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My husband and I are planning to have our house restucco'd and we are having a hard time deciding on what color to choose from LaHabra. We've looked all over the internet to find samples of homes with the LaHabra colors we are interested in and your website is the only thing we've found that has been helpful. I was hoping you would take a moment to answer my question and give me your professional opinion. We are considering either Blue Grey or Clay. We are wondering if the colors (especially the Blue Grey) actually go on darker than what is on the sample sheet? We are going to have a light lace finish. By the way, we are in California.

I had to re-write this because EXPO stucco went out of business. I am converting all my old pages to mobile friendly one by one.

You can get a color pack and a bag of stucco finish from a La Habra dealer. One color pack will make a whole bag of stucco base. I get my La Habra products from Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel in Seattle, and have them shipped UPS. It is a good idea not to make up a whole bag, but measure out half a bag and half a color pack, for example, to try a different intensity (more or less color.)

Since you live in California, La Habra products are available to you locally. It is easy to measure a half a color pack. You can divide the color using two 16 ounce cups. A bag of La Habra finish can be measured by dividing the bag into two clean buckets. You also may try making a fourth of a pack and a fourth of a bag to save time and money.

I put the sample mortar on a block (CMU) because it is about equally porous as a stucco basecoat and should give you the same results as a real stucco basecoat.

Since you have plenty, you can put the sample mortar on several blocks and stack them up, or carry a block over and put it against the house.

If you are a old reader in use my formula of 1 bag white portland, 2 100 lb bags of sand, and one forth bag of lime, it is easier. A one bag batch makes 6 bucketfuls of mortar, so a half color pack makes a bucket. The color packs can be measured in cups.

A shortcut method for making a bucket of mortar is fill a bucket 2/3rds of the way up with sand, almost the rest of the way with white portland, and a little lime. Really, there isn't any difference with lime, but the lime makes is official. If you mix a half a color pack with this batch, that is your color. You can measure a half a color pack by dividing the color into two cups. 16 ounce cups work fine.

A bucket of material will do several blocks. You can tweak the color by adding a little more dry color in. You just want to make sure you measure everything.

A heavy Spanish texture will shadow the wall, making the color appear darker. A fine lace won't make a lot of difference.