STUCCO PAINTING FOR ST. LOUIS AND ST. CHARLES COUNTY HOMES.

Exterior Stucco Painting in St. Louis

Two-story brick and stucco house partway through repainting, half the stucco painted white, a ladder against the wall and drop cloths over the shrubs — Example of a stucco house partway through a repaint

HBP Painting Contractors provides stucco painting for homes across St. Louis and St. Charles County. This family company has painted Missouri homes since 1983, with its own crews and Sherwin-Williams paint.

Your wall gets checked before any paint goes on. Sound stucco takes paint well and holds it for years. Stucco that is cracked, hollow or wet needs repair first, and you hear that at the estimate, not after the job.

HBP prices exterior painting, stucco included, at $3.00 to $10.00 per square foot. That is a ballpark, not a quote. Your price depends on how complex the job is, the number of coats, the surface, how much prep the wall needs, and the finish.

Your estimate is free, happens at your home, and comes with no obligation. Prefer to talk first? Call (636) 544-1254.

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What We Paint on a Stucco House, and What We Don’t

Stucco is rarely the only surface on a house. You get one crew and one estimate for the stucco and everything around it. For the rest of the outside, see exterior house painting. For offices and shops, see commercial painting.

Whole Stucco Houses

Every stucco wall, front to back, and the trim that meets it.

Stucco Gables and Chimneys

Stucco sections on a brick or sided house, painted to match the rest.

Columns, Entries and Walls

Porch columns, entry walls and the stucco skirt along the foundation.

Trim Against Stucco

Fascia, soffits and window trim, cut in clean where they meet the stucco.

Bare Stucco

Stucco that has never been painted, primed first so the color grips.

New Stucco

New stucco gets its first color once it has fully cured.

What we don’t do: install stucco or replace it. If your wall needs rebuilding, it needs a stucco contractor first, and HBP will tell you so at the estimate.

Can Your Stucco Be Painted?

Most stucco walls can be painted. The wall has to be sound, dry and fully cured first. You can check all six of these yourself before anyone quotes the job.

Six checks that decide it:

Rub it for chalkPowder on your hand means the old paint has broken down. It needs washing and primer.
Tap it for hollow spotsA hollow, drum-like sound means the stucco came loose behind that spot. Paint cannot fix that.
Press it for soft spotsIf the face crumbles or gives under your thumb, the wall needs repair before paint.
Look for water marksBlisters under a roof line, beside a window, or where a sprinkler hits mean water is getting in.
Measure the cracksThin cracks are normal on stucco. Wide or stair-step cracks can mean the house is moving.
Check its ageNew stucco needs about a month to cure. Paint it too soon and the paint can let go.

What a Crack in Your Stucco Tells You

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Crack size	What it means	What happens before paint
Hairline, under 1/16 inch	Normal for stucco	Filled and blended into the texture
Wider than 1/16 inch	Water can get in	Opened up, patched and primed
Wider than 1/4 inch, or stair-step	The house may be moving	A structural pro looks at it first

At your free estimate, HBP walks every side of your house and tells you what the wall needs before any paint goes on. If your wall is past painting, that is where you find out.

Will Painting Trap Moisture in Your Stucco?

It can, if the wrong paint goes on. Stucco has to dry out after rain, so the paint on it matters. Painters use two kinds of paint on stucco.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

	Masonry paint	Elastomeric (thick, rubbery) coating
What it is	Exterior paint made for stucco and brick	A stretchy coating several times thicker than paint
Lets the wall dry	Yes, damp air passes through	Much less
Thin cracks	Fills and seals them	Stretches across them
Best for	Sound, dry walls	Walls with many fine cracks that face storms
Wrong choice when	Cracks are wide and spreading	Water is already getting into the wall
Cost	Fewer gallons, lower price per gallon	More gallons, higher price per gallon

Here is the honest answer. Paint rarely traps water on its own. The water gets in somewhere else first. Check the joint where the roof meets the wall, the caulk around your windows, splash at the bottom of the wall, and any sprinkler aimed at the house. Fix that, then pick the paint.

