bubble on stucco wall after raining

Posted by Raymond on October 13, 2009, 9:30 pm

My house has stucco wall. Few month ago I had it painted with
elastomeric paint. Today we had our first major storm of the season,
with winds blowing the rain side ways hitting the southern wall. I am
in San Francisco bay area.

After the rain, I noticed part of the wall have lots of bubbles. Some
are small, some are larger.

Here are some pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/raychi/2009_10_13_WallBubble?authkey=Gv1sRgCNKN6tPks6KX5QE&feat=directlink

I only see this on the southern wall. The rest of the house seems ok..

Googling a bit, this indicates water has gotten behind the paint, and
are pushing the paint out?

Did I made a big mistake going with elastomeric paint on my house? Did
the painter do a bad job? What do I need to do to fix the problem?
Please help, the raining season has just started.

Thanks.

Posted by norminn@earthlink.net on October 13, 2009, 10:32 pm

Raymond wrote:

> My house has stucco wall. Few month ago I had it painted with
> elastomeric paint. Today we had our first major storm of the season,
> with winds blowing the rain side ways hitting the southern wall. I am
> in San Francisco bay area.
>
> After the rain, I noticed part of the wall have lots of bubbles. Some
> are small, some are larger.
>
> Here are some pics:
>
>

http://picasaweb.google.com/raychi/2009_10_13_WallBubble?authkey=Gv1sRgCNKN6tPks6KX5QE&feat=directlink

>
> I only see this on the southern wall. The rest of the house seems ok..
>
> Googling a bit, this indicates water has gotten behind the paint, and
> are pushing the paint out?
>
> Did I made a big mistake going with elastomeric paint on my house? Did
> the painter do a bad job? What do I need to do to fix the problem?
> Please help, the raining season has just started.
>
> Thanks.

Our condo has stucco on concrete block, Florida. When the condo was
painted, we got an estimate for elastomeric, recommended by that one
particular contractor...tremendously expensive. Ended up with acryllic
latex, one coat primer, one coat paint. In researching paint issues,
some authorities rec. using a pin to puncture small bubbles. Piercing
the bubbles allows water or air/gases to escape, leaves paint film
intact, and all MIGHT be well.

How old is the home? How many coats of paint? Stucco on what? Pressure
washed? Primed? After 2005 hurricanes in Florida, there were a number
of news articles addressing the issue of rain being forced through walls
by the wind - older homes didn't suffer as much from that particular
problem because they had more coats of paint and therefore were better
protected. Most homes in Fl. are stucco on concrete block.

Any idea of how forceful wind was? It would be worthwhile to contact
the paint company and your insurance company. When our condo was
painted by a contractor, the paint co. inspected the prep work and the
final finish. Probably not something they do for single fam. homes.

Posted by Raymond on October 14, 2009, 1:54 am

wrote:

> How old is the home? =A0How many coats of paint? =A0Stucco on what? Press=

ure

> washed? =A0Primed? After 2005 hurricanes in Florida, there were a number
> of news articles addressing the issue of rain being forced through walls
> by the wind - older homes didn't suffer as much from that particular
> problem because they had more coats of paint and therefore were better
> protected. =A0Most homes in Fl. are stucco on concrete block.
> Any idea of how forceful wind was? =A0It would be worthwhile to contact
> the paint company and your insurance company. =A0When our condo was
> painted by a contractor, the paint co. inspected the prep work and the
> final finish. =A0Probably not something they do for single fam. homes.

The house is 50 years old. The painter power washed the wall, and put
on 1 layer of kelly moore elastomeric paint. I think it has kelly
moore regular exterior paint before.

The wind was big. news was saying "Strongest October storm since 1962
pounds Bay Area".

After painting a few month ago, I realized the paint feels different.
Before, if I scratch something against the wall, I see a mark. After
painting, it scratches off the paint. I thought it was the properties
of the elastomeric paint, feels like a thin plastic layer.. could it
be it didn't stick well because only one layer and no primer? Or is
elastomeric paint suppose to behave this way?

I am going to call the company tomorrow to see what they say. At best
they may offer to repaint the southern wall. But my question is, is
elastomeric the wrong choice for stucco wall (doesn't allow it to
breath, and hence introduce molds and all kinds of crap and ***$ up my
house, or did the painter simply didn't do as good of a job, and let
water get behind it?

Will re-prime, and re-paint fix the problem? or simply re-paint with
more elastomeric paint? or just regular acryllic paint?

Thanks again.

Posted by ransley on October 14, 2009, 7:33 am

> wrote:

> > How old is the home? =A0How many coats of paint? =A0Stucco on what? Pre=

ssure

> > washed? =A0Primed? After 2005 hurricanes in Florida, there were a numbe=

> > of news articles addressing the issue of rain being forced through wall=

> > by the wind - older homes didn't suffer as much from that particular
> > problem because they had more coats of paint and therefore were better
> > protected. =A0Most homes in Fl. are stucco on concrete block.
> > Any idea of how forceful wind was? =A0It would be worthwhile to contact
> > the paint company and your insurance company. =A0When our condo was
> > painted by a contractor, the paint co. inspected the prep work and the
> > final finish. =A0Probably not something they do for single fam. homes.

