Tim, Interesting but not helpful enough: Googling around I got a wide variety of stucco recipes; pretty much "mix less cement with more sand".
I settled on type N white waterproofed cement and white sand: one bucket cement to two buckets sand in a portable mortar mixer. Add water with a hose so you can spray hard at the back wall of the mixer where unwetted mix tends to congeal. How much water? Slowly until the mix starts to peel off the back wall as it turns. Then just a little more until it seems too runny because this stuff starts to set as you work it and each wheel barrow full is a little too thin when you start but a little too hard by the time you get to the last trowel full.
How to get it on the wall? I don't know that either, but what I did was to take a drywallers 9" taping knife and an old 14" trowel whose corners were worn down; together they would scoop up an oblong lump the size of my forearm. Early in every batch the mix would tend to slide right off the trowel; late in every batch the mix would stick to the trowel better than the wall. How to make it stick to the wall? Start low and push up the wall, gradually leaving off the bulk of the mix. Don't stop or go down till the mix is all smeared on the wall or it can peel back off from its own weight! Don't pull the trowel straight away from the wall or the mix will pull out with it in spots. Scrape it upwards till the trowel is empty, use the taping knife to scrape the remainders and grit from the trowel, and start the next trowel full near the top of the last try.
OK, that's what I learned from trial and error. My foundation wall and piers are covered with one coat of white(ish) relatively smooth (another lesson) 'plaster' that doesn't look so bad so far.....
If it all cracks off in the spring I'll just try again!

I'm wanting to build a new home and the exterior be done in stucco, so as to be able to apply decorative rocks/bricks designs later on. I'm having most of the other work contracted out, I've only applied stucco over existing surfaces. I would like to get information on building the exterior surface for spraying the finishing stucco coating. I've seen the prep work from construction sites and it looks likes styrofoam, but there's gotta be more support behind it? and the taping and bedding is done with what? Guess I need to read a How to do it booklet?

Michael Lacey
Granbury, TX

Michael,
Look above the first comment on this page. You will see a link to a Book called Portland Cement Plaster Stucco Manual. Click the link and buy the book.

Hi with lot of hope i would like to know about the machine or spray which cover the brick wall like plasting ,i live in india typically brickwall will be cover with sand and cement to get fine surface pls advice me the equitment for it ,waiting for your valuable advice
best regars
rafi hasan

Hi, I am building a new garage and am wondering if stucco can be applied to the garage if the building has a floating slab, im woried about cracking in the stucco? please give lots of info and tips. Thank you.

Jason,
It can be. Read all of my stucco columns.

Can stucco be applied to an older building of painted cement blocks? What king of prep is necessary?

Jan,
Yes. You have to remove the paint or fasten galvanized metal lath to the block. You can't apply the stucco just to the paint.

tim, can stucco walls be painted?

The ceiling on my pool patio is made of dry wall. Do i have to use metal screen before applying stucco?

We are looking at doing an addition on our 1936 brick home. We are not sure if it would be more economical to try to find matching brick for the addition or have the whole thing stucco'd.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

I need to restucco a terrace on my house and would like to try to match the house color (or be reasonably close). How hard is that to do? Where would I look to find options on tints?

Thanks

I would like to stucco my frame porch addition which is now aluminum sided. It is 468 sq. feet with concrete base on one side, open area of 8x3 that leads to basement stairs and crawlspace. My concern is the foundation area that is 13' wide. I don't know if it is only sitting on concrete slab or wood frame. Should I build up from concrete slab to establish foundation base or can I use metal lip to ground level? I live in Chicago, by the way that wall has back door which faces west unshaded area. I want to do this myself, need tips, also what thickness sheathing? Thanks!

I plan on doing some stucco patching. My initial test was to test the color but I now have the white coating (I think called efflorecense?)to deal with.
Mix is QUIKRETE fast set repair mortar. Inst says just add water. Added liquid cement-mortar color to water and enough MIX to make pasty and maintain a peak. Placed globs with different color and one with no color on cardboard and the next day..each has lots of white coating that doesn't seem to rub off.
All worked well but the white coating. Where did I go wrong?