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We recently had our townhouse complex re-painted (beige stucco, reddish-brown trim.) We took the house numbers down ahead of time, of course, and now I need to put them back up. Previously they were nailed to the wood trim, but the lack of contrast made them hard to see from the street, so we want to put them against the stucco. I need to know how to do that without screwing up the wall...

The numbers are about a foot tall, 9 inches wide, and an inch thick; they're made of lightweight wood painted to look like hammered copper, and they weigh about a pound each.

I could nail them to the stucco, but I'm concerned about cracking and also about creating holes for rain to enter the wall. I could glue them on, with Liquid Nails or similar, but I'm concerned about pulling the top layer of stucco/texture/paint off the wall.

Weather conditions: a west-facing wall in Southern California. Direct sun for 5-7 hours per day; temperatures up to 110 degrees for five months at a time; rain for two months at at time; almost never freezes.

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  • Based on other Googling, I found I had two choices: big holes through the stucco, plugged with silicone caulk and screw anchors (if I needed to hang something heavy, I definitely would go that route) or Loctite Stik'n'Seal Outdoor Adhesive. Guess which one I chose? I'm about to glue - will post back my experiences. – MT_Head May 15 '11 at 23:41
  • you can post your above comment as an answer and select it as the right answer. If it gets 3 up votes you get the "self learner" badge – allindal May 16 '11 at 16:14
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Based on other Googling, I found I had two choices: big holes through the stucco, plugged with silicone caulk and screw anchors (if I needed to hang something heavy, I definitely would go that route) or Loctite Stik'n'Seal Outdoor Adhesive.

So I Stuck'n'Sealed 'em. Note to anyone who goes this route: it seems to take FOREVER for the glue to set! If I had this to do again I would definitely invent some sort of rig to clamp them to the wall while the glue sets. Also, one of the digits ended up in a very uneven section of stucco; the lower two-thirds are flat against the wall, while the top is about 1/8th" proud. I'll definitely need to go back to that with sealer...

However, for the time being... so far so good. If anyone else has a similar problem, this is what I'd recommend.

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  • +1 I had a stucco home in Gerogia. Looks great until you want to add things to it. I used something very similar. – allindal May 16 '11 at 16:43
  • How long ago? And how is it holding up? (Thanks for the advice and the upvote, btw.) – MT_Head May 16 '11 at 16:52
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I've used two methods: a silicon like adhesive called "Lexel", and epoxy an elevator bolt to the wall. I prefer these methods to penetrating the stucco, and both methods have been in service for several years.

Elevator bolt epoxy to stucco wall for holding house numbers

With the adhesive you want to account for expansion by leaving gaps between numbers.

With the bolts, hold them in place with tape while the stucco cures. They weigh a lot less than the numbers, and are not hard to keep from sliding.

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  • If I have to do this again at some point, I'll definitely try the bolts. – MT_Head Jan 5 '14 at 5:39

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