Stucco siding options

Richmond Va Siding - Stucco

Stucco Siding for Your Richmond Area Home

Stucco siding is made of Portland cement, water, lime, and sand. It’s applied over a lath base and usually in three coats. It offers a seamless, durable, and solid home exterior.

Stucco is applied in layers, which is a complicated process best done by a pro. This labor intensive activity drives up the cost of stucco. It can cost anywhere from $4 to about $10 per square foot depending where in the country you live. The more plentiful the contractors, the lower the cost. Therefore it is vastly less expensive in the southwest where the process originated than say in the northeast.

How the stucco is applied depends on the framing of the house. Concrete or block require less coats than wood framed walls. As each layer is applied, the stucco gets thicker and thicker, adding strength and stability.

There are several types of stucco we will discuss here. The 3 types we deal with are One-coat, Two-coat, and Traditional.

One-coat is a somewhat new process involving stucco mixed with fiberglass and applied over a metal lath. This technique is new enough that the long term viability of the stucco is unclear, though there is no reason to believe there will be issues with it.

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Two-coat is used only on brick, concrete, or block walls. Due to the porous and rough nature of the base, a scratch coat is unnecessary in these cases. And the metal lath is replaced by a bonding adhesive before the two coats of stucco are applied.

Traditional is a three coat process applied to wood frame exterior walls. The first, or base coat, is applied to a metal lath which is attached to the exterior sheathing of the house prior to application. The object is to create a rough surface giving the next coat something to adhere to. Finally the last coat, or finish coat, creates a nice attractive surface and texture.

From a design standpoint, you can’t beat the look of a stucco finish. You can add that to the fact that you can choose from an array of colors and artistic design elements, allowing you to truly show off your own personality and style. When it comes to siding options available on the market today, stucco is considered one of the most innovative and creative options available if you live in an area conducive to its use.

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Pros and Cons of Stucco

Stucco has a number of appealing features. One of the most prominent is its resistance to fire. A coating of just one inch protects the other side of the wall from fire for one full hour. This makes stucco an attractive option for subdivisions with smaller lots or multi family homes and apartments.

Another is the attractive colors it comes in. These are achieved by adding a dye to the mix before application. Stucco gained its popularity in the south and west, frequently on homes with clay roofs or flat roofs which have always been more popular there. It has since become more common in other climes and paired with different roof styles like shingles and metal.

Stucco has a few cons you should be aware of. The primary disadvantage of stucco is its brittle nature. If there is any settling at all, the stucco will crack. Therefore it is not a good option in areas where the soil has a high clay content, as clay is prone to shrinking and swelling, causing foundations to shift and crack.

It has been found that stucco will crack over time even without settling of the foundation. Unless the cracks get to 1/3 inch or wider, they will not cause stability issues and can be repaired by the homeowner. However cracks wider than this can start to cause some real problems. As things slowly get worse, the stucco will begin to develop spider cracks and chunks can start falling off. The only remedy for this is to remove the faulty area and reapply it.

Lastly, even though it forms a thick solid panel, stucco does not have a good R-value rating. It is only about one fifth of the R-value of wood. This is another reason it is not more popular in the northern climes.