Category Archives: Design
Protected: The Next Chapter in EIFS Finish Coats
Stucco Colours Fading
Stucco (EIFS) comes in a literally limitless number of possible colours, as home owners and architects are able to pick out of a catalog or even have colour swatches or samples matched. Like any coloured exterior product however, stucco colours will change over time due to exposure to sunlight (UV radiation).
The darker portion is the area that was originally protected by a canopy.
What can be done about this? Nothing really. It’s just a fact of life. If the situation is apparent enough (as in the top image) because of a permanent change (removal of a canopy), the wall can simply be re-painted using an EIFS paint if the finish coat is still in good condition. Repainting the stucco is far less expensive than going through a full stucco repair, which would be unnecessary in a case like this. This can actually be an opportunity to entirely change the colour of the stucco if a new, updated look is desired. Trying to apply a colour that is close to the ‘faded’ one is pointless, as it will also change over time.
The portion that was protected by the canopy is closer to the original colour.
Faded stucco causes no concern about the integrity of the system itself, the change is simply an aesthetic one. What’s important to realize is that if a patch were to be done using the original pail of finish coat, the patch would be closer in colour to the portion of wall that was protected from sunlight.
Darker colours generally tend to change more over time than lighter colours because of the quantity of pigment in the coating. Light colours are just as susceptible however to the change due to exposure to sunlight.
Toronto Stucco and Stone Renovations
Stucco is a great looking cladding itself, with a limitless range of colours and a range of ways to design it to your specific tastes. Some home owners want to take the design a step further by integrating stone with their stucco. This creates a great contrast between the rough stone-face and the smooth (comparitively) stucco texture.
Stucco and Stone Veneer
Price plays a factor in how much of each you decide to use in the end. While you can budget for stucco at $10 per square foot, stone is installed at roughly $25 per square foot. Because of this, people opt to use the stone veneer selectively.
Stone veneer is a more impact-resistant product, making it ideal for the bottom 4-5 feet of a home. A common practice is to install a 4-foot high “skirt” of stone around the front (and wrapping onto the sides) of the home, adding a stucco sill to the top and then installing stucco above.
Note that stucco can be made more impact-resistant through the use of a heavy-duty mesh. The cost of this is typically around an additional $2 per square foot, and is only required along the bottom 6 feet of a wall where there may be more foot-traffic or kids might be playing.
Stucco and Stone combination on a commercial project
Find a Toronto Stone Contractor for the stone portion of your home renovation project.
EIFS “Panels” Using Reveals
I was driving through London, Ontario a while back and saw what looked like panels on the London Fire Department Station. When I got closer however, I realized that it was just cleverly disguised EIFS. The architect has specified reveals to be cut into the EIFS to segment it into panels, and black spots to be placed where the screws should be holding the panels up.
EIFS Fire Department, London
Aside from providing valuable insulation, EIFS is a much less expensive material than panel products like Alucobond and Fibre-C, which can run $20-$40 per square foot. EIFS on the other hand, should cost around $10 per square foot with minor reveals included. the effect is nearly identical, but at 1/2 to 1/4 of the cost.
London EIFS Station
The material works extremely well with the reflective glass, traditional fire-hall-red bricks and stone skirt around the base. It’s a great modern re-imagining of what fire stations should look like.
London Fire Station
I can’t help but laugh however, because of articles I have seen from cities in the states where EIFS has been ignorantly outlawed. Cities and citizens alike have hired poor quality contractors who have installed an inferior system, which has either failed or caught on fire, prompting fire chiefs to speak out against the product. In Canada however, our Architects and building professionals are educated on the facts about EIFS and the improvements that have come along over the past decade. The styrofoam is treated with a fire-retardant, the system is approved for use anywhere (even meets non-combustible requirements, albeit some modifications are required at times) and it’s insulating properties fit our climate needs.
Definitely an eye-catching design.
Stucco Reveals: Design with Distinction
One of the more attractive features of stucco (for the sake of convention, we will refer to EIFS [What is EIFS] as”stucco) is the nearly limitless capability to shape and design the product to achieve the result you have in mind. Whether you are trying to imitate brick, precast or just trying to modernize the look of your home, you can achieve the look you are going for with stucco.
Moldings and trim are certainly the the most popular way to decorate and style a home, adding decorative items such as these to the surface of the stucco is simple and effective. But what about the stucco wall itself? What can be done to the wall to differentiate it from others?
Many people mistake this for being bands with 2″ spacing as opposed to it just being 2″ reveals. Reveals are cut (usually around 1/2″-1″ deep) into the styrofoam using a tool called a hot-knife – a blade that is heated by electricity, causing the styrofoam to melt as it passes through. The purpose of reveals is purely aesthetic – to create something unique. And unique unfortunately, is what it is.
Reveals are in interesting way to add depth and repetition to a home’s design. The tiny cuts into the styrofoam (which are coated the same as the rest of the stucco) create shadows, which makes the reveals look slightly different in colour. Depending on the time of the day, the shadows’ angles can actually make the house look subtly different. You get an interesting contrast of a bright wall on a dark(er) background. Repetition plays into effect, reinforcing that the reveals are there – bold and a major feature. So why aren’t reveals seen more often? Cost.
Reveals do require extra work from the contractor’s perspective, because they have to take the time to carefully mesh the edges and the recess. They need to carefully apply and straighten the base coat so that the edges don’t end of wavy and look unprofessionally done. They need to stop floating (troweling) the finish coat and refine it with a smaller trowel, whereas they would have countinued right over it with a flat wall. Because of this, contractors will typically charge a little more for the work, depending on just how many reveals are required. The cost of adding reveals can sometimes be as little as $200.
The frequency of reveals is not set in stone, but most of the time are 12″ in height. A neat effect is achieved when the reveals line up with beveled quoins on the corner of homes, creating lines that run across the wall and seem to cut into the quoins themselves. That being said, reveals don’t always have to be placed horizontally. Rarely, they are placed vertically, but more often than that (in the author’s experience) – they can be done diagonally, in a criss-crossing fashion. This has the same sort of effect as those wood lattice “walls” often seen in gardens.
Control joints are similar to reveals but actually penetrate partially (if not fully) through the styrofoam. They should be placed between every floor, and at a certain distance (depending on the manufacturer’s recommendations) to allow for building movement without the stucco cracking.
