I am currently pricing a job for a new house customer who wants a stucco type exterior finish on his wood frame house. We have looked into the eifs type finishes, but he doesn’t want the foam backer. Years ago we worked on a job with a 2 coat masonry stucco over galv. mesh, over felt paper covered wood sheathing. It was finished off with some type of elastomeric paintd on finish. Is anyone familiar with this type of system? Any known drawbacks or benifits? The job is in Upstate NY., so it will get exposed to some bad winter weather. Thanks.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Listeners write in about continuing education, minisplit heat pumps, compact home shops, and building science.
Featured Video
How to Install Exterior Window TrimHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
I just finished my new stucco home. Here is a picture of it. TRhe process of constuction we used was that of .. 1/2 in. plywood, 2 sheets of 15mil felt paper or tar paper, then the 1/4in. hole wire mesh, then came the scratch coat, the brown coat and then the finish which was done with a special kind of paint that had sand in it and was elastic like..... it comes in different colors to choose from...it sopposedly last a long ass time...
Thanks for the reply. What area are you located in? Did you need to install expansion joints in the large wall areas? This is a very big house and it's very traditional in design. I'm not sure how we would treat expanssion joints if they were needed.
Thanks again.
We just finished a job using Sealoflex's Coraflex stucco render. The owner was so excited about the results that he handed me the final payment before we had even finished.
Coraflex is an elastomeric stucco that goes over plywood. All butt joints and openings are wrapped with a polyester fabric which is imbedded in Sealoflex Pink (an elastomer), making it impervious to water penetration - a problem with EIFS and traditional stucco systems with mechanically fastened flashings. The tapings are then feathered out with Sealoflex Buttergrade - much like doing drywall taping and feathering. The entire wall is then waterproofed with Sealoflex Pink. Sealoflex Pink is vapor permeable, eliminating concerns about vapor equalization. Coraflex is sprayed overtop. We did a spray and drag finish. The relief is not as great as one can get with traditional stucco; however, it is pleasing and acceptable.
We were very hesitant about getting into stucco systems - too much bad PR and lawsuits. This system looked worthwhile, and we gave it a try, but only after we did about 80 square feet of 12"x18" sample boards to "get the feel" of the product and see if it was something to proceed with. It surpassed all of my expectations. It is user friendly for the most part, with no big surprises. The finished product pleased everyone involved.
One of the more pleasant surprises came when we returned to show the product to another builder. The stone masons had slopped a large streak and a multitude of small blotches of mortar on the Coraflex stucco. We were able to gently wash and scrub off 95+% of the mortar. The other 5% or less required a little gentle picking with a fingernail. When we were finished you could not tell where the mortar streak had been. Try that with traditional stucco!
Our Sealoflex manufacturer's rep. worked with me for 2 days a week ago. We went in to visit with a builder. He told us that he had a customer wanting to use a stucco finish for accents on a new house, but he was concerned about EIFS and its denting problems. The customer was somewhat hesitant about trying the Coraflex, although he liked the look of the sample board. The question about durability came up. The builder took our sample, layed it on the concrete floor and hit it 6-8 times with a hammer. Not your usual golf ball bounce test, but effective. There was some slight compression of the wood and no visible damage to the Coraflex. He told us that from 10-12 feet away the compression was not visible. The builder was pleased. The customer was pleased. We got the contract!!! We're pleased. Can you call that a trifecta?
You may want to consider Coraflex stucco. We're glad that we did.
Cliff. Johnston
Quality Surfaces
Cliff,
This sounds like just what we're looking for. Any info you can give such as distributer, manufacturer location, rep names etc. would be great. I'm thinking this could work quite well for this job. Any rough idea of cost per sq. ft. of wall. I'm sure it varies to some degree, but a rough number would help. Thanks again, John Bishop.
John,
Right now I can't pick the numbers off the top of my head accurately as to the cost per square foot for the Coraflex - we've just moved, and I'm both physically exhausted and brain dead. I've got everything out in the cargo trailer, and it's raining. I'll get it tomorrow and give you some accurate numbers - I want to say somewhere around $1.20/sq. ft., but that could be off.
You can call Rob at (800) 770-6466 - tell him that you know Cliff. Johnston and want to get some additional information and pricing on Coraflex.
I'm in the middle of doing a cost study on our last Coraflex project. It involved 3 tiers of scaffolding. I just finished adjusting my pricing to builders. If you will send me your email address, I'll attach a copy of my spec. & pricing sheets. My email is [email protected] .
Cliff.