What Materials Can I Use From Home Depot For Stucco?

Buying Stucco Lath At Home Depot:

Weep Screed: Home Depot usually has weep screed in stock and in my experience (or my locations) they usually always have the 7/8" weep screed in stock (type 7). This is used for a typical three coat stucco system but they do not always have the "J" shaped weep screed available in this size.

When I looked on their website, I also noticed that they carry a 1/2" weep screed (type 7 as well) and a 1 3/8" weep screed (J style) that would work for on coat stucco wall claddings.

Not all Home Depot's will carry all of the weep screeds, from my experience and it really depends on which area you are in and I assume, what makes sense to sell in that particular area.

Plaster Stop: Home Depot usually doesn't have any plaster stop at my local store but if you look online, it says that they have 3/4" and 1/2" plaster stop, that they refer to as "casing bead".

A traditional three coat stucco system is usually 7/8" thick and since they typically carry 7/8" weep screed, I am surprised that they don't carry 7/8" plaster stop too.

You will likely have to go to a stucco supplier to get 7/8" plaster stop. The 3/4" and 1/2" plaster stop that they carry will typically be used for thinner stucco applications like masonry surfaces such as cmu blocks, concrete, etc.

Corner Aid: Home Depot usually always has corner aid which they refer to as "stucco corner bead" instead but the same stuff that you can find at a stucco supplier.

They have two different kinds, the standard wire corner (that comes in 8' and 10' lengths) and one that uses expanded metal lath and a reinforced corner metal that gives added protection on a corner.

I have only ever seen the 90 degree corners at HD and have never seen the bullnose corner aid stocked, so make sure that a right angled corner is what you are after if you plan on getting the material from HD, otherwise you will need to seek out a stucco supply store.

Arch Aid: Out of all of the Home Depot's I have been to, I have never seen any arch aid whatsoever. That makes sense, seeing as how it is more of a "specialty item" that is not as commonly used in the stucco process, except on arches.

Paper: I have always been able to get stucco paper from the HD and usually they will have the 10 min. and 60 min. paper available. At my local HD, they only stock single ply paper, which you will have to double up on in order to get two plies on the wall.

Some Home Depots have two ply stucco paper but not all of them, which makes installing it much quicker and easier.

I have found the paper at Home Depot to be much more expensive compared to a stucco supply store and if you need a lot, then I would advise you to buy from a supplier instead of HD.

Wire: Home Depot will usually have stucco wire in stock but will carry different types of wire, depending on which location you are at.

• Three Coat Wire: HD usually has this wire in stock and it will be the 17 gauge wire that is self furred. This is great wire for using in the three coat stucco system.
  
  
• One Coat Wire: I have only seen one coat stucco wire at selected HD stores and if they have the one coat wire, it will be a 20 gauge wire (lighter weight wire than the three coat wire).
  
  
• Paper Backed Wire: Almost every HD I have been to has paper backed wire of some kind (usually on the roll) and has the wire (17 gauge) and paper fused together.
  
  This is typically used on open stud walls, where an existing paper backed material is being used. Not recommended for new construction projects though.
  
  The paper backed wire usually comes in rolls but I have also seen it come in sheets (4' x 8' ?) at some HD locations.
  
  
• Diamond Metal Lath: Home Depot will always have expanded metal lath that has the small diamond pattern in it. These are sheets (roughly 27" x 96") not rolls, like some of the other wires that are sold.

Staples, Nails, Staple Guns, Etc.: I have had really bad luck with finding the correct staple sizes for stapling down the stucco wire. You will want either a 15/16" crown or a 1" crown staple (depending on your stapler) and a leg length of 1 1/4" (for three coat stucco) and 2" (one coat stucco).

I would recommend looking at Amazon for lath staples because they have the correct staples for three coat stucco and one coat stucco applications and are actually a pretty decent price.

Stucco Base Coat Materials At HD:

Home Depot does have a pretty decent selection of materials that you can use for base coats in the stucco process and these seem to be available at nearly every HD I go to. If all of the options I list are not available then one or two options are usually always available.

Premixed Base Coats: These will usually have the cement, sand, lime and everything else you that makes up a good base coat mix and you will just add water to the bag.

These premixed bags are great for smaller to medium sized projects because it will be the easiest and most convenient way to get your stucco base coat mixed up without any math or formulas involved.

Some premixed base coats you can find at various Home Depot locations will include:

• Quikrete base coat stucco (80 lbs.) - A standard base coat mix with sand, cement and lime added together in an 80 lb. bag.
  
  
• LaHabra Fastwall stucco base coat (50 lbs.) - A modified base coat material with fibers added to it and other ingredients, making it a good choice if you want a higher strength stucco base coat material.
  
  
• Sakrete scratch and brown base coat (80 lbs.) - A standard cement, sand and lime mixture that works well, much like the Quikrete mix (above).
  
  
• Greencore stucco mix (80 lbs.) - Is the same standard stucco mix but uses a finer sand in it so it can be used as a finish coat as well (fine sand finish) that you would have to paint.
  
  
• Mortar (80 lbs.) - Mortar can be used but I would recommend using a stucco base coat instead of mortar because it is a different consistency and has a little bit different composition but you can use it in a pinch.
  
