But is it Pleasantly Plastered?

While most Portland cement performs extremely well under most conditions, trouble invariably occurs when it comes to aesthetics. The color may be off a shade from panel to panel.

The appearance of cold joints-where fresh and set plaster meet-will always telegraph through the finish coat When the sun hits a wall at the proper angle, the plaster Looks wrinkled and bumpy, even though one can't slide a dollar bill under a straight-edge held over it. Plaster is a hand-placed material, and it’s not perfect. But in the society in which we live, people think they are paying for perfection.

'All a plasterer can do when he has the opportunity;" Kendrick says, "is schedule his work in the morning and throughout the day, trying to mimic the best conditions under which to plaster. Sometimes that's just not possible-if you're working on an elevation, you're going to experience whatever environmental conditions are going to occur on that given day at that elevation. Sometimes you have the opportunity to work around multiple elevations. And in that case, it’s incumbent upon the foreman to place the plasterers in the coolest conditions and avoid rapid moisture loss from the membranes.

 

 

Taking a Crack at the Cracks

If the toughest egg to crack in exterior plastering is hydration from sun and wind, then what is the contractors doing about it .

Some contractors reckon there isn't much one can do about it. "There are two kinds of stucco," states an Oregonian.

Stucco that is cracked, and stucco that will crack. That's just the nature of the beast. I've looked at stucco from Vancouver,

B.C., to San Diego, and in every place, I find stucco with cracks."

 

EIFS to the Rescue

ARTICLE POSTED:

AWCI CONSTRUCTION DIMENSIONS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2000