Info on Stucco and Plastering-November, 2022-sixty-sixth issue
I know this is unbelievable but we are still working on our house In Honduras. I would be grateful to get your thoughts on what should be done to fix some areas on the outside of our house. I assume the cause was from drying too quickly and not keeping moist before it cured. Thank you yet again.
This is from shrinkage, more than normal.
The mortar dried out before it could set up.
Damp curing would have helped, but most of this occurred the first day.
Another cause of shrinkage cracks is too much lime in the mix.
We don't get shrinkage cracks anymore. We control the cracks by using a bonding admixture
in the finish, mixed half and half with water.
As long as the finish is well bonded, you can recoat the walls.
You can paint
The cracks can be filled with paint and the wall painted.
You can whitewash:
That is, mixture of lime, water and salt painted on.
What we do is recoat the wall with mortar.
This is a lot of work, but it works.
We use my 50-50 mix with our grey cement mortar and sand and trowel it on
the wall leaving the surface rough by rubbing it with a float.
Then a new finish can be applied. It is critical an acrylic bonder be used in the mix,
or it will shrink and crack worse.
I am not trying to make you feel bad,
just telling the truth.
We don't get shrinkage cracks anymore, but there are cracks for other reasons.