• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Adding "stucco" to ACM?

Andy D

Active Member
I have a project where we're redoing a old sign with a stucco finish.
It had a bunch of small cast aluminum letters that we removed and refinished.
The stucco is just crumbling when we tried to re-install, along with other issues.
Our work around is paint & texturize a 6mm sheet of ACM and mount that to the sign.
The customer knows we might not be able to get the texture to a perfect match of the stucco, it might only
be grit added to the paint, but I told her that I would look into it.

Any suggestions of a product that would adhere properly to ACM, accept paint & I could get a flat stucco look?
 

Billct2

Active Member
Are you only replacing the area behind the letters and the rest of the sign will remain the stucco it is?
If that's the case I would consider something completely different so matching isn't an issue and
it looks like it was designed to have a contrasting panel behind the letters
 

Andy D

Active Member
Are you only replacing the area behind the letters and the rest of the sign will remain the stucco it is?
If that's the case I would consider something completely different so matching isn't an issue and
it looks like it was designed to have a contrasting panel behind the letters
I agree 100%, that's what I suggested, but this is for a large University and it had to go through three departments just to do this....
 

Andy D

Active Member
I was thinking of rolling on some type of paint-able construction adhesive & kind of working with it using a putty knife... I might do a sample
piece and see how that works...
 

Zendavor Signs

Mmmmm....signs
If you use Matthews paints, the Suede additive gives a gritty finish. Not nearly as textured as Stucco, but it is a very durable solution for painting aluminum.
 

ChaseO

Premium Subscriber
I bet dryvit brand would stick to it, and you can either buy it as a certain color, or paint it. They also have different textures. Anytime I am using it, I go to my local stucco installer and get a bucket of their leftovers that they eventually throw away.
 

Moze

Active Member
My suggestion as well - Dryvit. Their customer service should be able to tell you if it will work well on ACM.
 

visual800

Active Member
I would rather see you use like an .063 aluminum than acm. you can also add playsand to paint and that way control the amount of texture yourself
 

Evan Gillette

New Member
Another option might be coastal tfs-45, its designed to go straight onto hdu so I don't know if it would grab acp or aluminum without a good bonding primer applied. From the video it looks like you could get whatever finish you want from it. Actually, adding a 1/2" panel of hdu attached to the sign might be the best way to go here, texture and blend/seal the transition and it would look original and intentional like a raised panel for the lettering. Just a thought to consider.

https://precisionboard.com/products/texture-coating/
 

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
But a Hopper Kit from Harbour Freight. See attached photo.
Lightly sand ACM then add a good outdoor white primer to a half or a full bag of concrete.
Mix it well.
Use dry wall mud for indoor use.
Add it to the hopper, stand back and spray the sheet of ACM to your liking. After the mixture starts to set up you can lightly drag a trowl across it to simulate the stucco texture, or in most cases you can leave it like it is.
The kit comes with four nozzles from fine to massive clumps.
I did this process years back on a wall using a stencil then spraying it then removing the stencil.
I have used this kit multiple times and every time I hit a HOMERUN.
 

Attachments

  • 20210331_195626.jpg
    20210331_195626.jpg
    3.7 MB · Views: 153

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
This post has inspired me to redo a bathroom in a rental property I have.
Two walls are smooth and two walls are textured. They will all look alike by Saturday afternoon.
Thanks S101
 

Andy D

Active Member
Oh I just remembered the worst 'faux stucco' process ever. I've only been told by an employee that their old boss would do this, never seen it done.
They would take 2" thick styrofoam, glue it to a wooden frame, then shoot the styro with regular old matthews primer. The primer would eat away at the styrofoam, but would dry and accept paint afterwards. The end result was very similar to stucco, and they'd pin mount gemini letters to it and go home.
That sound genius to me... What did you not like about it?
I'm not sure what "pin mount" means, is that using the threaded studs?
 
Top