Stucco/Plaster Finishing

Maintenance & Cleaning

Maintaining Stucco Color
Stucco color can fade over time and sometimes it can even become stained or discolored in extreme cases.

• Regular cleaning is key to maintaining your color over the years and it helps to eliminate the accumulation of dirt that builds up and can eventually stain (especially lighter colors) the stucco.
• Landscaping is very important to have around your home or some type of barrier between the bare dirt and your stucco wall.
• Water that hits the ground and splashes up can ruin the bottom edge of the stucco very quickly and will likely stain the wall within a matter of weeks and sometimes even days.
• If your stucco is painted then you will have to schedule to have the house repainted every 3 – 7 years (on average) and keep avoid letting it go too long.
• If you have a traditional stucco finish that is unpainted then you may want to consider having it fog coated to restore the luster of the original stucco color and to make it look like new again.

Cleaning
You should clean your stucco at least once per year to prevent stains from algae, dirt, dust buildup, air pollution and more. With aged, damaged or eroded stucco, water can easily get into holes or cracks that develop. This can cause mold, mildew and other difficult issues, so be sure to repair any cracks or openings with caulk before cleaning.It is not recommended to power wash stucco as it can leave wash lines/marks if not done correctly. Following is the way to manually wash stucco:

1. In a bucket or large container, mix 1.5 cups of dish soap or All-Purpose Cleaner in a gallon of water. You can add 1 part bleach to 10 – 20 parts water for a more general type of cleaning on the walls or you can strengthen the mix to 1 part bleach and 5 -10 parts water for tougher stains and “spot treatments”. Bleach can be a great cleaner to use on mold and mildew stains.
2. Hose down the stucco.
3. Use a soft-bristle brush to apply the cleaning mixture in sections, scrubbing firmly enough to clean without damaging the stucco surface. Don’t allow to dry between sections.
4. Rinse with hose.

Once every few years you can soft-wash the stucco using stucco cleaning chemicals as the video shows: