Hello, I am in the middle of a rehab project. On the exterior, I am planning on replacing/repairing/overlaying stucco. One contractor's recommendation is to bust off the loose stucco, leaving the good stucco. Then cover the entire wall with a 1/4" hardiboard (shimming the areas where the old stucco was removed to make the surface level).... Then covering with a metal mesh. Then skim coat. Then the final coat. The existing stucco is on wood lath. It seems like a sound plan to me. My questions are: - has anyone done this? - Would leaving the old stucco leave too much weight? It almost seems like it would be easier to remove the old stucco. Then install the hardiboard. Not because of the weight concern, but the effort of trying to screw into the stucco. That's a lot of pilot holes!!
