Stucco helps to keep your house cool in the summer for the same reasons it helps to keep your house warm in the winter: stucco insulates. One coating of stucco by itself is not a great insulator, even though it is better than many other exterior finishes like brick.
However, when you combine several layers of stucco, then it is like a concrete shell or envelope for your building. In addition, any spaces filled with air also help the insulative qualities. When you combine air spaces, with other layers like wood or polystyrene, then stucco, you wind up with an excellent insulative barrier for your exterior.
Air spaces in the exterior cladding help to keep your house warm or cool for the same reasons that down jackets are warm. The feathers don’t keep you warm, the air between the feathers does.
Today, stucco is applied as part of several layers applied to your exterior. It’s an exterior system of cladding. These layers work together to prevent the transfer of heat. So, in the summer an insulating system keeps the hot air outside while keeping the cool air inside, and in the winter, the system keeps the warm air inside preventing heat loss to the outside.
This is what an R-Value means. R-Value indicates a material’s resistance to the conduction of heat. The higher an R-Value, the better a material is at resisting the conduction of heat. When stucco is combined with other materials in layers, it has an R-Value that matches or beats other exterior cladding materials. Stucco also has one other big advantage: it is fire resistant. Stucco is an excellent fire retardant material in addition to being good at insulation.
Choice Stucco Ltd. provides quality stucco application and repair to residential, strata, and commercial properties throughout the greater-Vancouver area. If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk to us about stucco, please call us at (604) 614-7552.
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