This is how you let stucco dry the right way (and as quickly as possible).

A smooth, plastered wall gives your home a fresh, uniform look, as long as you let it dry well before finishing it with paint. And it is precisely this drying that requires a lot of patience. After all, stucco consists largely of water, so an average of only 1 mm dries per day. It’s no surprise that finding a way to effectively (and efficiently) dry all that moisture is difficult. We tell you what you can do to aid the drying process and what you shouldn’t.

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, wet period? Then, it may be useful to turn up the heating little by little, to maintain the temperature slowly build. Do not immediately set the heating or an electric radiator to a high temperature, but do it step by step and increase the temperature by one degree each day. If you turn up the heat immediately, you run the risk of cracks in your stucco.

NB: never let it get hotter 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 moisture can be removed. When the room is too humid and the moisture cannot escape, there is stagnant air and mildew spots can appear on your wall.

You simply ventilate by constantly opening one or more ajar windows. Opening all windows and doors is unnecessary and even not recommended, otherwise there can be a lot of drafts, which is not conducive to the drying process.

Newly built homes are often more humid

Also be very careful if you want to have stucco done in a new house. Because these houses have been “outside” for a long time without insulation during construction, with all the rain and humidity conditions that entails, you have to deal with higher indoor humidity on average. This can cause the stucco to crack or dry unevenly.

Humidity

So pay close attention not only to the temperature, but also to the percentage of humidity in your home. You want to keep this as low as possible. To better understand this, it is useful to measure the humidity from time to time. Stucco dries optimally with a humidity between 40 and 60%, of which 40% is really ideal. Also keep in mind that the humidity outside affects the humidity inside.

Is your house very humid? Then it may help to use an electric dehumidifier, but do it not immediately after the breakup. It is best to let the stucco dry “on its own” for the first few days to prevent it from drying too quickly.

Type and thickness of stucco

Besides all these factors, there are two other things that influence the drying process. With each type of stucco, the composition with water is slightly different. Logically, this also affects the drying time. Additionally, the thickness of the stucco layer also affects how quickly it dries. As mentioned before, you can assume a drying rate of around 1mm per day.

More haste less speed

Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell in advance how long you will have to wait before the stucco dries sufficiently. It really depends on all 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. If it goes too fast, you run the risk of it not drying properly. A waste of time, money and your wall!

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