Stucco Resources and Information
Gwinnett County and surrounding North Georgia cities know the best place to get their EIFS information is from FIVE STAR STUCCO!
Want a quality local company to handle your Stucco and EIFS needs? We offer space on this page to companies outside of our area, for reciprocal link management.
Stucco Listings For Gwinnett County
This area is reserved for links and other information regarding stucco and EIFS. Do you or your company offer Quality Stucco Services? We are happy to trade relevant links with companies that wish to do so. Simply drop us a note with a URL where we can find our sitelink. We will post your site on our page within 48 hours.
W.I.F.E., Inc. in Hiram, GA and Orange Beach, AL specializes in stucco for new construction, repairs, and restorations.
Merlex Merlex Stucco offers stucco repair and resources to repair stucco
Atlanta Stucco Doctor are a construction company specializing in stucco (EIFS or hardcoat) repairs. We also do stucco work which includes European style stucco, balustrades, columns, and surrounding concrete trims around windows.
What is EIFS?
Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) are multi-layered exterior wall systems that are used on both commercial buildings and homes. They provide superior energy efficiency and offer much greater design flexibility than other cladding products.
Developed in Europe in the 1950s, EIFS were introduced in the U.S. almost 40 years ago. They were first used on commercial buildings, and later, on homes. Today, EIFS account for nearly 30% of the U.S. commercial exterior wall market. EIFS typically consist of the following components:
- insulation board, made of polystyrene or polyisocyanurate foam, which is secured to the exterior wall surface with a specially formulated adhesive and/or mechanical attachment
- a durable, water-resistant base coat, which is applied on top of the insulation and reinforced with fiber glass mesh for added strength an attractive and durable finish coat -- typically using acrylic co-polymer technology -- which is both colorfast and crack-resistant
Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) are multi-layered exterior wall systems that are used on both commercial buildings and homes. They provide superior energy efficiency and offer much greater design flexibility than other cladding products.
Developed in Europe in the 1950s, EIFS were introduced in the U.S. almost 40 years ago. They were first used on commercial buildings, and later, on homes. Today, EIFS account for nearly 30% of the U.S. commercial exterior wall market. EIFS typically consist of the following components: insulation board, made of polystyrene or polyisocyanurate foam, which is secured to the exterior wall surface with a specially formulated adhesive and/or mechanical attachment a durable, water-resistant base coat, which is applied on top of the insulation and reinforced with fiber glass mesh for added strength an attractive and durable finish coat -- typically using acrylic co-polymer technology -- which is both colorfast and crack-resistant
Terms and definitions
Abrasives: Substance that is rough or scratches.
Admixture: Material other than water, aggregate or basic cementitious material added to the batch before or during job mixing.
Aggregates: A granular material such as sand.
Basecoat: The total of all stucco coats applied prior to application of the finish coat. Any stucco coat applied before the application of the finish coat. The combined scratch and brown coats make up the basecoat.
Bonds: Adhesion of stucco to other surfaces that it is applied against.
Bonding Agent: A compound applied as a coating to a suitable substrate to enhance a bind between it and the next layer, as between a subsurface and a succeeding stucco application.
Brown Coat: In multiple coat work, the second coat applied over the scratch coat. In two-coat work, brown coat refers to the double-up basecoat. The brown coat is the coat directly beneath the finish coat.
Building Paper: Also referred to as tar paper or black paper it comes in different ratings such as 30 minute or 60 minute. The minute rating refers to the time it takes for water sitting on the paper to pass through it.
Cementitious: Made of or from cement.
Checking: Development of shallow cracks at closely spaced but irregular intervals in the plaster surface. (Also known as craze cracks.)
Coat: A thickness of stucco applied in a single operation.
Cold Joint: The juncture of fresh stucco application adjustment to set plaster.
Control Joints: A flexible metal component designed to control the shrinkage of cement plaster. It is usually placed at each floor break of a building.
Craze Cracks: Fine, random cracks or fissures that may appear in a plaster surface, caused by shrinkage.
Cured: The process of cement hydrating and chemically changing to become hard.
Delamination: Coming unglued or unbonded from something.
Dens Glass Gold: Trade name for resinous coated, glass-fiber mat-faced, water-resistant core gypsum sheathing board.
Diversion Flashings: A flashing that is used to redirect the flow of rainwater.
Eaves troughs: Plastic or metal troughs that redirects rainwater from the roof to the ground.
Efflorescence: A deposit of salts or bases, usually white, formed on the plaster surface. Water-soluble substances emerge in solution from within the plaster and are deposited during evaporation.
Face Seal Wall Assemblies: Refers to the strategy of rain penetration control, which relies on the elimination of holes in the exposed exterior face of the assemblies.
Finish Coat: The final layer of stucco (job-site mixed or pre-manufactured) applied over basecoats or direct to concrete, comprised of either cementitious or acrylic material
Flashing: A thin, usually metal material used to prevent water entry or to direct the flow of water in a desired direction between two or more materials or surfaces.
Floating: Act of compacting and leveling a stucco basecoat; act of bringing the aggregate to the surface of finish-coat stucco.
Framing: Structural members such as studs, joists, headers, beams, columns, girders, trusses, etc of wood or steel.
FogCoat: A fine mist of cement based paint colour used to provide uniformity on the integral coloured cement finish coats.
Lath: Generally the reinforcement base to which plaster is applied, secured to a substrate with appropriate fasteners. Commonly a welded wire mesh, woven wire or an expanded metal mesh.
Parging: The application of a thin portland cement coat over a solid concrete or masonry wall, generally without lath reinforcement, to improve the aesthetic appearance of the exposed wall area.
Rainscreen: A method of handling water penetration, enhancing venting and improve the drying capacity of wall assembly, consisting of a water resistant outer cladding, a measurable drained and vented cavity and a water impermeable back-up wall.
Oriented strand board (OSB): It has replaced plywood as wood sheathing and is made from logs that are chipped and glued together.
Scoring: Grooving by scratching or scoring, usually horizontal, of the scratch coat to provide mechanical keys for the brown coat.
Soffit: The underside of a structural component, such as a beam, arch, staircase, or cornice.
Substrate: Same as sheathing.
Tyvek: Trade name for a house wrap that is made from fine, high-density polyethylene fibers. Tyvek is more tear resistant than building paper.
Weep holes: Small holes in the bottom of windows that allows water to drain out.