Howdy folks Kirk and Jason here, with Kirk Giordano plastering today when I asked her
a question that I get asked quite often with and well it's in regards to a cold joint this
is a cold joint a cold joint means that you didn't finish the plaster at the end of the
wall generally a question I get once a week twice a week as they'll say gee Kirk I'm just doing the
job all by myself bad move guys you need two guys that do plastering one to mix they want to put it
on well anyway they'll say I'm just doing the job by myself where could I stop you stop from
corner to corner otherwise you get a cold joint if you're gonna pay a wall it's not too important but
if you're gonna do a color coat maintenance-free integrated color finish a cold joint will show
every time so what I got here is I just did a float finish but I'm gonna show you guys a
little bit about hydration how to hydrate a wall especially if you're doing cinder block this was
supposed to be a cinder block wall anyway that's another story it just built a fence and stuccos
on the other side too what this is guys you saw there's no mushrooming thing this is called a key
it's say if you're right here this is RHIB laughs and when you plaster through the rib lath or if
you have interior walls say your house was built between 1880 and 1940 before they well sheet rocks
came out around 1950 but if you have old wood laughs this is how it plastered here it goes
through those keys and it mushrooms out that's how these are called keys so I'm going to use that and
show you and use these keys right here to show you this cold joint it's kind of going all over the
place but here's the thing guys when you plaster a wall you got a wet it now how hot is it here it's
we're in the summertime it's 90 degrees okay so you've got a hot wall what you do is you hose it
down you hydrate it and see for this wall right here I'm gonna finish this right here to prove
a point so what I want to do is I just want to wet it I want to wet it a little bit just so that
the stucco won't adhere and suck in too fast if it sucks in too fast then I can't put my base I
can't put my follow-up coat on this one right here what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna hydrate this right
now hydrate means when you do the scratch coat you hydrate when you do the brown coat you hydrate you
just soak it how much is when you're hydrating the wall say it just got stuck oh you're gonna do this
you're gonna hydrate it and let it let the water just come down let it soak into it right here I'm
hydrating this wall right here and I'm letting this is an excess of water meaning if I go to put
my stucco on this it's not going to set very well because it's an excess but I'm starting here first
so I wet this then I keep wetting this so when I get ready to do this wall it's already hydrated
anyhow this this is the cold joint this is what I'm bit the question I was originally asked I'm
going all over the place I do tend to ramble guys but anyway to answer that question of cold joints
now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put my next coat on right here now me guy you might you might
say try to use this a little big but I recommend for you guys just a 16 this is a 20-inch it is
kind of hard to grip it but I'm used to it and it makes my job go better it's I don't like to keep
dipping in and spinning my wheels anyhow back to the area of what I'm trying to explain here cold
joint so if you haven't if you're doing a house you don't want to leave a whole bunch of cold
joints all right one time used to do arbitration and I went out to look at a house and this is like
a ten million dollar house way back back maybe I guess 15 years ago when I used to do a lot
of that arbitration stuff I don't do it anymore because what I be doing is going against my fellow
plasterer I had told the arbitrator if you want me to arbitrate it you bring the guy who did the
stucco with you because I don't feel comfortable talking about anybody's work unless they're there
anyhow getting back to this what I'll do is I'll put the stucco on like right here now to the
reason I'm doing this guy's too is because I did a arbitration job I'd say about 15 years ago and
the very front of the house the very front the guy had a at a front door possibly like a $5000
front door and right above the front entrance of the house there was a cold joint and the guy
color-coded it and you could see the outline of where they stopped it was just like this it was
plain as day you could see that transition and so the fella who hired me to do the arbitration
said Kirk how come and I said well obviously the door was put in then they changed the door and
put something else in and the contractor didn't know that he should have getting their staple
sticking out right here so anyway the contractor didn't know that he should have addressed that
differently meaning before he did his color coat he should have skin coated that wall or applied
a bonding agent that would eliminated this this cold joint so now that this is on right here guys
I'm gonna let that set because it's not ready to float and I'm gonna float it here I'll show
you on this wall right here that I I've already well hydrated it so that stays right there how to
skin it okay this is already high it's good enough for a skim coat so what I'm doing to
show you steel trowel finish hard steel trowel finish then I'll show you how to float it okay
get high I think I have enough mud here to do this one square and what I'm just using regular
Portland cement two guys Portland cement mix it put three times as much sand to every one
part of stucco and you're set add this this right here where the key is it's a little inconsistent
meaning it's an inch up here it's a half inch here it's it's a little weird but the backside
wasn't what was the main concern when doing this wall come on I think I have just about enough and
I'll show you a steel trowel finish guys and then I'll show you how to stucco or float it like we
did there all right guys we've got those corners filled in now what I'm doing is because I use that
pull trial it's a swim pool child doesn't doesn't get the corners very very well so I'll just use
it usually keep a square tau by the way this child isn't a complete radius it's straight here
and then an arc only at the ends this is called swim pull not swimming pool why I don't know but
