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- Storm-Ready Design > Episode 7: Storm-Ready Stucco Paint, Foyer Tile, and Textured Finishes
Applying Durable Exterior Paint Formulated for a Subtropical Climate
Project: Storm-Ready Design, Episode 7, Part 1
Bob joins Tim McLaughlin from Color Wheel Paints and Coatings as the crew applies the Flex Lox Masonry Coating System to the exterior of the house. Flex Lox protects masonry and stucco finishes from water infiltration through cracks and stands up to South Florida’s damaging sun, heat, wind, and humidity. The crew sprays a finish coat over the primed surface to 10mil thick and wet rolls it to fill in the stucco. The Flex Lox dries to 5mil thick and expands to cover hairline cracks that might lead to water penetration from wind-driven rain. On the inside, Bob watches as Pocelanosa tile is installed in the entry foyer. Fired for maximum durability with an oxidized look, these tiles are contemporary in styling, offset to give a staggered pattern, and framed with small glass tiles in shades of stone and metal. In the bedroom, Doug Frueh of West Coast Drywall sprays the DensArmor fiberglass-faced walls with Magnum, a dry powder mix that is blended with water and sprayed on with an airless sprayer. The compound is quickly troweled before it sets to give a textured look to interior walls. Jim Trottier of RBP Trim installs eight foot pre-hung doors throughout the Punta Gorda home.
- Part 1: Applying Durable Exterior Paint Formulated for a Subtropical Climate
- Jim McLaughlin from Color Wheel Paints and Coatings is with Bob as the house is sprayed with its finish coat of the Flex Lox Masonry Coating System. McLaughlin explains how a subtropical climate like South Florida's degrades a paint surface with its heat, sun, and damaging UV rays, forcing it to crack and peel. Bob watches as the crew sprays on the terra cotta colored Flex Lox finish coat over a lighter primer. McLaughlin explains that using a lighter shade underneath helps the crew to avoid skips and maintain solid coverage across the surface. The crew uses a sprayer set at 2,000 psi (pounds per square inch) to apply a heavy finish coat that is wet rolled to push the paint into the nooks and crannies of the heavily textured surface. Flex Lox is a hybrid latex and elastomeric surface coating that stretches to cover surface cracks and voids. McLaughlin uses a water force test to show how the Flex Lox protects against water infiltration with wind-driven rain. McLaughlin uses a block of stucco with two rilem tubes protruding and a hairline crack running across its face. The left side is painted with a traditional 3 mil thick coat of latex acrylic paint. The right side is covered with Flex Lox built up to 8 mils thick. When the water is poured into the tubes its force is equal to that of rain hitting the surface at 88 miles per hour. The water immediately breaks through the crack under the latex paint but does not break through the Flex Lox. McLaughlin also shows Bob the tool that is used to measure the thickness of each coat at application. With the Flex Lox system, the goal is to apply the finish coat to 10 mils thick and let it dry to 5 mils.
- Part 2: Laying Porcelain Oxidized-Look Tiles
- Part 3: Applying a Textured Finish to the Drywall Interior Walls
When hurricanes strike again and again, as they did in Florida in 2004, the effects are devastating. Bob Vila and crew work to completely rebuild a damaged house, using new standards for storm-ready housing. Along the way, Bob investigates a home's vulnerabilities in extreme weather and learns why some building systems fail and others succeed.
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