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 other monthly column:   preventing cracks
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Stucco news home

 other monthly column:   preventing cracks

Years ago, when I was doing a lot of government work, we were
working on the hysterical, I mean historical restoration of an old
building run by the National Park Service. The original 1700's
building was stone covered with lime and sand stucco.

The formula for mixing a stucco basecoat found on the back of a
bag of lime or bag of portland cement reads something like this:
       1 portland:1 lime:5 sand
This means 1 bag portland (94 lb.), 1 bag lime (50 lb.), and 5 cubic
feet of sand. Bear in mind, this is a lot of lime, but this was specified 
by the lime manufacturer. What the architects and historic people
interpreted this to mean is One PART portland, One PART lime
and 5 PARTS sand. This is about 8 times too much lime and about
2 and a half times too much sand. When I protested, I made a sample
batch to show how weak and sandy a mix this was. The nazis insisted
I would put this on the wall and they would have someone watch
us all day to make sure we complied. After the first batch, our
government Sargeant Shultz got bored and went away, allowing us
the freedom to put something decent on the wall.
   It sure is rough when you have to be sneaky to make a living.
Since the specifications are part of the bid documents, there is no
excuse to not be familiar with them. It is possible to have them changed.
Why not use my specifications ? Click here.
These can be edited to suit your preferences, and should be approved
before the bid date, or at worst before proceeding with the work. Once 
the work proceeds, it may be impossible to change them. Certainly,
most of the time, as long as you do good work, and at least appear to
be experienced, there should be no complaints. But there is always
that chance you may be held to the specs. It may be worse than
having Sargeant Shultz watching. The work may be rejected.
A  couple of specifications I have seen:
Plastic expansion joints every 5 feet on a historic civil war house
restoration (really).
Another had the scratch and brown coat white portland and sand,
as well as the finish coat. The idea is that the stucco is white, it should
be white all the way through, and not just the finish coat. What they
don't know is that white portland doesn't bond well to white portland,
plus is just a waste of money.
  If you get your own specifications approved, it can save a lot of heart
aches in the future