Category Archives: Hall Of Shame

Major Fast Food Restaurant Uses Cheap Applicators

Posted by Admin on September 26, 2009 None comments

This major fast food restaurant franchise decided to use the cheapest EIFS / Synthetic Stucco contractors they could find, and got what they paid for. The contractors either rushed the job, or were inexperienced, and what you see is the result.

Retail EIFS Reveals

Notice the waviness of the reveals – or “cuts” – into the EIFS that are meant to be for design purposes. Instead of making the wall look better, and well designed, it looks cheap and shoddy. The human eye picks up detail very easily, and slight imperfections like this stand out like a sore thumb when you’re 3 feet away in a drive-thru.

Hardie Board Removal Reveals Mould and Rot Damage

Posted by Admin on July 16, 2009 1 comments

Hardie Board is a product similar to EIFS that has quickly gained popular in the states and is on is making it’s way into the Canadian market. With great reviews and a high ROI (Remodeling Magazine), Hardie Board seems like a great siding for many who need not worry about insulating value. Unfortunately, it didn’t take the hard-learned lessons of the EIFS industry to heart. With a laxed grip over installation procedures, many projects were installed incorrectly – without underlying weather barriers or methods to allow moisture to escape. The result is what you see here.

Damaged Hardie Board Removed
Mouldy Hardie Board Removed
Hardie Plank Caused Rot - Removed
Trapped Water Beneath Hard Board

As you can see, the problem area is where most problems occur – around the wall penetrations (windows, doors, fixtures) and the corners. The project featured here even appears to have had the weather barrier installed.

No doubt it has a bright future in coastal areas where hurricanes and tornadoes can cause damage to walls, if it can just get it’s act together, and fast.

EIFS Finish Coat “Touch Up”

Posted by Admin on May 19, 2009 3 comments

Improperly applied finish coat was touched up
Here is an example of some finish coat that needed to be touched up. You can see that the patch is distinctly visible from the original application/layer. This is why it is recommended by manufacturers to do the entire finish coat in 1 application, and why selecting a skilled applicator is so important. Skilled applicators will ensure they have the manpower and the time available to fully apply the finish coat to the wall without stopping, so as to avoid this situation. In the end, all the functionality of EIFS is covered and all that remains is the finish coat, so make sure it is done correctly.

Corner With High Traffic Lacking High Impact Mesh

Posted by Admin on December 1, 2008 None comments
Corner With High Traffic Lacking High Impact Mesh

In areas of high traffic (such as malls, backyards, sometimes even the front of the house), high impact (or “heavy duty”) mesh should be used to further reinforce the EIFS. High impact mesh provides for greater impact resistance and will stand up to peanut-brained neighbors or customers who feel like punching a hole in your wall. As you can see in the picture — the owner or contractor skimped on high impact mesh where there was obviously more than normal traffic (and therefore higher chance of impact) and the regular mesh just tore.

Oh yeah, you can’t patch EIFS without making it look like a… well… patch. Both walls need to be redone up to building joints to make it look homogenous.

Alternatively, a better solution would be to put quoins on the corner, which would not only cover the damage, but also make your house look much nicer. With quoins, EIFS repairs are much easier as you only need to replace the 1 damaged quoin.

EIFS With Horizontal Adhesive Channels and No Moisture Barrier

Posted by Admin on November 30, 2008 3 comments
EIFS With Horizontal Adhesive Channels and No Moisture Barrier

This is the epitome of poor EIFS construction and I hope that both the applicator and builder were sued into oblivion. For starters, yes that black mass is mold, and black mold may or may not be toxic. As you can see, the mold originates where moisture is commonly a problem — around the window. What the common home owner will not notice about the EIFS installation is this:

  1. There is no moisture barrier to keep the water off the substrate, which is there the mold would grow. Any water that gets behind the EIFS barrier is going to create the perfect environment for mold growth
  2. The substrate is plywood, which is currently not recommended by EIFS manufacturers
  3. Those white stripes are channels of adhesive, using a 3/8″ notched trowel. The channels were actually installed in a HORIZONTAL pattern, trapping any water that tried to run down the substrate (where it shouldn’t be anyways). This installation is beyond stupid and makes me feel like Gordon Ramsey.

Just to clarify however, modern EIFS (when correctly installed) would not use wood as a substrate, would have a moisture/weather barrier over the substrate, and is installed with VERTICAL channels of adhesive, allowing water to run down the wall and not become trapped. These problems are by no means on every EIFS application, modern exterior insulation finish systems have corrected these problems, but is not uncommon in older installations with poor applicator training.