Quick Guide: Stucco Exterior Finishes

What is Stucco?

Stucco is a type of building material that is used for building exteriors. Think of it as a plaster but more appealing and luxurious looking. Stucco originated in ancient Greece thousands of years ago, and is still a reliable home-building material today.

Stucco is a beautiful, durable, and resilient finish. Stucco is made from a combination of Portland cement, sand, water, and lime, and can also include synthetic acrylics and natural fibers to make it more-stronger and flexible. It can be used in conjunction with brick, concrete, masonry, steel, or wood, and it never loses its color. It can be made in many different colors with an additional pigment added to the mix. Another bonus that stucco has is that it is fire-resistant and cannot burn.

Pros of Stucco

Stucco is a good choice of material for luxury house builders Melbourne to use, as it is both easily available and affordable. Stucco can also be used to replace existing siding in a current home, for those that just want a home makeover. That means you can also apply stucco to a home after it has been built, opposed to before or during construction.

Compared to other materials like brick, stucco is an affordable option, so therefore it is a great choice for the budget conscience homeowner. If you want a material like brick for the home, you will also need to pay for concrete footing or lintel, which will raise the project price up considerably.

If you live in a noisy neighborhood, stucco is also a great sound-proofer so that you do not hear cars from blocks away. You can ensure quiet living and sleeping no matter where you are, thanks to stucco.

Stucco will also retain its color, finish and mildew resistant properties a lot longer than other materials would. The color is mixed into the stucco in ways that it will not wash away, and this procedure cannot be done with other materials in mind. With stucco, you can have a home that stay beautiful for a handful of years without moderate levels of maintenance.

Textures can be also created with stucco, so if there is a unique or cultured look that you are going for with your home, stucco is great in replicating it. Luxury house builders Melbourne will commonly suggest stucco for styles such as Mediterranean homes, as a way to make them feel more authentic without breaking the bank.

Cons of Stucco

Stucco, firstly, is a porous material. When it gets wet, that water is bound to stay there, leading to possible problems such as water damage. There are ways for this problem to be prevented, just as long as you have the stucco applied by a qualified home builder.

Secondly, stucco can be prone to cracks, as what doesn’t bend will be sure to break. Cracks in stucco homes are commonly caused by shifts in soil where the home settles. What a good home builder does to prevent cracked stucco is to add polymers to the mix that make the material even more flexible.

Finally, stucco should only be installed by a professional that knows the ins and outs of the material. It is possible for stucco to be applied to a home as a DIY project, but there are a lot of thing that need to go right in the process for the stucco to deliver the most desirable of results. You will not have the best stucco possible until you hire the help of professional home builders.