For centuries, builders have been coating their homes and buildings with textured masonry and other stucco finishing materials as an inexpensive shortcut to producing uniform-appearing profiles. For example, why do most new houses have coffered stucco (aka “popcorn”) ceilings? Producing a visually flat ceiling (or wall) surface requires a lot of time and materials. And it takes master plastering skills to hide irregular drywall defects and finish each tape joint with the required 3 coats of drywall compound. But with a textured veneer, the builder can cast the drywall roughly how it feels, glue it down with a single coat of plaster, and the resulting flaws disappear under the illusion of a “level” textured surface. The results look like new and even the builder saves time and money and hopefully passes those savings on to you. It’s a perfect solution!… Until it breaks.

Repair of a smooth surface crack

When a crack develops in a flat wall or ceiling, the repair is fairly simple. You cover it with a strip of paper tape (if inside) or mesh tape (inside or outside), cover it with a putty knife and the appropriate inside or outside patching compound in three thin coats (each one wider than the last one that floats). wipe it with the surrounding surface as smoothly as possible) and sand it down just enough to remove the edges.

A smooth render like this is easy to achieve with a little practice once you’ve got the hang of these basics. And as you practice, there are no mistakes that can’t be easily corrected with a little more plaster or a little more sanding. The most common mistake is applying the compound too thick. This creates excessive sanding and lumpy looking patches.

But what about the crack in a textured surface? Obviously, you can’t just tape it off, apply a thin coat, and sand it down. The result would be a long, flat patch in the middle of a textured profile (which I’ve seen far too many owners get caught up in in my career). It stands out as a serious rash and adds insult to injury. You can’t undo or fix a repair like this. The only way to get rid of a bad stucco repair is to remove all textured material from the entire surface and replace it with a new one. That is an expensive undertaking and can be avoided if the repair was done right the first time.

Work with textured materials

There is often a misconception that one can simply remove the textured layer of masonry or popcorn stucco (or whatever) from around the damaged area to repair the substrate and then replace the textured material only in this place. Sounds reasonable in theory as long as you’re using the exact same material as a replacement. But in practice, it is almost always impossible.

With a lot of skill and experience, a finisher can bevel the outer edges of the damaged area so that when the new material is applied over the exposed substrate (drywall, brick, concrete, etc.) it can gradually smooth outwards. edges without overlapping the surrounding material to keep it level with the existing grade. But even this shows a small bulge around the repair and is noticeable to those who know it’s there… ie YOU. And this is the best that can be done without a complete replacement. The most common approach I’ve seen people try is to simply try to cover the crack with more of the same material that is used on the general surface. The problem with this is that anything you add to the surface of a textured profile only magnifies where the damage is with a hump in a sea of ​​bumps. So what do you do if you’re not a master mason and don’t want to spend the money on complete removal and replacement of your stucco just to patch up a few cracks?

Easy crack repair for textured surfaces.

To understand how to repair a crack, one must understand the anatomy of the crack. Sometimes created by a sudden impact, sometimes by the long (or short) natural process of displacement and settling, and often by water leakage, the crack is a break in the solid substrate. And through the laws of weight and gravity, the crack can only move, crush, and grow. It never gets smaller and rarely stays the same. No matter how you repair the crack, you will only mask it as it continues to thrive below the surface waiting for its chance to reappear. That is, unless you want to go through the expensive and complicated process of replacing the entire substrate. But who wants to do that if there’s an easier way?

Ultimately, you want a repair to be invisible or at least, depending on the severity of the damage, inconspicuous to the eye. To achieve this in the midst of a textured surface, the repair must fill the crack, preserve the surrounding texture, and not reopen as the surface changes over time. Solid drying fillers, such as plaster and drywall compound, can easily fill the crack, but do little to preserve texture and generally result in a poor approximation of the surrounding surface at best. . They also dry hard and brittle, allowing the underlying crack to easily break through the surface in a short time. So the ideal material must remain flexible to keep up with the movement of the crack and has to cause the crack to disappear within its original profile. What can all this do and be easily applied? Latex to caulk.

Simply run a small bead of latex caulk along the surface of the crack, wet your fingers with a little warm water as a lubricant, and massage the caulk into the crack while “washing” it into the surrounding texture. Make sure the crack is well filled and any excess caulk around the edges is lightly blended into the texture. Allow to dry completely, then paint with latex paint to preserve elasticity. It’s as easy as that! But never use silicone caulk for this type of repair, since you can’t paint over it.

In cases where you cannot paint the surface for one reason or another (eg, a very large exterior wall on unpainted stained masonry), use a colored caulk that best matches the color of the surface and be sure to wash most of the material off the outer edges of the crack before it dries.

A flexible repair is a durable repair. As your home changes, expanding and contracting, so does your latex caulk crack filler.

Happy painting!