Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Elastomeric paint coatings for stucco- anyone?

Has anyone had good or bad experiences with elastomeric paint on their stucco coated homes?

My mother is looking into getting her stucco redone and i've looked around a bit for information but i'm finding little in the way of reviews. Behr makes an elastomeric paint and i've always like their products so i'm tending to think the concept is a decent one.

Any advice?
Experiences to share?
Anyone in that cold Canada climate that has tested the material?
Idea of cost?

We're all too stupid to help!

Sorry, sorry, that was my customer service training kicking in. I really do have no advice, though. I have to be the most useless top poster here. I think I've earned it.

Sounds sort of like paint on spamdex (I'm competing with CV).

Never used elastomeric paint before but a quick googling looks like as long as you prepare the surface properly and apply your paint at 50F or higher, you should be OK. Some people say you need to apply 2 coats to get the correct thickness, but I didn't see that on Behr's application notes. Sounds like prepping the surface is very important for this type of paint.

Probably a bad idea to apply when it's humid, like any other paint, too.

You think you're more useless than Peter and Ken's posts?
I dunno, that's quite a race for the top spot!

Well this is my problem.
I've read about what it is, how to apply it, large brand names that make it, a few negatives and positives on some forums, but i don't know ANYONE that has actually put it on their own home.
Makes me wonder.

Anyone or any neighbourhoods near you where stucco is common?

Seems the negatives centre on the fact that elastomeric paint does not allow the stucco to "breathe" therefore it's important for the wall to be dry so that moisture does not get trapped by the paint.

Lots of stucco homes down my way but I don't know of anybody that has used it. Chess I have a buddy near Tampa who owns a painting company, I'll give him a call and ask his opinion. He has painted hundreds of homes in the Orlando area.

I only wonder if some of the information wouldn't be specific toward that of a different climate.
Our air is dry in the Peg and we can get hot summers. I'm not that concerned about day to day air moisture, but from what i've read on the forums, if the coating isn't applied properly and water from rain gets 'behind' the coating, then it gets trapped and could cause wall damage, or secondly, if water or moisture does get behind the paint, bubbling occurs?

Like i said, i can't seem to find enough solid info on this. It seems to also cost considerably more than vinyl paint. I think i read to expect 50% more cost to apply?

As for living in an area of stucco homes, anyone who has been to the Peg knows we live in a "sugar cube" city.
Virtually all new housing neighborhoods in the past 10 years were being built (some are still being built) with the same colour of off white stucco for 90% of a house exterior in this area. Only recently have i seen some of these neighborhood builders start using some slightly different tints for colour variation.

East coasters use aluminum siding.
West coasters have non organic based roofing.
Ontarians have alot of brick.
Here in the prairies, stucco reigns supreme as a house exterior coating.
Its a regional thing, aside from the fact that Manitobans are among the cheapest bastards who ever walked the earth and you can't get much cheaper than spraying a house exterior with stucco. I had a friend of mine haggle with Sears over pricing on a pillow and they actually gave him the price he wanted.
I mean really, who the HELL haggles with a box store like SEARS?? And on a twenty dollar pillow??
I'll tell you who, Manitobans, that's who.

You should take your friend with you to Home Depot to "haggle" a better price on the Behr paint, lol. Actually, I went with my neighbour yesterday to HD because they needed some interior paint. They needed 3 cans of Behr and mentioned to the clerk that Rona had a 3 for 2 sale on SICO paint, so they gave him the third can of Behr for free!! I thought that was quite good of HD considering they weren't technically the same product they were price matching. Maybe you could get the same deal, worth a try esp since you'll need quite a few gallons.

I've actually found Home Depot to be very accommodating.
They gave us a rebate on a toilet a month ago that expired last November when it was on sale.
We've had no issues returning items and getting credit or cash back even without receipts.
We've found alot of really good stuff there even if it wasn't in the store (i.e. their online site carries alot more stock than the stores do, WAYYY more lighting options for example).

I knew calling you a dork was a mistake.

Hey no cutting and pasting from other threads.
Try colouring within the lines eh Peter?

Try leaving extraneous vowels out of your words and we'll talk.

What did you say about my bowels?
Oh wait,that's a consonant substitution, not an extraneous vowel.

Chess, sorry about the delay but my bud just called me back today.

He say's that not too many painters uses elastomeric paint anymore due to the moisture that can get trapped between the paint and the stucco surface if it is not properly prepared, causing mold and other problems and that most quality 100% acrylic satin paints nowadays will work equally as well while being able to breathe.
He suggested going to two or three different paint dealers such as Glidden, Sherwin-Williams, Color Wheel or Duron and find out what they recommend and go with the preferred paint for your application. Said he thought *maybe* Behrs was OK but wouldn't take too much stock with what most of the home improvement stores suggest.

Thanks for the info Rick.
I've been leaning towards just a typical stucco paint since i haven't really read any 'true' benefits of elastomeric paint and the few 'large' negatives such as increased cost and potential for moisture retention outweigh my thoughts that the unproven positives are worth the potential headache.

Funny thing, every painter seems to have their favorite brands and none of them ever seem to be the same.
We used interior Ralph Lauren and Benjamin Moore and didn't like the way either of them coated surfaces. The Behr we've had, both interior and exterior, have been excellent.
We had one can of CIL somewhere in the past though i don't really recall if we liked its application or not.

Chess, fwiw, I spoke with a Behr representative about two years ago(take this anyway you like as a result), and he told me that Behr did a "blind" test against the major paint brands including names like Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams and many others where they allowed contractors who specifically favoured certain name brands to use paint out of unmarked cans on their jobs. I believe he said there were 8 competitors in total and Behr was favoured by over 50% of the contractors leaving 7 others with the rest much to the painters surprise.

Personally, I like Behr paint, it covers better than any other paint I've tried, goes on easy, has a rich pigment(?) and doesn't cost a whole lot. I've tried CIL a few times and find it doesn't cover well by comparison, almost seems watery and you need up to 3 coats imo. Benjamin Moore is good, but I find it no better than Behr despite it's higher cost. I've tried a couple of others, but I prefer the Behr both for quality and price.

When we tried the Ralph Lauren paint, we liked the colour options, but for some reason it disintegrated the Ralph Lauren foam brush roller recommended for its application and we ended up picking bits of foam off a freshly coated wall because of it.

I may go back to trying a Ralph Lauren paint at some point but i'll use a different 'brand' of roller or applicator. I'm willing to stay open to the idea that their paint isn't always that destructive.
However, if there is a strike two, i won't buy it again. Pretty much applies to alot of products i consider.

Another Behr fan here. I use it for all my walls and most of the trim, but I prefer Valspar for white trim. They make a nice thick semi-gloss that goes on really nice.

I believe Valspar white is what we've primarily used for the house trim also ... seems like ICI is what was used on the outside, it was painted about four years ago by a contractor and has held up very well so far.

Anybody try SICO paint? might only be available in Canada, not sure. I think they make Rona's house brand aside from their own lineup.

Behr is always top-rated by Consumer Reports...FWIW....

Sico was a big name for cedar stains awhile back, never tried there paints.