TX, and Central AZ, you start seeing houses with siding instead of stucco.

[glenn kangiser]

I guess that's why it is all over - a cheap product for developers to maximize profits with - and fireproof for close spacing of crackerboxes.

[MountainDon]

Yep! New Mexico suburbia is mostly stucco, although some upscale areas use a lot of brick. I do like the look of an all brick home. Of course traditional NM building is adobe (mud) brick and adobe (mud) like "stucco" Mud floors too as far as that goes; but with some liquid sealants they can be attractive and durable. Stucco does have it's place but I think that because those places are all over the place most builders in the mountainous, forested areas opt for wood of some kind... logs, log-like siding, T&G, or sheathing (T1-11 or other manufactured siding sheathing. There are a few all metal (roof and siding) buildings in the area I will be building in. With small or no eves, I'm told that improves the resistance to catching fire in a forest fire situation.

[desdawg]

When I first built my house I used masonite RBB siding. That was fine for a few years, then cometh the woodpeckers. I couldn't stop them. They were hammering holes in my siding everywhere. I had used 1 X 4 for trim and wherever they could get their little feet to grip a piece of trim and hear a hollow sound they went after it.  So finally I had the house stuccoed. No more problems with woodpeckers. I suppose I should tile the roof so I can be like everyone else.

[Amanda_931]

Is stucco one of those things that is a process or a look instead of a product?

[glenn kangiser]

I just finished packing another section of dirt floor with the vibratory plate compactor I got from Harbor freight.  Probably plastic and carpet or rugs for the barbecue.

We have one floor section on the porch that is cob - clay -sand straw with 4 coats of linseed oil.  It is our most durable floor.

[desdawg]

Stucco is a concrete product that is troweled on over wire lath (chicken wire). You can select different textures and of course paint whatever color strikes your fancy. I hired mine done since it is an art I have never attempted.

[glenn kangiser]

Stucco was invented by the Romans.  It is nearly the same as ferrocrete usually done in 3 coats, Amanda.  Scratch coat sticks to the chicken wire or expanded metal or other lath - isa scratched for the next coat to stick well, the brown coat - nearly finishes the wall then the color coat over that for the finish.  You can buy it pre-mixed in bags or make your own.

[MountainDon]

Applying stucco is a 2 part process after the wire mesh has been applied. 1. a base or scratch coat of plain grey looking cement, somewhat like a mortar. 2. Finish coat is usually colored, and can be applied with a variety of smoothness or roughness.. Around here earth tones are most common tho' there is a fair color range including bright white.

Regarding paint; stucco should never be painted as then it is difficult to get a re-stucco to bond to the painted surface with sandblasting. Stucco does crack if the building settles or the stucco application was faulty. There are drying (actually curing guidelines that must be followed for most durable stucco. Mine's 22 years old and except for one area that had a water problem is in great shape.

[glenn kangiser]

From Mountain Don,

Mud floors too as far as that goes; but with some liquid sealants they can be attractive and durable.

I just happened to get an email from Charmaine Taylor at dirt cheap builder

She always sends great free information with book orders, and one of the links she sent was to an earth floor on a house project.

Here is how they did it.

http://www.middlepath.com.au/temple/floors.html

[MountainDon]

Interesting page. I've been in a couple real old adobe homes here in NM. I believe the floors were simply some kind of hard packed "mud" with a "finish" of some kind applied. Memory, such as it is, seems to recall a product from Chevron was used. And like the floor in Charmaine's apge it was a relatively simple matter to repair a gouge. Wish that it was so easy to repair my parqut hardwood floor.

Off the stucco topic but following this meanering thread; some of these old adobe structures are kinda cool... lots of big rough cut timbers. The ceilings tend to be a little low for my likes and the windows all too often too small. But it's kind of cool knowing that the building was started a couple hundred years ago. And grew, and grew over time. I'm no fan of flat roofs though.

[glenn kangiser]

Here is an old Adobe Barracks at Fort Tejon from around the turn of the last century.  The ceiling is plaster lath and lime plaster if I remember right.  Similar to doing stucco but the old way with wood..

[jwv]

Stucco=Cracks in So AZ.  This site http://www.badstucco.com/index2.htm has lots of tips on thinking like water so that you can perhaps prevent water getting into your house.  Stucco tends to hide problems until too late.

Here's a pic of my earthen plaster-no cracks and will be easy to repair. Yes, that's good ole cement stucco underneath-cracker like crazy but it was one of those marital compromises.



Earthen floors were often treated with animal blood or urine.  Now it's usually linseed oil cut with a solvent of some kind.  I plan to use mud for my south patio.  Here's a picture of an outside earthen floor that's been in place for 3-4 years.  The walkway to the door is cement pavers.  The inside of this little house also has an earthen floor.

Judy

[Amanda_931]

that porch looks like a nice place to sit.

both in the summer when that picture was taken (from the sun angle) and in the winter when you'd get full benefit of sun.