> The house is 50 years old. The painter power washed the wall, and put
> on 1 layer of kelly moore elastomeric paint. I think it has kelly
> moore regular exterior paint before.
> The wind was big. news was saying "Strongest October storm since 1962
> pounds Bay Area".
> After painting a few month ago, I realized the paint feels different.
> Before, if I scratch something against the wall, I see a mark. After
> painting, it scratches off the paint. I thought it was the properties
> of the elastomeric paint, feels like a thin plastic layer.. could it
> be it didn't stick well because only one layer and no primer? Or is
> elastomeric paint suppose to behave this way?
> I am going to call the company tomorrow to see what they say. At best
> they may offer to repaint the southern wall. But my question is, is
> elastomeric the wrong choice for stucco wall (doesn't allow it to
> breath, and hence introduce molds and all kinds of crap and ***$ up my
> house, or did the painter simply didn't do as good of a job, and let
> water get behind it?
> Will re-prime, and re-paint fix the problem? or simply re-paint with
> more elastomeric paint? or just regular acryllic paint?
> Thanks again.

If new paint scratched off that was your warning something was done
wrong. What you are I think saying is it didnt bond to the old finish
and is comming right off. If thats the case then a simple repainting
wont do anything to fix the issue, removal of all loose paint is
needed. The reason has to be figured out. I would call the store that
sold you the paint, the paint co, and of course the painter who will
deny its his fault. Does Elastomeric paint breath?, is it recomended
for stucco?. For about 50$ you should get yourself a moisture meter,
everyone is going to say its your problem, you have water in the
stucco. But if it peeled off from day one id suspect its poor
aplication, as in it was put on a sun heated damp-wet surface- from
washing, and possibly it was the wrong product to use from a
breathability standpoint, [ breath ability] of the product would havbe
a tested rating by kelly moore. I will bet the stucco was wet from
powerwashing, the sun heated it just after it was painted, or the
surface was hot from the sun and it never bonded at all, and a
moisture reading now wont be excessive after a big rain.

Posted by Raymond on October 14, 2009, 5:49 pm

> If new paint scratched off that was your warning something was done
> wrong. What you are I think saying is it didnt bond to the old finish
> and is comming right off. If thats the case then a simple repainting
> wont do anything to fix the issue, removal of all loose paint is
> needed. The reason has to be figured out. I would call the store that
> sold you the paint, the paint co, and of course the painter who will
> deny its his fault. Does Elastomeric paint breath?, is it recomended
> for stucco?. For about 50$ you should get yourself a moisture meter,
> everyone is going to say its your problem, you have water in the
> stucco. But if it peeled off from day one id suspect its poor
> aplication, as in it was put on a sun heated damp-wet surface- from
> washing, and possibly it was the wrong product to use from a
> breathability standpoint, [ breath ability] of the product would havbe
> a tested rating by kelly moore. I will bet the stucco was wet from
> powerwashing, the sun heated it just after it was painted, or the
> surface was hot from the sun and it never bonded at all, and a
> moisture reading now wont be excessive after a big rain.

Not familiar with moisture meter. Is this what you are talking about?
I use it to measure moisture trapped inside the stucco?

Sonin 50218 Digital Moisture Meter
http://www.amazon.com/Sonin-50218-Digital-Moisture-Meter/dp/B001OC6CH8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1255555412&sr=1-6

The paint didn't peel off (day one or now). In fact everything looked
fine until yesterday. No cracks or peels. I didn't buy the paint, the
painter got the paint. This was painted back in July, where it's
pretty dry and warm here (~80 during the day, 60 at night). I recall
they power washed in day 1, caulked all the cracks, etc. day 2 was
prep, put plastic over windows, etc, and start painting. day 3
finished painting. I don't remember exactly whether they started
painting at end of day 1 or day 2, but the troubled wall was
definitely painted in day2 afternoon. so it should be dry, but it
might be hot from the sun.

At the time I felt like they did a pretty professional job. All the
prep work, painting and clean up afterwards is pretty good. No peeling
or cracking what so ever until the bubble on the southern wall
yesterday.

They used a spray gun, and possibily roller. One thing I noticed was
they got some water from the yard when they were painting. I wasn't
sure if it was for washing the supplies, or did they add water to the
mix. When they were wrapping up the job I did saw a bucket of dirty
water which they washed things.. IF they had mixed water into the
elastomeric paint before spraying, could that have caused it not to
stick as well?

What I meant was. I feel the elastomeric paint is a like a rubber
layer. using a sharp object, I feel like I can almost scrap it off.
This is different from regular paint, where I feel I would scrap off
the stucco instead of the paint if I tried. (My wife has put a metal
patio chair next to the wall, and it actually came in touch with the
wall when we were using it. Afterward I noticed where the back of the
chair touched the wall, the paint was damaged a tiny bit. I didn't
actually try to see if I can scrap it off with a screw driver or
such....)

I called them, they said they'll come out and take a look. Most likely
need to sand it off and re-paint...

I cut one of the bubbles open, it was water inside. I am going to try
to see how much paint I can peel off tonight from this area.. This
would give me some indication of how good it is sticking to the wall.

Raymond

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