Driving through Ottawa, I suddenly noticed a high rise apartment building that looked to be under construction. It had the green tarps up you see with stucco / masonry products and there was EIFS everywhere. My first thoughts were “oh no, another building from the 80’s that they are repairing because of faulty installation”. Then I realized it was being retrofitted with EIFS (Synthetic Stucco). It’s something that logically makes sense – decreased heating bills, lower client turnover, and the ability to increase rent (and MURB valuations are based on income). Though not visible from the photos, a sign at the top of the building read “Plaston”, so I thought, who better to give some insight into the project?
Apartment Stucco Renovation - East Side Covering
TSC: What’s the approximate square footage of the project?
Plaston: The approximate square footage of this project is 18 000 square feet.
TSC: The project looks almost finished, how long has it taken?
Plaston: The project took approximately six months to complete. The reason for the delay is due to the fact that the engineers wanted to completely strip off the old exterior façade (brick) They were looking for an exterior façade that not only had creative aesthetics but also moisture management and energy efficiency. The brick was not able to meet all these criteria. They found this through EIFS. The net time for the application of the Plaston EIF Drainscreen System was one month.
Plaston Stucco Renovation- South Elevation
TSC: What were the client’s reasons for wanting to renovate with EIFS?
Plaston: In most high rise building projects such as this one, our clients are looking for energy efficiency, design flexibility, moisture management, aesthetics and maintenance free exterior facades. Plaston’s EIF Systems covers all five aspects. Our Plaston Drainscreen EIF System (CCMC 13232-R) guarantees a 100% water tight system.
TSC: Was there any difficulty in getting permits/approvals to re-clad the building with EIFS?
Plaston: Keller Engineering Associates Inc. is one of the most respected building envelope engineering firms in Canada. Teaming up with a well established engineering company allowed Plaston no difficulty in receiving permits/approvals to re-clad this project. Furthermore, the NRC’s CCMC evaluation report grants Plaston Municipal, Provincial and National approval in conjunction with its EIFS products on any type of building structure.
TSC: What is the approximate cost and how much money on labour/materials do you figure the apartment owner/architect saved by specifying Plaston’s mechanical-blueskin system over conventional EIFS?
Plaston: The approximate cost cannot be disclosed at this time, however the Plaston EIF Systems can save the applicator a minimum of 48 hours time per wall section compared to conventional cement based adhesive products. This can be advantageous to the applicator as well as the client: as we all know time is money.
The air/vapour barrier – Blue Skin or Soprema’s Sopraseal 1100T – is a peel and stick membrane. There is no curing time needed (compared to cement based liquid barriers) in order to mechanically fasten the Plaston vertically grooved Drainage Boards.
Plaston has solved the penetration problem with mechanical fasteners by introducing the air/vapour barrier peel and stick membrane. Once the mechanical fasteners enter the substrate, the air/vapour barrier automatically self seals around the fasteners, guaranteeing a 100% water tight EIFS. This meets all requirements introduced by the Ontario Architects Association Rain Penetration Control Practice Guide.
Since Plaston’s Drainage Insulation Boards are already vertically grooved, time is shifted from manually grooving the flat insulation boards with cement based adhesive products and notched trowels to completing other advanced aspects of the EIFS such as the Base Coat or Finish Coat.
Not only is Plaston’s EIF Systems less time consuming, they are also superior in quality. Plaston has created the most advanced EIFS products in the Canadian market that are guaranteed long lasting facades.
Comparing Plaston’s EIF Systems by price per square foot to the leading competition, our price is guaranteed to be lower.
TSC: Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. We look forward to seeing more projects from Plaston in the future.
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