Stucco Painting 101: Everything You Need to Know Before You Start

Painting stucco can be a challenging project for homeowners. It’s rigid and prone to cracking, meaning that before you begin your paint project, you’ll need to do some patching. Stucco can also require more paint, take longer to dry, and require a delicate touch when painting to ensure it retains its texture.

Should you handle the job yourself, or hire a painting contractor? Painting your home’s exterior is a big project, and if you decide to tackle it alone, you’ll need some expert advice to ensure the finished product is high quality. From prepping the stucco to applying the paint, here’s what you need to know.

What is Stucco?

Stucco, a mix of cement, sand, and lime, is a very popular choice for home exteriors. It enhances curb appeal, seals hairline cracks, and updates a home’s look with that classic, rustic appeal. 

Refreshing your home’s stucco look with a new color can add potential resale value, although painting stucco involves more effort and attention to detail than painting traditional walls. From proper surface prep to using the correct materials, you’ll want to know how to ensure stucco success. 

We outline the benefits and challenges of stucco painting below in a few easy steps!

Benefits of Painting Over Stucco

Stucco is a durable, low-maintenance exterior painting option, and painting it provides additional long-term protection, improved energy efficiency, and enhanced visual appeal. The right paint can enhance the performance and life of stucco, ensuring that it remains a protective and aesthetic option for your home.

Protects Against Sun Exposure

The sun’s harmful UV rays can cause fading, chalking, and surface breakdown in paint over time. Exterior paint that adds UV resistance helps preserve stucco’s color and integrity, enhancing its natural weather-resistant properties.

Protects Against Water Damage

Painted stucco creates a moisture-resistant barrier for your home, preventing water from seeping through infinitesimal cracks in your siding and foundation. This can lead to mold, mildew, or structural issues that are not addressed, and elastomeric or acrylic paints can seal small pores or cracks that you may not even be aware exist.

Improves Your Home’s Aesthetics

Painting stucco instantly refreshes a home’s exterior, adding vibrant color, clean lines, and a uniform finish. This is a cost-effective way to boost curb appeal and update outdated color schemes. 

Repair Cracks

Surface cracks may appear in stucco over time. By painting over stucco, you can help conceal or repair patched areas, preventing cracks from worsening due to weather exposure. Using flexible paint or patching materials beforehand can help repair damage that may not be visible to the naked eye.

Improves Your Home’s Insulation

Thicker elastomeric coatings can improve your home’s energy efficiency via layers of insulation. These paints help keep indoor temperatures more stable, lower heating and cooling costs, and naturally improve your home’s energy cycle.

How to Prepare Stucco for Painting

Can you paint stucco? Proper surface preparation is fundamental to a long-lasting and professional stucco paint job. Stucco’s porous texture requires special attention and techniques before painting to ensure proper adhesion, moisture protection, and enhanced weather durability.

Pressure Washing

Thoroughly cleaning your home’s exterior removes dirt, dust, mildew, and loose paint, ensuring that your paint job is durable, quality, and long-lasting. Using a pressure washer on low to medium settings and then allowing up to 48 hours for complete surface drying ensures that your paint job will look professional.

Step 1: Caulking Cracks

Inspect the exterior surface for hairline cracks and seal them with paintable acrylic or elastomeric caulk. This prevents moisture intrusion, prevents deterioration, and ensures that your paint job will adhere properly.

Step 2: Patching Holes

Use a stucco patching compound mix to repair larger holes and damaged areas in the surface. Smooth it out to match the surrounding texture, and allow full curing according to product instructions.

Step 3: Sanding

Sanding may not be required, but it helps smooth over patched areas and removes any peeling paint. Use medium-grit sandpaper without too much aggression so as not to flatten the stucco’s natural texture.

Step 4: Masking and Protecting

Mask windows, doors, trim, and landscaping with painters tape or plastic sheets to avoid spray or splatter. This will make the final job look cleaner and more professional, and prevent any damage to the other aspects of your home.