anyway okay here's a steel child finish guys and take your trowel and wet it if this child is not
wet guys you cannot do a steel child finish let's steel child finish whether it's inside or outside
you've got to have water on your trowel guys no water gonna do it well so all I'm doing is I'm
coming down and if I was to go down with no water what would happen it would just pull the cement
right off so keep your trowel wet if you're gonna do inside or outside and just take it what you're
trying to do is you're using the the trouser rod a straight edge a t-bar so you want to make the
walls just straight as possible if that's what you want or if you're from the UK over there
they have more old-world finishes where they're not troubled by a perfect wall back I like that
to where we don't have to go extreme perfection likes a tile is gonna go on it anyway there's a
steel chop finish guys and again how do you get a still child finish unless you keep this trowel wet
guys you're not gonna be able to do it you know I can't do it I don't know anybody who can do it you
got to have a wet trowel and you just your skin it that's it yes give it keep that trial wet and
we'll this hairline crack because of the instance doubtful if it's on a wall that's lath and plaster
say a house and it's made a wood that house moves so they will crack or hairline but it's nothing
say a color coat will cover or a good quality primer and paint such as like Sherwin Williams
you if you if this got a hairline crack you just paint it guys and it goes away anyway this is
called a steel trowel finish I'm gonna get back to my cold joint what I was originally showing
you guys okay so you got a cold joint you don't want a cold joint guys what you want to do is go
from corner to corner but since I've been asked this question so often I'll tag this video cold
joint what's a cold joint that's a cold joint and so what we're gonna do is I'm gonna take the new
stucco and bring it into the existing stucco and feather it in and I'm pretty good at feathering in
good as the next guy but still a cold joint if you go to color code it which a lot of newer homes get
a lot of new homes get color kote maintenance-free integrated color finishes the older homes they're
usually painted it's kind of like a weep screed people called me and say hey should I put a weep
screed on my house it doesn't have one half the world dozen guys weep screens weren't code until
1975 in fact we didn't start putting them on to about 1980 so few things guys color coats
are not actually code you don't have to do a color coat maintenance-free finish but if you are doing
a color coat maintenance-free finish make certain that you don't have what I just showed you that's
a cold joint and it doesn't matter whether or not you're doing a cinderblock wall a house
anything interior chimney whatever you don't want a cold joint you want to finish it just
like that okay so that's this is what is called fixing a cold joint but again if a color coat
finish were to be applied over this this joint would bleed right through it every single time
there's no way around it unless you were to take primer say weld creep or quick creep by quikrete
bonding agent they sell out Home Depot you would go over this entire thing once or twice now when
you color coat over this you won't see that cold joint but if you apply maintenance for your color
coat finish that's colored stucco like a brick you will see it so there you go with a cold cold
joint as far as how do you get a float finish this is a well I call it a float because I use
the flow there's a sand finish guys it's the sand we bring the aggregate or the sand out what you
do over you get yourself a sponge float there's a sponge floating yeah they come in all colors and
you just wet it a little bit and this will bring the aggregate out now depending on if you want it
super heavy lot of water if you want it superfine less water so just for the sake of showing you
guys this I'm gonna put it I'm not gonna dip this in the water bucket any more because I
want to prove a point here okay now I just want a really fine San finish and this is just what
straight straight stucco there's no color coding here it's just straight stucco that's pretty fine
now if I wanted to make it heavy like this and this so-called fence here this is the property
of another fella he said Kirk can you give me a satin finish I said sure that's a fine sand finish
yours if you want it heavier add more water all I'm gonna do is add a little bit more water guys
that's extra water and that's a heavier sand finish anyway guys I thought I'd point out what a
cold joint is because I have the opportunity here and I thought while I'm on that same topic I'd
show you what it looks like the inside of walls when they're keyed in say like button board in
1955 or the wood laughs in the early 1900's it Keys through it and that's how it adhere
okay guys we thought we would show you the final product on the other side the guy came home and
he says hey man what's with all this Wireless showing that's your finish brother enjoy it I
said I've just kid men we end up floating all of these just to prove a point to show you guys what
it would look like you can play tic-tac-toe again anyway you can see kind of how this
this structures built is it solid yeah how long will it last you know that last me that's the
fact you figure the stucco will last forever I mean that's not going anywhere the ribbed lath
will last forever what do this pressure-treated more by fours how long do they last I think like
2025 years but if you paint this every 10 years and I'm talking about a good quality primer and
paint like Sherwin Williams this thing to last a thousand years every 10 feet when T years you
painted with Sherwin Williams for example it lasts forever you never have to have paint it
again we decided we would bring the truck around the blow rather than lift those buckets because
we're talking 30-40 bucket carry over here to do just this finish here anyway it looks good you
guys decide on what kind of wall you want this is just an alternative wall because here's a buddy of
mine ease that curve rather than coat both sides is there another way there's about 50 ways guys
maybe a hundred a thousand ways to do it there's just another way to do it anyway my name is Kirk
Jason on the camera as usual we thank you guys for watching let's see you guys on the next one by the
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