My turn for Stucco questions.

[MK1]

My experience with stucco and dryvitt is somewhat limited as I've only only applied it a few times. But, I am around professionals using these materials a lot and I'm very nosy. I've questioned the competent installers extensively and there are a few items of note.
A breezy day with low humidity, hot or cold, cures and drys any of these products too quickly. An overcast moderate day is ideal. The plasticized dryvitt products are well worth the expense and considerably outlast regular stucco.
The question that makes these guys dodgy regards the waterproofing ability of these materials. I've never been able to get a clear answer on that. Ask sometimes and see how nervous they become. The importance of felt paper is always emphasized. Too bad we can't use any low temp barriers.

Mark

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Im a new guy, but this info may help. I will be using Quickrete Surface bonding Cement. Just mix with water, You can add an acrylic fortifier for total waterproofing and you can also add all their standard colors to the mix also.

I called Quickrete and they claimed as long as there is only minimal heat from the dome it will not affect the cement any, also this cement is mixed with fibergllass strands and that will "keep it from cracking" according to their rep.

I am currently using it to stucco the base, its easy to work with and leaves a nice finish. It was made for making dry stack walls,,, you just stack em, and coat em, they claim it has more strength than a mortar joint.

Well, Thanks for listening and hope this info can help someone !!!

[leckig]

excellent thread! my turn:
I purchased 3 bags of this:
Quikrete Stucco Finish Coat
I was planning to apply this in a 1/4 inch layer directly on the perlicrete dome and stand blocks.

Next step of my plan was the Damplock Concrete Waterproofing Paint.

As last step I planned some latex/acrylic paint for the color.

Do you experts think this is a sound idea? Are 3 80lb bags enough?

[david s]

Make sure you drive out all the moisture from the dome and vermicrete using the firing schedule, before you apply the stucco, then wrap the stucco layer up for a week to give it strength. Then do about 10 firings before applying the waterproof layer.

[leckig]

so you think using the finish coat directly (no brown nor scratch coat) should be fine?

[david s]

Follow the product directions.

[fxpose]

I pretty much followed directions and applied a couple of layers of scratch/brown coat over the perlcrete and after several days applied a couple of layers of finish stucco (Quikrete Quikwall) using acrylic fortifier instead of water.

But for a small scale stucco application like on the oven I don't see why final stucco won't work directly on vermi/perlcrete. It's not like we're stucco'ing an entire house or building.

[david s]

I do it in one go. I think the really important thing is to cover it to keep it moist for a week. I wrap the whole thing in cling wrap.

[leckig]

I have the stucco on. I only used the Quikrete Stucco Finish Coat directly on the insulating concrete layer. So far it looks great and I have zero cracks, I will fire the oven on Friday and see what happens.

I also made the door, I stole the idea from someone here, just a box filled with vermiculite, riveted together. I used garden gate handles from Lowes ($5 each).

Pictures:
Flickr: leckig's Photostream