EIFS question

[Tim H]

This home was built in 1995. There is EIFS at the dormers, the second story side walls and at the rear. No drainage or weeps at the bottom edge. Typical EIFS installation (poor detailing, no kickouts, no expansion joints, poor clearance to roof cover, etc.). When I get in the attic, it looks like no substrate or barrier were installed. I just see the back of what I believe to be the foam panels. The panels are covered with drip/moisture stains. Bone dry at the time, and no signs of rot or mold on the panels or framing. Anyone ever seen an installation like this? I often see vinyl over blue board (no sheathing) in similar designs, but not EIFS foam panels.I was able to get my hands on most of the exterior in this area and it was firm and solid. Thoughts?

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Thanks,

Tim

[StevenT]

Very strange.

I know of early EIFS (and some not so early) that was installed without moisture barriers, but I've never seen EIFS installed without a substrate. Personally, I don't like it.

By the amount of water staining, I think had there been a wooden substrate present, it would have rotted away.

There are those that feel that EIFS should simply not be installed over wood. If that is the case, I would have liked to have seen cement board as the substrate.

[Scottpat]

Yep, it has no substrate. It is or was a fairly common system that all of the manufacturers produced. One common system was by Dryvit, it was called a Sprint System.

It uses a Poly-Iso board as the substrate. The poli-iso fom is covered with a fiberglass paper/fiber material for strength. No mesh is used on this system. All they used was the finish lamina coat. It is like a egg shell. This product stayed on the market for about 2 years and was pulled due to the problems with it..

[Tim H]

Originally posted by SonOfSwamp

Originally posted by Tim H

This home was built in 1995...

I was able to get my hands on most of the exterior in this area and it was firm and solid. Thoughts?

My thought is, after 18 years the homeowner's (or buyer's) choices are pretty much limited to (1) Leave it alone and hope for the best; (2) Rip off all the EIFS and foam and start over with a cladding that's not EIFS; or, (3) if you've got a customer thinking about buying this house, tell him not to do it. It's probably an un-sellable house. In my neck of the woods, a lot of the old EIFS houses got turned into rental properties or tear-downs.

An 18-year-old first-generation EIFS-clad house is trouble. It's a Frankenstein experiment gone terribly wrong...

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Thanks guys,

Walter, I think that option 2 is what the buyer will go with. I made it clear that EIFS is trouble, and that THIS EIFS was particularly bad. The home is only partially clad (maybe 1000 sq. ft.) with the stuff. It's about a $400,000 house on a property that is listing at 1.5 (land, lakes, horse barns), and I think they love the land enough to fix the house. Funny thing, after the inspection, the seller booked us to inspect his purchase (couldnt believe how much time we took, yada yada). It will be interesting to see if he gets pissed off and cancels.

Tim

[RobSantana]

Looking at these pics makes me wonder what were they thinking?

Scottpat is correct in that the system used is a sprint/Quick R Board system but this system has not been discontinued and

continues to be sold.

http://www.dryvit.com/fileshare/doc/us/detail/ds163.htm

This is a classic example of how EIFS as a material is perfectly fine but the construction or application is faulty. I'm not saying that the EIFS applicator is solely responsible for this nightmarish scenario I blame the general contractor and the distributor as well. I think someone somewhere in the construction process should have seen the potential for problems.

I really don't think that all of the moisture stains come from leaks in the EIFS cladding per se, but from humidity and condensation issues due to ventilation or lack thereof. Granted the EIFS installation is hideous but judging from the pics I would speculate that the number one area of concern would have to be the inadequate kick out flashing. As long as the fascia and windows are properly sealed moisture should not be entering at those locations.

[gtblum]

2 Qs 1 If this has been up for eighteen years and there's no sign of decay,why be so concerned about it now? Seems as though this particular application Is working. 2 "(3) if you've got a customer thinking about buying this house, tell him not to do it." I may be dead wrong but, isn't that way outside of our scope and a little dangerous?