The thick coating is not the safe choice it sounds like. It bridges fine cracks better than anything else. It also seals the wall shut, so on a wall already taking on water it makes the problem worse. Which one your house needs is decided on the wall at your free estimate, not from a photo.

How We Prepare and Paint a Stucco Exterior

A stucco repaint runs in six stages. Four of them finish before any color goes on the wall.

Painted stucco wall meeting wood siding beside a window

Each side of the house gets looked at. You get a written estimate that sets out the scope and the timeframe.

Drives, walks, beds and plants get covered before any work starts.

Stucco is washed at low pressure with a wide spray. Hard pressure eats the texture, opens thin cracks and drives water into the wall. In a humid Missouri summer a wall can need a day or two to dry.

Thin cracks get filled and blended so repairs do not show. Loose paint gets scraped back to a solid edge. Split caulk at windows and doors gets cut out and replaced.

Bare stucco, patched spots and chalky areas all get primer. Primer is what the paint grips. Skipping it is the most common reason a stucco paint job peels early.

Spray alone sits on the high points and leaves pinholes in the low spots. Rolling right behind the spray pushes paint down into them. The site is cleaned, and you walk the finished work before it is called done.

Painting it yourself instead? The HBP stucco house painting guide walks through the method step by step.

How to Tell Your Stucco Was Painted Right

Stand about ten feet back in daylight and walk each side of the house. A good stucco paint job passes all eight of these checks.

What to look for:

One even color on every wall, with no stripes or lap marks
No specks of the old color in the low spots of the texture
Patched cracks that blend in, not shiny or dull scars
Neat, smooth caulk lines at windows and doors

A clean, straight line where stucco meets trim or brick
Clean windows, light fixtures and door handles
No paint spray on the roof, driveway, walks or plants
The drain edge at the bottom of the wall left open

That last check matters most. The bottom edge of a stucco wall is how trapped water gets out. Paint or caulk packed into it holds the water inside the wall.

How Much Does It Cost to Paint a Stucco House?

HBP Painting Contractors prices exterior painting, stucco included, by the square foot of wall.

$3.00 to $10.00 per square footThis is a general ballpark, not a quote. The final number depends on how complex the project is, the number of coats, the surface, how much preparation the wall needs, and the finish you choose.

Five things move your price inside that range:

Wall Size and Texture

Rough stucco has far more surface than a flat wall the same size.

Wall Condition

Crack filling, scraping and new caulk all come before any color.

Height

A two-story gable takes more setup than a one-story wall.

Type of Paint

A thick elastomeric coating costs more and takes more gallons.

Bare, New or Painted

Each needs a different primer, so similar houses can price differently.

Why can two quotes on the same house land thousands of dollars apart? It is usually not the paint. Ask each painter two things. Did you measure my walls, or my floor plan? Is crack, caulk and primer work in the price?

Painting also costs far less than re-stuccoing, but only while the stucco is sound. On a failed wall, new paint buys nothing.

How Often Does a Stucco House Need Repainting?

A painted stucco house in the St. Louis area needs repainting about every 7 to 10 years. That is the range HBP gives for exteriors here. Good prep and good paint push you toward 10 years. A thin coat on a dirty wall can fail much sooner.

Sun and Storms

South and west walls take the most weather, so they fade and crack first.

Shade and Water

Shady north walls stay damp. Sprinklers, downspouts and wet beds shorten paint life too.

Dark Colors

Deep, rich colors fade sooner than light ones.

Open Cracks

Missouri freeze and thaw widens any crack that was never sealed.

8 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Stucco Painter

Stucco quotes only compare fairly when every painter answers the same questions. These are the eight that matter.

Which paint are you using?And why that one for this wall?
How many coats?Is the coat count written into the quote?
What did you measure?My walls, or my house square footage?
Are cracks included?Is crack filling and texture blending in the price?
Is caulk included?New caulk at windows, doors and trim joints?
How will you wash it?At what pressure, and how long will the wall dry?
Who does the work?Your own painters, or a subcontractor?
What is covered afterward?What does your warranty cover, and what voids it?