  Try to use a type S or type M though and AVOID a type N, which has a much lower comprehensive strength than the type S and M do.
  

Concentrated Base Coat Materials: By concentrated, I mean that they will need to have sand, water and other elements added to them in order to make the mix suitable to use as a stucco base coat. You can find some stucco recipes on one of my other posts here.

You are going to want to use concentrated base coat materials for larger jobs because of the significant cost savings over premixed bags, which tends to be a significant difference if you have a good amount of square footage to cover.

You will have to buy cement, lime (formula dependent), sand and other products in bulk when using concentrated base coat materials so there will be more labor involved (and thinking!) when mixing it up but it is easier than you might think and can save you a lot of money in the process.

Here are a couple of examples of products that you can find at Home Depot for a concentrated mixture:

• Portland Cement: This is just your standard Portland cement and the type may vary depending on where you're located. I typically use type I/II and since it is a common cement, I add lime to that to make it creamier and more spreadable. Here is a link to HD's website that shows what I am talking about.
  
  These are offered in 94 lb. and 47 lb. bags at most locations and is a very common material used for many different trades and it is pretty cheap too.
  
  
• Plastic Cement: Plastic cement is basically just Portland cement with the right amount of lime added to it that makes it creamier and easier to spread. I would only have to add sand and water to plastic cement to make a stucco base coat.
  
  HD has plastic cement in 94 lb. bags and I think I have also seen the smaller 47 lb. bags but I haven't seen them around lately though.
  
  
• Lime: Lime is usually used when you are using a Portand cement base alone and is not necessary if you choose to use a plastic cement base instead. Lime also has a tendency to make the mix stickier but also weakens the strength of it so it is a balancing act of sorts.
  
  Be sure you have a formula to make mixing easier and to know how much lime you can/should add to your mix.
  

What About Sand?

Sand is another material that you will need to get if you choose to use a concentrated stucco base coat instead of a pre-mixed option and I know that Home Depot carries a couple of different kinds of sand, so I though I would briefly touch on what they have to offer.

• Bagged Sand: There are many different kinds of sand that you can find at HD and you can really use any one of them for your stucco because they are all usually a washed, clean sand that will serve it's purpose.
  
  All purpose sand tends to be a little more coarse in nature with slight variations in the grain size but would be a good choice for use in your base coats or if you are trying to match a rougher sand finish (usually older homes).
  

Bulk Sand: Home Depot does offer their own "bulk sand" that comes in 9 cu. yard bags (1,000 lb. - 1,200 lb.) that are convenient and a lot less messy than getting it from a material supply yard.

Most 1/2 ton trucks are also able to carry these bags, making it much more convenient for people who don't have large trucks.

Does Home Depot Sell Stucco Finish Material?

There are a couple of different finish materials you can find at Home Depot as well and these are designed to go on top of the base coat (brown coat) as a finish coat that can be integrally colored or painted afterwards.

Quikrete Stucco Finish (80 lbs.) - A standard stucco finish material that is available in either a white or grey base. Only one type of sand is available and it is more of a coarse type of sand.

Sakrete Stucco Finish (80 lbs.) - Another pretty standard stucco finish coat material that is available in grey or white and uses a coarse sand finish as well.

LaHabra Stucco Finish (90 lbs.) - LaHabra is a more well known stucco manufacturer and the base can be white in color, light grey or a darker grey (paint grade finish) and can have color added to it using LaHabra color packs.

It seems that HD only carries their 16/20 mix which is a coarse texture and comparable to all of the other finish materials that HD carries.

ElRey Stucco Finish (80 lbs.) - ElRey is another stucco manufacturer that specializes in stucco products and it seems that HD has a few different color options for ElRey's finish stucco product. Availability might be hit and miss so check your local HD first to avoid potential project delays.

Patch Products You Can Find There...

They have many different patch materials you can buy there too and I love getting my own patch materials from here over a stucco supplier because of the different variety they have.

Premixed Patch/Repair Compounds - These are usually acrylic base and have sand added to them. They are very convenient for smaller patches and can be used for base coat(s) and finish coats, when the right techniques are utilized.

These tend to have a fine to medium texture to them and are a little sticky to work with but are very crack resistant and can be painted (usually) in a short amount of time. I wrote a post on the different stucco patching materials that are offered.

LaHabra Stucco Patch Material - These are small boxes of LaHabra finish coat material (cement based finish) that is used when you need to patch the finish coat of stucco ONLY. It is not recommended for base coat patches.

These are pre-colored boxes of material (9 lbs.) that can match an existing stucco finish color. If you have an existing LaHabra finish coat product on your walls and know what color is used, then this is the way to go.

If you don't know what color is on your walls then you would have to get something close and either paint your stucco later on or apply a fog coat to your walls.

Rapid Set Products - Rapid set products are great for patching base coats in stucco and you can even use them for finish coats (if painting) if the texture matches. They use a more coarse sand and set up extremely fast, so only mix up small amounts that you can use in 5 - 15 minutes.

Most of these products can be scratched, browned and even finished in the same day if you were in a bit of a time crunch. I like the stucco mix, mortar and cement-all products.