stucco inspection

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Both EIFS and stucco should have at least 4" clearance from grade. Like carl said you need to find a place to look at the profile of layers if possible.
I alsways disclaim EIFS or if I can't tell what it is for sure, that's what i put in the report.
The stucco/EIFS course which will be released soon is being taught by Ron Huffman of the Exterior Design Institute (EDI). Ron's an inspector and a PE and has been doing stucco inspections for about 25 years and teaching its inspection for a long time. EDI has been one of the big names in stucco/EIFS inspection education for quite a while so I'm looking forward to shooting the instruction segment and learning the answers to the questions you ask. Consider attending the class instruction shoot, which will be video-taped for insclusion in the course. Nick will announce.

[Carl Brown]

In Az.they put a thin coat of hard coat stucco over bead board like what is used for EIFS and they even sometimes call it EIFS.

Look for metal component's casing bead/corner bead's/weepscreed/lath/chicken wire.

[Barry Adair]

Kent,
You may want to talk to Ron about this but numerous One Coat Systems are applied over insulation foam board and are not considered EIFS...here's one of the many examples of this type application

[Gary L. Farnsworth]

Do you need exterior expansion joints in stucco or EIFS?

[Carl Brown]

What do you have Gary?

What part of town and how old is the house?

[Gary L. Farnsworth]

1950's Leawood house that has been re-habbed. Inspection is Wednesday, but I drove by today, and noticed all new stucco on all exterior areas. I left after noticing no flashings at the windows, no roof flashings, even no guttering. It appears EIFS, very thin. All new at all sildes. Ranch home. No expansion joints at long sides. Stucco covering is to the ground level, and under in a lot of areas. Lots of mulch. I have my work cut out for me looks like. Looks like a bad job all the way around. I have done stucco checks in the past, but this one is deffinately not done right. $600K home.

[Carl Brown]

ASTM says you need them.

With that said you will be very hard pressed to find a stucco job in the metro that is installed to ASTM specs.

[Carl Brown]

Lets talk more about it after your inspection.

[Timothy J. McSweeney]

Thanks for the replys. I will look forward to taking the course. Tim

[Gary L. Farnsworth]

My new home that I built in 2004 has the joints in the stucco, but the stucco that I have is think. This Leawood stucco job will be lucky to last 3 years. And, the fact that I believe the home was re-habbed by the listing agent, et. al. You know the drill.

[Carl Brown]

I bet your windows are improperly installed.

[Gary L. Farnsworth]

Stucco is just on the front o fmy home. Board three sides. Lots of flashings. Bottom siding joints are lapped, not flashed. Had it built that way. Still all looks new. My wife is on me always about keep up home maintenance. No, she does not help me on inspections.

I will take plenty of pics Wednesday for sure. Buyer is out of town. I can sense a problem with this inspection. When you do a few thousand, it is a sense that is a curse. I have more trouble with re-habs than any other type home. Thanks Carl.

[Carl Brown]

Do you know what is on your house for moisture barrier?

Do you have wood trim around your windows?

[Gary L. Farnsworth]

Wood trim, all flashed. Tyvek. Anderson casement windows. Low E. all vinyl clad. No wood exposed on the frames. Bottoms of casement panels all vinyl covered. Lifetime warranty. Best I could find. My highest gas bill last winter was $58. Bragging over. Have to go spend time with the wife.

[Barry Adair]

some stucco basics, not that we'll agree on everything published in these

http://buildingcodes.jocogov.org/documents/Stucco.pdf

http://www.parex.com/pdf/stuccoma.pdf

http://www.mnlath-plaster.com/listin...esidConstr.pdf

And here is thier check list.

http://www.mnlath-plaster.com/listin...oChecklist.pdf