STUCCO NEWS.NET

I'm so glad I found your website (through a link at americanbungalo). I'm building a summer kitchen and plan on stuccoing the front to match the remainder of the house. The counter top and backsplash will be tiled. The area I'm working in is a niche with concrete block and stucco on all sides. Here's my concern: I want to put the tile backsplash up where I currently have painted stucco and have lots of ideas, but none from experts on how best to do this. The area is inside a courtyard with a roof protecting it from the elements.

The guy at home depot suggests screwing hardiboard up over the stucco (with a layer of thinset behind it). Then tiling over this. Lowes suggested using thinset to level off the stucco (with a bonding agent) and then coming back and doing a coat for the tile. Still others have suggested that there is no need to do two coats of thinset - just put the tile up there. Last, one of my co-workers insists that the stucco should all be chiselled off first. The stucco is just one year old and in excellent shape. I can't imagine why the option described by the guys at Lowes (thinset to level and then come back and put the tiles up) wouldn't be best.

With your stucco experience I'm hoping you'll be the authoritative voice of reason here.

I think the guy from Lowe's wins. The idea of putting on two coats, with a bonding agent, is the best idea.

The stucco has been painted, so the bonder is necessary for a permanent bond. Chipping the stucco first will also help. Even if the stucco is straight, there is an advantage of putting on even a thin coat first and letting set up overnight.

The first coat, which you can call a scratch coat absorbs water, and absorbs mortar. Putting the thinset directly onto the painted stucco and sticking the tile could be like sticking tile on an ice cube. If tiles slide around before the mortar sets it up would be a disaster.

The book, American Bungalow, mentions Stucco News as a reference.

Thanks so much for visiting my site.