i can get the exact AC unit picture tonight but this is a bedroom AC unit on the house . Im getting new mini splits installed so need to fill in the one hole in my kitchen very quickly because they are installing the outside unit right in front of that wall unit in 2 weeks and i fear there wont be enough room for a pro to get in there after the install. so i want to try a DIY solution. i'm only concerned with finishing off the exterior at this point. the interior will be for another post when i get that AC unit pulled out.

its just permastone then cinderblock then the kitchen wall. only thing i can think of myself is build a 2x4 frame and put stucco patch on top of some plywood thats on the 2x4 frame. i know it will be a large 'box' from the outside but i doubt theres any way a pro could even match the permastone and thankfully kitchen faces the rear of the house so really dont have to make it pretty. also its under a window so i dont think i want a window or glass block there . and the house has zero wall insulation so its not like i need to add any lol

 

First step. Get the ac out. Break some of the stone back enough that there is a rough edge in the permastone. you don’t want a neat straight edge. if you indeed have block then you need to add some support to hold some metal lath. This can be some studs or some channels or whatever you can figure how to attach or wedge into the cores of the blocks. leave this recessed at least an inch from the finished face, more is better. Install some building paper over the studs. Oh, it would be a good idea to put some insulation in the void but you can do that when you do the inside. Now depending on how you get your structure installed you might not be able to use nails to hold the lath. Get some diamond mesh metal lath and screw it or wire tie it to the supports. Use the bagged stucco brown coat mixture. it’s easier to use premixed mortar than get sand cement and lime to do your own. now maybe you can find some Permastone. maybe it is still made and applied in your market. if so they can tell you how to apply it but I think you will have to do it yourself. For the first coat of stucco apply it so it fills the lath. Oh I forgot top tell you how to orient the lath. The diamonds go so the widest part is horizontal and orient it so when you rub your hand up and down there is more friction rubbing up. Broom or rake or somehow rough up your scratch coat enough that the next coat will bond. After your scratch coat has set and dried a day or so put on another coat and screed it off flat and even with the face of the block, not your stone but the block. I am tired writing. I’ll tell you how to simulate the stone in a later post. You have a few ay’s work to do before you are ready to do that anyway.

 

CONTINUED

There are two ways to make Permastone and its competitors. it looks like yours was applied wet. I won’t go into how that is done but I will tell you how to come close to replicating it only without the color.
That last coat of mortar you applied: I should have told you to leave it straight and flat but rough enough that a third coat will bond to it. So mix up some more mortar and apply a coat then immediately a put on more in an irregular way so that there are humps and bumps and dips and valleys in it. Let that firm up a bit then here is how you make it look like stone. You will need a stick about six inches long and the same thickness in one dimension as the thickness of the joints in the stone. To this screw or wire tie or in some way attach a loop of sheet metal. This can be from a tin can or almost anything. Aluminum is too soft but some kind of steel . Cut this long enough that you can form a loop about an inch long at the end of the stick and still have an inch or so to attach on each side of your stick. This is your joint cutter. use a straight stick that spans from one side of your opening to the other from one joint to the next. Now study the pattern in the existing and cut joints through your last coat of mortar so they are like the existing. Notice that not all of the horizontal joints go clear across Do it like that in diffrerent widths of stone. Once you have the horizontal joints cut use a level and cut some vertical joints. I don’t have my cutter handy to put up a picture. maybe I can find a link to a picture of one.

Now once your joints are cut you might want to take a fine soft bustle paint brush and wet it well and just kind of soften the edges of your stone a bit to resemble the existing. Now all you have to do is put in the color. Use paint for this or I guess you could mix up a slurry of cement and water and color and use that and put in the color like the rest of the stone. Do this sparingly.

This all sounds more complicated than it is. Google something like “simulated brick in stucco” and there are probably some videos on how to make stucco look like brick. The principle is the same for you only you have to apply the last coat of mortar in humps and bumps and piles and dips and valleys to look like the pitch of the stone.

Please let us know how you get along. And if you have more questions ask here.


make stucco look like brick

https://homesteady.com/13411514/how-...ook-like-brick

 

thanks for the extreme detail. ill have to do that this weekend unless my hvac guy can put the condenser somewhere else. due to other changes inside the house hes going to come out later this week for a 2nd look at overall design.

i did see some premix this weekend when looking around the big box websites so that would make it easier

 

Do you have a report for us?

 

turns out where he wanted to install the outdoor unit only blocks the existing AC a bit. so I/someone else... can deal with pulling the AC out and patching the hole later. i do think based on the description above its beyond my doing