Rose Cottage Ltd

All the prep-work is now completed, you have your tools ready, and it is time to start mixing and applying stucco.

In this 3-coat process, the following will be applied:

Note: The cement portion can also be made up of a lime/cement mixture.

Scratch coat – 1 part cement to 2-1/4 to 4 parts sand

This first base coat has a purpose of covering the metal lath and preparing a surface to hold the next two coats to come. Once this coat of mix is applied, the surface is “scratched” or etched to provide grip for the brown coat. If you were painting instead of doing stucco, this is the block or base coat. It looks something like this.

You can buy a professional tool to do this “scratching” or you can just save your money and do it yourself. No one will care whether your scratched lines are perfect or straight – trust me…depth is more important and you want to scratch about 1/2-way through this base coat. Leave a ledge, not a trough.

Brown coat – 1 part cement to 3 to 5 parts sand

The second coat uses the scratch coat for its base and begins the smoothing process for what will hopefully be a very smooth finish coat. This is a good time to note any areas of concern and use the brown coat to level out or fill areas not managed during the scratch coat. I added this image to show a little merge between scratch and brown coats…

Finish coat – 1 part cement to 1-1/2 to 3 parts sand.

The final, finish coat is much thinner than the first two applications. Its purpose is to “finish” the smoothing started during the brown coat process and to give you a chance to add any decorative textures. If you’ve put down a fairly smooth brown coat, and take your time with the finish coat, you might be surprised to find the texture is already there – unless you want fancy swirls and twirls – which you’ll need to think on in advance of this finish coat. This image was taken before the coat was fully cured and dry, but it looks smooth enough for my purposes.

You’ll need to keep all coats misted for the first 48 hours or so. This helps the curing process and strengthens your final product. I misted this mostly-shaded project 3 times a day for 2 days and then once or twice for a day or so after that.

Link ~ For specs on the thick/thin aspects for each coat.

Link ~ For a whole page worth of FAQs to keep you out of trouble – from the Portland Cement Association. Invaluable info for those of us doing this stucco stuff for the first time!

Also FYI – There is a two-coat process for application to masonry and concrete…

Nearly finished – pun intended. And some updated photos coming soon!