Stucco Refinishing and Recoating in Indianapolis
Not every stucco project starts with damage. Sometimes the stucco on a house is structurally sound, holding well to the substrate, draining correctly, and doing its job without any signs of water intrusion or structural failure. It just looks like it's been there for forty years, because it has. The color has faded unevenly. The texture has accumulated decades of grime and environmental staining that cleaning alone won't address. Minor patching over the years has left the surface reading inconsistently. The house looks tired in a way that has nothing to do with the stucco's ability to protect the wall behind it.
That's what stucco refinishing and recoating addresses.
A full stucco recoat applies a new finish coat over the existing stucco system, restoring a consistent color and texture across the entire surface. It's a different scope than painting over stucco, which sits on top of the existing finish and has to be maintained and eventually removed. A recoat becomes part of the stucco system itself, bonding to the existing material and providing a finish that performs the way stucco is supposed to perform rather than the way exterior paint does.
Stucco painting is a separate option for homeowners who want a color change or surface refresh at a lower cost than a full recoat. Elastomeric paint systems applied over sound stucco provide good coverage and some additional flexibility that helps bridge minor surface cracks. Painting is appropriate when the stucco surface is in good condition and the goal is primarily cosmetic. It's not a substitute for recoating when the finish coat has deteriorated to the point where it's no longer providing consistent protection.
Texture matching is the part of refinishing work that separates contractors who know stucco from those who don't. Indianapolis homes with original 1920s and 1930s stucco have finish textures, pebble dash, skip trowel, sand float, that aren't produced the same way modern synthetic finishes are. Getting a recoat to read consistently with the texture character of an older home requires the right technique and the right materials.
Stucco replacement, meaning full removal of the existing system and installation of a new one, comes up when the existing stucco has deteriorated beyond what refinishing can address or when the underlying system has failed in a way that makes refinishing on top of it a short-term fix. We assess the existing condition honestly and tell you which scope the situation calls for.