WestCon Tribune

April 2006

APRIL MEETING

EIFS WALL INSPECTION,
SPECIFICATIONS, AND REPAIR
PRESENTED BY: BRENT FISHER, MARKETING MANAGER RESTORATION
DRYVIT SYSTEMS, INC.

EIFS has been utilized in this country for 40 years. The backlog of excellent buildings constructed in this medium exceeds 500,000. Today nearly one in four buildings in North America use EIFS on its exteriors, and over one-half billion square feet of materials are installed every year. The proper maintenance of all that EIFS material requires careful thought. DryvitCARE is the first ever maintenance plan for EIFS that is produced specifically for EIFS.

Choosing and detailing the appropriate method for a particular application places emphasis on defining the wall’s “needs” then fitting the system to it. A ‘Fit for Purpose’ includes recognizing that micro and macroclimate influence the choices made with respect to the building envelope.

EIFS wall technology is deceptively simple. It was conceived for a place and time where concrete construction required additional insulation and achieving that on the exterior made perfect sense. When placed over substrates of concrete and CMU the exactitutde of the installation even the maintenance of sealant joints is not all that critical. For over 50 years, the typical EIFS installation has evolved to be on substrates of framed construction and sheathing type board. This has placed an emphasis on:

• Detailing on the drawings
• Execution of the details in the field
• Flashing, diverters and venting
• Consideration of the wall’s wetting/absorption and dry out rates against the substrate
• Recognition that water behind the insulation cannot be allowed to lay against the substrate
• Provide postive means of evacuating moisture that might reach the substrate to the outside
• The development, design and testing of sealants that readily support the juntioning of an EIFS lamina to itself, or a dissimilar wall component
• Maintenance of the joints

Please join in when Brent Fisher, Marketing Manager of Restoration for Dryvit Systems, Inc., will be our April speaker and hear him cover these areas of the EIFS system and the maintenance plan Dryvit has produced.

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