Scratch, brown and finish coat bags, mesh and cost for a three-coat stucco wall.
Estimates are planning aids, not a professional quote. Double-check quantities and product coverage — and any local code or permit requirements — before you buy.
⚠ Two layers of weather-resistive barrier and self-furring metal netting are code-required behind cement plaster over wood framing — this is the most common point of water-intrusion failure when it's skipped or shortcut.
⚠ Let the scratch coat cure at least 48 hours before floating the brown coat, and let the brown coat cure 7+ days before the finish coat — rushing the cure schedule is what causes stucco to crack and craze.
⚠ Reinforce all four corners of every window and door with cornerite before the base coat goes on — stress cracks radiate from unreinforced opening corners more than from anywhere else on the wall.
| Concrete & Footings | $265–$359 |
| Finishing & Sealant | $247–$334 |
| Membrane & Fabric | $122–$166 |
| Connectors & Brackets | $70–$94 |
| Drainage | $44–$60 |
| Siding & Trim | $12–$16 |
| Fasteners & Hardware | $9–$13 |
| Total | $769–$1,041 |
Excludes tools, delivery, tax and permit fees. Labor not included — this is a DIY materials estimate.
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About this calculator
Stucco goes on in three coats — a scratch coat scored to key the next layer, a leveling brown coat, and a textured, colored finish coat — over metal or fiberglass netting on wood framing, or bonded straight onto masonry. Because it's sold in 94 lb bags and 5-gallon pails rather than by the square foot, getting the count right for each coat separately is the part most people guess wrong. Enter your wall size, finish type and texture, and this calculator returns bag and pail counts for every coat plus the reinforcement underneath.
Choose a pre-mixed acrylic finish sold by the pail, or a traditional cement finish sold by the bag with an optional integral color pigment, then pick a fine, medium or heavy texture — dash and lace textures build up more material than a smooth sand float, and the finish quantity scales with that choice. It also sizes control joints for long runs, cornerite reinforcement at every window and door, and a weep screed at the base so trapped moisture has somewhere to drain.
Step by step
A step-by-step walkthrough to go with your plan above. Follow the product instructions and any local code or permit requirements as you work.
Over open studs, staple up two layers of weather-resistive barrier and fasten self-furring galvanized netting through the sheathing into the studs. Over existing masonry, clean and scarify the surface and brush on a bonding agent.
Level and fasten a weep screed along the base of the wall and casing bead at any control joint locations before any coat goes on — retrofitting these after the fact means cutting back finished plaster.
Trowel the scratch coat over the netting at about 3/8 inch, then score it horizontally while still wet so the brown coat has texture to key into. Let it cure at least 48 hours.
Apply the brown coat and float it flat and true with a darby or rod — this is the coat that actually sets the wall's final plane. Let it cure roughly a week before finishing.
Mix the finish coat to a consistent color and consistency — for a cement finish, batch enough at once with the same pigment ratio so a color shift doesn't show mid-wall.
Trowel on the thin finish coat and work it immediately with a texture float — sand-float for a fine finish, or a dash brush or trowel-and-float pass for a heavier dash or lace texture.
Keep the finish coat lightly damp for the first day or two if temperatures are hot and dry, then let it cure fully before pressure-washing, planting, or anything else that can splash or abrade the surface.
Equip the job
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Keep planning
Concrete & Masonry
Answers
Multiply wall length by height for the gross area, subtract windows and doors, and the remaining net area is what each of the three coats has to cover. Scratch and brown coats each need their own bag count since they're separate passes at roughly 3/8 inch, and the finish coat is priced separately by the bag or pail with its own coverage rate. This calculator does all three conversions and rounds each up to whole bags or pails, since that's the smallest unit you can actually buy.
The scratch coat is the first pass over the netting, scored horizontally while wet so the next coat has something to grip. The brown coat goes on once the scratch coat has cured, floated flat and true to set the wall's final plane — this is the coat that actually levels the wall. The finish coat is the thin, colored, textured top layer everyone sees; it goes on last, after the brown coat has cured for about a week, and it's the only coat where texture and color actually matter.
Over a wood-framed wall with sheathing, yes — two layers of weather-resistive barrier and self-furring galvanized netting fastened through the sheathing into the studs are the code-required substrate the scratch coat bonds to. Skipping either layer is a common cause of trapped moisture and cracking behind the plaster. Over sound existing masonry or concrete you can skip both and use an acrylic bonding agent instead, since the base coat can key directly into a scarified masonry surface.
Acrylic finish comes pre-mixed and pre-colored in a pail, resists cracking a little better because it stays flexible, and is the more common choice on new work. Traditional cement finish is mixed from a bag on site, colored with an integral pigment if you want it tinted, and gives the older, more matte look many stucco purists prefer, but it's less forgiving of hairline cracking. Both use the same scratch and brown coats underneath — the choice only changes the top layer.
More than people expect. A fine sand-float finish is troweled nearly flat and uses close to the base coverage rate, while a medium dash or heavy lace/Santa Fe texture is thrown or worked up in peaks and valleys that eat noticeably more material per square foot to build the same visual depth. This calculator scales the finish coat quantity by texture so a heavy texture doesn't run you short mid-wall.
Yes, on any run of meaningful length. Portland cement plaster shrinks slightly as it cures, and without a control joint to absorb that movement the wall finds its own crack line instead — usually right off a window or door corner. Manufacturer guidance sizes joints to a maximum panel area and aspect ratio; this calculator uses a simplified spacing rule as a starting point, so confirm the exact layout against your local code before you set the beads.