Step 5: Priming

Priming is necessary for new, unpainted, chalky, or repaired stucco, ensuring that the paint adheres properly to the surface. High-quality masonry primer seals the surface and provides better adhesion for topcoat paint, preventing multiple coats or damage.

How to Paint Stucco Like a Pro

Choosing the right materials and following proper techniques is paramount to a lasting, smooth, professional, and durable stucco paint finish. 

Start with thorough surface prep, including cleaning and any necessary repairs to cracks and blemishes. Prime your stucco with masonry primer, then apply multiple coats of acrylic latex or elastomeric paint, using a heavy roller for the best coverage. You can also back roll or spray for even coverage, ensuring you work in small sections to maintain a wet edge without obscuring the stucco’s natural texture.

Choose the Right Paint for Stucco

Paint selection and paint quality are critical, as stucco’s porous surface and exposure to the elements can affect the results. Choosing the best paint option can make or break your stucco paint job, determining if you must make additional repairs in the future or result in a professional-looking finish.

Elastomeric

Elastomeric paint is thick, stretchy, and designed to fill in hairline cracks. It’s ideal for waterproofing and protecting older stucco. If not applied properly, it can obscure the fine texture of stucco.

Acrylic Latex

100% acrylic latex paint is breathable, flexible, and durable, making it ideal for most stucco homes. Acrylic latex is preferred for houses in areas with variable weather conditions.

Matte

Matte finishes are ideal for homeowners seeking a classic, soft look that minimizes imperfections. This is a great option for older stucco.

Satin

Satin offers a subtle sheen that’s easy to clean and remains slightly more resistant to dirt and moisture than flat finishes. This is a great option for modern stucco homes.

UV and Moisture-Resistant Options Preferred

Choosing UV and water-resistant paints offers the best results in sunny or rainy climates, as these naturally resist fading, mold, and premature peeling. Weather-resistant paint options may be slightly more expensive, but they pay dividends in ensuring your home is protected from the elements. 

• Tools and Materials You Need for Painting Stucco

The right tools make the job faster, neater, and more professional, especially on uneven and textured surfaces.

Tools

• Paint Sprayers: Airless sprayers or TrueCoat Sprayer for efficient coverage.
• Protective Gear: Safety goggles, gloves, mask, respirator.
• Rollers: Thick nap rollers that are ideal for back-rolling after spraying.
• Paint Brushes: Angled brushes and stucco brushes with stiffer bristles.
• Paint Roller Poles: Sectional poles that help you reach high exterior walls.
• Ladders and Scaffolding
• Pressure Washer
• Putty Knives
• Caulk Gun

Materials

• Acrylic Latex Paints for Stucco
• Acrylic Masonry Primer
• Exterior Acrylic Caulk
• Masking Tape
• Tarps and Drop Cloths
• Stucco Patch Compound
• Painting Thinner and Cleaners
• Paint Trays and Liners

Stucco Painting: A Step-by-Step Guide

From prep to final cleanup, this walkthrough ensures a long-lasting, professional result for painting stucco.

Inspect and Repair Stucco

Walk around the exterior of your house, marking areas that need repair. Fix all cracks, holes, and peeling stucco before painting begins.

Pressure Wash and Dry Time

Clean stucco is essential for adhesion. Use a pressure washer on low settings to clean the stucco and remove any peeling paint or stucco. Allow 48 hours to dry.

Mask and Protect Areas

Painter’s tape, plastic sheeting, and drop cloths can help cover windows, trim, doors, landscaping, furniture, and any other elements you don’t want damaged during painting.

Prime Bare Stucco

Apply masonry primer to the unpainted stucco. Repair any additional patches that need it. Seal the surface with primer to ensure even paint absorption.

Calculate Paint Quantity

Estimate how much paint you’ll need based on your home’s surface area and the stucco’s absorbency. It should take up to 2 coats of paint for full coverage. 

