EIFSFACTS.ORG

The Real Facts About EIFS 

- Leaks in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum -

Excerpts from Drawing Up Waterproof Curtains by Thomas A. Schwartz.

From the Abstract: "Total reliance on any single stage barrier is the primary cause of wall leakage."

"The National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC was not supposed to leak. Full-scale mock-ups were tested before museum construction to assure that water would not leak through skylights and vertical wall seals. [Editors note - see STO Web Site: "What does it take to prove that an EIFS, properly integrated into construction, provides as effective protection from water intrusion as any other cladding system, and from a design standpoint, in many ways superior?" for information on their mock-up] Testing revealed water passing through the corners of the skylights. Eventually though, workers applied enough silicone to plug the leaks and the mock-ups were approved for construction.

With successful data in hand, designers initiated construction in the summer of 1974. Leakage began soon after and, despite repeated remedial efforts, continued. Subsequent investigation revealed failure through the same skylight corners that were patched during mock-up testing. A crisscrossing gutter system, weaving through the 500 skylights, also failed. The gutters deteriorated from corrosion - long term degredation incapable of mock-up evaluation. Unfortunately, the short-term mock-ups incuded short-term fixes, effective only in allowing the mock-up to pass the test.

Wall system design is also pagued by nonrepresentative mock-ups and improper design. In fact, curtain wall damage recently slipped by roofing problems as the number one source of building owner complaints. About half of all architects responding to polls report curtain wall problems.

Until wall systems are designed with back-up water collection systems and other details, the problems will continue."

Drawing Up Waterproof Curtains, Civil Engineering, Schwartz, Thomas A, March 1988