Two answers matter most. A price built on your floor plan will under-buy paint for a textured wall. And a painter who cannot say what happens to your cracks has not priced them. On question seven: the painters on your house work for HBP Painting Contractors, not a subcontractor. On question eight: the work carries a one-year limited warranty on workmanship.

Why Homeowners Hire HBP Painting Contractors

Before you let anyone paint your house, here is what stands behind the work.

Painting Since 1983

A fourth-generation family company in O’Fallon, painting Missouri homes for over 40 years.

5.0 Star Google Rating

Customers rate HBP 5.0 stars on Google. Read what they say before you call.

Our Own Painters

The crew on your house works for HBP, not for a subcontractor.

1-Year Workmanship Warranty

If paint peels, blisters or chips because of the work, HBP repairs it for 12 months. Terms apply.

BBB Accredited, PCA Member

BBB accredited since 2012 and a member of the Painting Contractors Association. See the BBB profile.

Licensed and Insured

HBP is licensed and fully insured for the work on your home.

WE GOT YOU COVERED

Stucco Painting Across St. Louis and St. Charles County

HBP Painting Contractors paints stucco across St. Charles County, St. Louis County, the Greater St. Louis area, Jefferson County and Franklin County, from its home base in O’Fallon, MO. Not sure your street is covered? Ask when you book your free estimate, or call (636) 544-1254.

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HAVE QUESTIONS?

Stucco Painting Questions We Get

Still wondering about something? Call (636) 544-1254 and ask.

New stucco has to cure before it takes paint. Coating makers commonly ask for 28 to 30 days, and some ask for longer. Fresh stucco is highly alkaline, which means the lime in it is still active. Paint that goes on too early can look uneven, or simply fail to grip. Where the schedule cannot wait, an alkali-resistant masonry primer is the standard route.

Yes. Synthetic stucco, also called EIFS, is a thin coat over foam board rather than a solid cement wall. It drains and dries differently, and its known failure is water held behind the cladding. So the wall type gets identified before a paint is chosen. A paint that lets damp air out is generally the safer pick over the thickest coating available.

Peeling and blistering on painted stucco nearly always mean water is reaching the back of the paint. The usual sources are a missing roof-to-wall flashing detail and split caulk at a window. Splash at the base of the wall does it, and so does a sprinkler head aimed at the house. Chalky old paint does it too, because the new coat bonded to powder instead of to the wall. Repainting without fixing the water path repeats the failure on a fresh surface.

Painting stucco costs a fraction of replacing it, and on a sound wall it is the cheaper route by a wide margin. That math holds only while the stucco itself is sound. Where the wall is crumbling, hollow behind the face, or pulling away from the house, paint buys nothing. That wall needs a stucco contractor first.

Yes. Stucco holds dirt, chalk and mildew deep in its texture, and paint over any of them grips the dirt rather than the wall. The wash is done at low pressure with a wide spray. Hard pressure eats the texture and pushes water into the wall. The wall then has to dry, which can take a day or more in humid weather. HBP Painting Contractors does not sell power washing on its own. It is prep before paint.

A stucco wall drinks far more paint than flat siding of the same size. Texture raises the real surface area well above the flat measurement. Paint makers rate most exterior acrylics near 250 to 400 square feet per gallon on a smooth surface. On a heavy stucco texture the same gallon can cover only 100 to 175. That gap is why a quote built off house square footage tends to under-buy paint.

Painting stucco in Missouri is limited by temperature, not by the month. Most exterior acrylics ask for air and wall temperatures near 50 degrees. They also ask for a wall above the dew point, and about 24 dry hours after the coat goes on. Dew point is the temperature at which water settles on a cold wall. Missouri spring and fall run cleanly for that. HBP Painting Contractors schedules exterior work for the stretches when temperatures hold in a safe range and walls can dry.

Efflorescence is the white, powdery salt that works out of masonry and blooms on the face of a wall. It rarely stops a job, but it cannot be painted over. Paint laid on top of it bonds to salt and lets go. The deposit gets cleaned off and the area neutralized before any primer. Heavy bloom that keeps coming back is a sign water is moving through the wall, and that gets looked at first.