Stucco over I.C.F. construction

[Mark S. Tyson]

Had an inspection today on a home that is of I.C.F. construction. The home had what I would consider severe cracking (hairline) in the stucco finish starting just above the monolythic slab upwards about 3 feet.

The exterior grade was not properly sloped away from the structue and had signs of water ponding. The painted finish also had quite a bit of effloresce. My conclussion is that water is moving up thru the slab into the walls thru capillary action.

On furthur review I found that the stucco was of 2 coat work applied directly to the I.C.F. system and that the Portland Cement Mfg. Assoc. specifies that on this system stucco should be applied over wire lath that is isolated from the substate with building paper. Which seems to make since as that system would reduce the likelyhood of cracking.


Being from the world of reinforced masonry construction this system is somewhat foriegn to me. I was curious if anyone has the actual ASTM standard for this application.

This certainly has nothing to do with inspection reporting just tring to expand my knowledge base

[Matthew K. Klein]

I'm having trouble visualizing this installation. Part of the reason might be that in this area, this construction is used more for basements than stem walls, which seems to be what you had. Do you have photos?