How to Smooth Stucco Walls
Rough, stubbly and irregular, stucco walls are an architectural design that aren't always appropriate for all tastes or all rooms. If you find that the stucco in your home isn't to your liking, you can remove it without interfering with the integrity of the wall beneath. Restore smoothness to your wall, whether you need to remove lumpy stucco texturing, fill in holes and recesses, or do some of both. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Spray bottle of water
- Large metal paint scraper
- Palm hand sander
- Disc sander
- Wall plaster
- Wall paint
Instructions
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Contact the builders of your home to determine whether there is any asbestos or lead paint in your walls. If your walls contain asbestos, do not attempt to alter them yourself, but call a professional contractor trained in handling hazardous materials. With lead paint, call your local sanitation department for information about how to dispose of scraps in your area and how to work with the paint safely.
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Moisten a small area of wall with the spray bottle. Set the bottle to spray water in a mist rather than jet stream for best results. This will help to soften the stucco's plaster.
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Scrape away the protruding areas of stucco with a metal scraper, working in the area you just moistened. Hold the scraper flat against the wall, rather than pressing in at an angle, to avoid gouging the wall or creating uneven portions.
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Move over the entire wall, moistening, then scraping. Level as much of the texturing as you can this way.
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Sand the walls. Try a palm hand sander first and only switch to an electric disc sander if the stucco proves to be too hard and hand sanding too time consuming. If using an electric sander, start on the lowest speed setting and take care not to remove too much material and make the wall uneven. Avoid working for too long in any small area.
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Coat the walls with a light coat of plaster if you need to fill any holes in the stucco. Use the plaster sparingly, taking your time to spread it as flat as possible. (Skip this step if sanding and scraping have created satisfactory results in smoothing the walls.)
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Paint the walls. Use a primer coat, and at least two coats of color. The thickness of the paint will fill in and even out many small bumps or textural differences that remain in the wall.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
