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Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive by Ron Joseph June, 2004 Stucco Painting Q. Can you please tell me what is the best way to apply paint to exterior stucco walls? Roller or sprayer? Also, what is the best paint to use? We live in florida and our home is about 15 yrs old. It has the original paint on it. Thanks for all your help! A. Paint rollers are available in all shapes and sizes for all types of surfaces. Cement and stucco surfaces also have different textures from smooth to rough and porous. There are roller sleves with short and long nap. As a rule of thumb short nap on smooth surfaces and longer nap for rough surfaces. Although the success of a good, long lasting paint job on an older house is the thoroughness of the surface preparation and cleaning. High pressure water cleaning, fill all cracks with exterior stucco patch. Check the end grain on all wood trim surfaces. Touchup all repair areas with the best quality alkyd solvent based primer. Now if you expect to get 15 years performance with this paint job select a good quality acrylic latex paint. Most of all keep track of your effort and time to get to the paint application. Protect it with top quality latex paint don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Now, about airless spray application; this will require a certain amount of masking to avoid over spray. The spray equipment must be cleaned immediately after spraying, and many times the paint must be thinned with water for proper spray which has an effect on the applied paint. It may take more time to use the roller, but you will be more consistant with the roller application. Best regards, Tom Burke
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