1990: Stucco
So, do you know what stucco is? You have a sturdy, solid, upright but unfinished surface, like maybe a framed wall with sheathing of some sort, such as plywood and Tyvec, or else a wall of cement block. Or maybe (the original base for stucco) blocks of dried mud. To protect this structure from the elements, you plaster it with a mixture of white Portland cement, sand, and water. To be sure that this plaster adheres, you might nail chicken wire or some such thing all over the wall you intend to stucco.
I just asked Craig, and he says the proportion is about three to one, sand to white Portland. You mix in just enough water, and add it bit by bit until it is spreadable and smooth, but not too runny. We did the mixing in the wheelbarrow.
Now, I thought this seemed like it would be pretty hard to do. But we hated the cardboard (what do you really call this stuff?) on the back side of our house. We paid Sixto to stucco the wall to the right of the chimney, which is the wall where the deck joins the house. He did a good job. That's Sixto's stucco at the left.
Years later, Craig and I stuccoed two walls ourselves. One was the wall where the old garage door was, after we closed it off. The other was the left half of the south wall of the house. When we did the front of the old garage, our first attempt at stucco, it was one of the scariest things we ever attempted. Craig would mix a batch in the wheelbarrow, and we would try to trowel it on and smooth it out, sort of like icing a cake. At first, it all drops on the ground. It’s pretty messy and feels like impending failure. But some stuck. We did three or four coats. It was one hard weekend, stuccoing maybe 135 square feet. It came out great, though (below). So it turns out stucco-ing is something you can do for yourself.
This was one of those majorly confidence-building projects where you start out thinking, “I can’t possibly do such a thing! Stucco???? Are you kidding???” Say this for us, we are brave. Or we rush in where angels fear to tread. I always take myself aside and think, What is the worst that can happen? Answer: I will have made a mortifying mess and will have to pay someone to do the job right, and that person will laugh at me with his friends afterwards behind my back over beers. How bad is that? Best case, we work hard, sweat bullets and get the job done for the cost of materials.
