Repairability of EIFS

[charliealphabravo]

What is your experience as to whether an EIFS system, in general, is repairable or not. For example, if the EIFS had to be stripped off down to the substrate (plywood/osb), could the substrate be prepared for reuse or would the substrate also need to be removed and replaced?

I am looking at a manufacturer's instructions for installation of a spray/brush/roller applied weather barrier (water based acrylic) which state the following:

"Substrate shall be clean, dry, and free of any deleterious material such as wax, oil, paint, dust and dirt which could negatively affect bonding."

I would think that if the old substrate is sound, that it could be sanded/washed/dried/primered as needed to meet the requirements of the spec. In this circumstance there might of course be some of the old weather barrier left on the sanded and cleaned surface, however, I wouldn't necessarily see it as incompatible with the new weather barrier.

TIA

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I don't see any reason why the plywood / OSB could not be re-used.... Unless it's shown to be damaged in some way.

I've used EIFS on a couple of different re-model projects where the original building looked like crap (age / weather, but no real damage) and we were able to put the EIFS right over the top. Architect's idea (of course), but the end product looked great. Inexpensive and the client was very pleased.

 

[Ron]

If the substrate is not damaged by water intrusion, it can be salvaged. Make sure you have an appropriate water resistive barrier and a bond breaker (secondary water resistive barrier) in between. Stucco waterproofing, flashing, interfaces, and isolation are all issues that need to be covered in the design. I have designed the remediation of hundreds of condo units, so make sure your details are tight.

 

[Enable]

While I have migrated to metal fabrication I used to work exclusively in restoration of existing buildings. We repaired EIFS regularly without substantial substrate replacement, and so no question it can be done speaking generally. Of course, how easy that will be for a given building depends highly on the particulars (e.g. substrate condition, existing water management system, etc).

If you are the consulting engineer tendering the project for the owner you should tell the contractor to assume that they are not replacing the substrate but include an allowance for substrate replacement (per sheet or ft2 basis with min assumed QTY) and stipulate that the EIFS manufacturer to make a field visit and generally determine suitability of the substrate during a mock-up.

CWB (W47.1) Div 1 Fabricator
Temporary Works Design

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