Stucco Plastering – How to Handle the Temperature Variations

Stucco has long been in use since the times of Ancient Rome and while the basic premise remains the same, it has nevertheless evolved over the years to provide you with better application methods as well as suggestions on how to offset the temperature variations. So if you are looking to give your exterior a makeover with a fresh coat of stucco, then you may want to hire some professionals by searching online for Venetian plaster contractor. But if you plan on handling this yourself, then you may want to check out a few important tips regarding temperature variations and what to do when plastering during extremes of weather.

Hot weather: Every plaster out there knows that plaster sets fast during peak summer and slowly during the winter. If that was not enough, you often have to account for various other factors such as humidity, moisture, dust, as all of this can affect the overall finish. Essentially, you will be mixing stucco mix with water in a specified amount and this mix is then applied evenly over the wall. But in peak summer, the mix loses moisture quickly and as a result, it gels and sets in faster. If you are planning to apply stucco during peak summer, you may want to go in for a fast application to offset the effect of heat on the mix, and moreover, the loss of moisture can lead to plaster cracking up from lack of moisture. Here’s what you can do; you need to fog the wall or apply some moisture to the wall in-between applications and after applications for several days to prevent the cement from cracking up as a result of lower tensile strength. Keeping the wall slightly wet for several days should help in the curing process and this should prevent the cement from cracking up altogether.

Cold weather: It is always advisable to plaster any walls during summer and to avoid doing so, during the cold season. The reason is this; for the plaster to set, it would require a mean temperature of 4.4 Celsius, and anything less will cause the plaster in question to freeze so much so that you can just scrape off all the plaster with just your hand. This is why you always avoid plastering during peak winter months. There are a few things that you can do to counter the effects of cold weather on plaster; you can enclose it and heat up the surrounding environment so that the ambient temperature is kept well above the danger zone. Apart from this, you can also make sure that the enclosure remains even post application so that there is no thermal variation. Any thermal variation can cause the plaster to crack and affect the substrate. So make sure that you keep the wall enclosed and heated until the plaster has set in properly.

With these tips, you should be able to handle temperature variation issues with stucco plaster. A good idea will be to search online for Stucco repair service San Jose CA and that should provide you with more than a few expert plasters to choose from, for your current project.