Before a texture can be done, the stucco has to be put on the wall. I mentioned last time that I was not going to use a hopper because the air compressor requirements were too steep. But a lot of work is necessary to get the stucco on the wall and I was really wishing I could use the hopper because it would be much faster. For example see this video. It was also expensive at $260. But that is small compared to the $12000 stucco job I am doing. When I was reading the stucco book, I found out the hopper is also referred to as a mortar sprayer. When I put that search term in amazon.com I found another interesting hopper I had not seen before. It was cheaper at $195 and it had the ability to be used with smaller compressors by plugging some of the holes. This prompted me to purchase the one at this link. There is also more info on mortar sprayers at this link.
The first time I used the mortar sprayer, I was able to completely cover the piece of plywood unlike the last time I used the trowel to get the stucco on the plywood. But I did use up one entire bag for one piece of plywood. The mortar sprayer put a heavy dash texture on the plywood and this is shown below.
The first thing I tried was to use a darby to smooth it out. The darby did not get the whole surface flat because there were depressions in some areas. So if I wanted the surface flat I would have to come in with more stucco to fill the depressions and then smooth it out with the darby. Once I smoothed the surface out I resprayed the stucco covered plywood with the mortar sprayer with a quick dash coat and then after about 15 to 20 minutes I knocked it down with the trowel. The result looked very pleasing to me.
I know I was hesitating at the expense of the mortar sprayer above, but the idea of saving time with a sprayer and getting a professional look overruled the hesitation, so I went all out and bought a $355 stucco texture sprayer available at this link. This stucco sprayer has too adjustments to control the texture of the stucco and can go from a smooth finish to a heavy dash. The smooth finish result is shown below:
The finish in the picture can be improved I think. Its a little bit dashy and that's probably because the stucco mix I used could have been runnier. The sprayer comes with a funnel to measure flow of the mix and there is supposed to be a steady flow through the funnel but I didn't quite achieve that because I was experimenting. Another improvement would be my air compressor cycles too much. I have on order another air tank so that my compressor will have two 20 gallon air tanks. Also the instructions mention tapping directly form the air tanks instead of the pressure regulator which I was not doing. Correcting these problems may provide a better spraying experience.
When using the sprayer, I found out the surface that the finish goes on needs to be smooth to some extent as the texture coat will show irregularities in the surface. I also found out that the surface needs to be somewhat resistant to the material thrown at it with the sprayer, in other words wet/soft stucco may not make a good surface to spray the texture coat on because it may splash and make dents in the surface. Finally, its absolutely necessary to where a air mask such as the one at this link.
The good news is there is good potential with this sprayer. I like it better than the knock down dash I had done earlier. Furthermore, the sprayer coated the whole sheet of plywood and only used half a bag of stucco. Using the sprayer will mean about a $500 savings in stucco materials compared to the other mortar sprayer method and my inexperienced trowel method and will pay for itself.
Since I bought the other mortar sprayer from Amazon, I was able to return it and get my money back.
Since I bought the other mortar sprayer from Amazon, I was able to return it and get my money back.
Well that's all for now, Next blog.
Happy Building
The Dr.
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