EIFSFACTS.ORG

The Real Facts About EIFS  

- Oh, the Things We've Seen and Heard -

The McDrainable House: a $950,000 model home in Fairfasx County, built by a pretty well-known group. The EIFS is drainable, according to the sales people. The system is run down to a stone knee-wall around the perimeter of the house and sealed with a heavy caulk-bead. They have gone back and drilled holes through the caulk about every 2 ft. and inserted pieces of plastic drinking straws (a la McDonald's) to keep the caulk holes open. The really funny thing is that the drinking straws are biodegradable, and are starting to break down after only a few weeks.

Face to Face: After briefly introducing myself as a NOVASHOC member to a new EIFS homeowner I was told: "I don't have to worry about this, my builder gave me a certificate. Go away."

Face to Face: After mentioning the problem to a homoeowner-to-be who was proudly showing a friend her home under construction, she said "The builder mentioned some problems with water behind the stucco in other states, but told us not to worry, because they would be using a special kind of board on the outside [sheathing]". "What kind of board?" I asked, thinking of cement board and a prudent builder. "It's called O...S...B" she said.

Local Home Inspectors: Too many things to list. Runs the gamut from "What EIFS problems?" to "Oh yeah, but that was only down in N.C." to "Yeah, we know about that. That was just a case of bad sealant, though".

Downright Fraud: We believe that the vast majority of builders are honest and hard-working. As in any other human endeavor, there are exceptions. We have seen homes with very obvious problems "dumped" on naive homebuyers. We've seen home-brewed drainable systems and homes that had systems that were clearly barrier-EIFS sold as drainable.