What colour pigments are available for integral stucco colour in Ottawa?

Integral colour — pigment mixed directly into the stucco rather than painted on after — gives you a finish that won't peel, chip, or need repainting. It's the approach most professional stucco applicators in Ottawa recommend for long-term, low-maintenance results.

Pigment Options and What Works in Ottawa

Iron oxide pigments are the workhorse of integral stucco colour. They produce the earth tones that dominate Ottawa's residential stucco palette: warm beiges, sandstones, terracottas, soft browns, and muted reds. Iron oxides are extremely UV-stable (they won't fade meaningfully over decades), chemically compatible with portland cement, and affordable. They account for roughly 80% of all integral stucco colour used in Ottawa.

Available colour families:

• Whites and creams: Titanium dioxide pigment, or simply using white portland cement with light-coloured sand. The classic Ottawa stucco look — clean, bright, pairs well with any trim colour.- Beiges and buffs: Iron oxide yellows blended with the natural grey of standard cement. The most popular choice in Ottawa by far — neighbourhoods like Westboro, Alta Vista, and Barrhaven are full of buff-coloured stucco homes.- Browns and sandstones: Iron oxide browns in varying concentrations. Warm, natural, and forgiving of minor colour variation between batches.- Terracottas and reds: Iron oxide reds. Bold and attractive, though they show repairs more readily than lighter colours.- Greys and charcoals: Carbon black or iron oxide black pigments at low concentrations. Increasingly popular on contemporary Ottawa builds, especially in Westboro and Hintonburg infill projects.- Greens, blues, purples: Chromium oxide (green), cobalt (blue), and manganese violet are available but rarely used in Ottawa residential stucco. These pigments cost 3–5x more than iron oxides and can look artificial on a cementitious surface. If you want a coloured stucco outside the earth-tone range, painting over a neutral base is usually a better approach.

Cost impact of integral colour: Adding pigment to a stucco mix increases material cost by $0.50–$2.00 per square foot depending on pigment type and intensity. Darker colours require more pigment (up to 10% of cement weight for deep tones) and cost more. On a typical 1,200 sq ft stucco job, integral colour adds $600–$2,400 to the total project cost. Compare this to painting, which costs $3,500–$7,000 initially and needs redoing every 7–10 years — integral colour pays for itself after one avoided repaint cycle.

Ottawa-specific considerations:

• Road salt splash leaves white mineral deposits (efflorescence) on darker stucco. If your home is close to a busy road, lighter integral colours hide this better.- Batch consistency: Every batch of integrally coloured stucco must use identical proportions of pigment, cement, sand, and water. Even small variations produce visible colour differences on the finished wall. This is why most Ottawa contractors prefer factory-blended coloured stucco (like Parex, Sto, or LaHabra colour systems) over site-mixing pigment — factory blending ensures consistency across the entire job. Factory colour systems offer 100–300+ standard colours with custom matching available.- Integral colour appears lighter when dry than when wet. Always evaluate samples after full cure (28 days), not when freshly applied.

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