A sleek, plastered wall gives your home a fresh and even look, provided you let it dry well before you finish it with paint. And it is precisely that drying that takes a lot of patience. After all, stucco consists largely of water, so that an average of only 1 mm dries per day. It is not surprising that it is difficult to find a way to dry all that moisture in an effective (and efficient) way. We explain what you can do to promote the drying process and what you should not do.
Temperature
The ideal temperature for stucco to dry is approx 20 degrees Celsius. Ideally, you plaster in the right season, so that the ambient temperature is already close to 20 degrees. But logically this cannot always be taken into account. Did you have the wall plastered during a cold and damp period? Then it can help to turn up the heating little by little, to keep the temperature slowly to build. Do not set the heating or an electric heater to a high temperature immediately, but do this step by step and increase the temperature by one degree every day. If you do turn the heating up immediately, you run the risk of cracks in your stucco.
NB: never let it get warmer than 22 degrees in the room. Then the stucco dries too quickly, which can cause cracks.
Ventilation
It is also important to always ventilate the room well, even in winter, so that the moisture can be removed. When the room is too humid and the moisture cannot escape, there is stagnant air and mold spots can appear on your wall.
You simply ventilate by constantly opening one or more windows ajar. Opening all windows and doors is unnecessary and even inadvisable, otherwise there can be a lot of draughts, which is not conducive to the drying process.
Newly built homes often damper
Also take extra care if you want to have stucco done in a new-build home. Because these houses have been ‘outside’ for a long time without insulation during construction, with all the rain and damp conditions that entails, you have to deal with a higher indoor humidity on average. This can cause cracks to appear or the stucco to dry unevenly.
Humidity
So pay close attention not only to the temperature, but also to the moisture percentage in your home. You want to keep this as low as possible. To gain insight into this, it is useful to measure the humidity from time to time. Stucco dries optimally with a humidity between 40 and 60 percent, of which 40 percent is really ideal. Also keep in mind that the humidity outside affects the humidity inside.
Is your house very humid? Then it can help to use an electric dehumidifier, but do this not immediately after breaking. It’s best to let the stucco dry “on its own” for the first few days to prevent it from setting too quickly.
Type and thickness of stucco
In addition to all those factors, there are two more things that influence the drying process. With every type of stucco, the composition with water is slightly different. Logically, this also affects the drying time. In addition, the thickness of the stucco layer also affects how quickly it dries. As mentioned earlier, you can assume a drying speed of approximately 1 mm per day.
More haste less speed
Unfortunately, it is not possible to say in advance how long you will have to wait before the stucco has dried sufficiently. This really depends on all of the factors mentioned. But the process can certainly be accelerated by creating the optimal conditions. But remember that patience is a virtue in this case too. After all, if it goes too fast, you run the risk of it drying up incorrectly. A waste of your time, money and your wall!
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2023-04-30 05:08:08
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