On a steep Yonkers street, most people see a house from below it, looking up. A texture viewed from there does not look the way it did at eye level. Coarse finishes tend to read darker and heavier from underneath, and that is worth knowing before one goes on.
Streets in most of Yonkers climb hard, and houses on the uphill side of the road sit well above the people passing them. Neighbors, visitors and anyone driving by see those walls looking up. A texture is almost always chosen at eye level, in someone’s hand or on a nearby wall, and that is not the angle it will be seen from for the rest of its life.
As a textured stucco finishes contractor in Yonkers we choose the finish with that angle in mind. Light comes mainly from the sky, so the upper face of every ridge in a texture is brighter than the face underneath. From below, the ridges hide the hollows and show mostly their duller undersides, so a coarse finish tends to look darker and rougher from the street than anyone expected.
Four things that follow from a wall seen from underneath.
On a steep Yonkers street the houses on the high side stand well above the road. Almost everyone who ever sees those walls sees them looking up rather than straight on.
Looking up at a textured wall from a Yonkers street, each ridge blocks your view of the hollow above it. You see less of the surface and more of the relief, which makes the texture itself more prominent.
Light arrives mostly from the sky, so the upper faces of a texture are brighter and the undersides are duller. From below, the undersides are what you see, and a coarse Yonkers wall tends to read darker than it did in someone’s hand.
A fine grain has little relief to hide or reveal, so it looks much the same from any position. On a wall that will mostly be seen from below, that consistency is often worth more than a heavier look.
From where passersby and neighbors actually stand, not from the yard beside the wall. On a Yonkers hillside that is often several feet lower than the base of the house.
Finished walls on the same street, seen from the same kind of position, show how different textures read from below far better than anything held at eye level. It is the most reliable preview available in Yonkers.
A finer grain for a house above the road, where the wall is seen from below. More freedom for a house below the road, where it is seen from above and a coarser texture tends to read lighter.
Most regret about a texture comes from choosing it in one place and seeing it in another. In Yonkers the other place is usually the street below, looking up at a wall that now seems darker and rougher than the piece of finish that was approved. The house has not changed. The angle has. Before agreeing a finish, stand where your neighbors stand and look at a finished wall on your own slope. If whoever is quoting has only ever looked at your house from beside it, they have not seen it the way everyone else will.
Steep streets with houses set above and below the road run through Park Hill, Nodine Hill, Ludlow, Crestwood and Beech Hill, and the same question about the view from the street applies across them.
See stucco contractor Yonkers for our other stucco work in the city, or textured stucco finishes NYC for the main finish types and how each one ages.
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Usually because the street is below the wall. Light comes mostly from the sky, so the underside of each ridge in a texture is duller than its top. Looking up from a Yonkers street, you see mostly those undersides, so a coarse finish tends to read darker.
It tends to. From below, the ridges hide the hollows above them and show their duller undersides, so the texture looks more prominent and a little darker. The effect is strongest with coarse finishes and weakest with fine ones, which is why steep Yonkers streets favor finer grains uphill.
Usually a finer one. A house on the uphill side of a Yonkers street is seen from below by almost everyone, and a fine grain changes least from that angle. A coarse texture can look noticeably heavier from the road than it did on the piece of finish that was approved.
Yes, often the other way. Seen from above, the brighter upper faces of each ridge are what show, so a coarse texture on a house below a Yonkers street tends to read lighter and softer. Owners on the downhill side generally have more freedom in their choice.
From where it will be seen. Stand on the street below the house and look at finished walls on the same slope from a similar position. On a steep Yonkers street that view shows how a texture will actually read far better than anything held up at eye level.