Apply 2-3 Coats

Begin with your sprayer and roller, working top to bottom on the larger areas. Apply two coats in small areas before moving on, with proper drying time between each coat.

Inspect and Touch-Up

Inspect for thin spots and missed areas. Apply additional coats where needed. Ensure that the paint is applied smoothly and professionally.

Remove Tape and Reinstall Removed Items

Slowly and carefully remove all masking tape to avoid peeling paint. Reinstall removed items, such as light fixtures and hardware.

Clean Up

Clean up your tools, remove tarps and drop cloths, dispose of leftover materials, and make your final inspection.

Stucco Painting Pros and Cons

If you’ve only handled interior painting projects alone, painting stucco might feel a little foreign. Painting stucco has many advantages, but it comes with its own challenges and considerations. As with any painting project, there are pros and cons when committing to the DIY route. If you think the job may be too big for your skills or schedule, consider calling the professionals for help.

Pros of Painting Stucco

You Can Refresh Worn Stucco

Stucco siding fades due to time and weathering. Painting stucco ensures it retains some life, and can help protect your home’s exterior and boost curb appeal.

You Can Choose an All-New Color

Your stucco may be in perfect health, but a fresh coat of paint and new color can change things up and brighten your home.

You Can Prevent Mold and Mildew

Cracks can form in stucco over time, creating entry points for moisture that causes mold and mildew. Painting over these cracks prevents this buildup.

Additional Waterproofing

Further waterproof your stucco with elastomeric paint, adding additional durability to your stucco.

Cons of Painting Stucco

Painting Stucco Is Expensive

Stucco painting can be expensive, costing anywhere from $3,500 to $7,200, depending on your area and the size of your house. If you’re only repainting portions of your stucco siding to fix cracks that have formed, it can be cheaper to do those repairs yourself.

Stucco Repair Costs Will Be Higher

You can’t stucco over painted stucco. It won’t properly bond to the surface. If you need to make additional repairs, you’ll have to sandblast the existing paint, repair the stucco, and repaint it. These additional steps can be expensive.

Paint Will Peel Over Time

Stucco paint peels over time. Once you paint your stucco house, you’re committing to the cost of future paint jobs and repairs.

Should You DIY or Hire a Pro for Exterior Stucco Painting?

Stucco painting isn’t your average weekend project, and even the savviest homeowners may be taken aback by the scope of the project. It requires time, tools, and experience that go above and beyond traditional painting, such as having to rent a power washer or ascend tall ladders.

The professionals have the know-how, materials, and skills required to accomplish a stucco painting project with aplomb, and can be scheduled based on your needs. 

Because of the size and scope of this project, you may be better off hiring a professional contractor. Professional installers are knowledgeable about the intricacies of stucco siding installation, repair, and painting, and they possess local permit knowledge, insurance, and warranties to protect your home against potential damage. 

You might believe you can save money by handling the project yourself, but if the scope of the project gets out of control, it will not only become more expensive but also more exhausting and time-consuming.

Why Choose ProServ Painters for Your Stucco Painting Project?

ProServ Painters has the experience, skill, and attention to detail to tackle paint jobs of any size. Our exterior painting services are second to none, and we’ve been serving the local community for over 30 years. From painting stucco to installing drywall, you can count on us for all your primary and secondary painting needs.

Contact us at ProServ Painters today for a FREE, no-obligation quote. We’re a full-service exterior and interior painting company in Massachusetts that strives for exceptional results and 100% satisfaction with every project.

Final Thoughts on Painting Stucco

Painting exterior stucco has many benefits, from instilling your home with a new beauty and texture to protecting it from the elements. Stucco requires regular maintenance and repainting, which is why it’s important to use quality materials and proper preparation. Painting stucco protects against sun damage and water damage, improves your home’s aesthetics, repairs cracks, and boosts your home’s insulation. Whether you’re hiring professionals or going the DIY route, it’s an important aspect of being a homeowner!