How To Stucco

So you want to learn to stucco? I will do my best to show you the quickest and cheapest way to do this. You will need some patience and a few tools that you can pick up at any home improvement store.

1. Prepare the surface that you want to stucco. You will need a brush (you can get this in the garden or painting center of a home improvement store) a five gallon bucket of water half filled and a hammer.
2. Using a hammer, remove any loose cement from the surface to be stuccoed. Brush the area clean with the dry brush.
3. At the store where you got your brush, you will also need premixed masonry cement and some additive (sometimes called texture 1-11). Ask any associate in the garden department for help. Add according to manufacturer's recommendations.
4. In the wheelbarrow, mix the mortar with water until it has the consistency of peanut butter. Add the additive as you mix.
5. Now that the mortar is mixed and is ready to use, you will need to brush some water onto the surface until it is damp.
6. With the back of your mason trowel, scoop up some of your mortar mix and apply to the area to be stuccoed. Apply in an upward motion until your trowel is clean of mortar. Once again, you can purchase the mason trowel (and a hawk, if you wish) at your local home improvement store.
7. Continue applying mortar to the area while checking to see if your mortar has set up on stuccoed area. You may be wondering how to tell if your mortar is ready for the next step. Here's how: you must touch it with your bare finger and see if you can still make a dinger imprint easily. If you can't make an easy fingerprint, then you're ready to start sponging the wall.
8. Take a sponge (which you will find in the tile section of your home improvement store) and get it nice and wet in your bucket. Now in a circular motion (similar to waxing a car) sponge the area that is set up. You will see that the sand is beginning to rise to the surface as you sponge. Continue until desired look is attained. If you don't want a sand look as a finish, you can just let the mortar set up on surface as is. That is up to you.

Let the mortar set up for a day or to and you will have a nice looking surface that should hold up for quite a while.

NOTE: If you are doing a vertical surface, you may want to apply lathe to the surface with concrete nails. This is a more difficult option which may require a professional.