first stucco floor

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My first stucco shower and first stucco floor.


Finished walls in Bathroom resemble a hand troweled ceramic tile. This is my first stucco shower and first stucco floor. I hope to do plenty more in the future.	The wall at the edge of the tub has a stone-like texture and has a solid feel, when one is getting out of the tub. Wall is intentionally plastered out of plumb not only for water run-off but for the illusion it is supporting weight.

Shower floor has a stone like finish, and is sculptured for water to run down the drain.	Another view of the walls. Stucco showers have a seamless look, in contrast to ceramic tile and the glued on square look.
	Stucco is used here for thermal mass in this radiant heat floor. 1" thick cement plaster isn't going anywhere. The finish coat is white portland cement and sand colored with paint colorants. The use of acrylic additives makes all this possible.

Floor is straightened with a 6 foot rod and mahogany rods that Jim made for me in his shop. The brown coat is left nice and rough for the finish coat.	Scratch coat on metal lath.

On the technical side:
I wanted to do my floor different from the mud base floors I have seen done for ceramic tile.I used self furring lath made
for stucco.
Self furring lath has dimples that hold the lath away from the wall (or in this case the floor). This ensures the lath is well embedded for reinforcing strength, instead of dumping mortar on flat lath.
A scratch coat was applyed to squish mortar real good under the lath, avoiding air pockets and to penetrate
below the lath for reinforcing strength.
The floor is the scored for a good bond for the brown coat. Brown coat is applied after the scratch coat sets
for two days.
The trade off in quality is this: Usually a mud floor is done with one batch of real stiff mortar. The weak link in my method
is the bond between the brown coat and the scratch coat.
The strong link is the crack resistence and the good tension strength offered by the lath.
You would have to hit this floor with a mighty big sledge hammer to knock the brown coat loose from the scratch
coat. I'll take the increased tension strength any day.
More crack resistance comes from the tons of acrylics I used in the two finish coats. I went back
six weeks later and there isn't a single teeny crack.

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