How To Patch Cracks In Stucco
Here are pictures of the kind of cracks you see in textured stucco and after they are repaired. The best stucco crack repair product to use to fix this problem is the premixed stucco patch you find at OSH or Home Depot in the plastic container. However, if you don't apply it right, it can come out bad!
DAP 64811 60811 Pre-Mixed Stucco Repair, 32 oz., Off-White
The trick with using stucco patch on this kind of DIY stucco repair is in getting the texture to match. The best way to do that is to use a cloth rag. After you load the crack up with stucco patch using a putty knife, you blot it with a rag to make it match the texture. The rag will get full of the product, but just keep using it.
Above is a picture of another type of crack that you run into, this time in fine stucco.
Stucco hairline cracks like this are also best repaired using the same stucco patch product. When you use it, you rub it in, and the sand inside the stucco repair product rubs out. It will make a mess on the ground, so use a drop cloth. You don't have to work too hard to texture the fine stucco- just make it level.
For both of these types of repairs, textured or fine, you have to prime it before painting the stucco.
1 Quart Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer Sealer Stain Killer
After the primer (use exterior primer) is dried, if you have the same paint and it is flat paint, you can touch up the repairs because flat paint blends with itself perfectly. However, if there is any sheen to the paint, touch ups will stick out like a sore thumb in the right light. If you do not have exactly the same color of paint, paint all the way up to naturally square areas like window sills or doorframes so the slight color or sheen variation won't be noticeable.
Go ahead and paint with regular house paint or in this situation (around the foundation), you might want to get a paint formulated for concrete. In the process of repairing this stucco wall and sealing the stucco cracks, we have performed essential stucco maintenance, because leaving cracks in your stucco lets moisture into the infrastructure of your house. It can cause all kinds of problems including making your stucco even more likely to crack.
