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michoumonster

can acrylic stucco have texture?

michoumonster
12 years ago

We are trying to figure out stucco textures. We like the smooth steel trowel finish. However, have heard that smooth finish stucco cracks very easily. To get past this issue, we could do an acrylic stucco finish coat. One contractor told us he could do the steel trowel finish texture with acrylic, others say no, that acrylic stucco is completely smooth, no texture. So we are quite confused. which is it? Does anyone know?

Here is a pic of the smooth steel trowel finish

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Comments (9)

  • sierraeast
    12 years ago

    Ours has an old world finish. Our stucco guy showed samples of different types of textures/finishes, but you can't get a heavy texture that you see with traditional stuccos. It's because of the acrylic that only allows minimal texturing, sand/smooth finishes, old world, etc.

  • sierraeast
    12 years ago

    The advantage to acrylic or elastomeric top coating is that it remains flexible contraction/expansion with different temperature types. It has a lot less chance of cracking especially when smooth trowelled. The scratch/brown coats should set at least thirty days, ( code out here), in order for the scratch/brown coat to crack all it's going to. This greatly minimizes the chance for the top coats, (traditional, acrylic, or elastomeric), to crack with the traditional being most prone to cracking out of the three. If you are in a freezing climate zone, you dont want to go with a traditional top coat.

  • michoumonster
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    thanks sierraeast. i am northern CA, i definitely think acrylic is the way to go to have less maintenance. just i wanted to make sure i could have the smooth trowel finish that i wanted. incidentally, what does old world finish look like? i googled but could not find anything for exterior finishes.

  • sierraeast
    12 years ago

    Hi Michoumonster, We are building in Plumas co. Our stucco guy referred to ours as "old world" but I dont know if that's a typical name used by the industry. We are going up to our build for two weeks leaving Sunday. I'll take some close up shots of our finish and e-mail them to you. Acrylic is like having a rubber membrane on the exterior. Traditional stucco works pretty well here in the mojave desert where we currently reside, but no comparison in wet, colder areas for longevity with acrylic with minimal to no cracking. Ours has been on for a couple of years and I have yet to spot even hairline cracking. Very impressed with it!

  • xc60
    12 years ago

    This is what the texture looks like on our acrylic stucco looks like.

  • michoumonster
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    sierraeast, that would be great if you can send me some pics!

    xc60, thanks for the pic, what is your texture called?

  • xc60
    12 years ago

    I think maybe fine sandfloat after looking at the photos of the different textures on the website I put the link for you.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Acrylic Stucco Textures

  • michoumonster
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks xc60 those pics were helpful. I am hoping they can do my texture too, since it is not much different from a couple of those, though it was not listed...

  • rcclark999
    10 years ago

    The old world finish is basically a smooth coat (troweled on), oftentimes with a little bit of character, meaning that you can add more "swipes" with the trowel to increase the subtle lines in the stucco.

    Usually old world stucco is also modeled with different colors too to give it a much more customized look.

    It is possible to get a little bit of a heavy texture out of acrylics, but not much. Sand is used in traditional stucco and the particles can come in different sizes, which means light to heavy textures.

    The acrylics typically use a crushed material, like quartz, which is ground down very fine and does not allow the material to build up like traditional stucco.

    The pic posted by xc60 is an acrylic finish that is achieved by rubbing the acrylic around with a plastic float, we use a steel trowel to do our finish. It has many different names: plastic float finish, steel float finish, etc. Depends on where you live I guess.

    Hope this helps clear the air a bit.

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://thestuccoguy.com/stucco-textures-a-visual-aid/