Dry Stack stone

Living in the State of Oklahoma with dry stack stone on the exterior walls of your home you may have moisture intrusion problems within the inner wall cavities of your home and not know it until the problem starts indicating to the interior dry wall and that is usually to late to prevent organic growth from growing inside the walls and the decay process of the wall studs.

Freedom Express Inspections and CMOR Thermography recommends having the exterior walls checked for moisture penetration on all dry stack stone installations

Dry Stack stone veneers are common…
All are rarely installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations…

Removal and replacement with a more suitable siding is the general recommendation…

Charlie how about explaining what you are looking for in way of installation issues for us ?
What are the most common issues you see out there ?

Not common in my area until the last 5 to 8 years been seeing a lot of them and no changing to a more suitable siding is not the option here the key is the moisture barrier or house wrap used or I should say not properly used

They use a house wrap and moisture barrier in your area…???/
imagine that…

So…
when improperly installed…
The Siding needs to be removed and replaced with a more suitable siding application…

(Flir camera not needed to determine that)
:slight_smile:

Bob yoiu can see nothing by just looking at the wall with the naked eye from the exterior. If one is lucky you can get into the attic at a gable end and try to observe the layers of house wrap Tyvek if there is only one layer visible you will have moisture intrusion. If you can not see how many layers of wrap are in use you should recommend that it be determined either through destructive testing (Removal of a small section of the exterior stone) Or thermal imaging/moisture meters on the interior walls following within 72 hours of a substantial rain.

One layer of tyvek does not repel the moisture it takes two layers or one tyvek and one felt paper to be a proper installation and this is not being installed in Oklahoma by numerous general contractors

Well your going to look like a fool and be liable for the siding if you recommend removal and it has the proper house wrap behind the stone I perfer to make my determination after I have tested with the IR camera and the moisture meters you can do as you please:roll:

OK so for most inspectors you are saying they will not find any issues visually ?
That leaves looking for interior wall issues .

I must see a great deal more of this siding than you do…
and when you see more New Construction…
and How it is installed…
Having knowledge of the manufacturers requirement…
My reporting is not a guess…

It is what it is…

When its wrong… its wrong… and no level of double speak or a camera image will change that…

So in your opinion it is wrong to use dry stack stone period. But you will have to take that up with the MFG not me;-)

That is correct you will not detect it with a visual until it rears its ugly head from the interior and then its to late the damage has already occured

If you know what to look for…
a Defective installation is quite evident…

No…
A Sry Stack properly installed is a suitable siding material…
but…
How many times…
have you seen a Dry Stack properly installed???
:slight_smile:

This thread was not about installing dry set its about the moisture barrier behind the stone that concerns me we all should know that the mortar does not stop moisture penetration and neither does one layer of tyvek

and I have said…
a defective installation
is just that…
a defective installation

So…
I believe what Bob has been asking is…
What should we be looking for?
Especially…
Once the wall is finished…

http://www.eldoradostone.com/learn/how-to-install/

this is just an example…
learn what you have in your market…
recognize it…
and report accordingly…

regardless of the exterior wall cladding type
any exterior wall cladding materials improperly installed will not provide the desired weather & water resistive results

inspector A
is this their first, hundredth or thousandth inspection

inspector B

  1. thousands of satisfactorily completed inspections
  2. hands on, intimate knowledge of building materials installation & their interaction as a system
  3. training in and the application of building science, infrared thermography, moisture analysis and the tools required by these disciplines to conduct further on-site non-destructive testing of wall & roof system materials

it’s your money and only you can decide who to hire
for your sake, please choose wisely

regardless of the exterior wall cladding type
any exterior wall cladding materials improperly installed will not provide the desired weather & water resistive results

inspector A
is this their first, hundredth or thousandth inspection

inspector B

  1. thousands of satisfactorily completed inspections
  2. hands on, intimate knowledge of construction, building materials installation & their interaction as systems
  3. training in and the real time application of building science, infrared thermography, moisture analysis and the tools required by these disciplines to conduct further on-site non-destructive testing of wall & roof system materials

**only the consumer can decide which to hire, choose wisely

i’ve worked along side of Charley Bottger owner of Freedom Express & CMOR and have the utmost confidence in his ability to provide consumer protection
**

What is different about dry stack that 2 layers are needed ?
Would not proper flashing solve it ?