02/13/2001 P&Z Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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tab News Articles httpi /www.eifsinfo.net/ei£s- news.htm • • have problems. Then I hoped it was confined to one subdivision, but that wasn't true either. We're finding problems across the board." As the experts work out the details, homeowners like Ruth Ann Southworth of Wilmington are left to worry about their investments. "After six months my house had minor moisture problems, which my builder repaired," she says. "But the truth is, I couldn't give this house away now if I wanted to." EIMA insists this is a local problem. "EIFS have been used successfully for decades in this country," says EIMA spokesman Keith Hayes. "This is a first. There are no other cities with comparable problems." But as reports on the Carolina experience proliferate, calls are coming in from builders throughout the country on NAHB's HomeBase hot line, according to Research Center analyst Ed Hudson. "I've talked with hundreds of industry people," he says, "and problems are happening everywhere there's moisture and EIFS are being used, coast to coast." Hudson also says he's heard from builders with moisture problems in dry climates like Austin, Texas. What's the Problem? Anyone who's ever tried tracing water leakage back to its source knows how hard it can be. Using electronic moisture meters, investigators report finding high meter readings some distance from the actual leak, as water breaches seals and travels away. Some investigators are also pointing at windows -- especially wood ones -- as a possible source of water intrusion. Their theory: Even the small amount of moisture that gets in through gaps in window frames -- when trapped -- will do damage. "Based on the local AIA chapter's testing," says Tom Kenney of the Research Center, "68 percent of the 205 houses they inspected had improper caulking details around windows." But AIA tests also revealed that even where proper caulking details existed, 15 percent of the houses had high readings near windows, indicating window -frame leaks. That may not matter in wall systems that can breathe, but EIFS walls are called barrier systems because the finish is impermeable. And if moisture gets into the wall system, it can't escape easily, especially if there's an interior vapor barrier. So why Wilmington? Hudson speculates that the worst problems are occurring in active markets where the EIFS products are gaining popularity the fastest -- like the Carolinas. He says problems appear to be rare in more established EIFS markets where applicators have experienced, and worked out, the problems. But there is one building condition that may be contributing to the dilemma in Wilmington: state codes require interior polyethylene vapors. These aren't causing the trouble, but they may make things worse once water gets into the walls. • To test that theory, the Research Center computer- modeled EIFS wall sections with 50 percent moisture 2 of 10 1/9/2001 9:42 PM