One of the great things about choosing stucco for your home’s exterior is that it is durable. With proper maintenance, your stucco could last for decades.
One of the steps you can take to maintain your stucco, both in appearance and structure, is painting. This is a fairly straightforward process, however, it does cause many to wonder whether they should be priming their walls before painting.
Let’s take a look at whether this priming your stucco prior to painting is necessary.
Priming Stucco Before Painting: Yes or No?
While not technically necessary, it is strongly recommended that you prime your stucco before you begin to paint. This is for several reasons:
- Protects Colour
Stucco’s composition is not dissimilar to that of concrete. Traditional stucco siding is typically made of Portland cement, sand, lime, and water. With these materials in mind, it makes sense that stucco has the tendency to pull water out of its surfaces due to how porous it is.
Paint does contain water, so placing the paint directly on top of the stucco risks the moisture being drawn out from it. This can discolour the paint and leave it looking washed out or even looking like a different hue. By using a primer as an intermediary, you are better able to protect the colour of your stucco and prolong the paint’s life.
- Creates Consistent Colour
Primer creates a more even foundation to apply your paint to. The surface will now have a more consistent suction, resulting in a better and more even paint job. This also means the colour of the original stucco will not affect the paint colour, allowing your chosen colour to properly shine through.
- Save You Paint
As mentioned above, unpainted stucco is incredibly porous. Painting right onto the stucco will find you battling with the thirstiness of the surface. You’ll quickly notice that you’re using more paint to properly coat the walls and to ensure the paint colour is popping.
Primer acts as that initial barrier and takes the brunt of any absorption. This allows you to add your paint without worrying you’ll have to return to the store for another can.
While primer is an extra step, you may find it allows the process of painting your stucco to go more smoothly.
