In using stucco on a frame structure, first cover the surface with two thicknesses of roofing paper. Next put on furring strips about one foot apart; and on these fasten wire lathing. (There are several kinds, any of which are good.) Apply the scratch coat
inch thick, and press it partly through the openings in the lath, rough ing the surface with a stick or trowel. Allow this to set well, and apply the finishing coat
inch to 1 inch thick. This coat can be put on and smoothed with a wooden float, or it can be thrown on with a trowel or large stiff-fibered brush, if a spatter-dash finish is desired. A pebble-dash finish may be obtained with a final coat of one part Portland cement, three parts coarse sand and pebbles not over
inch in diameter, thrown on with a trowel.
Eight or nine cuts to the inch with a hammer, also makes a good finish. The surface also may be "picked" with a brush hammer. To do this and produce any thing like good results, the forms must be re moved before the concrete has had its final set, and the surface gone over with a wire or stiff bamboo brush. Brushes of this kind will remove the skill or scale of cement, and leave the stones of the aggregates exposed in their natural color. For the producing of good effects in this finish, aggregates of varying color should be used.
Albert Moyer gives this suggestion for securing an artistic sur face: "In using concrete for country residences, I wish the reader to eliminate from his mind all thought of concrete such as he sees about him in retaining walls, bridge abutments, and other work where concrete has been employed, but to try to picture a concrete made of selected ma terials, the moulds or forms taken off as soon as possible while the concrete is yet green, the surface scrubbed with a scrubbing brush, or, if the concrete is too stiff, with a wire brush, water being sprayed on with a hose, thus removing all the mortar which has come to the surface, and exposing the larger pieces of aggregates—in fact, throwing them slightly in relief, giving a rough surface of accidentally distributed colored stones.
"As the walls are erected in different courses, the lower courses are from necessity stained by surplus water running down from the upper forms. This is very readily removed by washing off the walls after the house is completed with commercial muriatic acid, 4 to 6 parts water, which further brightens up the different particles of stone and removes any cement stain that may be on the outside surface of the stone or on the mortar which bonds the stones together." Painting the Surface. In some localities a popular method of finish, as well as the cheapest, is to paint the surface with cement mortar. There is danger, however, in this method, of marring the effect by drippings if the work is done carelessly.
Pleasing effects are produced by the use of aggregates of uni form color, like crushed red stone or blue stone. The red stone gives a pinkish shade to the wall in conjunction with the cement. If a brush is used before the concrete is dry or set, these colored aggregates can be made to stand out in relief.