# Just painting stucco, best practices



## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

Looking for some ways to paint a stucco home coming up. Customer does not want the eaves or fascia painted, it was painted about three years previous. I am painting the security door and entry. My question is, what is the preferred method to avoid getting paint on the eaves. The house is color coat stucco, never painted. My thoughts were to cut and roll down 12" or so from the eaves then shield and spray. Or just shield under the eaves and get a little overspray them. Have the color matched and touch-up the eaves. I really don't want to roll the whole house. Any other suggestions?


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## MNpainter (Jul 17, 2008)

Seriously? spay and touch up 3 yr. old paint? WOW! tape and plastic. Spray away. No brainer. Alt.Brush and roll. "Do or don t do there is no try" 
yoda


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## LA Painter (Jul 28, 2009)

Whenever I get a request like that, I explain to the HO that it will cost LESS to INCLUDE the eaves - and make for a better job. HO’s don’t understand the painting process, and want to treat the stucco and trim as two separate jobs. They need to be educated on why a complete job (with ALL the woodwork & eaves caulked to the stucco) is better, and will last longer. 

:thumbsup:


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

MNpainter said:


> Seriously? spay and touch up 3 yr. old paint? WOW! tape and plastic. Spray away. No brainer. Alt.Brush and roll. "Do or don t do there is no try"
> yoda


OK not sure if this is advice or an insult, thanks I guess. It's actually "do or do not, there is no try" but nice attempt at sarcastic humor.

I just masked the windows and doors, shielded to the eaves with a little OS. Had the paint store match the eave color and will TU tomorrow. Was pretty easy, although cross hatching raw stucco cut my sq/ft per gallon down to 150. 19gallons for 3000 sq/ft of surface. I figured 250/ but am still under budget on materials.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

LA Painter said:


> Whenever I get a request like that, I explain to the HO that it will cost LESS to INCLUDE the eaves - and make for a better job. HO’s don’t understand the painting process, and want to treat the stucco and trim as two separate jobs. They need to be educated on why a complete job (with ALL the woodwork & eaves caulked to the stucco) is better, and will last longer.
> 
> :thumbsup:


Thanks. I would have loved to do the eaves as well, but they were just painted. I caulked to the wood as well, just used dover white colored caulking to make it look tight.


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## We Paint It (Mar 13, 2013)

LA Painter said:


> Whenever I get a request like that, I explain to the HO that it will cost LESS to INCLUDE the eaves - and make for a better job. HO&#146;s don&#146;t understand the painting process, and want to treat the stucco and trim as two separate jobs. They need to be educated on why a complete job (with ALL the woodwork & eaves caulked to the stucco) is better, and will last longer.
> 
> :thumbsup:


I totally agree, What would the difference in cost for the owners to add this additional work?
Consider the time it takes to cover up, break down and pay for supplies / labor for seperating as 2 seperate jobs.

Also, its probably not a bad idea to paint a top coat as the home was repainted 3 years ago. Depending existing paint job,weather elements and exposure, maintenance is generally required every season and repaint 3-7 years (variables considered)

Lastly, the quality of the job is a reflection on your company. Especially an exterior residential paint job. New Stucco paint will likely highlight the a 3 year old trim paint job.

I recommend that you calculate the cost of protecting etc versus the cost to repaint.Present the 2 alternates on a simple excel sheet to your client and state your case and let the owner do the value engineering.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

We Paint It said:


> I totally agree, What would the difference in cost for the owners to add this additional work?
> Consider the time it takes to cover up, break down and pay for supplies / labor for seperating as 2 seperate jobs.
> 
> Also, its probably not a bad idea to paint a top coat as the home was repainted 3 years ago. Depending existing paint job,weather elements and exposure, maintenance is generally required every season and repaint 3-7 years (variables considered)
> ...


I already have the job, just painting the stucco and security doors. See OP.


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## woodcoyote (Dec 30, 2012)

Interesting. Paint shield probably saved time for masking, but I'm curious. What if you used the 2ft plastic roll with the hand masker to mask off. Think it would have sped things up overall? Vs. the shield + touch up. 

I'm just curious, we don't have hardly any houses that have eaves around here so it doesn't really affect me anyway. 

Sounds like it worked out anyway, good job!


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

woodcoyote said:


> Interesting. Paint shield probably saved time for masking, but I'm curious. What if you used the 2ft plastic roll with the hand masker to mask off. Think it would have sped things up overall? Vs. the shield + touch up.
> 
> I'm just curious, we don't have hardly any houses that have eaves around here so it doesn't really affect me anyway.
> 
> Sounds like it worked out anyway, good job!


I am going to try this soon, you are referring to MF24. I would usually use 12" paper, but get some overspray on stucco, maybe 15". The problem with plastic is the weight, seems like it wants to pull the tape off, and I have tried plenty. The 3M green heavy tack tape works good, but not perfect. This is of course if I am spraying the eaves after stucco. I had to shield the other way.


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## woodcoyote (Dec 30, 2012)

MikeCalifornia said:


> I am going to try this soon, you are referring to MF24. I would usually use 12" paper, but get some overspray on stucco, maybe 15". The problem with plastic is the weight, seems like it wants to pull the tape off, and I have tried plenty. The 3M green heavy tack tape works good, but not perfect. This is of course if I am spraying the eaves after stucco. I had to shield the other way.


Yeah MF24. (http://www.sherwin-williams.com/hom...equipment-supplies/tape-masking/masking-film/)

It's not real heavy plastic like you would use for a floor or anything, it's real thin, so it isn't heavy at all really. 

When we have to spray something around stucco, I usually end up using either Gorilla Tape or the Red stucco tape Sherwin sells in order to stick to the stucco. I run a line from point A to Point B of the stucco tape first, then I put the plastic with blue/white tape in the hand masker and attach it to the stucco tape that's there. Otherwise the "regular" tape doesn't have enough "stick" to do a good job on the stucco. Way faster and pretty bullet proof.

Edit: Drape to whatever length then just tack with stucco tape. Done deal, spray, and peel it all off. Like nothing happened.


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## MNpainter (Jul 17, 2008)

MikeCalifornia said:


> OK not sure if this is advice or an insult, thanks I guess. It's actually "do or do not, there is no try" but nice attempt at sarcastic humor.
> 
> I just masked the windows and doors, shielded to the eaves with a little OS. Had the paint store match the eave color and will TU tomorrow. Was pretty easy, although cross hatching raw stucco cut my sq/ft per gallon down to 150. 19gallons for 3000 sq/ft of surface. I figured 250/ but am still under budget on materials.


Good on you, No disrespect meant. In my world I would have covered the soffit as well instead of shield and tu, however I did not see the house and sounds like it turned out great for you. I agree only doing the stucco, is a PITA. steve


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